ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? SPACE, CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVE IN THE REGULATION OF MP3 PLAYERS AND CELL PHONES IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Recently, there has been much media coverage about cell phone and personal music player usage in schools, including in the Toronto and Whitton regions. However, there is little literature on how students and teachers view rules on the use of such electronic devices. Using data gathered from focus groups with students in Toronto and Whitton and interviews with teachers and administrators from Whitton, we present the viewpoints from these stakeholders on the usage of cellphonesandpersonalmusicplayers. Weframethispreliminarydiscussion around six themes: the importance of context; public/private space and cyberbullying; safety; regulation and enforcement; and tension between integratedandperipheralusersofdigitaltechnology. Weconcludethattherole of such electronic devices in school is understood quite differently between administrators, teachers and students, that music players and cell phones are not equivalent and that movements towards top-down „blanket‟ rules limit input from most stakeholders.