Social Studies by Cell Phone...

I am a bit of a "presidential 08" junkie. As I was reviewing the websites of many of the republican and democratic candidates, I discovered that most of them have "mobile" options! Students and/or classes can subscribe to mobile updates about different candidates, current polls, and other political news. For example on Barack Obama's site you can "join the movement" and Go Mobile! The mobile options seemed to be targeted at younger voters, high schoolers and college age students. Therefore I believe many assignments could come out of this "mobile" political movement. One idea is to ask students to subscribe to different campaigns in order to become more informed, and eventually hold a class debate (where students can represent different candidates). Obama's site (and I'm sure many others) have "hip" ringtones that students can download. Maybe a teacher will not mind a cell phone ringing if it is about endorsing a specific political candidate---a nice class discussion/debate, over why that ringtone was selected, could ensue from the call! Students could even create their own mobile campaigns using Mob5 (which creates mobile webpages), PrivatePhone (to send out campaign updates via voice mail or text), Pix2fone (to create a campaign logo for the cell phone) or PhoneZoo (to create ringtones for the candidate). I also think the mobile options may help get younger voters more interested in politics and voting! Beyond the presidental race many news-worthy sites have mobile subscription options such as CNN with live streaming news feeds and updates. In a time and place where it is difficult to get secondary students interested in news other than Paris Hilton, the mobile feeds may help engage today's students in the 21st century national and international political news.

Homework Now...by cell

While there are many sites online that allow teachers to create websites for assignments and class information, one site in particular called Homework Now allows parents and students to access the information via cell phone. This allows more access to classroom assignments and activities students since more of them have cell phone access than internet access at home. While there is a small cost to using this site, I think it is the "wave of the future" for class information and assignments. Teachers can simply give out a mobile web address that can be accessed by cell or a phone number to call into (similar to today's homework hot lines, but they are automated). And again, for schools that have rules against cell phones in the classroom, this is one way they can be beneficial for learning and not actually brought into the classroom.

Listen to the Natives...Why Cell Phones

The article Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky is an excellent justification for why we should be considering cell phones in schools. Beyond mentioning cell phones he also talks about other popular student everyday digital activities such as social networking and chat rooms. While I like to focus on on cell phones in this blog, I am a firm believer that almost all student-used technology should be considered potential classroom learning tools. By using our student's cultural tools we have the opportunity to cross the "gap" between everyday school activities and everyday outside school activities. Students may be more engaged and motivated to learn their science curriculum if they can use MySpace or a popular video game to learn it! While the media likes to focus on the negative aspects of these "everyday" tools, I think it is important to consider the potential benefits for the 21st century learner.

Cell Phone Video Production

One of the latest cell phone options is video recording. while the videos recorded on cell phones today are fairly short (usually 30 seconds to a minute) and the quality is not nearly as decent as a good digital camcorder, I believe this is changing. In the next year or so, we will have much better quality camcorders in cell phones. Therefore we should consider options on using cell phone as camcorders for learning. There are a few places, such as Ithaca college that are already on-board with this concept. The CellFlix Festival is an opportunity for any student to share video taken from a cell phone (edited on any video editor). A great resource to assist in developing these mini 30-second cell phone movies is Eyespot. Eyespot is an online free video editor (think web2.0) where you can immediately and directly post video from your cell phone into the online video editor. When you are done editing, you can upload it to the CellFlix Festival page. Therefore your students can shoot documentaries (think interviews), 30-second commercials, or even news reports with their cell phone, send it directly to an online video editing tool (no need for iMovie or MovieMaker anymore)...then upload it to a legitimate movie festival for publication!

Photoblogging from your Cell Phone

Blogger has a nice feature that has been around for over a year now. It is mobile blogging. It allows anyone to create a Photoblog from their cell phone without having a blogger account! While Flickr, Bubbleshare, and other web2.0 resources allow you to post images from your cell, you first have to create an account before you are able to post. Blogger lets you post immediately. And it is so easy! Here is how...
1) take a picture with your cell
2) send it to go@blogger.com
3) you will receive a text message with the URL of your new Photoblog!

