In companies worldwide, employees will be expected to conduct business on a Blackberry, Iphone, laptop, or other handheld device. I remember my experience receiving a cellphone. I remember the first time texting and trying to read on my mobile device. There was definitely a comfort I had to learn to achieve and I’m still learning daily how to effectively collaborate and develop professionally using my Iphone. Students today shouldn’t have to go through this learning process because this is the world they now live in. These devices were already being used for worldwide communication and collaboration when they were born. This is why mobile learning should be part of the curriculum and I’m excited to see this learning take place. What does effective mobile learning in schools look like? Are children responsible with these devices? Are these devices really used to improve writing skills? Do children actually collaborate and problem solve with them? I’m sure you’ve had these questions. For this reason, I was excited that Scott Newcomb, @SNewco, answered these questions in a recent video interview! He is a teacher who uses mobile learning devices to teach his 4th graders!
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Scott Newcomb, @snewco, has taught for 10 years and works with 4th graders at St. Marys Intermediate School. This is a public school in its 3rd year using mobile learning devices with their students. Scott helped organize and participated in the first Mobile Learning Technology Conference in Ohio in May of 2009. Scott has helped with professional development training for staff members using smartphone computers. He has presented about Mobile Learning at the E-Tech Ohio Conference, Mobile Learning Technology Conference in Ohio 2009-2010, OSBA Conference, and the ISTE Conference in Denver, CO. He has also conducted webinars on the topic of mobile learning for Classroom 2.0 Live and EdTech Talk.
Lack of resources is one of the main barriers to teachers integrating technology in the classroom. One of the main goals of this blog is to find solutions to these barriers by highlighting effective solutions implemented in school districts. For this reason, I was excited to interview Rich Kiker (@rkiker) and discover how he implemented a 1:1 program at his school district. Rich wanted each of the students in his district to have access to the Internet and the wonderful tools online. Therefore, he implemented a 1:1 purchase program and applied for some grants to help support families with no funds. In the interview, he tells us how his program works and how to get this program started at your school. Rich will even Skype with you to walk you through setting up your own 1:1 purchase program. Rich has a passion to repeat the success of his program to those schools wanting to get their students connected!
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Rich Kiker is an Instructional Technology & Design Consultant specializing in professional development for new media, web applications, 1:1 computing, online learning and technology pathways. Formerly a Media Technology Chair and Technology Coordinator, he is now a consultant for several educational agencies, school districts, and an adjunct professor. You can contact him at www.kikerlearning.com or on Twitter as @rkiker.
You can visit the 1:1 Palisades Page to find out more information about the program.
Here’s how Gary Adams, Palisades Director of Technology, describes the program:
Essentially we have segmented our student device traffic from our production network by using DHCP reservations and logically segmenting them into a separate subnet that is firewalled from the production network. Unfortunately our wireless system doesn’t currently lend itself to using multiple SSIDs, otherwise we would have done this and assigned access to the “guest” SSID to a totally separate VLAN. They are able to access network resources from this segmented network, and from home for that matter, through a remote desktop connection. The remote desktop server provides them with access to their documents on the network as well as some internal applications and Microsoft Office. This scenario allows the students to purchase a device with the “home” version of any Windows OS, as well as use a device running any other OS that supports a Microsoft Remote Desktop Client, which includes Mac OS X, most flavors of Linux, and even the i-Pad running one of the free RDP clients available via the Apps Store. We can also provide internet access to wifi enabled smart devices such as the i-Pod Touch, i-Phone or Android devices.
In a previous post, I mentioned how I was teaching refugees in Athens, Greece as part of my CELTA certification training. Luckily! I received my CELTA certification! Thanks again to my tutor, Marisa Constantinides. Marisa runs the CELTA center and encourages the educators taking the course to effectively integrate technology in their lesson plans.
For many educators, technology tools can be daunting. In my CELTA course, most of the educators were very new to technology. However, the teachers I worked with had a great attitude towards the technology. It isn’t that they embraced it with wide open arms. They recognized their time constraints. What I really admired is how many tried in their lessons to integrate different technologies when it wasn’t a requirement. They tried something new they admitted they feared. They were digital immigrants with very little technology experience in some cases, yet, they ventured forth and I admired them for their bravery.
Texting with Refugees
One example that really amazed me was when one of my colleagues taught our beginners how to create text messages in English. The topic was Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which might seem tough to teach to our group of beginners. Our beginner group consisted of several refugee students who lacked reading and writing skills as well as English skills. They had struggles in their daily life with work, affording clothes, to eat, and so forth. Towards the end of the lesson, my colleague asked the students to raise their hands if they had a cellphone. Surprisingly, the majority did. I can only imagine that many people see cellphones as a staple.
Barriers That Chain Us to Our Comfort Zones
Sometimes, I think we imagine the barriers that prevent us from trying innovative practices are much bigger than they really are. During #EDChat, many educators often say they don’t try using technology due to equal access. Unfortunately, every student in the world will never have every resource we want to use. Schools just don’t work that way. The teacher in this case didn’t worry about the students not having the technology. Instead, she encouraged them to share resources. We worked with refugees who hardly have shelter and food but they shared the resources and enjoyed the lesson. When the teacher asked them if they owned computers at home, some replied they access the Internet at cafes. I think that many learners in the world do access the Internet at cafes, public libraries, or community centers. Lack of resources should never be an excuse when students can learn to collaborate and share the resources they do have. In my class of 10 we often share technology. We share one Iphone, one Macbook, and a few audio recording devices. The children learn how to collaborate and I have learned how to manage a small amount of resources. Each one has a role and I love having stations where they can use the various technology at the same time and I facilitate the learning. We don’t need 10 separate computers or Iphones. I think we should keep trying to find ways to implement the effective use of technology. We can all gain access to a few computers for students to share. Most students want to bring their laptops, smartphones, Ipods, and cellphones to school. We can all assign them roles and teach them how to collaborate and problem solve in groups using the technology.
