
What is more disruptive, banning cell phones and requiring teachers to confiscate them, or embracing student cell phones and teaching students how to use them more responsibly. For the 2009-2010 school year we changed our cell phone policy at the school were I serve as an assistant principal. We allow students to use their cell phones in between classes and in the cafeteria during their lunch period. The rest of the school day is instructional time and their cell phones are to be off and out of site unless a teacher is using them as part of the lesson.Additionally, we made another change to our cell phone policy. We no longer require teachers to confiscate a student's cell phone if they violate the policy. We tell the teachers to write up a conduct report and turn it in to the main office and we will handle it from there. Our goal was to eliminate the classroom struggle that ensues between the teacher and a student when there is a cell phone policy violation.The school I work in is a high school with about 1050 students. It is a middle to upper-middle class neighborhood. Almost all of our students carry a cell phone and an iPod of some sort.
Overall we have not had an increase in cell phone policy violations versus the same time last year when we did not allow cell phones to be used during the school day. In all honesty the students treated the change in the policy like it was no big deal. Many students have told me that by allowing them to use their phones it has removed the temptation to take them out at other times when it would be inappropriate.In all honesty I expected the violations for this school year (09-10) to be higher. One of the reasons I expected higher numbers was because teachers do not have to confiscate the student's cell phone when the student violates the policy. I thought this change in procedure would result in more discipline reports. Not the case.
I'm excited to use Pandora because it's free and I already had a bunch of Latino stations I can use in the classroom. I can use this to play during a do now or other "down time" where students are entering or exiting or working quietly. It does have commercials but it seems like there is no interruption for continuous play.
Just thought I would share. Not sure how many other people use music in the classroom, but this certainly makes it easier. No need to bring the iPod or buy a ton of songs on ITUNEs which I have done already.
A recent article in Edutopia.org talks about using iPods as voice recording devices to provide feedback to students who are learning to read. According to the article the students can listen to themselves reading and it provides the "missing mirror" in terms of reading instruction. The last thing students with poor reading skills want to do is read aloud in front of their peers. Having students read into an iPod provides a non-threatening outlet for students to listen to themselves read. Apparently this process also improved the students ability to read.
Evidence of Student OutcomesEscondido and Canby classrooms are seeing large gains in the speed of student reading, one part of reading fluency. In a Canby fourth-grade classroom of sixteen students, from the fall to mid-year assessment of reading fluency, when average increase in word count per minute (WCPM) is 12, the average in the iPod classroom was close to 20. (WCPM measures the pace of reading; accuracy is another component of fluency.) Most students achieved more than double the average expected.In an Escondido fourth-grade class of ten students, average increase was 48 WCPM in just six weeks. At the start of fourth grade, all of the students lagged behind the 120 WCPM goal for third-grade completion. Within the six-week period, more than half of them had caught up and surpassed the goal for fourth-grade completion, making more than a year's progress in that period.A pilot study of reading achievement using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills also showed impressive gains. A group of 12 fifth-graders in Escondido using iPod Touches averaged 1.8 years of reading progress in six months, compared with a matched group of students at the same school who averaged .25, a quarter of a year’s increase. Both districts are planning larger-scale studies of reading achievement.
The iPod makes personal a process that has been painfully public. No struggling reader likes to have his or her weaknesses exposed in a group, in front of the entire class or their reading circle. The iPod enables more intimate, 1:1 reading instruction between a student and a teacher listening to each other's voices in audio files.
We have heard teacher after teacher say, 'This has totally transformed my teaching!' 'I'm having more fun and being a better teacher.' 'I'm never gonna retire.'" One teacher told Shirley, '"Using iPods with microphones has engaged students more than anything I've ever experienced! These tools allow even the softest speaker to be heard and motivate even the most reluctant reader." Another said succinctly: "There's less of me talking and more of them doing."
I roll my eyes every time I hear people talk about putting Smartboards in the classroom. Ugh….Don’t get me wrong, Smartboards are cool. They are just the least cost-effective way to improve learning I’ve ever seen. (Except for building new physical plant, that’s worse.)
Below is a clip from Chris Lehman's TEDxNYED Talk. The full video is below as well. I really like what Chris had to say about the role of technology in schools. When I was a technology director I use to call it "Technology as Pencils". I used the pencil metaphor because pencils are readily available in schools and teachers never write in their plan books to make sure the pencils are prepared for the lesson. They just expect each student to have one and use it as needed. Additionally, pencils come in different shapes, sizes, colors, and types (mechanical), just like our hardware devices. Pencils need to be sharpened occasionally and technology devices also need to be tweaked now and then. Finally, pencils get too short and stop working and we need to replace them, just like computers. This is where we need to get with technology - available to all and used when and how they want. Check out the video below.

A thorough post by Joe Wood about the explosion of Wireless Mobile Devices. He references the book Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way they Learn by Dr. Larry D. Rosen of Cal State Dominguez Hills. He quotes some very interesting statistics from the book. Here are a few snippets from the blog post:
The third chapter of Rewired, “An Explosion of WMDs: Wireless Mobile Devices” discusses the iGeneration and their intertwined existence with mobile technology.
Using these statistics and others (get the book) Rosen talks about the iGeneration as the “connected class” who need to be educated in a different way than previous generations – they “need something more attuned to their daily lifestyles – connected and often virtual.”
