How will students’ mobile device be used for learning?

How will the  students’ mobile device primarily be used? What other ways can teachers have students use mobile devices to engage in  learning?

• to introduce the learning goal to the students  before the teacher does in class  such as in a flipped classroom
• to introduce the learning goal during the class presentation
• to present alternative ways of learning the learning goal
• to practice the learning goal after a presentation (drill and practice)
• to apply the learning concepts at a higher level of thinking (compare/contrast, synthesize, evaluate)
• to incorporate the learning into an individual student’s  big project such as project based learning
• to capture in class learning such as taking a picture of the whiteboard or video recording a project
• as a written, visual, audio or media  prompt for a learning activity
• to collaborate with others within and outside the class on a project
• to compete against other learning groups
• to get information from the web (websites, images, etc.)
• to get information from others via texting, email, etc.
• to  poll or survey students’ interest about some part of the  learning goal
• to assess student learning  and provide feedback to the students (formative assessment)
• to assess students summatively (final grade on unit, project…)
• to collect examples of student work for a portfolio
• My ebook, 90 M0bile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbookMy modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students begin to express themselves in the modern language and to  move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

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Why Cell Phones and Smart Phones Differ from Previous School Technology

Cell phones and Smart phones differ drastically from previous school technology.

1.  The students know how to use these technologies. They use them daily. They text, they take pictures and send the pictures, they take videos/movies and send them, and they access the web. Teachers do not have to spend class time in teaching students the new technologies. Even when teachers “teach” a new program such as Yodio, the students already know how to take pictures, upload them to a program, know how to record their voice and how to send their voice files. Teachers save all the time they used to spend in teaching how to use a new technology which often was many days.

2.  The students always have these mobile learning devices with them. They may forget their notebook. They may leave their textbook home. They may be without a pen. Their dog may have eaten some critical papers. They may have lost their password onto the class website. However, they will have their cell phone or Smart phone with them.

3. The students can use their own mobile learning devices. The school does not have to provide it except possibly for a few disadvantaged students. Teachers can do lessons regardless of the various types of mobile learning devices (the various companies that produce the phones) and of the various carriers. The school does need to provide access to the school’s wireless.
4. With QR codes, students can be a click away from learning resources. Students do not have to turn on a computer, log in, and then type in a web address. Many students have trouble typing in a web address even when the web address has been shortened. The student instantly go from scanning in the QR code to clicking on the link(s). Class learning time is saved.
5. Students can easily be producers of information. They can take pictures to document environmental concerns in their community and make those into a multimedia story such as with Yodio. They can audio record the interview of various people as they talk about the importance of math in their careers. The students can make a movie about the various healthy habits of their family and friends for their physical education course. They have these tools on their phones and they know how to use the tools.

6.  Due to the richness of  web resources, teachers can move students to higher level thinking. Students can easily contrast two images of the same incident for an English class. They can evaluate the bias in reporting the same story as they read newspapers from around the globe in a Social Studies class.

7.   Students can be global in their learning.  Texting can be done  internationally. Students can text a science survey about using paper in school  to their friends in other states and other countries.  Elementary students can text math word problems  which students in other countries have written in terms of things in their country. For example, a school in Costa Rica migh offer this problem, “If you are really hungry and you buy a “casado” (rice and meat dish) for 2,500 colones and a fruit drink for 400 colones, how much do you spend? What is that in USA money?

Mobile Learning and pictures What’s the real story?

A friend used to listen to a presentation of a new technique, a new program, or a new textbook and say “What’s the real story?” His question implied that when we hear the “wonders and amazements” of a new thing, we need to become aware of  what else is involved.  He disliked “All you have to do is…” because he knew that much else was really  involved.

Unfortunately when a new technology such as mobile learning hits, we hear the “it’s amazing” stories. The educators of the amazing stories do not tell  the reality of what did not work or the difficulties along the way.  I heard someone talk about how the students took pictures as part of a project. So, I built an assignment around my Modern Language  Spanish students taking personal pictures of current vocabulary of daily activities.  For example, students took pictures of their friends, family or children getting dressed, brushing teeth, combing their hair, etc.   My students found it easy to take the pictures on their cell phone.  They took the ten required pictures.   However, the difficult was getting the pictures from their cell phone to a central location. Most students could only send one picture at a time.  One student downloaded his pictures to his computer and then burned them onto a CD.  Another question was where do the students send the pictures so that others can look at the pictures? The simple solution seemed to be for students to keep their pictures on their own cellphone and let other students look at their cell phones. We learned to trade cell phones for a few minutes while we did this activity.

Let’s share the realities, the fixes, the this-is-the-easy-way-to-do-it, and the lessons learned  with others as we begin this new adventure with mobile learning.

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.