More uses for mobile phones

Graham Wegner from Australia has recently produced a great post on using mobile phones in the classroom. In his post Graham talks about some of his ideas to use mobile phones in the classroom and has even had his students make posters of potential mobile phone use. Alex Hayes then used this idea to make a short video of the different functions of a phone. The video is imbedded into Grahams post.

Also in the post there is another short bit of video which shows Alex out on the street interviewing Australian youngsters on how often they use their phones. I have posted my favourite poster below.

I think this would be a great idea or activity to complete with students to help them understand how their phones could be used as powerful learning tools. Could it be built into a study skills workshop?

We are considering a mobile phone trial in Musselburgh. I have been slow to get things into place, mainly because we have recently experienced a couple of instances where students have used their phones inappropriately in school. Perhaps its time to re-visit project. I know Ewan is keen to drive this forward.

More mobile phone ideas here.

 

Comments

[Ewan McIntosh]

If kids are using mobiles inappropriately then it's perhaps even more reason to get those phones out and talk about what power they hold and how to use that power effectively. By putting things off we are almost certainly confirming that there is fear of phones (so we have to allay those fears with staff and parents) and sending the message to students that we don't want them to bring technology into schools.

Ready when you are, Ollie! ;-)

[OllieBray]

I totally agree with you. However, I’m a firm believer that it’s 'all about the sell'. I am going to schedule one of the first Internal Training sessions after the Christmas holidays to be on the use of mobile phones in education. From here I hope to get some volunteers to drive this forward. Would you like to co-present? I also want to get a manufacturer on board to show off some of the phones that our students have. I was thinking of the carphone warehouse. What do you think? Ollie

[Graham Wegner]

I'm sorry, Ollie, that I did not express myself very well in this blog post at all. The kids' posters were from my class, and after I sent them to Alex, he then created the video. The posters were the stimulus for the video but I'm the primary school teacher gingerly prodding at the ideas and Alex is the mlearning VTE guru!!

[OllieBray]

Thanks for your comment Graham - that makes a lot more sence to me now. Really enjoy your blog by the way. Ollie

[Ewan McIntosh]

It's be a pleasure to come along. Just let me know when!