Rosen describes mLearing as being delivered through mobile virtual learning environments (MVLEs) that are centered around two notions – “learning can happen outside of the traditional classroom” and “the center of this learning involves electronic communication tools.”
Follow the link above to read the full post. It is a good read and well worth your time.
The people at the Slide to Learn website have put together this PDF as a comprehensive guide for using Apple's mobile products in the classroom. Follow the link and give it a look, It is very well done.
Follow this link to a spreadsheet that lists hundreds of apps for the iPod Touch broken down by grade and subject. It is a great resource if you use iPods in your classroom.
Derek Keenan has a great post on his Adventures in Teaching and Learning blog. He lists 5 reasons for using the technology students already have in their pockets. Students are very adapt at using their cell phones or iPod Touches to access information or communicate with others. I like his 5 reasons. This ties in with my last post, Students on their cell phones in the hallway, what was going on in this classroom?, where I talk about a classroom I observed with students using their cell phones as part of the lesson. We should allow students to use the technology they are comfortable with, not the technology we are comfortable with. Follow the link to Derek's post and give it a read.
Here in New Jersey all new administrators have to go through a 2-year mentoring program. In the second year of the program you have to conduct an action research project. I am three-quarters of the way through the program. My research project is exploring the use of student cell phones to enhance instruction and learning in the classroom. I am also looking at ways to reduce the distractions cell phones cause as part of the school day. I started this blog as a way to report on my findings. Below are the research questions I will be seeking to answer as as part of my research.
1. Is there a way to eliminate the power struggle that ensues between teachers and students when the teacher tries to confiscate the cell phone during class after a cell phone violation occurred?
2. Are there steps schools can take to reduce the number of cell phone infractions that occur during the school day?3. Can students be taught and expected to use cell phones in a responsible manner during the school day?4. Given the ubiquitous proliferation of mobile phones in both the business and consumer market do schools have an obligation to teach students how to use their cell phones in a socially responsible manner?I welcome feedback and input on my research questions regardless of how you feel about the issue. You can comment on this blog or email me at kbals@holmdelschools.org . I have written extensively on this blog about many of my findings and what we have done here at my high school. Below are the posts related specifically to my project and what we have done at the high school I work at:
What is more disruptive - Banning or Embracing Student Cell Phones?
Cell Phone Disruption by the Numbers
Use Outlook to Send Text Message Reminders to StudentsUsing Student Cell Phones and iPadio to Record Student Conversations
Using Google Voice in a World Language Classroom
Why did I name the blog Living in the 4th Screen? Watch the video below.
Students can use their iPod touches in plain sight in Mark Schuler’s World History class at Roswell High School here.Roswell officials, unlike most of their counterparts around the country, have changed their view of the MP3 players, seeing them less as contraband and more as educational accessories. Educators at the 2,400-student school in suburban Atlanta are hoping to put more content at students’ fingertips and capture their interest by enlisting the digital tools today’s teenagers have already mastered for social and leisure purposes.“Five years ago iPods were banned, but we got overwhelmed with trying to discipline kids and fight the technology,” says Edward Spurka, the principal of Roswell High. “Our philosophy here now is let them have it, ..."
In the push for mobile learning as a way to utilize tools that students are adept at using and are enthusiastic about, the quest for creating and finding high-quality content is proving a challenge. But as more schools decide to incorporate portable technologies into the school day, demand is growing for curricula developed with a three-inch display window in mind.The Florida Virtual School officials are trying to get beyond such simple uses. They have enlisted a team of experts to develop mobile software, in partnership with a commercial provider, that incorporates video, interactive and social-networking features, and Web resources adapted for the devices.In St. Marys, Ohio, a 2,150-student district that issues mobile phones to elementary students, teachers have put together an online forum for sharing curriculum ideas and resources with members. Teachers there have also organized show-and-tell sessions to demonstrate how they work with cellphones in the classroom.
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.
Martha Lane Fox discusses mobile learning on the BBC's Digital Giants series. Here are some quotes from the interview about mobile learning I found on the moblearn blog:
- mobile is everywhere!
- it is about inclusion, as much as about trendy gadgets
- ignore it at your peril
These points apply to teachers, and teaching too!
I am surprised how often I still get into conversations that start “but do you think mobile learning might work?”.
Of course it works!
In Africa. In Europe. In America. In India. In Australia. For young. For old. For rich. For poor. It may take different shapes, but mobile learning is working well, and is coming whether you like it or not.
Surely it is far better to learn how to make it work well, now, than be a victim and be overtaken by it in 3 years time!
Mobile learning does work. I have seen it work at my school. I have seen it work at other schools. I have read about it working in locations all over the world. I agree with Martha Lane Fox in that mobile learning will continue to expand all across the globe. It is the next learning tsunami that will crash upon the educational shores. Is your school ready for it?
If you use an iPod Touch in the classroom or are investigating their use, below are some links with a host of resources. I continue to be impressed with the iPod Touch. In my mind it is the preeminent mobile device for schools. Not that it does everything a netbook can do, but but it does many things very well and is cheaper than a netbook. It also does things easily that is more difficult on a netbook. Besides, there are tens of thousands of apps for the iPod Touch and many of them are free.