Create a numeric mobile address for any webpage!

DigitURL is a new easy and free resource that will allow anyone to convert a URL address of a website into a mobile address for cell phones. The best part of DigitURL is that it makes the mobile address numeric, no letters. This makes it so much easier, not only to view websites on a mobile phone with internet access, but also to type in the addresses more efficiently by only having to quickly type in numbers (especially for those of us---um, yes myself--who cannot afford the fancy smartphones with the keyboards). This may allow easier access to classroom websites and web resources. For example if students need to use Wikipedia or NPR to help research topics, the teacher can type in the web addresses and get numeric URL's for the sites to give to the students to use for homework outside of the classroom. Parents, who may not have Internet access at home and would like to stay abreast of the latest school information on the class website or school homepage could have a simple numeric mobile web addresses of the class website and check the information on their mobile phones. To test out the resource, I created a mobile web for my ToyToTool blog (try it...at 64583238667). It took me less than a minute, and they will email you all of your account information when you finish completing the address form. So easy! Students could do this too!

Well, it is time to play with my newest addition to my favorite mobile web resources...

3Jam...Collaboartive Text Messaging!

Text messaging is one of the most popular ways for students to use their cell phones according to the recent Disney survey. Therefore, teachers can take advantage of this and find ways to include text messaging in their learning environment. But for a teacher to text message their entire class, and then have specific cooperative groups message each other back and forth is very difficult on a cell phone (because there is no "reply to all" option), so 3Jam has come up with a solution. 3Jam will help anyone create a group message where the recipients can "reply to all". This is a free resource and one that could come in very handy for group or collaborative projects, classroom management/communication, and school-wide communication.

One example would be brainstorming. If the teacher wanted students who were doing group projects to brainstorm ideas for their project for homework, they could use 3Jam to start a text messaging group (which can include or not include the teacher) for their brainstorming. They can simply choose "reply to all" when they have a new idea for the group. Now, I know that many educators are afraid to include cell phones in the classroom, but this application could be very useful when students finish a test. Students usually finish a test at different rates, so they are often given a busy work-homework assignment to do so they will not disrupt the other students. However, they could work on their collaborative class or group project (quietly of course) by texting their ideas or information back and forth to their group members who are finish (the teacher could also be included on the group text to make sure it is legitimate messaging). While I know this is not an option for many teachers, it could be a possible option in the future.

Another way to use this is for homework help, assignment reminders, or even parent information. The teacher can use 3Jam to quickly send out these group messages to all the students or parents. This could also be handy for school security, if the school needs to contact parents quickly, while some may not have email or may not check their email very often parents are more likely to have a cell phone with them so they could receive a text message about school releasing early or snow days.

Open call for international mobile film festival!

The 4th edition of the Pocket Films Festival will take place at the Pompidou Center, Paris, on June, 13-14-15th 2008. Currently they have an "open call" for international films created with mobile phones. This is an opportunity for students to develop films for class using their cell phones and receive some internalization recognition for their work. There are two competitions, one for films shot entirely with cell phones, the other for films created for the cell phone or iPod. Students in French foreign language classes can really take advantage of using their French language and cultural skills to create their films. Students could video tape with their cell phones and then send them to Eyespot to do their video editing. For students who do not have access to their own cell phone, films could also be created on a digital video camera, but they must be converted to be viewed on and iPod or Cell phone (3G format). A great free online converter is Zamzar (select the 3G or iPod option). Beyond a film competition they also have a mobile "project" competition for social activist or non-profits (such as schools...) to develop mobile projects around a particular social issue. What a fantastic opportunity for mobile citizen journalism or student activism (that I spoke of in a recent post). The project competition is really considering the cell phone to be a device of knowledge construction! Fantastic!

No need for "clickers" when you have a cell phone!

I have written before about trying to find a way for basic cell phones to replace the expensive classroom performance systems (CPS). Last week I posted about Wiffiti, an instant brainstorming tool that uses cell phones like CPS clickers. Now, I have found another web2.0 that works in the same fashion as a CPS tool. It is called Polleverywhere. Polleverywhere is a site where you can create instant mobile polls. The polls utilize text messaging, so you get a text message number to "vote" for your selected answer (similar to the American Idol text message polling). Anyone can create an account and get 100 free instant poll responses (after 100 you must pay for them, so keep your polls to the first 100 people). Fantastic! So teachers can project the poll results graph (which includes the text message numbers for the different poll options) in the front of the class. Then students can take out their cell phones and text their option. Students will be able to instantly see the poll results on Polleverywhere. You can also embed polls into a PowerPoint presentation (they will automatically be updated as long as you have Internet service) and the results can be exported (for students studying statistics and graphical illustrations this may be useful). Finally, if students do not have cell phones they could vote online.

