Living in the 4th Screen

This article on Scholastic.com gives advice on how to handle cell phones in the classroom. What I found interesting was the section on using cell phones as part of the lesson. Below is an excerpt from the article:

DO Use Texting to Teach Summarizing
Jennifer Kuszmerski, a language arts teacher, uses text messaging to invite students to summarize what they've learned in a given class period. To close a lesson, ask students, "If you had to text what you learned today to one of your friends, what would you say?" "Texts are short bursts of information that get to the point quickly, and students understand that," says Kuszmerski. "If a student can summarize what he or she learned in a sentence or two, it's easy to see if your objective has been met for the day."

DO Use Texting to Discuss Language
To teach students the formal rules of writing, write a sentence on the board, such as "Can you come to my Valentine's Day party?" Ask students to translate the sentence into a text message (i.e., "v-day party 2-nite u should come"). Then, ask them to rewrite that same sentence as if it were in an e-mail to a teacher. ("Ms. Walker, would you like to come to my Valentine's Day party on Thursday night?") Considering audience and revising for tone teaches kids that different forms of writing are appropriate at different times. Marika Dietsch, a seventh-grade language arts teacher, also uses text-speak to demonstrate how language evolves. "My students can't believe that Shakespeare is considered modern English!" says Dietsch. "We talk about how language changes over time, and they make the connection to the abbreviations they use for texting."

I think these are some creative ways to use cell phones as part of a lesson. Has anyone else used texting in this way or in some other way to support a particular lesson? Follow the link above to read the full article.

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There are responsible ways to incorporate cellphone use into classrooms, and we may be doing students a disservice by allowing draconian anti-cellphone policies to persist in schools.

There are other questions thoughtful school leadership teams should consider. Incorporating laptops or other technologies into a classroom can be time-consuming and frustrating, for example. At my middle school, we have a wireless network with mobile laptop carts. But the computers are fast becoming outdated, and the boot time is painfully slow on some machines. For a student with a cellphone, however, the time to “boot up” and retrieve, create, or share information is comparatively minuscule. This could be a major advantage for teachers wanting to incorporate quick Web searches, collaboration, or idea sharing, and it also lessens the pressure on school wireless-network infrastructures.

How cool would it be if school announcements were sent to students on their phones? Or, instead of using a blaring PA system, the main office could text a student to come and pick up the lunch he or she forgot on the counter at home? Or perhaps students could openly record cellphone video of teachers for test-review purposes. Or teachers could send texted reminders to students about homework assignments.

I use Outlook to send text message reminders to students who have a detention. If a student misses a detention they have it doubled. To avoid this I send the students a reminder between the last two periods of the day. The students love it and it has cut down on the number of students who miss detentions. I use the Delayed Delivery option in Outlook to set this up.

Finally Barnwell states the following:

Opponents of this type of innovative approach are likely to bring up the potential distractions and abuses that cellphones in school can certainly create, like covert and sneaky text or picture messaging between friends. But guess what? We did the same thing back in our day, writing notes to our friends on actual paper. Inappropriate communication in school will never cease. I expect, however, that structured use of cellphones in my classroom would reduce the temptation to use them in irresponsible ways.

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Watch the video below to see some interesting facts regarding internet usage. The video is similar to the popular Did You Know video series.

via Moving at the Speed of Creativity

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

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Below is the course syllabus for a semester course being offered at Columbia University. The course is taught by Nabeel Ahmad and Dominic Mentor.

Click here to download:

Mobile Technology.pdf (220 KB)

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Below is a video about a University of Texas professor using Twitter as part of classroom discussions. Using their cell phones or computers students can post to Twitter and the professor has these responses projected onto a screen in the front of the room. Nowhere in the video does it discuss the interaction between the live in-class lecture and the Twitter posts.

I like the idea that students can post to Twitter, as this probably provides a forum for shy students to provide some input into the class discussion (A point brought out by a few of the students in the video). I also thought it was interesting how the professor participated in one of the classroom lectures via Twitter when she was out of town. The TA led the class but the professor engaged the students in her Twitter posts. That is a nice use of technology.

