Toys to Tools:Using Cell Phones and Web 2.0 Tools to Engage and Motivate

Student Learning

By: Lakita Reese

Wimba Facilitation Ground Rules

Yes or No Questions and Polling• Yes (√) or No (x) Indicators

Discussion or open-ended questions • Use the Chat Feature

To ask a question OR to give a comment • Use the “Raised Hand feature”

Do you hear the presenter?

• If yes, please select the √ button.

• If no, please select the X button.

• If NO, try any of the following– Verify audio input (Options > Audio Input)– Make sure your audio volume is turned up.– Reconnect media (Options >Reconnect

Media)

Raise Your Hand

• Raise your hand and when called use the “Talk” feature to give your name and your current or past experience in working in education (i.e. my name is Lakita Reese and I teach high school business education.)

Toys to Tools:Using Cell Phones and Web 2.0 Tools to Engage and Motivate

Student Learning

NETS-T Objectives

• NETS-T 2: Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.

• NETS-T 4: Promote and model digital age citizenship and responsibility.

• NETS-T 5: Engage in professional growth and leadership.

Focus Question

How can cell phones be used to support learning?

Related Questions Can popular devices that students use such as cell phones, ipods,

mp3 players, and PDAs be used to support learning?

• Should cell phones and web 2.0 tools be used as instructional tools in the classroom?

• What is Web 2.0? What are some examples of Web 2.0 tools?

• What are the digital etiquette and security concerns that may arise when using electronic devices and Web 2.0 tools in the classroom? How can these concerns be addressed and mitigated?

Objectives

• Participants will be able to give examples of how student cell phones can be used to enhance learning.

• Participants will be able to identify the digital etiquette and safety issues when using electronic devices to support learning and be able to give suggestions on how these issues can be addressed and mitigated.

What is your school’s policy on electronic devices?

Purpose

• Purpose

To inform educators on how to innovatively use electronic devices commonly used by students to enhance learning.

• Difficulty in Managing the “No Electronics Policy” in the classroom.

Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education

• Written by Liz Kolb

• Published by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)

Common Electronic Communication Devices Used by

Students Today

• PDAs – Personal Digital Assistants

• Mp3 players

• iPods

• Cell phones

Which Device Do You Think Students Use the Most?

PDAs

Mp3 players/ipods

Cell phones

Electronic Communication Devices in Education

• www.learninginhand.com

• PDAs

• ipods/mp3 players

Why the Use of Cell phones in Education?

• Cell phones are the most common and most easily accessible devices.– As of 2004, 45% of students ages 8-18 had their own cell phone (Kaiser

Family Foundation, 2005)

– As of 2006, 73% of students in Grades 9-12 used a cell phone daily. (Project Tomorrow, 2006a).

• Students are enjoy using their cell phones and are highly motivated to interact with their cell phones during class.

• Cell phones promote digital etiquette – provides an opportunity to teach how to use cell phones appropriately (i.e. appropriate times to talk on a cell phone in public, appropriate times for texting, etc).

Access Considerations

• Not every student has a cell phone.– Especially at the Elementary Level

• Many activities and lessons available that only require one cell phone.– Set up work stations.

How Can Cell Phones be Used to Support Learning?

What is Web 2.0?

• Web 2.0 is a new form of Internet communication that has emerged in the 21st century that allows Internet users to easily read, share, edit, and update information.

• It is different from the traditional Web 1.0 (focus on allowing users to post and read information).

Examples of Web 2.0 tools– Blogs– Wikis– Photo sharing websites (ex: flickr, photobucket)– Facebook, Myspace, Twitter

Cell Phones as Recorders

Can Be Used to Create:

Podcasts

Podcasting

• Podcasts are audio, text, or video files that can be downloaded to a computer or mp3 player.

• Audio podcasts are created by first recording a pre-written message using a recorder on an mp3 player or a microphone connected to a computer.

-Also can be recorded using a cell phone.

• Once recorded and edited, they are uploaded to a web server and are given a unique URL.

Podcasts and Cell phonesGabcast and cell phones

www.gabcast.com (free)• What is it?

– Website that allows you to upload audio files and distribute them as podcasts.

• How it works:– Users creates an account and set up a podcasting channel. User dials

a toll-free Gabcast number, records a message, and once you press #, the message is automatically posted as an audio podcast.

• Educational Uses:– Review lesson material, oral history projects

Let’s view an example.• Listen > Education > Locate pg. 10 > View 2nd Graders Rock

Share Your Ideas

Can you think of any other ways cell

phone created podcasts can be used in

education?

