The first and most important issue surrounding using mobile devices is to acknowledge that the kids of today expect and demand to have and communicate with mobile devices. Banning them will simply cause the devices to adapt in ways that hide them from the teacher, books or pens that are mobile communicators and someone looking couldn't tell this.
Second, using the tools the students use with each other is a another great channel to reach them through. Adding some education noise to all the communications they are getting is good way to get time in and get thinking to happen when they are away from the classroom.
Say my history class is after lunch and during lunch I message my students 3 questions they need to ask the people around them. Do you know who JFK is? When was he president? What happened to him? They now talk and converse and my class begins by asking them about what they heard, starting a discussion and leading to a presentation. At the end of my class I send out a message with links to other information they could pursue later in the day. This type of interaction is a great way to engage people with the technology they already have and use.
Another great way to interact with mobile phones during a class would be to use text messaging to reach out and gather information about the topic to be studied. You could have the kids send messages to their peers or parents asking about topics or taking a poll and collecting and using the data in class. This gets them interested and engaged in ways they aren't now with current teaching methods. If their quotes and data show up in lessons they should be more willing to pay attention and it will be more relevant to their lives.
4/16/2008
Cool school project
This a great school project displayed on youtube. It is a WW2 propaganda video made by students. This a great idea for history teachers to get students engaged in a topic. To make movie takes all kinds of skills and students working together can make for some really interesting ideas being brought out by the students themselves.
ERIC SMITH
ERIC SMITH
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