If you continue to send images from your cell phone, they will also be posted on the same Photoblog. One of the best ways to use Photoblogging in learning would be for field trips. Since the students are away from computers on field trips, you can still easily document the student learning by creating a Photoblog. Younger students can use the teacher's cell phone or parent volunteer's cell phones to take pictures of what they are learning (for example a trip to the zoo, taking pictures of animals). Older students can use their own cell phones to document their experiences. Once the students are back in the classroom, they can login to their blogs and add text/narration to support the images.

Cell Phones = School Safety?

NPR has a nice "all things considered" broadcast concerning cell phones in schools. While this broadcast is from 2002, I believe it is extremely relevant for today's controversies over cell phones in schools. The broadcast focuses on the administrative benefits of students bringing their cell phones to school by citing both student and parent "safety" concerns. Since students have their cell phones with them at all times, they can easily be located in case of an emergency. I remember fire drills where we had to "count" our students and then report any missing students to the administrator. It might be much easier to locate the missing student in an emergency if they had a cell phone with them. At the same time there is an interesting article by The National Safety and Securty Services that gives reasons why cell phones may actually get in the way of or impede safety in schools. Both pieces of media give interesting perspectives.

A student interviewed on the NPR broadcast mentioned that he still sneaks his cell phone into school, even though he is not supposed to bring it school. Consequently, if students are still bringing and using their cell phones in schools (ban or no ban), we may want to consider how to take advantage of this ubiquitous in learning (and not just as a potential safety line).

Concerns over Cell Phones in Schools

While I like considering ways to use cell phones in schools, I think it is also important to present the "other side" of cell phones in schools. This is an interesting news broadcast on You Tube that discusses the concerns over having cell phones in schools. One interesting concern is that students are recording teachers "behaving badly." While I do not condone recording anyone without their knowledge, I think that teachers should also be mindful of their behavior and maybe these videos have done them a favor (to see themselves in a different light and to be aware of their negative behavior in the classroom). Either way, this video is definitely food for thought.

Calling all Musicians...Publish and Promote your Music with a Cell

Sing, Sing, Sing!!! A piece of web2.0 software called Ripple9, allows any musician or band to promote and publish their music by using their cell phone. Ripple9 lets users send text messages and promotion announcements about gigs or new music directly to cell phones or emails. In addition users can take video clips and pictures of band events and send them directly to the Ripple9 webspace. Secondary students that have their own band and/or compose their own original music can use Ripple9 to publish their music and promote it to a large audience! Music classes could get involved with this and promote their school sponsored musical groups (such as choral groups or jazz singers).

Poetry Slamming with Cells...

A great idea that one of my inservice teachers came up with for cell phones was a Poetry Slam. While many schools and coffee houses host events for students to read their original poems, why not create a Poetry Slam Blog or Podcast where they could broadcast their original work to the world! Published! Using Gabcast, Evoca, or Gcast students could call in their poems, read them (with all the gusto and sound effects necessary), then post them immediately to their Blog or the Gabcast/Evoca/Gcast Podcasting site. If they post to their blog, they could "dress up" the poem with images and text. The benefit of using cell phones is that students could record their poems when they are "inspired" rather than having to be in front of a computer to record it. In addition, they could record "drafts" of their poems, save them in the private Gabcast or Evoca unpublished space, and then publish the draft they think is best. By publishing their poems on Gabcast or on their Blog, they can receive feedback with the comment buttons. Here is a sample Poetry Slam from my inservice teacher.

