The Toronto Star ran an interesting article today regarding the use of cellphones in the classroom by students (basically elementary and secondary): http://www.thestar.com/article/86134...-mcguinty-says.

Most people's reaction (as evidenced in the Comments) is that the thought is outrageous, in effect handing the control of the asylum over to the residents.

Yet, on the other hand, is this in fact not inevitable as tablets and devices like the eDGe are promoted for use in the classroom? If you have such a device in your hand, you're going to have full social networking capability, not to mention full and immediate access to Google and Wikipedia, for example, in addition to the use intended by the teacher. Obviously, no one's going to be talking into these devices - the cacophany clearly isn't allowable.

Or will schools have to somehow lock down these devices so you can't IM in the middle of class? And how would you do this unless the school is supplying the devices, much like corporations provide locked-down desktops and laptops to their employees?

Ultimately, while this discussion seems too early perhaps, we indeed are looking at a future where we'll have to come to grips with instant communication and information retrieval in the classroom. And how are we could to adjust to this without sinking into complete anarchy and loss of educational efficacy?