Please switch your mobile phones ON

in the classroom!

Debbie SoccioManager – Teaching and Learning

Victoria UniversityDebbie.soccio@vu.edu.au

03 9919 7918

Today’s Session

• Will provide an overview to some of the facts about mobile phones

• Will focus on SMS texting• Will be chaotic• Will not be hindered by technological

issues• Will be fun• Will inspire you to have-a-go…

Mobile Phones…why are they so popular?

• Adoption of mobile phone technology reflects• Portability of mobile handsets and PDAs• Inclusion of features such as digital camera

and sound files• Ability to send/receive SMS and MMS• Privacy offered by mobiles…”ownership” by an

individual…• Balance between maintenance costs and

willingness to pay for a premium to access the network.

Mobile Phone Evolution

• 1G – used analogue technology for the transmission of voice traffic

• 2G encompasses competing standards or personal communications service (PCS). It uses digital technologies that enabled better audio quality in voice transmissions, increased capacity on networks. Most Australian mobile consumers rely on a 2G phone.

Mobile Phone Evolution

• 3G – extension of the main 2.5 G standard and designed to enable rapid transmission of very large quantities of data…video clips and MMS…slow uptake…

Mobile Phone Facts…

• Mobile phone use amongst children is high and increasing, with a quarter of 8 to 13 year olds now making use of mobiles. Parents’ concerns about their children’s use of mobiles generally relate to the costs of use, and not content issues. However this is likely to change as it becomes easier to access a wider range of content on mobile devices.

http://www.aba.gov.au/newspubs/news_releases/archive/2005/34nr05.shtml

SMS Technology

SMS – Short message system or short message service or texting.

• Ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and personal computers.

• Text can be comprised of words, numbers or an alphanumeric combination of the two.

• Each short message is limited to 160 characters when using Latin alphabets and 70 characters using non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic, Korean or Mandarin.

• In Australia and New Zealand SMS took off after 2001, driven by the professional and under-20s cohort before being embraced by most mobile users.

SMS Technology

However:• Most SMS traffic involves consumers

sending text from a mobile phone keypad; some network operators report that 90% of total SMS traffic relates to simple person-to-person messaging.

• In business, text messaging occurs to potential clients from a computer.

MMS Technology

MMS involves delivery to a mobile phone (or to a device such as a PDA) of what is often characterised as ‘rich messaging’ or multimedia presentations.

These include:Pictures Animated postcardsScreensavers Greeting cardsCartoons Business Cards Maps

MMS Technology

MMS messages can feature • Text• Sound• Moving/still images.

They are typically designed for a small screen (rather than for a desktop or traditional TV

screen)

MMS Technology

Low uptake appears to reflect• High network charges, particularly for messages sent

from one network to another• Lack/unreliability of infrastructure in some network

locations.• Difficulties in exchanging messages from network to

network• Competition with other technologies, including SMS,

email, Bluetooth and WAP• Unavailability of premium MMS offerings• Lack of confidence in using a technology that is more

complex than SMS.

Handheld PDAs

What can your phone do?

What can a Personal Digital Assistant do?

Are they the same? Different?

SMS Technology

Not so long ago…in 1992:• It was envisaged SMS would be a tool

for voice mail notification – implicitly as a pager.

• In several countries there was significant early growth as particular demographics (kids, professional, drug dealers) used the technology for person to person messaging.

SMS Technology

• Uptake of SMS…US, Australia, NZ and Europe has been explosive, but has now levelled off to about 15-20% per year.

• 2003 Report Australian Communications Authority indicated that around four billion SMS messages were sent in Australia during 2002-03…an average of 294 messages per mobile phone (up 44% on the preceding year).

• There were roughly 14.3 million mobile phones at that time (3 million more than fixed line connections)

• ACA estimated that SMS was used by 57% of households.

SMS Technology

SMS traffic in Vodafone UK network hit • 600,000 messages per month in 01/1998• 22 million in 05/2001• 257 million messages per month in 09/2001.• 06/2002 average daily number of messages

in the UK was 45 million.• 2.13 billion messages during 03/2004• 2.8 billion messages during 08/2005.