Polleverywhere could be a great "ice breaker" activity to find out what students know about a topic. For example, the teacher could post a concept such as "photosynthesis" and include four different definition options. The students could text their definition choice to the instant poll. Then after seeing the results, the teacher could ask the students to turn to the person on their right and "defend" their definition choice in the poll. Ten minutes later the teacher could ask them to complete the poll again with their cell phones to see if their "discussion" with their classmates caused any changes in their definition selection.

I've posted a "Poll everywhere" poll here (Polleverywhere does not really have an embed option yet so I "forced" it into my blog), please feel free to text your answers. The question is "Would you use cell phones in your classroom for teaching and learning?
Text 1035 to 41411 Not in my classroom, but maybe for homework
Text 1033 to 41411 Yes!
Text 1032 to 41411 No, never

Mobile Citizen Activism...How about student activism?

There has been some discussion in the local papers about mobile citizen journalism, where everyday people capture breaking news stories with their cell phones. While I think that students can definitely participate in their own citizen journalism around their community, I also think mobile phones provide a wonderful opportunity for student activism. One example of an activist movement is Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth ask citizens to video tape (they can use their mobile camcorders) a message about saving the environment in their local community. Students could not only participate in projects like this but they could also help to create mobile activist projects. They could use some of the free web2.0 mobile resources such as Eyespot (which can immediately post to any blog) and ask people to post mobile videos on different activist or social justice topics such as reasons why we should donate to a local homeless shelter or supporting universal health care reform. Another resource that I think might be helpful for activism is text messaging. Joe Wood, he has brought my attention to a new idea of using Twitter (a social networking text messaging tool) as a mobile learning tool. One idea that I thought of was to use Twitter as a tool for social activism. Some of the 2008 presidential candidates have a Twitter account, so citizens can follow their campaigns. One example is Barack Obama.
Students could create their own activist campaign on Twitter. For example, they could send out text alerts and messages about environmental issues, where others who are interested in the same topic could become part of their activist community. They could focus efforts on educating the public about their topic of interest. Another activism project is the People's 311, where New Yorkers can post mobile pictures of dangerous situations in New York City on a local map (such as a stop sign that has fallen down).

Students or teachers could do something similar in their own local community with mobile Flickr and posting to a private Flickr Map (under the You Tab--My Map at the top of any Flicker account). Teachers could create a community account in Flickr and give out to students the mobile image posting address.

Where do we begin? How about with a "how to" book?

Darren Draper just left a comment and question on my blog about how and where do we begin demonstrating the knowledge construction capabilities of cell phones? I propose that we begin in many places (Classroom 2.0, K12 Online Conference, Edubloggers) but also with a book...actually my book (I know, a little self-promotion) that I am finishing with ISTE, our goal is to have it published before the NECC conference this coming June.

The book is tentatively called Toys To Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones To Education In and Out of the Classroom. In the book I highlight many ways (from the very simple to the more complex) that educators can take advantage of basic cell phones (not fancy iPhones, but an average cell phone that many secondary students own) for a large variety of learning opportunities. Some of the integration ideas that I have included are podcasting, virtual conferencing, photoblogging, videoblogging, mobile surveys/quizzes, game such as cell phone scavenger hunt, making mobile webpages, and mobile concept mapping. I tried to include a large number of lesson plans and "how to" tutorials. The objective of the book is not to tell teachers they have to include cell phones everyday and let students use them all the time in school, rather to ask them to consider cell phones as a possible learning tool and to give them ideas of how they could take full advantage of them. Almost all of the ideas and lessons focus on using the cell phone outside of the classroom (for homework or on field trips), so students do not actually have to bring them into the classroom (especially since so many schools have policies banning cell phones). I also include discussions on why we should include cell phones in our spectrum of classroom learning tools and some examples of adventurous teachers who are having some success with cell phones in their classrooms.

I am very excited because the reviewers for the book (school teachers) highly recommended the book. One of the reviewers even stated that they did not think they would like the book (because of the topic) and now they are actually going to try some of lessons in their classroom. That was nice to hear, since I am well aware that this is a controversial topic! I hope the book with enlighten and be useful to the 21st Century teacher. I'll write more when I have some firm dates of publication.

Teen Cell Phones Usage Statistics....WOW! We Need to Pay Attention to This

According to the Washington Post (in an article written this summer) cell phone usage among teens age 1o-17 in the summer is astronomical! An average of 3 hours and 45 minutes they spend using their cell phones each day during summer break (during school months it is still an astounding 2 hours and 45 minutes). What I found so interesting were the statistics on text messaging....

