As teachers, we are going to have to deal with smart phones more and more. Why not use this teaching tool within the classroom setting from time to time. Students are so enthralled with their cell phones. So much so, some can't sleep. @EDTECHHULK suggested facetiously to send students homework after midnight, which engages students after hours. Joking aside, with all that is expected from education, we need to extend learning to the home-front.
The following video is an overview of a smartphone project being implemented within the D.C. area.
Phones in School
- Text students assignments
- Text students blog posts
- Text students flashcards or other learning tools
- Use text language as a writing genre
- Poll Everywhere (There is a free version and a pay-monthly version, which range from $15/month to $1400/month.)
- Titan Pad (Maybe you can get students to discuss the quality of a story through text messaging.)
- QikPad
- Webinars with Buzzumi
- Free Screen Sharing
- Provide video opportunities with Google Hangouts, Facetime, or AnyMeeting. Check out this article about group video chat.
Other Web Tools
- 50+ Tools for School by Cool Cat Teacher
- Wordle
- Blogger
Conclusion
First of all, teach your students about the danger of texting while driving. I don't want to see a death caused by texting an assignment. Aside from that, the media and politicians would have a field day with this. We know how much they love us already.If creative enough, we, teachers, can engage students in learning with an addictive tech-tool. Of course, not everyone can afford these phones, but a grant (written to the phone companies) could offer a solution to this problem.
What else can we do to incorporate phones within school? This is a free tool provided to us by our students' parents. Why not try to use them within school?
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