Mobile Learning Lab

I was very excited that we would be learning about mobile learning in the classroom. As I've said before, each of my students is given an iTouch at my school. This was our second year implementing the iTouch for every student and it is still a learning process for me. I often feel like I am just not doing enough with the iTouches. Often when I tell people that every student in my school has an iTouch, they tell me they would just love to have that in their school. While my students do use them for researching, blogging, notes, and warm ups, I just know there is so much more I could be doing. I know there are so many apps out there I could be utilizing better and I always mean to use them for both listening to and creating podcasts, but have never found the time. The iTouches have been as much a learning process for the teachers as they have been for the students. This lab excited me because I knew I'd be getting more resources regarding this topic that I could explore and bookmark. I was not dissapointed. The information on practical ideas for using cell phones in the classroom provided some really great, fresh ideas. I was happy to see that I already do or have done most of the ideas listed in the 10 tips article. However, in the 25 tips article there were really great ideas and projects. However, most of them required a camera or video and the majority of our students' iTouches don't have these (unless they are using their own iPhones, some have signed a special contract to do so). I love the idea of treasure hunts using mobile devices and many of the group project concepts. Although I can't use camera/video, I can adapt many of the ideas presented in that article to benefit my students.

I thought the information about Poll Everywhere was a really neat concept. I also found that it was incredibly quick and easy to make, so I see how it could be really useful in the classroom. My students aren't allowed to have cell phones out (unless they signed the iPhone contract), so Poll Everywhere wouldn't really work for me, but I utilize Google Forms in a similar manner with their iTouch devices.

I really enjoyed the information on Flip video cameras as well. While I used Flip cameras for my Wicked Problem Project, this information gave me many new ideas for ways to integrate the cameras more. My students just finished a career project and one of the suggestions on the site was to have students film mock interviews. This could have tied in nicely with this project. It also mentions recording students reading what they have written and publishing it on a website. I can imagine that the parents of my students would love to see their kids reading their original works. One of the biggest complaints I hear from parents of my 8th grade students is that their children never tell them what's going on at school or share their work with them. I can imagine this would give them that opportunity to connect with their teens.

Overall, this was one of the most useful labs I've encountered in this course because so much of the information can be utilized in my classroom. I was bookmarking sites like crazy as I read them so I can put this information to use next year.