Week 6 | Digital technologies - mobile learning

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Is it time to use mobile phones in the classroom?

To consider this option schools must critique the value of these devices. They must also mentor and prepare students for using these devices responsibly (The New Media Consortium, 2011).
Mobiles enable ubiquitous access to information, social networks, tools for learning and productivity, and much more. Mobile devices continue to evolve, but it is the increased access to affordable and reliable networks that is driving this technology now. Mobiles are capable computing devices in their own right — and they are increasingly a user’s first choice for Internet access.” (The Horizon Report: 2011 Edition, p5).

But. Is there room for another electronic device in the classroom?

In her paper, Chronaki (2000) cites (Negroponte, 1995, Windschitl, 1998) that ICT or new technologies promise fast access to information and a new way of communicating, networking, teaching, learning and researching. Mobile phones would appear to be the next level in accessing this information. According to an article written by Wei and Leung (1999), research found that the classrooms are among the least acceptable places to have or use mobile devices, Campbell (2004) found similar results. What makes this so? could it be our perceptions? most likely yes!

The current view is that mobile phone are a distraction. Period. Most of us are frustrated when a phone rings in class or people need to 'duck out' to make or take a call. Really our views are set, mobile phones for communication only, and NOT! for advancement or redefinition of classroom tasks. So what we need is a change of thought; a different perception. Mifsud (2003), as cited in the Department of Communication Studies (2005) writes that some people noted the potential of the technology to support anytime, anywhere learning, and it will be researchers like this that could get the ball rolling. But not only them, but us as teachers. We need to realise that technology is not segregated anymore, it is integrated. 

Source: Google Images

What do I mean by this. Technology is no longer, mobile phones or laptops or iPads. It is the software or programs that drive them. The internet. Microsoft. What device this is accessed through is irrelevant. 

Listed below are just some of the ways that mobiles can be supported in the classroom; and when you view these applications, think about how similar or different they are, when used in another type of device.

• Calculators (standard and scientific)
• Podcasts
• PIcture to text recording of information (evernote/onenote)
• Digital storytelling
• Science data recording (graphs)
• e-reader apps
• Vocabulary and word definitions
• TImers
• SMS as reminders for homework, materials to bring, or lessons cancelled

Are there concerns about privacy and safety, you bet!

Concerns about health are another issue raised by Miller (2011). Whilst the Education Departments do not discriminate between mobile phones and other devices (for instance the South Australian Department) the perception still remains that mobile phones are more dangerous for children than other internet-enabled devices, and strong guidelines are in place in most schools forbidding mobile phone use. 

In my synopsis, this week Bianca Hewes who teaches 9th grade english at Davidson High School, NSW, talks about work spaces but also contained in the video is a brief mention of the use of mobile phones in her classroom. The information begins at 2:55.

References

Department of Communication Studies,. (2002). Perceptions of mobile phones in college classrooms. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media

Miller, B. (2011). WHO Mobile phone-cancer link ‘very weak’. ABC News, Australia. Accessed at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/01/3233028.htmRoutledge International Companion,. (2000). Computers in Classrooms: Learners and Teachers in new Roles. London: Routledge.

South Australian Department of Education and Childrens’ Services (2011). Cyber-safety: Keeping children safe in a connected world – Guidelines for schools and preschools. Accessed at:http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/CyberSafetyKeepingChildre.pdf

The New Media Consortium,. (2011). The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: New Media Consortium.