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By Dr. David Freitas and Dr. Janet Buckenmeyer
We have learned from the past; this next round with computing technologies promises to be different. A new generation of computing technologies—mobile, handheld, low-cost—is emerging. Students are already bringing these technologies to school; we just need to allow the kids to bring them out of hiding and use them in their classroom for curricular purposes. For example, rather than spending a bundle on building a sophisticated wireless infrastructure and another bundle on maintaining it, a school could make use of cell-phone computers and the telecoms' existing wireless infrastructure for Internet access. Besides connectivity at school, the students would then have wireless access to the Internet at home. — Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway (BusinessWeek, 2009)
Did you know?
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Over 250 million Americans now subscribe to a cellular-phone service. That, if factored against the latest U.S. census report, places the penetration rate at 82.4 percent. In ten years, that number has more than quadrupled from 55 million subscribers in 1997 (CTIA/The International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry, 2007).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Almost all children in the U.S. have access to a mobile device (Sesame Workshop, 2007).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Mobile device ownership among children ages 4-14 has experienced double-digit growth since 2005 (NPD Group, 2008).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->54% of American 8-to-12-year-olds will have cell phones within the next three years (Center on Media and Child Health, 2008).
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->More than 10% of 4- and 5-year-olds use a cell phone (NPD Group, 2008).
How can we capitalize on this cell phone obsession for educational purposes? A book by Liz Kolb, Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education (ISTE, 2008), offers realistic possibilities.
Liz convincingly makes the case for cell phones as learning tools in Chapter 1. She appropriately grounds her convictions in reliable data and relevant research.
In the next chapter, she aggressively slays pessimistic concerns about cell phones in the classroom. (We, too, admit cell phones can be misused in schools. But do we currently ban pens and pencils because they are instruments of graffiti? Moreover, they are potential lethal projectiles. And then there’s scissors.) She successfully confronts real and perceived anxieties related to student access, classroom control, etiquette, financial considerations, advertising, and security.
Suggestions on how to couple cell phone features (podcasting, voice mail, conferencing, mobile notes, cameras, and camcorders) with software in significant learning activities are included in subsequent chapters. The list and descriptions of available and appropriate software is extensive and useful. (Are you familiar with Gabcast, Hipcast, Utterz, YouMail, Jott, Blogger, Winksite, Photobucket, Flickr, Flagr, Nozbe, Jangl, Pinger, Eyespot, Wiffiti, Reactee, Ripple9, Chord Maestro, Myartspace, MobiOde, Evoca, Cellfish, and Flurry?)
Liz’s ideas and insights culminate in twenty-three complete, innovative lesson plans from various academic disciplines. Some of the best include mobile homework help blog, inquiry question icebreaker, local landmark photoblog, photomapping, scavenger hunt, oral history project, revolutionary war enhanced podcast, poetry slam podcast, geometry digital storybook, and think-alouds.
Subsequent chapters on using cell phones as research, organizational, and management tools explore practical applications. Remaining chapters include cell phones in preschool and lower elementary learning, the future of cell phones in schools, and more Web 2.0 resources for cell phones. One of the highlights of this “Top 15” ISTE book is the number of quality resources cited.
An online blog hosted and moderated by the author is an extraordinary companion to this book (cellphonesinlearning.com). “A Conversation About Integrating Student Cell Phones Into Classroom Curricula” is a forum to share successes, challenges, news, and best practices. Networking and support opportunities are also available on this site.
Will cell phones be accepted as viable educational tools? In a recent survey of 319,223 students, 25,544 teachers, 19,726 parents, and 3,263 school administrators (Project Tomorrow, 2008), 52% believe mobile technologies can engage students in essential learning. Among students, more than half said they would "use technology more easily at school if they could use their own laptop, cell phone or mobile device to work on projects, access related software applications and the Internet, and communicate with classmates." (Cell phone ownership was reported by 67% of high school students and 52% of middle school students.)
Another report, Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning (http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/pdf/pockets_of_potential.pdf, 2009), “highlights early evidence and examples of how mobile devices may help re-define teaching and learning in the decade ahead. It shows how mobile devices can help promote the knowledge, skills, and perspectives children will need to compete and cooperate in the 21st century.”
The educational impact of cell phones transcends the U.S. as proclaimed by Chris Dede, Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard Graduate School of Education. “2009 is the year when the cell phone—not the laptop—will emerge as the learning infrastructure for the developing world. Countries will begin to see the value of subsidizing this type of e-learning, as opposed to more traditional schooling.”
When the telephone was invented in 1876, a Western Union internal memo declared, "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Will the educational establishment wrongly deem cell phones in schools as “inherently of no value”, or will they embrace its vast possibilities?
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Dr. David Freitas has served in a number of leadership positions throughout his career including College Dean at three Universities, University Professor, University Vice Provost, Public School Teacher/Administrator, State of Illinois Teacher Certification Board Member, State Department of Education Official, and Elected City School Board Member. He is a frequent national and international presenter.
Janet Buckenmeyer, Ph.D., a former elementary school teacher, is currently Chair of the Masters of Instructional Technology Program at Purdue University Calumet. She has published and presented nationally and internationally about various topics, with a primary focus on instructional technology and design.
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