Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools
How can a teacher bring the technological tools learners are using outside the classroom into the educational process, and which tools and strategies are best for this purpose? A piece of technology that most students bring into the classroom is their cell phone. Currently, this piece of technology is generally required to be turned off, hidden away, and forcefully ignored. Does this have to be the case?
Some strategies that teachers can use to implement cell phone technology in the classroom could be:
Provide an authentic collaboration lesson where the students divide into groups to solve a real world problem such as the clearing of a forest to build a mall. Students can use their cell phones to go to the site and create geographical markers of where all the trees are overlaid with where the proposed mall would be located. They could call the local town hall and their city representatives to find out more information and speak with those who are at the forefront of this issue. The students can text their findings to each other, create video blogs made with the use of their smart phones. The final project can be a videoconference with a local councilperson or researcher to present their findings and collaboratively reflect with each other to brainstorm more ideas.
References:
| Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193. Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum. |
Hi Lewis,
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost I really enjoyed reading your post and your graphic organizer looks great. I love the idea of using the cell phone with students in the classroom. It’s a fun and easy ways to implement technology since most students have access to a cell phone. I teach 5th grade and only a few students have a cell phone. I’m sure if I were a middle or high school teacher I would defiantly use this piece of technology in the classroom.
Cora
From your post, It sounds like the majority of this assignment would be completed outside of the classroom and the students would send their findings to each other using text messaging or some other application.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any suggestions of ways to keep students on task while using this type of technology in the classroom. I can see where my students could easily become distracted and start using the cell phones for many other purposes than the actual assignment.