SMS Technology

Australia - 2001 Telstra Annual Report• 70 million text messages were sent each month

by its subscriber base.• 65% were one-off messages and the others

involved an exchange of an average of 4 messages.

Australia Optus’ Report • 65 million messages per month in March 2001. • SMS traffic at both telcos was up by 100% over

the previous year.

SMS Technology

• Mid- 2003 SMS traffic on the Telstra and Optus networks had risen to 250 million per month.

• Worldwide: SMS was belatedly making a breakthrough among the middle aged (and middle class) mobile phone users in the EU and the US.

• Globally, SMS use grew by 10% through 2001, with the highest growth among the post-35 cohort. Among those age 35-54 SMS use grew by 20%

• 55-64 and 65+ cohort, SMS use grew by 14%.

Computer Internet

Access

USB Stick

Video recorder

DVD Player

Portable

Walkman

CD Player

Phone

no camera

Phone

with camera

Digital

Camera

Digital Video

Camera

0

100

200

300

400

500

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Home Only

School of FEAESAccess to Technology

Computer Internet Access USB Stick Video recorder DVD Player Port Walkman

CD Player Phone no camera Phone camera Dig Camera DV Camera

Student Usage and Ownership 2006

Student Access to Mobile Phones

• From left to right on the lower axis, the technologies have been clumped together based on similar types of technology (or those that would seem to go together naturally). However, they are also listed in some basic order of what might be deemed to be older or more common technologies

• Whilst, approximately 65% of students are not accessing the use of a computer within the home environment, there are some amazing results in relation to other technologies within the home environment.

Student Access to Mobile Phones

Here are some figures:• Of the 1048 surveys received, only 67 students did not

have a mobile phone. That means, 94% of students have access to a mobile phone. This is not reflected in the above graph as a whole figure, but is broken down into two figures – mobile phone with a camera, mobile phone without a camera. It is important to note that in some instances, students identified as owning both types of mobile phones.

• This figure does not in any way reflect ability to use the phone, which when looking at the proficiency levels, as recorded by the students was predominantly limited to good. However, it does tell us something about the uptake of technology that occurring, even in older students who may not have access to many other forms of technology.

Student Access to Mobile Phones

The implication for this is that we should be considering how the

use of mobile phones can be used in the classroom. • Do we have a responsibility to teach students better skills

in using this technology? • Can we embed the use of mobile phone SMS text

messaging into our classroom practice in a very simplistic manner? (For example, administrative purposes, for cancelled classes or changed timetable arrangements, for assignment reminders, for notification of return to classes, for enrolment and information session times)

• Do we, as teachers have the skill to teach or embed the use of basic SMS text messaging into our classrooms?

• If not, what do we need to do to empower teachers to be competent in this?

Which technologies do we use?

• At present, the newest technologies are portable hand held devices which embed a range of technologies into one; phone, music device, computer, internet compatibility and as these come down in price the affordability of the item means that many students will purchase them.

• Already there is evidence in some departments’ results that show students, even with the least access to technology, are purchasing and using USB sticks and MP3 Players.

• The cost of these items is as low as $30.00 and so is affordable as a means of active participation in the new technological world for our students.

SMS Messaging

So, what kind of messaging do we do?• Ringme• Lovu• Yes• Iw2hybabs…I want to have your babies• No…

I do! I do!

Marriage proposals• 1% UK subscribers have proposed

marriage (GSM Association) • 2% of US adults propose marriage via

text (Tegic) …2% breaking up by SMS• Compared with 13% of Italians and • 12% of Chinese subscribers…

Breaking Up is Hard to Do…

SMS used to end relationships: send a text message and move on.

• Macquarie University researcher Natalie Robinson studied the texting habits of 100 young people aged 18-35 and found SMS messaging increased when relationships were beginning or going through a rocky period.

• "People used text messages to show their negative feelings rather than talking face-to-face," she said. "This might be because text messages were less confrontational and more distant."