Cell Phone Conferencing...Many Uses in Schools

There is a great new web2.0 for Teleconferecing called Free Conference Pro! You can sign up for free, and create your own password protected account. Each teleconference can be recorded and stored, so that there is a record of the conference. Anyone can dial in to your conference and participate as long as they have the password. There are many educational uses for this particular tool. To begin it is a great way to document and keep track of group project progress. For example, the students can simply record their group brainstorming and discussions (which can occur from anywhere with the conferencing feature). This might also force the students to be more focused when they know their group meetings are being documented. It is also nice that they can meet over the cell phone/landline rather than having to always get together in person. Teachers can also use this feature for parent/teacher conferencing over the phone (especially if two parents cannot be in the same place at once). Also, the conference will be documented and recorded so that there is a running record of what was discussed. Another creative option is to have a conference "simulation" or "debate" for homework. Multiple Students could call in at a designated time and debate or discuss a topical issue using the conference tool. The students can take on different "roles" of a controversial issue and turn it into a radio broadcast. Or in a simulation mode, students could create a "constitutional convention" by taking on different figures from the revolutionary time period and debate what should be in the constitution. These are just a few learning activities that come to mind with this tool.

It is worth checking out!

Cell Phone as a Scanner...

A web2.0 resource called ScanR allows you to take pictures with your cell phone (or other mobile devices) and store them online or sent directly to email as pdf files. One nice aspect of this resource is that you can have multiple cell phone numbers sending scans to the same account. This is useful for educators who may want students to "scan" work or documents and send them to the "teacher" account. Students working collaboratively in groups can also great "group" ScanR accounts to store their research data. Students or teachers can scan in white boards, documents, or images. It is a nice that you can scan and create a pdf immediately. While I am still trying to think of some engaging learning activities with this application, one issue I ran across while using ScanR was that you have to have a decent quality camera on your cell phone. The resolution needs to be at least 1100 x 800, which some less expensive cell phones do not have. In addition, keep in mind that scans are "text messages" so there could be a cost to sending scans to the ScanR account.

Private Phone...a voice mail assessment tool!

One of the biggest complaints I receive about sites such as Gabcast and Gcast is that there is no way to record a "welcome or introduction message" for students dialing in to record. Many teachers have said they would like to use these resources for oral language assessment activities, but would like to give instructions before the students record their message. In addition, the teachers would like some of the recordings to be stored privately so only the teacher can listen to them. A new resource called PrivatePhone may be the answer.

PrivatePhone allows anyone to create a unique local phone number where you can not only receive voice mail, but all voice mail messages will be posted to a private online space where you can download messages as MP3 files or post them publicly to blogs! In addition, you can create unique voice mail welcome messages that can be heard when someone dials into your number. In addition you receive call logs of all the phone messages to your voice mail, therefore if students have a deadline, you can make sure they called in on time! When you log in on line they can communicate back to the caller with either a voice or text message. While this site has not been created specifically for education, there are many potential educational uses such as oral tests where you create a voice mail message of a question and then the students say their answers. Since their answers are saved privately, there is no worry of students sharing answers or accidentally hearing someone else's work. It can also be used for interviewing, speech practice, private student messaging...

A bonus of this resource is that you receive a new phone number in your local area. Therefore you can also use this phone number as your "junk" voice mail. For example instead of giving out your cell or home phone numbers when you have to fill out the endless web2.0 registration forms that ask for your phone number, you can give out your PrivatePhone voice mail number.

Jotting with the Cell Phone

There is a new web2.0 site called Jott. The purpose of this site is to allow you to instantly create speech-to-text emails from your cell phone! What is so fantastic about this, is that you do not have to "pay" to send text messages as emails from your cell, instead you call a number and speak your email. Then Jotts instantly turns it into an email for yourself or anyone else you choose! And it's free! Immediately I thought of visually impaired students being about to better communicate through email with this system. The Jotts are achieved and saved on the Jott website in a private secure area as well. Here are a couple other ways Jotts could be used as a learning activity. They could be used for oral homework assignments (great for Foreign Language, ESL, or VI students). Field trip observation notes, where students could document their observations. Brainstorming ideas, if students have a major paper to write, they could use Jotts to brainstorm ideas that would immediately turn into text. Therefore they could copy and paste the text into Word and get started quicker on their papers. Those are just a couple ideas that immediately come to mind, I'm sure there are more.