Cell Phones as Cameras

Digital Storytelling

• Digital story telling– is the practice of using computer-based tools

to tell stories • Fiction and non-fiction stories• Topics can include historical events, exploring a

community, narrating events in a person’s life.

Benefits of Using Cell Phones to Create Digital Stories

• School may lack resources such as digital cameras for students to use.

• Students don’t have to worry about purchasing expensive equipment.

• Convenient (don’t need cable hook-ups).

• Can be used in conjunction with Internet resources such as Photobucket and flickr.

Digital StorybookPhotobucket

– Website: www.photobucket.com– Cost: Free

Photobucket Features:• Enables anyone to post pictures to the Web from a cell phone.• Feature allows teachers to create one account for the entire

class.• Gives teachers more control over photo postings (i.e. options to

delete or edit posted photos before they are made public).

• Simple video editing features (similar to MovieMaker and iMovie).

• Can send video to the Photobucket account if cell phone has a camcorder feature.

• Slideshows are easy, fun, and engaging.

Share Your Ideas

• Can you think of any other ways cell phones and photo sharing sites such as Photobucket and Flickr can be used in education?

Other Cell Phone and Web 2.0 Activity Ideas

BrainstormingWiffiti and cell phones

– http://www.wiffiti.com (free)

What is it?Web 2.0 tool that publishes real time messages to a computer screen.

Educational Use with Cell Phone• Students can brainstorm from their cell phones to a live screen on the web.

• Teacher can ask a question about a certain topic and the students can text their answers that show up on a live screen.

Useful features:• Has a feature that allow teachers to approve content or not allow content that is

inappropriate.

• You can choose to keep the wiffiti screen private or share it with the world.

Managing Student Absences

Qipit and cell phones– http://www.qipit.com (free)

What is it?Web 2.0 tool that turns a cell phone into a copy machine or PDF.

How it works?Take pictures of handwritten notes, white boards, or printed documents andsend them to Qipit where the image can be immediately be converted to a PDFfile.

Educational Use with Cell Phones: For students that have missed class, teachers or another student cantake a picture with their camera phone of the lecture notes or whiteboardactivity and then have it immediately be converted into a PDF file.

• Liz Kolb’s wiki: http://k12cellphoneprojects.wikispaces.com/– Resource where teachers share how they are

using cell phones in their classes. (Highly Recommend)

Concerns with Using Cell Phones in School

• Post inappropriate pictures to the internet.

• Cheating on test.

• Off-task

• Calling in bomb threats

Tips Given by Liz Kolb in Toys to Tools:Connecting Student Cell Phones to

Education• Take Control

• Create a Social Contract: – Involve students.– Provide parents with permission forms that

state the nature of the activity and include the social contract.

Digital Etiquette and Internet Safety

• Teach internet safety before using any of the activities that utilize Web 2.0 tools and cell phones.– www.safekids.com/quiz– http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/

Suggestions for Working with Administrators

• Start small by creating a project that is simple and that utilizes cell phones only after school hours (ex: homework assignments)

• Demonstrate how cell phone use will be used to enhance student learning.

• Show them how the lessons align with National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and state standards.

• Approach administrators about changing the policy to allow cell phones in school for learning purposes after you can prove to them that you have been successful in enhancing student learning with cell phones outside of school.

Thank You!Credits• Kolb, Liz. Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education. 1st

Ed. Washington D.C.: International Society for Technology in Education, 2008.

• ISBN: 978-1-56484-247-3Available at: Amazon.com or www.iste.org

• Web Resources• www.classroomclipart.com• http://www.clker.com/clipart-mp3-player1.html• http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/electronics/index.php• wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3_players• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Digital_Assistants

Wrap Up/Evaluation:

• Questions or comments?

Formal Evaluation (Surveymonkey.com)

5 – Very High 4 - High 3 - Average 2 - Low 1 – Very Low

Workshop Content:

•Provided useful ideas techniques, and skills were presented.

•Provided information that was personally and/or professionally relevant.

•Increased my understanding of this topic.

The Presenter:

•Held my interest with relevant examples.

•Facilitated activities effectively that reflected a clear grasp of the topic.

•Responded effectively to questions.

•Delivered content in an appropriate, well-paced manner. Provided opportunities for active participation.

Survey Adapted from The Technology Applications Center for Educator Development

Did You Meet Today’s Objectives?

Please type an answer to one or more of the following objectives:

• Give one example of how student cell phones can be used to enhance learning.

• Give one example of how digital etiquette and safety issues can be addressed when introducing web 2.0 tools and cell phones into schools.

– (Type in chat box).