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.

Loading mentions Retweet

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.

Loading mentions Retweet

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?

Loading mentions Retweet

Brendan O'Keefe has developed free open source SMS incident reporting software. If a school opens up an account anyone of their students can instantly and anonymously send a text message to report a bullying incident. The incident can be routed to a school counselor or an administrator depending upon how the school sets up the service. Below is a clip from their website:

Students text a report with a log of the 4Ws: Who, What, Where and When to a dedicated number and the report is then instantly forwarded to the appropriate person(s) mobile phone so they can respond in a timely manner. The report is also automatically forwarded via email to the school counsellor or principal.

 

The FrontlineSMS:BullyProof software comes preloaded with a database of tips and strategies for students that can be accessed by sending the keyword 'bully tip 1,2,3,4 'etc to a dedicated number. The FrontlineSMS:BullyProof software contains a database of local resources, crisis services and helplines that students can access anytime via a keyword or teachers can forward to students and or parents.

The service sounds like it could be a good solution given that most students carry a cell phone. I like that the student can report the incident anonymously and that they can text and get tips for dealing with bullying events. Oftentimes students do not know how to respond to harassment or bullying incidents, possibly this would help in that area.

Below is a incident reporting flowchart for the service from the Bullyproof website:

via Ignatia Webs

Loading mentions Retweet

Text Education is coming to Canadian schools in the form of TextEd curriculum. This Times-Colonist online article reports that during the month of January 100 seventh grade classrooms across Canada will begin implementing the new curriculum. The remainder of schools will implement the program in September 2010.

Loading mentions Retweet

This article on the BBC News website reports that according to a study at the University of Coventry "texting" can actually help students with spelling. The study of 8 - 12 year-olds found that in order to create the terms used in "texting" students have to understand the original use of the word.

The research, part-funded by the British Academy, suggests that texting requires the same "phonological awareness" needed to learn correct spellings.

So when pupils replace or remove sounds, letters or syllables - such as "l8r" for "later" or "hmwrk" for "homework" - it requires an understanding of what the original word should be.

"If we are seeing a decline in literacy standards among young children, it is in spite of text messaging, not because of it," said Clare Wood, reader in developmental psychology.

This is an interesting finding given that some other experts think "texting" hurt students abilities to write. I sometimes wonder if the incessant way teenagers text is going to hurt them in some way down the road. I am not sure what to make of it yet as I have read research on both sides of the issue.

Loading mentions Retweet

My brother visited with his son over the holiday break. His son has special needs. He attends a regular public high school but does have an IEP. My brother commented how good text messaging is for his son. The physical act of texting helps with his son's fine motor skills. The mental task of thinking of words and typing them out on the mobile keyboard is another useful skill. His son might not sit at a keyboard and type out a paper, but he will text his friends. I told my brother that when I was a district technology coordinator I read lots research about technology and education it was pretty clear that technology can be very useful for the special needs population. I must admit that I never thought of texting as a way to help out special needs students. My brother also stated that he wants to get his son an iPhone so he can use Dragon Dictation. His son uses Dragon Naturally Speaking at home and at school on a desptop computer. My brother thinks having a mobile version of Dragon would be helpful for his son's development.

Loading mentions Retweet

Thanks to Ben Wilkoff for sharing how he has used Textmarks and Text the Mob with some students in his school district. Textmarks is a service I was familiar with but never really understood how it all worked. Ben helped clear that up. You can use Textmarks to create a distribution list to send out alerts via text messages, it can be used for collaboration amongst a group of students, a coach could use it to contact all the team members about upcoming events, or a teacher could use it to keep track of a group of students on a field trip. Ben used it to conduct a scavenger hunt for over 100 students in downtown Denver. The scavenger hunt was designed to have the students learn the history of Denver while playing the game. Textmarks uses SMS messages to communicate and is free. Follow the link for more details.

Text the Mob is similar to Poll Everywhere. You can use it to assess understanding with a classroom full of students, or use it conduct back-channel conversations. It seems to be more generous it what it allows users to do for free than Poll Everywhere. It does provide real time polling updates. Earlier this year I used Poll Everywhere to conduct a quick survey during one of our faculty meetings. It worked very well. I plan on using Text the Mob the next time I conduct a survey to see how it performs.

Loading mentions Retweet