Often when schools undertake a 1:1 technology device initiative it is all done at once, meaning teachers and students get the devices at the same time. My experience tells me this is not the best approach. I find that one of the biggest barriers to long term systemic classroom integration of technology is the confidence level of the teacher. Teachers do not want to look like fools in front of their classes. They want to be able to use the hardware and software properly and know what to do if a technical glitch arises. It is for this reason that I think schools should give new hardware devices to the teachers first. Let them play with them for a while and really get to know how to use the device and become comfortable with it. Then, and only then, roll out the devices to the students. In a report I am reading through as part of my research on mobile phones in education it says the following:

In similar projects using PDAs, McFarlane, Roche and Triggs (2007) found that teachers appreciated having time to play with the devices and explore their potential before using them in teaching, and that the presence of mentors appeared to increase the use of the devices. They suggest that it is teachers’ confidence, relationship with their classes and attitude to taking risks that have the greatest effect on implementation of such technologies.

The above mentioned research seems to support my contention that teacher confidence is an important aspect to consider when designing technology initiatives. What do you think? What has been your experience?

For the record the report I mentioned above is titled, How Mobile Phones Help Learning in Secondary Schools. The report is well worth reading and can be found at the link above.

What is HandSchooling? According to the the Golden Swamp blog it is:

Owning an individual mobile device with wireless broadband browsing activates handschooling for the student it belongs to.

Handschooling can happen in classrooms, on school buses, at home, in a village with no school, in a slum with no school, for children schooled at home, for girls not allowed to go to school -- and in any other situation where a youngster's curiosity motivates him or her to connect the the golden swamp to learn something.

This is the first I have heard the term HandSchooling. It is an interesting concept. With nearly ubiquitous internet access today in the United States what is there to learn that can not be found online?

I like the access that HandSchooling provides to populations where education might not be available i.e. poor nations and women in some countries. A mobile internet device to these groups of people is a beacon of hope.

Judy Breck, a New York based expert in open content, recently wrote on her Golden Swamp blog a post titled, The Scarcity of Learning Sources is Contrived, the Best Stuff is Free. It is a thought provoking post. I am not sure I agree with everything she writes, but some of her points coincide with what I have been stating here on my blog. She writes:

The gushing spigots of money poured into analog educational materials manufacture a scarcity that belies the reality of 21st century learning resources. Billions alloted into the printed walled gardens of textbooks and digital walled gardens of for-pay school resources deepen economic woes ...

Teaching and learning should now, and inevitably* will, use the open internet instead. An individual’s mobile internet browser will become the primary access to knowledge for each student and teacher. We should be working to make this happen soon. “Shame on us” when we do not do so.

I agree completely that a mobile device will become the primary access to knowledge for all students. When I started this blog and my research on mobile devices in education I was not sure what role these devices should or would play in a school setting. I am now more than convinced that the mobile space is where the future lies for education. More and more content will be accessible via a mobile phone and the devices and associated costs will begin to become more affordable. This will drive adoption to even greater numbers than currently exists.

Ms. Breck, in her post, goes on to say:

Now that learning resources are emergent online, it is only a matter of time before they break down the garden walls of learning resources. What broke the grip of the music industry and is now going on with main stream media will happen soon to educational materials. It has already begun.

She predicts the paradigm shift that has taken place in the music industry, and now in print journalism, will soon happen with educational resources as well. Provocative ideas to say the least. Follow the link above to read the full post.

Last week someone rear-ended me while I was at a stop light. My car was damaged pretty good and the other person's car was severely damaged. This is the first real car accident I was involved in. First I made sure the other person was okay and then using my iPhone I called 911. The police were on the scene in minutes. I spoke with the officer and gave him my paperwork. I then called my insurance company to find out exactly what information they would need from the accident in order for me to file a report. Then I called home to let my wife know what had happened. Later that evening I went to the Emergency room because I was hurting over pretty much all over my body. As I said earlier this was the first accident I was in and I was not sure what information the hospital would want. Using my iPhone I took pictures of important documents and the case number. Sure enough when I got to the hospital they wanted some of the information that I had taken pictures of. Needless to say, I was glad that I had a mobile phone as it proved to be helpful in this situation.

The next day I got a rental car to hold me over while my car was being fixed. I went with a simple Ford Focus. Much to my surprise the car was equipped with Microsoft's Sync technology. I immediately synced up my iPhone to the service. It was pretty easy to do. During the pairing process it asked me if I wanted to download my contact list. The service works quite well and I wish I had the service in my Toyota. I use a Jabra S700 Bluetooth Speaker that works very well, but it is not as nice as Microsoft's Sync technology. I can even use Sync to stream the music from my iPhone over the cars speaker system. Overall I am very pleased with the Sync software and how it operates in the Ford Focus. Even though the accident was an unpleasant experience there are some good things that have come out of it.