"More than half - 52 percent - say they send text messages from the movie theater while 28 percent have sent messages from the dinner table. For many, 26 percent, texting is one of the first things they do in the morning, within 10 minutes of waking up." Washington Post

To me, these statistics not only mean that we should be finding ways to use this engaging tool in schools or at least for homework, but that teens and tweens are not being educated on appropriate ways to use the cell phone. Is it really appropriate to text message at the dinner table? Or in a movie theater? This could be a valuable professional tool in their future, but they need to learn how to use it appropriately in certain settings. Teachers could help model digital etiquette to their students.

Wiffiti--Brainstorming from Cell Phones

I have a new favorite brainstorming tool. Wiffiti! The best part of this tool is that students can brainstorm from their cell phones to a live screen on the web. Since students already text message almost continuously throughout any day, now they can use it for an educational purpose! There are a lot of fantastic teacher "controls" for Wiffiti such as "approving" messages before they are posted or not allowing content with inappropriate words. You can also keep the screen private or share it with the world! I love this tool. Although I imagine that there are a lot of applications for this tool in the classroom, one of the best is brainstorming. A teacher who would like their students to brainstorm some ideas can set up a Wiffiti screen (free of course), then tell students (for homework or in class) to text a special code to the general Wiffiti # (25622), along with their brainstorming idea. It will automatically (or the teacher can set it up to approve the messages before they are posted) post to the Wiffiti screen that the teacher set up. The screen is live so this could be done in class (if teachers are comfortable with cell phones in the classroom) at the spur-of-the-moment or for homework.

Another nice application of Wiffiti in schools is for "story telling." For example if students take a field trip to a local museum, they could text their observations, notes or what they learned during their field trip to the class Wiffiti screen and then back in class they could discuss their experiences. Wiffiti also works with Flickr (therefore the background images on Wiffiti could come from Flickr and since Flickr has a mobile option, students could also post their images from their field trip to Flickr and select one as the background for the class Wiffiti screen.

Feel free to try my screen by texting @kolb07 to 25622 and after you text "@kolb07" put a space and a message, it should automatically show up when the screen refreshes.

Well. What I'm using...

Well. What I'm using right now is the new application by Jott, they have a new application that Jott.com called Jott links. And Jott links allows you to immediately create speech to text Jotts or memos or notes to 3rd party application like Blogger, like I'm doing right now or your calendar at Google or Myspace, Yahoo groups,twiiter listen

Powered by Jott

Create Speech to Text blogs/Calendars from your cell with Jott!

Jott is fast becoming one of my favorite organizational tools for cell phones!
I think there are strong connections for student and teacher organization as well. Jott has created this new feature called "Jott Links" where you can send a speech to text message to a lot of popular 3rd party applications such as Twitter, or Livejournal. Thus if I want to add an event to my Google calendar I can simply use my cell phone, go to my Jott contact number
and call in the event. It will then put a text of the audio file on my google calendar.
It will do the same for a new blog post in Blogger or Livejournal! Where Gabcast creates
an MP3 podcast on my blog, Jott creates a new text post!

I created a sample message in the post above (it was very simple and only
took a few minutes to set up). The only negative that I have to say is that you can only do
"shorter" messages, but the transcription is really well done. This is how it works...
1) Create a free account in Jott
2) Click on Jott Links











3) Select the 3rd party application you want to Jott to (for this tutorial I will select Blogger)
4) It will ask for your Blog ID. You can get this by going to your blogger acount and clicking on settings.
















5) Copy the ID in the URL of your blog (highligheted above in blue), paste it into the Blog ID in Jott (below). Give a Jott name that you will remember when you call in to Jott (such as "blogger")









6) Grant access to your blog











7) Back in Jott you should now have a link on the right-hand side that states your "Jott links" as Blogger (below).





8) Now you are ready to create a Jott speech to text blog post. Call in to Jott 1-866-jott-123 (put it in your cell phone contact list so you have it when you need it). When they ask you "who do you want to Jott?" say "blogger" (or the Jott Name that you used). Speak your message and when you are done hit the pound sign. Within an hour, your Jott should be posted on your blog!

Uploading movies to Cell Phones...

While there are many sites that allow you to download images and video from your cell phone, such as YouTube, Eyespot, Flickr, Facebook, or MySpace, less commonly known are websites that allow you to upload images, sound, and video into your cell phone. One of the reasons is that cell phones are more particular about the file types that they accept (for example to view a movie on a cell phone it must be a 3G format, not the common .mov or .wmv file types). But there are some websites that will convert your video files to appropriate cell phone formats, here are two of my favorites:
ZamZar
Media-Convert

Then once you have converted your video files to the appropriate 3G format, you can upload it to your cell phone (or your friends cell) using one of the following sites:
Verizon Users (Free upload to any verizon phone, but only 30 seconds per video file)
3 Guppies (Free upload but it takes time)
uKabobs (.50cents per upload, but you can upload fairly long movies)

All of these sites also allow you to upload any sound or image to cell phones as well.

