NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Students in New Hanover County will soon be incentivized to put down their phones in class as the board of education endorses technology aimed at dealing with the distraction.
READ MORE: NHCS to consider cellphone bags as child pornography cases uptick among teens
At Tuesday’s agenda review meeting, the school board heard a presentation from current and former New Hanover County Schools students who have developed an app called LookUp.
The app was developed under a nonprofit controlled by Samin Bahn, Atrich Bahn and Clawson Anderson, with UNCW computer science professor Elham Ebrahimi also on board. Approved by the federal Institutional Review Board and backed with a grant from UNCW, the nonprofit is looking to start a pilot program with NHCS to gather data on cellphone use while also helping classrooms retain student focus.
In simple terms, the technology prompts users to stay off their phones. Here is how it works: Teachers will be able to send a notification to students’ phones prompting them to put it down. Students then earn points for every minute they spend off their phone. Points earned can be converted to a homework pass, extra points on a test or other rewards. Teachers have the flexibility to choose how the points are utilized in their class.
“You’re basically teaching them how to have their phones with them [in class] because they always will in their life,” Atrich Bahn said.
The app does not restrict normal phone usage — students can still access texts and apps — and they won’t be penalized for using their phone.
“There’s probably a lot of different ways you can do it to incentivize,” board member Stephanie Walker said. “I like the incentivizing idea because I think if you’re restrictive, and I know this for my own kids, a lot of kids want to rebel.”
The technology has been used sporadically in Hoggard High School already, with students racking up points to earn gift cards donated by local businesses, including Chinese restaurant Double Happiness.
Board member Melissa Mason said, along with the positive reinforcement, she liked the community aspect of the technology.
Though perhaps the largest perk is the financial implications for the district — the app will be offered for free. The nonprofit’s goal is to gather data on student cellphone use — though no personal data is collected — to inform further research and policy making.
In the classrooms where the technology has already been in use, the LookUp group reported gaining over 700,000 minutes of screen-free action in classrooms with students using it for over 50% of class time on average.
Under the pilot program with NHCS, the technology would at first be deployed in a handful of classrooms at four different high schools. Interim Superintendent Christopher Barns suggested two traditional and two specialty schools for one semester to see how students and teachers respond.
Professor Ebrahimi said the group would explore different reward systems to test effectiveness. This could look like rewards being given out on a monthly basis, at the end of the semester, all semester long as earned and not knowing if there is a reward for locking down phones.
The board would be presented with monthly updates on the app’s progress and data results as well.
After the board indicated support at Tuesday’s meeting, Barnes said he would bring up incorporating the app at his principals’ meeting in a couple weeks to ensure they like the idea too.
NHCS has been grappling with student cellphone use for the last several, as have other districts nationwide.. More than 70% of high school teachers say student phone distraction is a “major problem” per a Pew Research survey completed this year.
Cellphone use was one of three topics at the employee town hall NHCS hosted in August and teachers have requested stricter measures as part of the district’s recent climate survey, citing problems with student attention.
Students also are using social media or group chats to commit cyberbullying or taking or sharing illicit — and illegal — photos, officials have reported. In a meeting with the board in July, New Hanover County Assistant DA Ashton Herring told the board there was a rise in child pornography cases among minors with three cases in the last six months. Herring said she is seeing more cases where the photos or recordings are taken as a joke, often by extending phones over bathroom stalls. No matter the intention, students can be charged with a felony for possessing or sharing the content.
According to the New York Times, eight states have passed a law, order or rule restricting cellphone use in schools to combat distracted learning. Many districts are opting for all-out bans of cellphones, though some parents are resistant to school employees taking their child’s phone due to safety reasons and being unable to reach their student during an emergency.
“On the surface, it’s looking like a really simple fix, a really simple solution, but if we take a look at the historical context of the solution and and look at the institutions in which it’s been enforced, we can actually say it’s not that easy, and a lot of these institutions have tried this and failed,” Anderson said on Tuesday.
He pointed out both New York City and California departments of education lifted their bans after safety concern pushback.
Locally, Brunswick County Schools purchased lockable cellphone pouches from the company Yondr and decided to pilot with the company.
Used at entertainment venues, Yondr magnetic pouches are now being deployed in school districts across the U.S. Students store their phones at the start of the day to be unlocked at day’s end at free-standing bases located either outside or inside buildings, such as exits or stairway entries.
NHCS explored the Yondr pouch solution in August, though at $30 a pouch and negative support from some employees at the town hall, the district has not taken further steps on the technology.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
