I read the article Anywhere, Anytime: Using Mobile Phones for Learning by Thomas McNeal and Mark van t' Hooft. I chose this article because I'm interested in how to use cell phones in the classroom as a tool for learning. Even though this article is dated back to 2006, I thought it still had some interesting ideas for how to use cell phones in the classroom. I was hoping to find a more recent article, but did not find anything any more recent.
The article begins by discussing the implications teachers usually have with students having cell phones in the classroom. Students texting during class, phones ringing, cheating, or sending inappropriate pictures. Most schools would just rather students not have them at all. But, cell phones are a piece of technology most people today have. They also are an excellent way to communicate, access, create, and share information, so it only makes sense to use them as a learning tool to engage young learners and make their learning more meaningful.
The article provides information about projects using cell phones schools have already done. In Amsterdam, using cell phones with GPS, students created a digital media project about the history of their city. At a primary school in Finland, students used cell phones to observe nature and communicate with the members of their group. The students then collected their collected and shared their findings with the class. A project I thought was very neat was one done in Britain. This project has students collect objects from a cultural venue, learn about the objects they collect and publish their own gallery online.
A main thing this article wanted to be done was to use cell phones for digital video conferencing so students would be able to connect with experts on a certain subject and be able to conference with them. With support from Verizon Wireless, the DVC Project began investigating ways to bring community resources into the classroom using video conferencing. The project ended up being very successful and provided video conferencing to schools that could not before. They also found by using this tool, learning became more relevant for the students by being able to connect with real people in their communities even when they were not able to actually visit them.
I think the DVC Project did a good job in 2006 of bringing digital video conferencing to the classroom. In today's classroom, Skype does a great job of that, and should be used for the same reason, to connect with people students wouldn't normally be able to when confined to a classroom. This article also provided me with a few good project ideas to use in the classroom with students.
McNeal, T. & van t' Hooft, M. (2006). Anywhere, Anytime: Using Mobile Phones for Learning. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, Vol. 2, No. 2, Fall 2006, 24-31. Available: www.rcetj.org/index.php/rcetj/article/download/91/139
Kristin,
ReplyDeleteI think that was a neat example about students exploring the history of their city. I had never really thought of using cell phones in the classroom/ Usually you think of students getting in trouble for having your cell phone in the classroom. This was a neat article to read. I would be interested in what age levels are most often used with cell phones.
Digital phones is an interesting topic for us to think about - another technology tool with learning potential! I haven't used cell phones much in my classes because I do usually focus on the PreK-6 environment, thinking that age student would not have a cell phone. That is a misconception! I think a lot of elementary students carry cell phones, so I'll have to start thinking about it more seriously!
ReplyDeleteUsing cell phones in school sounds like a great way to make use of the common distraction. If students are already using cell phones in school then I think it would be smart to begin making it educational. I haven't heard about much research being done about cell phone use in the classroom so thank you for sharing!
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