• The clinical psychologist said she was surprised to find 15 percent of participants had dumped a partner via text messages.

Sydney, October 14, 2005 - 2:17PMhttp://www.aba.gov.au/newspubs/news_releases/archive/2005/34nr05.shtml

Breaking Up is Hard to Do…

• Overall, women were more likely to send text messages telling their partner how they were feeling, while men were more comfortable with practical texts such as "I'll pick up dinner on the way home".

• Robinson said people often used texts to keep tabs on partners who were out socialising with friends, creating the potential for friction.

• "The receiver of this message may interpret this in a number of ways, such as, 'my partner cares about me and just wants to know what I am doing' or alternatively, 'my partner is suspicious and doesn't trust me and wants to know what I am doing'," she said.

Sydney, October 14, 2005 - 2:17PMhttp://www.aba.gov.au/newspubs/news_releases/archive/2005/34nr05.shtml

Salvation

• 2001, Rebecca Fyfe, stranded off the coast of Bali, sent an SMS call for help to a friend in England. He contacted UK coastguard, who contacted Aust Coastguard, who called the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, who called the Indonesian authorities, who sent an Indonesian navy gunboat to Fyfe’s rescue.

• Rachel Kelsey, stranded in the Swiss Alps in a blizzard, sent an SOS SMS to a friend in London, who contacted mountain rescue team in Zurich.

Salvation…of a different kind

Bible Society of Australia launched the 1st SMS Bible.

• Verses can be downloaded with the site, with senders charged standard SMS costs for sending messages via their own carrier.

So, an example…In da bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth waz barren, with no 4m of life.

Blocked Networks?

Ever wondered why you can’t get through on

New Year’s Eve?

• 205 million texts on Christmas Day, 2006

• 214 Million on New Year’s Day, 2007

The Bad News• Unsolicited advertising• Poor practice by some operators, in particular

providers of ‘free SMS” services• Infections• Bullying and stalking• Perceptions that the use of SMS somehow occurs

outside the law or beyond the reach of government agencies.

• In NSW, (2004) Education Department announced that sending threatening SMS – now fashionable among bullies in school playgrounds – was a ground for suspension or expulsion.

Addiction

• Email addiction, contact addiction and cyber-addiction…now we have SMS addiction (or commonly known as bad manners).

• TMI – text message injury (aka tenosynovitis) from little keypads. Virgin Mobile published Practicing Safe Text site.

• Virgin Australia…July 2003 National Day of Safe Text….

Teaching Text Messaging

The move to teach text messaging in some Victorian high schools has sparked more acrimony between state and federal

education minsters.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1760068.htm

What the?

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet…FeudTween2hses—Montague&Capulet. RomeoM falls_<3w>_JulietC@marySecretly Bt R kils J’s Cox&isbanishd. J fakes Death. As Part of Plan2b-w/R Bt_leter Bt It Nvr Reachs Him. Evry1confuzd—bothLuvrs kil Emselves.

Teaching Text Messaging

Activity: Investigate the language of SMS. (SMS abbreviations)

1. READ THE WHOLE SHEET FIRST

2. Click on the link at the end of the instructions (today, look at the handout)

3. Select a letter for SMS language to investigate. eg 'C'

4. Have a look through the abbreviations and their meanings

5. Have a look through some other letter as well...maybe 4 or 5

6. Answer the questions below in groups of 3.

When you completed everything, write a message on the sheet of paper provided to the group using SMS language.

Now that you have had a look at some words and their meanings answer the following questions

in SMS language if can.

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35

40

Dig Camera

DV Camera

Mobile Phone

PDAM

P3 Player

I podPodcast

RSS Feed

Download music

Access to Technology 2

Home

Work

Study

NO

Staff Usage and Ownership 2006

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10

15

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25

Mobile Phone

Dig Camera

DV Camera

PDAM

P3 Player

I podPodcast

RSS Feed

Download music

Proficiency in technologies 2

Limited

Good

Excellent

Staff Usage and Ownership 2006

Staff and mobile phone usage

• Unlike the student ICT survey results, the figure for staff access to mobile phone usage also reflects their ability to use the phone, which when looking at the proficiency levels, as recorded by the staff was predominantly excellent. It does tell us something about the type of technology that is occurring, even in older staff.

