Cell Phones & Google Voice in a World Language Classroom - Perfect Together!
There is a great article in the December issue of Educause about using cell phones in a World Language classroom. The writer talks about using Google Voice as the tool to capture student recordings. I have a Google Voice account and I never thought of using it this way. I supervise the World Language Department at the high school where I work. There are teachers in my world language department who are using cell phones as an instructional tool but they are using different platforms to capture the student recordings.
Follow the link above to read the full article. Below are the key takeaways listed at the beginning of the article:
via Liz Kolb from CellPhonesInLearning
- To pursue a paradigm shift in education with limited finances, schools should consider taking advantage of ubiquitous cell phone technology for pedagogical purposes that square with best practices within appropriate disciplines.
- New Internet SMS and messaging services are proving especially useful to language teachers, turning the focus away from the particulars of language and writing and toward whole language oral output and pronunciation, even at the beginner level.
- Cell phones give faculty access to students both in and out of the classroom, providing greater power to instruct, persuade, cajole, encourage, motivate, and engage.
- Students who record their voices in computer language labs or using cell phones become more engaged and invested in those potentially public recordings.
It is generally accepted that students work harder and become more engaged and invested in activities and assignments that might be publicly posted (on the Internet or otherwise). My own experience shows that students required to record speech of any kind in a computer laboratory setting spend considerable time preparing prior to recording. The very act of recording their voices — creating a permanent record of their speech — instilled a strong desire to perform well. In short, the act of recording increased students’ investment and engagement in the learning process.
This is a key observation Jobes makes. She backs up her statements by the results of an informal survey she conducted on the students in one of her classes. I know the few times teachers in my school have used student cell phones to capture student recordings they have had very positive experiences.The article is well written and worth your time to read it in it's entirety.via Liz Kolb from CellPhonesInLearning
