Australian Teacher Impresses with Cell Phones in Learning

Australian educator Jarrod Robinson (Known as Mr. Robbo -- The P.E. Geek) has been doing some very impressive activities with cell phones in his instruction. He is a physical education teacher in Victoria, Australia. Below I describe a few of these innovative projects:

Most recently Jarrod has developed a QRcode orienteering activity for his students. Awesome! Below are the instructions to his activity from his Blog. Jarrod used a simple Google generator to create the QR codes.

1. The students will be working in pairs using their mobile phones and their QR code reading software.
2. The course will start with a single QR code, each pair will receive a different code so that they start at a different part of the course.
3. Students will scan their codes which will then reveal the directions they need to dial into their compasses and a riddle that gives clues as to the location of the first marker and the next QR code.
4. Half way throughout the course is a QR code with a difference, it contains a template for an SMS message that links directly to my mobile phone. Once scanned the students will send a text message that basically asks for the next clue, which will then be sent to them so they can complete the course.
5. The final QR code links to a downloadable Microsoft word document that details the questions they need to complete around the practical experience as related to the course.

Another activity that Jarrod has developed is sending homework to student cell phones through MMS messaging. Jarrod sends videos and pictures to students as part of their homework assignments. He sends a video message along with instructions to the students for their homework.

The third activity has a focus on using cell phones in exams. Jarrod is using SMS texting to help his students prepare for exams! He uses smsexpress to set up automatic SMS messages that are delivered to his students periodically over the course of the week leading up to the exam. Students receive the messages each day, which are actually questions from the exam. He even gives them options as to what time of day they prefer to receive the questions. As a result Jarrod feels that his students are able to research, collaborate, and better construct answers to his exam questions.

Finally, Jarrod had his students create a blog during their physcial education camping trip via their mobile phones using Utterli. Students posted pictures, audio, and text messages about their camping experience at Grampians National Park. He used the images and posts in their final assessment project! I think it is very smart to use student-collected data in the assement of units and projects! BRAVO Mr. Robinson, keep up the amazing mobile work! I'm very inspired.