• The implication for this is that we should be considering how the use of mobile phones can be used in the classroom.

• Can we teach staff better skills in using this technology? • Can we embed the use of mobile phone SMS text messaging into our

classroom practice in a very simplistic manner? (For example, administrative purposes, for cancelled classes or changed timetable arrangements, for assignment reminders, for notification of return to classes, for enrolment and information session times)

• Do we, as teachers have the skill to teach or embed the use of basic SMS text messaging into our classrooms?

• If not, what do we need to do to empower teachers to be competent in this?

Interesting Ideas

• Homework reminders• Timetable changes• Absent teachers, change of classroom• Excursion reminder• Assignment due date reminder• Seeking assistance• Words of support to students

Interesting Ideas

• Selling books at the end of the year to next year’s students

• Reminders: late fees at library, enrolment fees outstanding, enrolment day.

• Study of the language of SMS history…

Interesting Ideas

• Using a technology everyone knows…confidence, can-do effect.

• Stores a large amount of data…but what is most important?

• Poems and stories can be presented orally, rather than (or as well as) written.

• Audio may help with pronunciation of words (phonics and LOTE)

• Podcasts – downloaded MP3 files. (see

http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipod/lessons/)

Interesting Ideas

• Review and study of a lesson if it is recorded and downloaded (to a phone or computer) for accessing out-of-class….access anywhere, anytime.

• Students can record actual conversations, word pronunciation etc.

• Photographing whilst on an excursion.• The use of small portable devices will free up the

reliance on ‘booking’ a computer lab…provide a more authentic embedded use of technology.

• Connectedness with the world.

Interesting Ideas…NSW Education Department

• Release of results by SMS text message – 1977 2346• Students who want to automatically receive their HSC results

by SMS can pre-register for the SMS service by text-messaging their student number and PIN to 1977 2346.

• A return text message to the student confirms that they have registered for the service and the results will be sent to their mobile phone at approximately 6 am on 19 December.

• Students who do not pre-register can still get their results by SMS by messaging their student number and PIN to the service after 6 am on 19 December.

• Students should check that their phone is in credit, that they have Premium rate access on their phone, and that there is room for messages in their phone’s inbox.

• The SMS service charge is a flat rate of $1.10.

Interesting Ideas

• Resulting from extensive market research the company carried during 2001, MGM Wireless identified the growing difficulty Schools were experiencing contacting hard-to-reach Parents and Caregivers.

• In October 2003, within weeks of completing the original messageyou™Schools solution, all five schools started reporting staggering improvements in student attendance – and praises and accolades from parents and the community.

http://www.mgmwireless.com/oceania/faq.html

…yes, but what about the distractions!

• Hard to monitor what they are doing…• Student not focussed on the task…• Children growing up too quickly…• Misuse of class time…• Inappropriate use…photos, voice, SMS…• Cheating in exams…• Theft

What can you do with mobile phones?

Consider the following questions:• How could you use mobile phones with

your class?• What would you be teaching?• What is the benefit?

Set the standards

• Model their educational use• Establish a policy for use in the

classroom• Ensure privacy issues are addressed• Don’t complete with their use…have a

15 minute “phone off period”• Best practice – use them wisely!

Access and Equity

• Some questions to consider in integrating these newer portable devices include:

• Which of the older technologies do I need to know how to use to better master the newer technologies?

• Which technologies because of cost are beyond the limits of the students financially or technically?

• Which technologies can the student get access to outside of the teaching and learning environment?

• Which technologies if embedded into the teaching and learning environment will disadvantage the student?

• Which technologies can the educational environment afford to purchase and use as part of the learning process?

• What underpinning skills and knowledge will need to be included for the learners to actively use the technologies?

• What underpinning skills and knowledge will teachers need to develop to adequately use in their teaching and learning environment?