A while back I wrote about Project K-Nect going on in a school in North Carolina (Click here to read the post). This article I recently read on O'Reilly Radar talks about the project in more detail. Project K-Nect was a small pilot were 150 ninth-graders were given cell phones to use 24/7, but primarily as a tool in their algebra class. The pilot project, by all accounts, was very successful. As I read this recent article I was intrigued by a few of the authors observations.

Midway through the article the author writes:

A final observation is that having a digitally mediated component to the learning environment can be surprisingly inclusive. As teachers in Project K-Nect began to experiment with using the blogs and instant messaging for discussing math in the classroom, an unexpected (to us) dynamic emerged. It turns out that many kids who don't like speaking up in class are completely comfortable speaking up online. Students who don't like to raise their hands use the devices to ask questions or participate in collaborative problem solving. There appears to be something democratizing about having a "back channel" as part of the learning environment.

 As a former math teacher of 18 years I know how difficult it can be for students to ask questions about mathematics in front of their peers. Using the cell phones leveled the playing field for these students. I don't see how you can duplicate this result without the cell phones and the social networks that emerged around the devices.

 The other comment made by the author that I found interesting was that the "connected learning community had a significant and unanticipated impact on these students." Below is the quote in context:

Much of the teaching has also shifted to problem-based learning. I was fascinated to see an example of this on one visit. The students worked in groups to develop a public service announcement describing the dangers of compound interest and credit card debt. They then made a video of their commercial using their cell phones and posted it to the shared blog. Not only did they learn by discussing and debating as a team how best to communicate compound interest, but they then had the resulting video to refer to when it came time to review for the test. In fact, they had everyone's videos at their fingertips via their cell phone browsers. If one team's explanation didn't kindle the "aha" moment, another one just might. Once again, the connected learning community had a significant and unanticipated impact on these students.

As you read the article you will learn about the significant impact the project had on the students involved. What I find interesting is that it is not the device that had the impact, but the access the device provided. The mobile device allowed the learning to move beyond the four walls of the classroom and provided 24/7 access and enough of a barrier where students felt free to open up and discuss mathematics in creative ways. How do you accomplish this without the mobile devices?

The other interesting thing is that the social networking impact was unanticipated. The researchers did not plan for it. It happened organically. How exciting is that? I will be interested to see how Project K-Nect moves forward and what they discover about using cell phones in the classroom.