A few weeks back my phone stopped charging. Now, for anyone who knows anything about me, you will know that I LOVE my phone. I love my social networking, and I love technology, so my phone is an essential part of my life.
Unfortunately, because it goes everywhere with me (except my bedroom when I sleep - radiation fries the brain, you know!) it has wound up getting rather wet at times. Four times, to be precise. Soaked, to be even more precise.
But each time, good 'ol Tastic rice lived up to its name and saved my phone from certain death. In the process, I got quite good at opening my phone and disassembling it, and then reassembling all the parts. The volume button died, so to change the volume I now have to go via the settings page, which is a lus, but to be honest, that's not a huge train smash, because I so seldom watch videos on my phone (and the volume for everything else is already set at a comfortable level), plus there's another short-cut I use for muting and un-muting.
However, there came a day when the connection point for my charger just died. Understandably. (Personally, I think my phone has put up with quite a bit of abuse from me, so I'm rather impressed with it!) But I don't have insurance (I only have life, medical and car insurance... I can't afford any other type of insurance.)
So off I went to my cell phone provider, to see what they would charge me. Firstly, it took them more than a week to give me a quote, because the phone had to be sent to Jo'burg. Ja. Apparently they don't do repairs here in Cape Town. But take a guess at the quote.... go on! Take a guess.
R1783. Let me say that again. R1783. That's nearly the cost of the phone today!
Forget that! There's no way I would pay that amount, even if I could afford it. That's daylight robbery if you ask me.
So I phoned and told them, rather politely, that they were insane, and exactly what they could do with that quote, and, oh yes!, to please send my phone back to me IMMEDIATELY.
Well, 'immediate' must be relative, because it took just over another week to get here. Sigh!
But there's a little cell phone shop in my shopping centre. A very nice, upmarket teeny weeny cell phone shop. What the hell, I thought - it couldn't be worse than what my provider wanted to make me pay. Right? It was worth a look in at least.
You can see where this story is going, right?
Yes, I got the guy in the rather nice, upmarket, teeny weeny cell phone shop to repair my phone.
Firstly, guess how long the repair took? Go on... take a wild guess...
1 day. Less than 24 hours in fact.
And then, guess what I got charged? Seriously - take a guess.
R250.
R250.
And I'm sure that he put the price UP after hearing my sob story. (When will I learn to lie to salespeople and stop wearing both my heart and my conscience on my sleeve??)
So let me ask you this - if some random little cell phone shop guy can not only fix it PRONTO, but can do it for a 7th of the price, how is it that cell phone shops get away with such daylight robbery???
Because people are suckers.
SUCKERS.
I hope I never have need of cell phone repairs again (although, maybe I should get my friendly cell phone shop man to look at the volume buttons for me...), but if I do, I know where I'm NOT going.
And nope, Trevor Noah, I won't be telling you about it either.
Showing posts with label cell phones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell phones. Show all posts
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Monday, March 05, 2012
#edchatsa
Hash tags. If you don't know what they are, then you clearly move in small circles. Twitter has got to be one of the greatest tools ever. I use it all the time, both personally and professionally. On a personal level, I keep in touch with family, friends and acquaintances, and find out info about my community (like weather, traffic, voting stations, shopping queue lengths, etc). Professionally, I use it to connect to other teachers, to bounce ideas off, to 'steal' ideas from, and to grow my own boundaries.
Tonight was the FIRST EVER online education chat for teachers in SA - hashtag is #edchatsa. Although I was late to the chat (other urgent commitments kept me away for a while), it was great to chat to some like-minded folk about stuff I'm passionate about. It's got me all fired up again about really doing the stuff I love. Now if only it weren't so late, and I had some time to plan a few activities around the things that are floating in my head....
Tonight was the FIRST EVER online education chat for teachers in SA - hashtag is #edchatsa. Although I was late to the chat (other urgent commitments kept me away for a while), it was great to chat to some like-minded folk about stuff I'm passionate about. It's got me all fired up again about really doing the stuff I love. Now if only it weren't so late, and I had some time to plan a few activities around the things that are floating in my head....
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Cell phone trial
A few folks who follow me on Twitter have been asking about a cell phone trial we'll be conducting at school starting this week. Although I have a class blog up and running, it's a closed readership to protect the kids taking part. I therefore reasoned that it might be a good idea, periodically, to post something about it here.
At the moment, the school has a no cell phones policy. If a child is found with a phone, it is confiscated (with SIM card as well) for a period of time and the child has to sit a DT before it may be returned to them.
From Wednesday a group of 50 Gd 11s (top academics) will be allowed to use their phones in their maths and LS classes only. The phones have to be handed in at reception in the morning where they will be placed in a box. This box will be collected at the start of the lesson, and returned to reception at the end of the lesson. Any of these kids found with their phone outside of these two lessons will suffer the normal penalties.
