Mobile Learning Lab

I love the idea of Mobile Learning! However, i cannot figure out the best way to utilize these educational tools in the most educational way possible. After going through the learn part of this lesson, I realized that cell phones would be an amazing tool if they were issued to students and could use the internet without calling, or that texting could be limited. I think that if cell phones were used in a whole class manner, that they could be used on a regular basis in the classroom. After polling my students, many have said that they have a smart phone, but there are still many that do not. Some have regular phones, but no internet. I wish that there were a more reasonably priced plans for education that could pay by the month for internet usage, and texting as you go. This would open up countless resources for students. Using polleverywhere is great! There are a lot of different polling programs and resources out there, and I do not feel that poll everywhere is the greatest. I have seen it used well with adults; when they have their cell phones readily available. There are many other online polls that I have used and feel that they are very useful. If I could solve the mobile phone complications, then poll everywhere could be an excellent tool.

One way I explored to use mobile technology is the polling. It would be a great way for teachers to do fun checks for understanding or polls to get to know their students. Teachers could set up a poll of the day to connect to content material or just to better understand their students as individuals. I definitely would like to bring this up to my principal to discuss the options for this. Our superintendent is very pro- mobile learning using cell phones, however, he has not found great ways to have teachers regulate this usage. When we are told to take away cell phones that are brought out during the school day, it is hard to then ask students to use theirs during class for instructional purposes. If we could tap into the potential of polling with texts, texting answers, using apps for learning, allowing them to use the camera feature on the phone, or the internet as a resource - it may greatly increase participation and peak students' internet. Strict expectations would need to be outlined in the beginning, and they would need to be enforced. Students would not be able to participate if this is abused. I also think that it is impertinent that a set of cell phones be given to students, not asking them to use their own. I think eventually, or based on the grade, each student may be expected to have a cell phone, but in elementary it is not fair to expect that. Another issue may be asking students to use their minutes, data, or texts to participate in school.

Through this lap, I explored quite a few of the topics. I was recently given an Ipad for TFA and finally got internet access. i explored several apps that would be useful in the classroom. This led me to organizing the apps on my Ipad and thinking deeper how I can better use my Ipad on a daily basis. I think that this would be great in small groups or as a reward for performance or good behavior. I also gave more consideration to the idea of e-books. We have a few internet accounts that I have used, such as tumble books and e-books our library has purchased, but there are countless more resources out there. We have mobile laptop carts and my Ipad to use these e-readers. I think this would be a good poll for my students to see how they feel about reading books on a screen versus in print. We have asked about the possibility of kindles for the students, but I think first we need to consider if they are more or less engaged in e-readers, and what effect this has on their comprehension. Maybe it is a generational thing, but I personally need to hold a book in my hand when reading novels, but informational texts I read better on a computer.

One big push this year was the purchase of a flip camera. We have talked a lot as a grade level about "flipping your classroom" This is an excellent video that fully explains the concept. I think that this will really help my Wicked project as I continue to include to communicate with parents lessons in my classroom. However, it has been challenging to get my hands on one of the cameras.

I also looked at the Ipod resources. I have used an old Ipod mini for audio books to aid my students who are auditory learners and as an auditory aid for reading a longer novel. Our kindergarten classes just got an Itouch listening station with headphones and a doc to use. Itouch would allow for very similar, if not better, opportunities than a cell phone. There would not be as great of concern for the misuse of texting and calling. The new itouch would be perfect for using video, photos, and skype. However, I would settle for old ipods that people aren't using for listening or podcasting. This crossed between the Ipod and mp3 players. There are countless mp3 players that are thrown aside as people upgrade, but where do they go? I am hoping to put out a plea to buy them cheaply or have them donated to my classroom for educational uses.

We have asked for USB's for all of our students to use, especially with the purchase of our mobile carts, it provides a great place for students to save their work. However, without a budget for USBs, we have had to look further into Dropbox, Google Docs, pbworks, and other means for them to upload and save their documents. One other issue with USB's that I have found, that was not discussed, is that many of my students lose pencils and I cannot imagine that they would be able to keep track of a USB drive for an extended period of time if they were able to take their USB home to work on material.

Lastly, I really was hoping to explore PDAs. We previously used palms for our Reading 3D program, which means there must be a lot of palms that are not in use. However, we have switched to touch screen laptops. I feel that palms were not as developed as they could have been. It would be nice to just have them for internet access or pdf's. I hope to continue to look into getting ahold of these resources and finding materials to use with the palms and programs available.