Why Teach with ICTs?
Our students already enter a workforce in which they receive ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) to communicate with colleagues worldwide, yet many never have been trained to do this effectively. This will become more necessary in the future and we cannot prevent or change this. Change and the continuous advances in this technology revolution are constants. We may long for technologies of the past or a world of the past, but we cannot teach our students to live in this world we want. I hear from adults daily that text messaging ruins students writing or how students should play outside more instead of being on the computer or stuck to their video games. Yes, we can make our students aware of this but not teaching them how to effectively use the tools of their world means we aren’t doing our job. We aren’t preparing them for their world. We have to teach students to live in the world they will need to make responsible decisions.
I think many of the problems with the world are because schools don’t teach these important skills. They are stuck in teaching effective bubble test marking but when do we teach students about digital citizenship, ethics, collaborating worldwide, and applying their learning to finding worldwide solutions? We have wars due to the lack of ineffective communication worldwide. We have countries who treat immigrants and foreigners terribly because students hardly ever communicate with students worldwide. We have problems agreeing on an effective worldwide policy to save the environment because our world leaders cannot agree. Without this collaboration in schools, students continue to hold their stereotypes and misconceptions of others. We are raising students worldwide who only care about their own problems and are stuck in their own microcosms. They hold steadfastly to their beliefs and can’t understand another culture’s beliefs, religion, traditions, or way of life. They won’t even tolerate them. Do we really want to continue to be part of this problem or do we want to be part of the solution?
10 Texting Resources
Watch the video, which prevents both sides of the argument for students using cellphones in schools. Most students have cellphones so we can begin helping students collaborate and communicate with them. Here are a few more resources to help you along the way:
I teach young English language learners between 5 to 10 years-old. I have found my Iphone as one of the best tools to help improve their English and motivate them to speak English outside the classroom! We do so much with my Iphone such as search for images to explain words they don’t know, search for information, create videos of our favorite songs and games, record ourselves speaking English, and learn English through various apps!
However, these apps are not specific to English language learners. These apps help kids to read, create digital stories, interact with reading materials, improve their reading skills, increase their vocabulary, improve their grammar, and reproduce the knowledge they have learned. These apps involve kids in the story so they have fun while reading! For my young learners this is especially important because they often struggle with the reading vocabulary and meaning, since they are acquiring the language. Reading books in English can be very stressful for them. We still read aloud with various visual and support materials but when possible we also listen to stories on my Iphone! My kids never get to create or read stories with an iPhone except for in my class so this is a real treat.
Free Apps for Kids
These are some of the great free apps we will be trying this year to get them creating their own stories, listening to stories, increasing their reading skills, and improving their English proficiency. These are available on the Ipod Touch and Ipad as well but may not be free on those platforms.
Talking Tom- Kids talk to Tom and he repeats everything said with a funny voice, pet him to make him purr, pour a glass of milk for him, and poke his head, belly or feet, grab his tail. The best part is that within seconds what the students say to Tom is recorded as an avi video which can be uploaded to YouTube and Facebook or sent by email. This app really gets young learners speaking English!
StoryKit- Create an electronic storybook by drawing on the screen, uploading images, recording sound effects and voice, laying out the elements of the story (text boxes, images, and sound clips) freely by dragging them or pinching to resize, reordering pages, and uploading to the StoryKit web server. Email a link to the story. The application includes four public domain children’s books to rewrite and rearrange into a new story.
Fotobabble- Quickly create and easily share talking photos in 3 steps (Snap or select or a photo, speak into the microphone to record audio, share with friends via email, Facebook or Twitter).
StoryCorps-Listen to the weekly story; share stories via email, Facebook, and Twitter; get tips for recording stories on mobile devices; create and email a list of questions for an interview with StoryCorps.
Read Me Stories- Children’s books- A new talking picture book everyday teaches children new concepts, new words and how to say them. Free limited time trial. Keeps track of favorite books to read again and purchase from Amazon.com.
K12 Timed Reading Practice Lite- 25 short, engaging stories for K-4 readers, variety of fiction and non-fiction, 10 Flesh-Kincade reading levels, view recommendations for moving up or down in reading difficulty based on recorded Words per Minute scores, and track one reader’s stories read, words per minute, percent above or below average reading rates, and what’s next on the reading list.
Library Of Congress – Virtual Tour for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad- Includes highlights of exhibitions and architectural features, with photos, audio by curators and other experts, links to more detailed online exhibitions, and even a video about the history of Thomas Jefferson’s Library.
Puppet Animation Lite- Kids animate uploaded images or sample puppets; animate them by choosing swing, elastic, or scaling; save as an animated gif to send via email or Twitter.
Kids Apps: 13 in 1- 13 different applications ranging from math games, over 600 flash cards, interactive tracing drills, ABCs, counting, vocabulary, number and letter tracing, Math Whiz quiz, music instruments vocabulary, house words and pictures, and more.
Animoto- Upload images, choose a soundtrack from the library, and click a button to make a 30-second video. Sync your videos with your Animoto.com account, download videos for offline viewing, and make longer ones with an All-Access Pass.
Chicktionary Lite- The chickens head bobs and clucks when kids use one of their letters to make a word. The “beak sneak” option fills in one letter from each of the words not yet found. Has 12 levels.
Tales2Go- Free for 30 days. Instant, on-demand and unlimited access to over 1,200 stories from leading audio publishers and storytellers.
