Nowadays, a smartphone is an integral part of a person’s life. Everybody uses it: elders, adults, teens, and children. When it comes to school students, there are countless conversations about whether to allow or completely forbid phones at school. It’s well known that students often use phones to cheat on tests and even exams. These things challenge academic integrity, so many schools try to fight it differently. One of them is using phones with privacy features. In this article, you will learn all about these devices that help so many teachers and other education workers.
Academic Integrity Statistics
According to Measure Learning, between 50% and 70% of students admit to cheating during their studies. This number raises several concerns. First, cheating is common, with more than half of undergraduate students getting involved.
Second, researchers acknowledge that self-reported cheating data is often underreported. Higher education is no exception; many reports indicate that self-reported cheating figures are unreliable. A recent study found that over half of respondents admitted to cheating, and more than 25% confessed to lying on one or more survey questions. Interestingly, when questions were asked indirectly, the admission rate nearly tripled, showing that students are hesitant to admit to cheating when asked directly.
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What are Phones with Privacy Features?
Phones with privacy features are phones that have pre-installed advanced security measures designed to protect data and overall help to deal with such problems at school as cheating, using plagiarized content in assignments, distractions during classes, and so much more.
These devices have such key characteristics:
- Data encryption. If the phone is stolen or lost, the data on it will be scrambled to prevent it from getting into the arms of unauthorized users.
- Secure messaging. User’s messages and conversations are protected with an end-to-end encryption, so they are not monitored or intercepted.
- Remote wiping. In case the device gets lost or stolen, the entire data carried on it can be easily erased.
- App management. Often students get distracted from learning and go to play their favorite games on their phones or scroll social media. This feature allows schools to restrict the installation of certain apps and games to prevent distraction.
- Content filtering. This allows schools to filter and block all of the inappropriate content.
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The Best Security Apps for Education
There are many different apps and programs that you can find that promise you security. There are different types of these, but one of the more common ones is VPN apps. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which protects users by encrypting data and masking IP addresses. This allows browser activity, identity, and location information to be hidden, providing greater privacy and autonomy. A VPN can come in handy for anyone who wants a safer, freer, and more secure online experience. One of the most recommended ones is the VeePN app. It changes your virtual location by giving you a new IP address. This is possible by connecting to one of over 2,500 VPN servers in 60 countries.
Challenges and Considerations
As wonderful as it can be, the implementation of phones with privacy programs has its challenges and issues.
First of all, likely, these devices will not be very affordable. The burden of the high price is the first issue that will rise, especially for schools with a limited budget. It can be expected that private schools will be the first ones to implement this technology since they have more finances. Schools that won’t have such a financial opportunity will have to rely on something else first but will eventually get this technology too.
Second, student trust may become a problem. Teenagers become extremely cautious about their private information and may hesitate to trust these school policies. It is important to build trust and be transparent with students about this. It takes time but eventually, it will work out.
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Finally, maintenance of the programs can be very resource-consuming. Updating the devices and keeping up with what is more relevant can become a significant challenge. Another problem is the dependency. Do not rely on technology too much. This extensive codependency can hinder the student’s ability to think critically and solve problems independently.
Conclusion
In conclusion, phones have become an irreplaceable tool for people. We use them every day for communication, getting information, and learning. However, they also create problems in the education field. To solve these issues, phones with advanced security features have been introduced in educational settings. These devices are designed to beat cheating and plagiarism. Despite these advancements, it’s needed to know that these devices also come with their own problems that need attention, such as the potential of relying on technology too much and the risk of cyberbullying.