I am an assistant principal at a public high school. I have worked in education for 25 years. Prior to my current position I served as a math department supervisor. For six years before that I was a district technology coordinator. My first 17 years in education were spent as a mathematics and computer science teacher.
I have a BA in Mathematics from The King's College, a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Technology from Georgian Court University, and a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
You can reach me on Twitter: @the4thscreen
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 But the computers are fast becoming outdated, and the boot time is painfully slow on some machines.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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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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Henrico County (VA) schools Superintendent Patrick Russo said that learning anywhere and anytime is "the next wave.""As technology evolves, I think you will see iPhones and other mobile devices . . . be part of the teaching process as well as a communication process between teachers and students," he said.In Chesterfield County (VA), the School Board approved a five-year technology plan in December that includes $3 million for a mobile technology pilot program for students. The money will come from the district's capital improvement plan.A committee of administrators, teachers and students has been looking at the feasibility of using cell phones, iPod Touches and netbooks in the classroom, said Dallas Dance, Chesterfield's director of school improvement, who is leading the committee. "This is what [students are] using at home and have heard a lot about, but we, the school systems, have not been stepping up," he said. "Our primary goal is to increase student achievement, and we want to increase it by engaging students through these 21st-century tools.""We have to at least explore the potential of the use of these technology tools, said Chesterfield schools Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome, who is part of the committee. "At this point, I don't see that there will be a wholesale implementation of anything with our students, but I think we need to investigate in terms of some pilots.""It the past, it seems as though [the cell phone] has been a tool that's been disruptive to the teaching and learning process, but if there's a way to turn it around to our advantage, we need to investigate," Newsome said.The Virginia Department of Education launched Learning without Boundaries two years ago. The initiative, in cooperation with Virginia Tech and Radford University, is studying the potential benefits of wireless hand-held technologies in schools.
It is refreshing to hear school leaders say that they need to investigate the use of mobile handheld devices in a school setting. I think that is the responsible attitude that school administrators should have. I have said many times that it is inevitable that schools will eventually accept the use of student-owned technology devices as part of the school day. Economics will make it seem like a reasonable solution in the very near future. Schools are afraid of that which they can't control. As schools begin to experiment with the use of student-owned devices and figure out how to manage them you will see wider adoption of this practice.
The article also quotes Liz Kolb, author of "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education." Ms. Kolb thinks schools should use student-owned cell phones during the school day. She thinks the restrictive cell phone policies are counter productive and rob the students of the opportunity to learn how to use cell phones in a responsible manner. I agree with Ms. Kolb. Cell phones are here to stay. We need to start to figure out how to make use of them and teach students how to use all technology devices responsibly.
The article is worth reading in its entirety and you can do that by following the link above.
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Hitch is a device that allows you to transfer files from one mobile device to another. This would be a good way to transfer files from one iPod to another. It can be used with most portable handheld devices.
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According to this post on the Wall Street Journal online Cisco thinks wireless-data traffic will double every year through 2014. Part of this increase will be driven by the explosion of handheld wireless devices. Cisco thinks there could be more than 5 billion mobile handheld devices connected to wireless networks by the year 2014.
Mobile video content, which is expected to more than double, will account for almost two-thirds of the world’s wireless data traffic in 2014, making it the highest-growing application category within the report.
I have said it many times on this blog that schools need to prepare for the coming mobile tsunami that will soon be hitting their shores. Students already come to school with computers in their pockets that access the internet without ever touching the schools network. This type of behavior will only increase over the next few years. Schools need to incrementally prepare for this phenomenon.
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If I was still a Technology Coordinator, a position I held for 6 years in one district, I would be looking into the iPod Touch very seriously. The iPod Touch is Apple's versatile little handheld computer that packs a punch. If you are unfamiliar with the iPod Touch, think of it as an iPhone without the calling capabilities. The device has Bluetooth and WIFI connectivity on-board. It can run basically all the apps that are available in the App Store on iTunes. A week does not go by that I do not read a story about some school district that is doing something very unique or cool using these devices. At times I feel I could devote this entire blog to just educational uses of the iPod Touch and never run out of things to write about.
Why do I like the iPod Touch for schools? First the device is cheaper than netbooks, and a cost effective option for budget conscience schools. It can fit in your pocket. It has pretty good battery life. The Safari browser works very well for surfing the web. The Voice Memo app allows you to record and post podcasts very quickly. There are so many cheap and or free apps available for the iPod Touch when compared to a netbook.The device does not have a camera so it removes the concern that schools have with students misusing cell phone cameras and the like, on unsuspecting staff or students. It can be used to play videos and podcasts.
Are there tasks and skills that you cannot do on the iPod Touch that you can do on a netbook? Yes. Absolutely. An equally comparative question to ask is - Are there things you can do very simply and easily on the iPod Touch that you can't do on a netbook? Yes. Absolutely. The decision comes down to what are your goals and the answers to questions like:
What do you want your students to know and be able to do by the time they graduate?
What are your learning outcomes?
What budget constaints do you have?
What will the students actually do with the devices during the school day?
When I was the technology coordinator for a school district I standardized the tablet pc we used. This way I was able to train all the staff on the same machine and the early adopters were able to train fellow colleagues as well. Having the same machine provided tremendous advantages in many ways. It was the same way when I issued every student in my Honors Algebra II course a TI-89 graphing calculator back in the 90's. Since all the students had the same device it allowed us to explore concepts we never would have without the devices. I could assign different homework assignments knowing they all had a graphing calculator. Similar things could be done if every student was issued an iPod Touch. The possibilities are endless.
Louise Duncan has a post on her blog Personalising Learning with the iPod Touch that provides links to a host of things you can do with the iPod Touch. Give it a look.
LearningA-Z, the company that created Reading A-Z and Raz-kids, recently uploaded 111 leveled readers in the iTunes App store (Click Here for iTunes link). K-6 students can now practice reading at their ability level using their iPod Touches! Many of the readers are free.
If you are in a decision making position about what devices to purchase for your district I think you should give the iPod Touch a serious look.
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Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, gave his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas on Friday. During his speech he said:
"Mobile apps have been big in bringing hope and higher living standards to millions of people,” said Mr. Kallasvuo. “This trend promises to accelerate in the coming decade as the capabilities of the smart phones spread across the globe."
He then challenged developers during his speech to create mobile applications that would enhance the lives and productivity of people in developing countries. The reward for the company that wins is a $1 million investment from Nokia. The competition will start in February and a winner will be announced in June.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo went on to say:
"In the real world, far away from here, these little devices have already done more to improve lives at the base of society's pyramid than perhaps any other technology in history."
He also said that for many people across the globe they will access the internet via their phone and not from a computer. Some statistics he mentioned were that there are 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions world-wide, but only 1.6 million bank accounts. Based on this fact Nokia is releasing a money app to allow people to manage their accounts and make payments from their cellphone.
Living in America I never think about having problems accessing the internet. We have had a wireless network in our home for about 8 years. My children's first exposure to a computer was a wireless laptop. They have only know wireless computing. We have a laptop and a tablet PC at home along with 2 iPhones and an iPod Touch. The ubiquity we enjoy with devices and access in America is not afforded to all people the world over. In thinking about remote areas of the world I can see where mobile phones make much more sense. They are cheaper than computers, require less battery power, and are completely mobile. I would imagine that cellular access would be easier to provide than WIFI. Good for Nokia for pushing the envelope in including the underdeveloped world in the mad technology race that we find ourselves in.
via WSJ: Digits
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