At the same time I find the 140 character limit of Twitter to be frustrating. The limit makes me feel like I am having a bunch of conversations that get cut off midway through the discussion. Maybe I will feel differently in time as I just started using Twitter with any regularity. I do like the real time nature of Twitter (Last night's updates on the Chile earthquake where way ahead of the mainstream media). I find the hash tags (#) and @ symbols mixed within posts to be frustrating. I have a programming background and understand characters and such, but what about the non-geek world? Can we come up with a Twitter-like experience that is real time, but allows more characters and eliminates these ( #@!&) symbols in the post?

Does Twitter or any real-time feed have a place in education?

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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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In an Education Week article reporters Katie Ash and Michelle Davis raise the idea that students should be involved in making decisions about how technology is integrated into the educational process. They write:

Discussions of technology in education typically center on what policymakers, academic experts, and educators would like to see happen in the classroom. Rarely heard are the voices of those who are actively test-driving new forms of technology: the students.

A 2008 survey, for instance, suggests there is growing frustration among students that they have to “power down” their use of technology when they enter school buildings. They are concerned that this reality is slowing the development of skills they’ll need to compete in a technology-driven global economy.

That’s why many ed-tech advocates say it’s important to consider student perspectives when making decisions about technology policy and how digital tools should be used in classrooms.That’s why many ed-tech advocates say it’s important to consider student perspectives when making decisions about technology policy and how digital tools should be used in classrooms.

The article goes on to discuss certain typs of technology being used at particular schools. The article also has lots of quotes from students. You can follow the link above to read the complete article. My intention in this post is not to debate what type of hardware or software schools should invest in, but I think the authors raise a valid question about the role students have in drafting school technology plans. I know when I wrote the state technology plan for the district I was working in at the time I had students on the committee that drafted the tech plan. I also had parents, administrators, board members, and teachers on the comittee. I think students bring a perspective to the discussion that only they can voice. Hearing from them may cause you to pursue different plans and help your technology intiatives gain deeper traction and have a larger impact on improving teaching and learning. I think getting input from the student body is an important precursor to drafting a school technology plan. Besides having students serving on the technology committee I also would randomly survey about 200 students on a board range of technology initiatives. Their input was crucial to developing a successful technology plan for the district. I think we need their input.

How about at your school? What role do students play in drafting your technology plans?

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• The price. Apple exceeded my expectations on what I thought the tablet would cost.
• The long battery life. Who knows how long it will actually be, but 10 hours is nice.
• The size and weight. Thin and light.
• Email. I liked the way it displayed on the device.
• The calendar also looked nice.
• The price for AT&T's 3G connection. $30/month for unlimited use is reasonable. Maybe it will drive down other wireless companies prices.
• The dock with a keyboard. I used to own a Slate Tablet PC. Sometimes you want a keyboard.
• The case that folds into a wedge. Clever and useful. See below.

• The tablet is screaming to be written on using a stylus. Look at the picture above. I envision one of these on every student's desk using a stylus to write down notes and draw diagrams. The stylus is about writing in ink not about converting it to text. Those who are new to tablet PC's think handwriting to text conversion is what you get a tablet for. No. You use a tablet to quickly write down notes or jot an email in your own handwriting and leave it like that. Use One Note or Evernote to search your handwritten notes.
• No flash. How stupid did it look when Steve Jobs was showing the NY Times page at one point and there was a little blue cube showing that the flash animation was not visible. Apple, either work out your differences with Adobe or develop you own product to make the flash animations work. This is already frustrating on my iPhone.
• No SD card reader or a USB port. I thought either one of these would have been useful.
• No multi-tasking. A device this size with a decent processor and 10 hours of battery life should allow for multi-tasking.
• The need to tether it to a laptop to sync or backup. We need to move away from this model. Can't we have full over the air synching and backup.

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