Kerri Lee Beasley has listed 50 Educational apps to use on the iPhone or iPod Touch on her Tip of the Iceberg blog. Most of the apps listed are free. These apps would work in a school setting or for your own children at home while using your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Kerri teaches at the United World College of South East Asia located in Singapore.

According to the Times Online in the UK, Google will be launching their own smartphone. The article states Google will offer free calls throughout the US and cheap international calls. The Google branded handset will run the new Android OS codenamed Flan, have a processor twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS, and a large touchscreen. Google wants their phone to be carrier agnostic.

The article in the Times Online goes on to say:

The real breakthrough, however, will come with the marriage of the Googlephone to Google Voice, the Californian company’s high-tech phone service. Google Voice gives US users a free phone number and allows unlimited free calls to any phone in the country — landline or mobile.

“We’ve never had this situation, where a single vendor controls the entire stack, from the operating system right up to Google’s cloud services,” says Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Northeast Securities. “It changes the competitive and bargaining dynamics like never before.”

I have been saying since I started this blog that the mobile phone wars would heat up. That will in turn increase competition, drive down prices, and cause widespread adoption. I did not expect this to happen so fast and that Google would throw down the gauntlet in this way. This should be fun to watch. If Google can really pull off free calls from any where that could be another paradigm shift like the first iPhone was.

The implications for education are limitless. I still believe in due time school networks will be irrelevant. Students will just access the cloud via a cellular network and bypass the schools network all together.

“Outside the classroom learners are building up new rich media literacies as they create their own habitus of learning in everyday life. We propose that schools should, and ultimately must, recognise and embrace this change. However, we are aware that such a perspective provides a challenge to our conceptions of where the boundaries of formal education are positioned.”

Bachmair, Pachler and Cook state that ”Educationally, knowledge and media are cultural resources, which are no longer controlled and governed by the school.” Our schools should not be a place that students are rendered unable to engage with the culture in which they exist. Educators should instead be embracing these devices and their capacity to improve the learning agendas set within the formal environment of a school.

CEO of Dynamic Controls, Charlotte Walshe mentioned, “We recognised the iPhone has revolutionized the way people communicate and saw the opportunity to develop this solution for wheelchair users, taking full advantage of Apple’s ‘Works with iPod / Made for iPhone’ developer program.”

For one, students don't like to buy things. Especially digital things. Many strapped-for-cash college kids aren't buying songs at a dollar a pop. Why would they buy books they can find free in their university library or on Google Books?

But you get the convenience of reading and browsing on your iPod, right?
C'mon, have you ever tried reading anything substantial on that tiny screen? The Kindle app is great, but we can't get through a chapter without our eyes bursting into flames.

Nokia today released their N900 in the United States. Nokia is positioning the device as a computer in your pocket. Below is a quote from the press release:

 "Consumers from every segment of the population are looking for more out of their mobile device - more power, more ability, more connectivity. The Nokia N900 ushers in a new era with a very powerful mobile computer," said Alessandro Lamanna, Vice President, Retail Sales, Nokia.

As I have stated in many different posts on this blog, mobile devices will only be gaining in popularity and in computing power. The Nokia N900 is another step in that direction. As features and computing power increase in mobile devices and costs are driven down by competition, more of these devices will be showing up at schools. Now is the time to prepare for their arrival.

Gartner has released a list of the top 10 mobile applications for the year 2012. The factors influencing the decision to include the applications were based on their impact on consumers and industry players, revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value, and estimated market penetration.

The press release acknowledges the increased consumer interest in smartphones. The list is below. Follow the link above to read detailed explanations of each item on the list.

Top 10 Consumer Mobile Applications for 2012
 1: Money Transfer
 2: Location-Based Services
 3: Mobile Search
 4: Mobile Browsing
 5: Mobile Health Monitoring
 6: Mobile Payment
 7: Near Field Communication Services
 8: Mobile Advertising
 9: Mobile Instant Messaging
10: Mobile Music

This article describes a Japanese company that has come up with an innovative use of the iPhone. Just slide your iPhone into a children's picture book and it becomes an interactive learning experience. The product is called the PhoneBook. Watch the video below to see the PhoneBook in action.

Amazon is letting a select few of it's customers pilot a new system that sends text messages when their package is shipped and when it is delivered. 

If you frequently check online for the status of your Amazon orders then you might want to check this service out.

This is just another example of the mainstream acceptance of text messaging. More and more it is becoming the communication medium that people are using.

from jkontherun

soundAMP's advanced sound processor softens loud sounds and amplifies soft sounds to maximize hearing comfort.  soundAMP's processor is combined with audio filters designed to help with speech intelligibility, bringing the important sounds around you vividly into your life.

With soundAMP, you get sonic clarity at all volume levels, with limited distortion. The app allows you to adjust the tone and to improve the clarity of consonants. It even reduces the ambient and microphone