Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Autocorrect School Mishap

Autocorrect Results in School Lockdown

The title of this article alone caught my attention as I will browsing through my RSS feeds.  I was surprised to read that a student sent a text message to another student, a word had been autocorrected, and both the high school and middle school went under a lock down.  I agree with the schools for taking the proper precautions and ensuring the safety of all students.  

This is a prime example of how powerful technology can be in a short time.  The fact that the autocorrected message was sent to the wrong student may have been the reason the lock down occurred.  Whatever the reason, I feel the schools made the right choice. 

 My students, at the middle school I teach, are allowed to carry their cell phones with them but they can't be turned on.  Well we all know how well that works.  I have students getting calls and texts from their parents while in class.  We are supposed to confiscate the phone if we find it turned on and a parent has to come to the school to get the phone.  Some parents are irate about this policy, but we can see the immediacy of information being passed on with cell phone, cheating that can take place, and they interfere with learning.  While cell phones and technology definitely have their benefits we need to ensure we are using them for their intended purposes. 

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3 comments:

  1. Jaclyn HirschfieldMay 23, 2012 at 5:31 AM

    Wow! I definitely agree with the school for taking precautions. The middle school I'm at has a similar cell phone policy where the phones have to be off, however we are suppose to take phones away if we even see them in the classroom - turned on or off. The part of the article that caught my eye was the word that was autocorrected was "Gunna." So many kids, and adults for that matter, use slang words now, not just when texting but speaking and writing too. When was the last time you heard a student say, "I'm going to..."? I bet not as often as you hear, "I'm gonna..." Technology has definitely changed the way we communicate today!

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  2. jfcorneliusMay 25, 2012 at 9:45 AM

    I do agree with the schools for taking precautions auto-correct on phones is a weird thing. I had sent many wrong words to friends because of it but nothing like this. My middle schools policy is that phones are to be kept in the lockers and off. If we see it tell them to put it in their locker, 2nd time we see it take it till the end of class and have them put it in their locker, third time we see it the phone goes to the office and a parent has to come pick it up.
    I agree with Jaclyn technology has definitely change the way we all communicate today.

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  3. konra2kaMay 30, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    WOW! What a very interesting situation! It's crazy how technology (and its imperfections) can affect us and our schools. The elementary school has only had one problem with cell phones that I am aware of (very different from this case), but still surprising in an elementary setting. Apparently, a student called 911 from the school and said it was on fire! Although technology and communication can be great, we need to make sure students are using them appropriately to avoid such incidents.

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