In class, the kids will be allowed to use their phones after they have signed a AUP. The AUP has a clause in it that states that if a teacher feels the use of the phone is disrupting the learning of others, or the owner, it will be removed. That's purely to cover us, so that if we need to we can remove the phones during lesson. Other than that, the kids may use their phones in any way. We're not going to restrict them too much at this stage.
Initially, we anticipate that they will use their phone for personal communication a lot. I don't anticipate that the personal communication will stop, much in the same way that teachers will send personal emails from work, or log on to Twitter or FB during their free lessons. What I hope for, and what we're aiming for, is the ultimate position where having the phones in lesson becomes so normalised that it becomes just another tool.
I'm hoping that the use of the phone will:
But what if it doesn't? A vast majority of schools in SA can't afford to buy ipads, or tablets, or notebooks, or even build another computer lab. Yet almost every child has access to a cell phone. In this land where the infrastructure for hard-wired computers is difficult to install because of the distances and terrain involved, and in an environment where so many are poor, cell phone learning has to be the way that education in SA will move. If I'm right (and if only I had the arrogance to say, in the words of Prince Humperdinck, "and I am never wrong"), and if this trial works, then maybe allowing cell phones in class is the way to move forward.
When the first computers were brought out, everyone scoffed. Look at the way they have revolutionised the world, and particularly the world of teaching. Everyone is so scared of using cell phones for a variety of good reasons. BUT. What if we as teachers learnt to engage with this technology, taught our kids how to engage with it responsibly, and then used it as a teaching tool. Surely then, cell phones would have the power to revolutionise teaching in much the same way that computers did originally?
We'll never know until we try. So I'm going to try.
In the words of a man I highly respect, Tony Reeler (head of Pretoria Boys High and the former head at our school), if you aim low, you will definitely achieve your goals, but if you aim high, you will achieve more than you thought you could, even if you don't reach your goals.
At the moment, the school has a no cell phones policy. If a child is found with a phone, it is confiscated (with SIM card as well) for a period of time and the child has to sit a DT before it may be returned to them.
From Wednesday a group of 50 Gd 11s (top academics) will be allowed to use their phones in their maths and LS classes only. The phones have to be handed in at reception in the morning where they will be placed in a box. This box will be collected at the start of the lesson, and returned to reception at the end of the lesson. Any of these kids found with their phone outside of these two lessons will suffer the normal penalties.
In class, the kids will be allowed to use their phones after they have signed a AUP. The AUP has a clause in it that states that if a teacher feels the use of the phone is disrupting the learning of others, or the owner, it will be removed. That's purely to cover us, so that if we need to we can remove the phones during lesson. Other than that, the kids may use their phones in any way. We're not going to restrict them too much at this stage.
Initially, we anticipate that they will use their phone for personal communication a lot. I don't anticipate that the personal communication will stop, much in the same way that teachers will send personal emails from work, or log on to Twitter or FB during their free lessons. What I hope for, and what we're aiming for, is the ultimate position where having the phones in lesson becomes so normalised that it becomes just another tool.
I'm hoping that the use of the phone will:
- help to extend those who are currently bored
- engage those who are currently too shy to participate in lessons
- increase collaboration between students
- raise attainment for all
- improve the quality of lessons as teachers become aware of misconceptions currently held or difficulties being faced with content
- enable learning to continue beyond the time limits of the lessons, making learning a whole-life experience (rather than a classroom experience)
- teach pupils to engage with technology respectfully and appropriately
- teach pupils how to monitor their online presence
- make lessons FUN (not at the expense of content and learning, but in addition to it)
But what if it doesn't? A vast majority of schools in SA can't afford to buy ipads, or tablets, or notebooks, or even build another computer lab. Yet almost every child has access to a cell phone. In this land where the infrastructure for hard-wired computers is difficult to install because of the distances and terrain involved, and in an environment where so many are poor, cell phone learning has to be the way that education in SA will move. If I'm right (and if only I had the arrogance to say, in the words of Prince Humperdinck, "and I am never wrong"), and if this trial works, then maybe allowing cell phones in class is the way to move forward.
When the first computers were brought out, everyone scoffed. Look at the way they have revolutionised the world, and particularly the world of teaching. Everyone is so scared of using cell phones for a variety of good reasons. BUT. What if we as teachers learnt to engage with this technology, taught our kids how to engage with it responsibly, and then used it as a teaching tool. Surely then, cell phones would have the power to revolutionise teaching in much the same way that computers did originally?
We'll never know until we try. So I'm going to try.
In the words of a man I highly respect, Tony Reeler (head of Pretoria Boys High and the former head at our school), if you aim low, you will definitely achieve your goals, but if you aim high, you will achieve more than you thought you could, even if you don't reach your goals.
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