Living in the 4th Screen

This article on the gainsvilletimes.com highlights another high school that is easing their restrictions on student cell phone use during the school day. Below are some quotes from the article:

The Hall County Board of Education approved Principal Mark Coleman’s plan to begin easing regulation on cell phone use between classes and during lunch.

“We feel like it’s time to start looking at and embracing technology and utilizing it as best as possible,” Coleman told board members. “(The pilot program) may not work. We may be back here saying we need to scrap this, but I believe this is what’s coming in the future.”

Coleman cited an example of a similar initiative at a Florida high school, which he said saw school deferrals for cell phone use drop 85 percent.

“I think we have so gotten beyond banning that we ought to be talking about ethical use of technology, not blocking technology,” Superintendent Will Schofield said.

Flowery Branch teachers Bridget Rodriguez and Kim Grennan said allowing cell phone use during limited hours would give students the opportunity to check messages from and arrange after-school plans with their parents. It would also open up more possibilities in the classroom, such as communicating with other schools outside the state or country.

“The more privilege and responsibility you give (students), they actually step up to the plate and they appreciate and respond to those responsibilities in a manner that we expect them to,” Rodriguez said. “I also believe technology is not going away.”

Grennan took advantage of students’ cell phones when she ran out of calculators during a lab experiment.

“As a parent, I know that sometimes I even message (my middle school student),” she said. “I guarantee there are some other parents in here that have had to do the same thing.”

But teaching responsible cell phone use could prepare students for the future, she said.

Great statements from the school leaders and teachers. Most of what they said in the article is what we have experienced at the school I work at. We eased our restrictions this year and we saw a decline in the first half of the year in our cell phone violations. An over whelming majority of our students have responded positively to the increased freedom in cell phone use. For the record we allow students to use their cell phones during the passing time between classes and during their lunch break. We do have a few teachers that are using student cell phones as part of their lessons.

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The BBC's education service Janala is delivering English lessons via mobile phones to users in Bangladesh. Since the service was launched in November 2009, over 1 million lessons have been accessed. Bangladesh has 50 million mobile users within it's borders. The service offers hundreds of three-minute audio lessons and SMS (Text) quizzes to the users for a nominal fee. The service is accessed by dialing "3000" and choosing from the menu of options. The BBC has a website that compliments the service and gives users free access to content.

The goal of the BBC in creating the service was to bring English language learning to the masses because it is the international language of business.

More than two-thirds of people who use the beginners' service return, which is impressive considering the 5% "return rate" for mobile products in Bangladesh. The BBC said overall 39% of callers returned to Janala.

An impressive majority of Bangladeshis – 84% – consider English essential to securing a good job and educating their children, according to a BBC survey.

"We knew demand for English was strong in Bangladesh, but the response to BBC Janala has been nothing short of phenomenal," said Chamberlain.

"The growth of mobile is clearly creating an opportunity to provide access to education in a way simply not possible before."

The last quote from the article is the most compelling. The technology is providing a service that would be impossible without the technology. This is just one of many examples I have read about over the last few months that highlights how mobile phones are being used to educate people in very poor countries where internet access via a computer is not the norm or cost prohibitive.

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In this WKBT.com article it talks about the Cashton School District in Wisconsin that is using iPods and iPod Touches in the classroom. Below are some quotes from the article:

"If we think about the world that we're preparing them for, it's not a world of textbooks and pencils," says Cashton Elementary principal Ryan Alderson.

The Cashton School District is preparing students by bringing some of the latest technology into the classroom.

"We use the SMART boards or the iPods or the iPod touch on almost a daily basis," says Cashton Elementary teacher Beth Lee.

It's not just at the high school level, First and second graders practice their arithmetic on the iPod touch, and are already learning the basics of Microsoft Publisher.

"By using technology it really does individualize their instruction," says Alderson.

For example, an entire class could watch a video together, but the iPod touch allows each student to take in the information at his or her own pace.

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Gumly House Convent School is an all girls Catholic School in London. They have just undertaken a pilot study where they are giving 30 students iPhones to use throughout their school day. Below is an excerpt from the schools webpage:

30 students have been given the loan of an iPhone 3GS until then end of the academic year. They will be able to use these devices as part of their every day lessons in school and use them in whichever way they feel will aid their learning, working closely with their teachers and with Mr. Byrne (Assistant Head Teacher).  The increasing availability of ‘apps’ (applications) on these phones means that a wealth of possibilities may be accessed, and the group involved in the study will meet at regular intervals to share ideas on how they are being used as well as look at their regular attainment to see if, in reality, and change in learning can be monitored.

I like the idea of the students meeting at regular intervals to share their discoveries on how they are using the new iPhones. This allows the students to be both learners and teachers. I applaud this school for undertaking this study. I own an iPhone and find it to be incredibly useful in my daily life. As I have researched cell phones in education this past year I have tried to focus on just regular cell phones because I know many high school students do not own smartphones such as the iPhone. I wanted to offer solutions that would be available to most students and teachers. At the same time I cannot overlook the incredible potential the iPhone and iPod Touch offer K-12 education. The ways these tools could be used in schools is almost unfathomable. I will be interested to see the results of this study. What will be most interesting will be the unintended consequences of giving the students the iPhones. What uses will the students come up with that the administration never even thought of?

On a post from the Public Technology website that is following the study it says the following:

Simon Elledge, Manager at Brentford CLC commented: “In most schools mobile phones are viewed as distractions and banned from the classroom. But, as technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives, we wanted to understand how it could be used positively in the learning environment. The girls on the trial are encouraged to use the iPhones as much as possible, with permission from teachers of course. They will be monitored using questionnaires, spot checks and individual feedback and the data collected will be independently analysed and shared with the other 104 CLCs nationwide to the benefit of pupils throughout the UK.”

The picture below is from the Brentford CLC website. 

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The Journal just released it's list of the top 5 K-12 Technology Trends for 2010 . Number 4 on the list states that Personal Devices will Infiltrate the Classroom. According to the authors, one reason student's personal devices will be welcomed into the school building will be the lack of funds for technology purchases. Below is an excerpt from the article:

The fact that most smart phones come with wireless capabilities and larger screens makes them particularly relevant in the K-12 space, where "after the stimulus money runs out, we're going to be in trouble in terms of federal money for technology," said Abshire. "The next logical step is for the devices to come into school."

Purdy concurred and said the fact that some students are getting their own wireless devices by second or third grade will accelerate the trend. "We used to think this was a 'teen' phenomenon," said Purdy. "But its now culturally acceptable for someone as young as seven or eight years old to have a cell phone. It won't be long before every student will have access to one or more wireless, portable devices in the classroom."

I agree with the authors on this point and many of my previous posts on this blog have stated this. Students are coming to school everyday with a powerful computing device that most schools ban. As technology funds dry up and smartphone prices drop the pressure will increase to allow student's to bring their personal digital devices into school.

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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.

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