Storytime with Wattpad

During the K12 Conference I learned about a new resource called Wattpad. Using Wattpad you can read and share text stories on your cell phone! It is the modern-day ebook. Yet one more thing that you do not have to purchase (an ebook reader) if you have a basic cell phone. Of course the screens on cell phones are not the best for reading, but I have a feeling that will change over the next few years. I can think of some great secondary connections with Wattpad. English/language arts students can read or recite their original work and share it with the world to become "published" authors. Social studies students can write and share their historical fiction or non-fiction writing (such as a research report or biography). Elementary students can also send their original work to their parents cell phones! Wattpad also operates in multiple languages, so this may be a nice resource for foreign language and ESL students.

K12 Conference Connections...

Wes Fryer who runs the Moving at the Speed of Creativity Blog, coupled Gabcast with VoiceThread and Garageband in order to develop some really cool digital storybook projects with students. What is so fantastic about these projects is that he just learned Gabcast from watching the K12 presentation, and was immediately able to apply it! This is exactly the reason why cell phones may have a place in learning, the easy and immediate application of the tools.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how many educators were interested in viewing my presentation and found the potential in cell phones in learning from it. A few even mentioned their skepticism before viewing the presentation. It made me realize how little educators have stopped to consider cell phones as a learning tool, a few mentioned that since their schools had policies against cell phones on campus (or something to that effect) that they just never thought of it in a positive light! I'm glad my presentation could showcase a different perspective. While I don't expect everyone to agree, I appreciate that so many skeptics were willing to watch it with an open-mind. Additionally, I have already received comments and emails about other potential web2.0 applications that might couple well with cell phones. I intend to take a look at those over the next few weeks.

I have really enjoyed the K12 conference thus far. Two of my favorites so far are learning about trailfire from April Chamberlain. And I also learned about spresent (a great way to build PowerPoint online, much better than Zoho in my opinion) and Splashcast (to create an online broadcast) from Kurt Paccio and James Gates! I can't wait to see if I can find mobile connections with these two resources.

Jott the Vote!

Jott the Vote

I was just checking my email and received a message from Jott. Jott has set up a mobile campaign, where anyone with a Jott account (it's free) can send a Jott message to any 2008 presidential candidate's campaign! The site also includes statistics of which candidates have been Jotted the most. This could be an engaging activity for secondary social studies students who are studying current events or the presidential campaign. They could research candidates, then select a candidate to Jott a question concerning their platform. Teachers and students can also copy the source-code of their favorite candidates to their class blog or website to watch current Jotts. Students could even create a blog site for their favorite candidate, promote their platform, and include the Jott The Vote Widget!

K-12 Online Conference Presentations Begin Tomorrow!

For anyone who is interested in web2.0 tools and classroom integration ideas, you MUST explore the 2007 K-12 Online Conference presentations. They will be posted starting Monday October 15th at 8:00am (Eastern Time). You can also participate in the online discussion board about the presentations (where many presenters will answer your questions/comments). Additionally, you can participate in a live conference chat with many of the presenters on Saturday October 20th and 27th after the week of presentations. Many well-known and respected educational bloggers and web2.0 experts are participating in the conference this year. I also have a presentation on Cell Phones as Learning Tools that will be posted in the New Tools sessions starting Monday October 15th. I struggled with putting the presentation together since this is the first time I have done a completely virtual "lecture." I am not 100% happy with the visual outcome of my presentation (I used a combination of iMovie, PowerPoint, and QuickTime Pro). Although I think the content is worthy, I just wish I had more time to refine the look. I look forward to hearing feedback (the good, bad, and the ugly) as well as comments and opinions on this particular topic. I am also very excited about watching some of the other presentations and participating in those online discussions. The great thing about the virtual conference is that you can participate and view presentations at your leisure.

Cell Phones bring countries together...lessoning the digital divide!

Mobile Africa is a website devoted to exploring cell phone communication and development in African nations. While a major concern over using technologies in the United States is that there are many developing countries that do not have access and thus cannot participate in business and social communication via computer technology. Yet, as the Mobile Africa site proves, cell phones are becoming a very prominent and common technology in many developing nations. Therefore teaching U.S. students how to use their cell phone as an everyday communication and professional tool may help with the new "flattened" world that we live in today. Often cell phones in developing countries are used for learning activities, especially distance learning and business activities. Hence if we can consider a cell phone a learning tool in developing continents such as Africa, than I think it is safe to consider the cell phone a potential learning tool in U.S. classrooms.

Reading Novels Via Cell...

In Japan a new trend has started...many are reading books via cell phone! Cell phones are now becoming ebooks, where you can download an entire novel to your cell phone and then read at your leisure anywhere at anytime! Soon there will not need to be ebooks or special PDA's to read electronic books, you can now use your cell phone! There are many applications for this in the classroom, especially schools where schools cannot afford hard copy books or textbooks for all their students. Instead students can have all of their class textbooks and novels on their cell phone! No more heavy backpacks to lug around! Even better, this means that students will always have access to their school books via their cell, so they can learn while waiting in line or riding a bus.

Create Art Galleries by Phone

Using a site called MyArtSpace, students can now create their own virtual museum or gallery with their cell phone. The site is made in the UK, and is specifically for classes that visit museums or galleries. Students can use their cell phones to take pictures of different pieces of art or artifacts and immediately create their own virtual museum at MyArtSpace. Back in class, students can reflect and discuss their mobile art gallery in order to review what they learned on their field trip. Additionally, anyone can explore the many art galleries posted on MyArtSpace, thus it becomes a collaborative wiki of sorts, where students are contributing and sharing knowledge on art and museum artifacts. Another nice feature of this site is that the mobile phone use is all done outside of the classroom, so not to interfere with any school that has a policy banning cell phones on campus. As a result, students are learning to use their cell phone as a knowledge construction tool, and teachers do not have to fear cell phone disruptions in the classroom. This site is wonderful for any class that is taking a field trip, whether a science museum, a zoo, a historical archives, or a modern art gallery!

Reference Software for Cell Phones

Using Mobile Query, teachers and students can load free reference software onto any cell phone. The software options include spell check, a dictionary, a thesaurus, email, highway traffic information, and even stock market quotes. By loading this software onto students' cell phones, their mobile devices immediately become a reference tool for driving, English language skills, and even business. An immediate application of this software would be for a business class where students have "bought" stocks and are following them on the market. They can receive immediate updates via cell phone with the Mobile Query stock quote software. Additionally, students who are learning to drive, can learn how to use the highway traffic information to stay safe on the road (of course they should check the information BEFORE driving and not while driving!).