How can this be helpful for the classroom?
Since students are so excited and motivated to interact with their cell phones outside of school, they may be more engaged in a content-based assignment that is for cell phones. Therefore teachers can have students create ringtones (such as jingles or raps that are content -based), public service announcements, weekly news reports, quick science clay animations that represent a concept (such as Mitosis or Photosynthesis) that are "mobile ready." They can upload to their own cell phone and their classmates. Then students can use them to review, since students always have their cell phones with them (sadly we cannot say the same for textbooks or lecture notes), they can review anywhere (even when they are waiting for a movie to start at the theater).

Create Enhanced Podcast Movies for a Cell Phone with PowerPoint

Recently I posted about putting PowerPoint slides on Cell phones (see Doug Belshaw's blog, he created a wonderful tutorial). Since then I have been "playing" with the idea and have developed a way to create PowerPoint Enhanced Podcast movies for cell phones. So an enhanced podcast includes images along with narration. The history site on Colonial Williamsburg is a great example of an enhanced podcast. There are some great benefits to being able to easily create an Enhanced Podcast and putting it on a cell phone. First, students can access class lectures/notes made with PowerPoint anytime on their cell phone. Additionally, students may be more likely to develop a PowerPoint project if they know they can share it to their friends and classmate's cell phones. Even parents can view them.

You can make an Enahnced Podcast easily in the MAC version of PowerPoint. Here is how...
1) Create a regular PowerPoint Presentation (use large font!)

2) Record the narration for your slides by going to Slide Show--Record Narration.











3) When you are done, if you are on a MAC, go to FILE--MAKE MOVIE (this will convert your PowerPoint into a Quicktime movie).









4) Once you have made your PowerPoint QuickTime movie, open it up in QuickTime Pro (if you do not have QuickTime Pro, you can use a free online converter such as http://zamzar.com).

5) In QuickTime Pro, go to File-Export, export your movie as a 3G file (this is the only movie file type that will play on cell phones).





















6) Now you are ready to upload your Enhanced PowerPoint Podcast to your cell phone.

7) If you have Verizon, go to https://picture.vzw.com/login.do and select "Send Message" (it will lead you through a tutorial to upload your "3G" podcast to any Verizon cell phone.

8) If you have any other provider use http://3guppies.com, and follow their online tutorial of how to upload to your cell phone.

Would you like to play a Cell Phone review game?

One of the most popular ways to review material in classrooms today is to use a jeopardy type game. When I started teaching I would use an overhead and have student's raise their hands when they knew the answer. There was always some confusion over who had their hand up first. One simple solution to this is the cell phone. On the mLearning-world.com blog, they suggest using cell phones as game "buzzers" and using Microsoft applications to help collect and store data. Similar to a CPS (classroom performance system) only it does not really cost anything if student's already have their own cell phones. If not all of your student's have a cell phones, then you can put them into groups (one cell per group). It might be a fun way to play an old review game.

You could even take this one step further and the teacher could text message a review question every so often (for example over spring break) to all the student's cell phones. The first student to text back or call in the correct answer wins (extra credit or something fun)! The students may enjoy the spontaneous review questions and look forward to them. It might be a nice way to keep student's thinking about content when they are outside of the classroom. Teachers could even put a student or groups of students in charge of sending out questions for each unit, they might enjoy it and it will allow them opportunities to synthesize the data or content information.

Scavenger Hunt with Cell Phones!

So I have been thinking about Classroom Performance Systems (often called the "blue clickers" by my student teachers), and wondering if a cell phone can do a similar function. Since the CPS systems often cost a good deal of money, many school districts cannot take advantage of them. In addition, I think that using cell phones would help "connect" students with their everyday lives outside of school and the tool they are using for class activities. As a result I have come up with an idea for "Cell Phone" scavenger hunt. This is how it works...

Image Scavenger Hunt
1) Teacher sets up a Fickr account and gets a mobile Flickr email address (which they give to the students)
2) Students are given a list of items they must find or learn for homework (this would also be a nice Spring or Winter break activity). For example the list may have to do with insects, and they are given a list of insects they need to locate and identify.
3) For homework (in the real world) when they locate an item on the list, they capture it with an image and send it to the class Flickr account (with a short text message to identify the item).

Audio Scavenger Hunt
1) Teacher sets up a Gabcast account (tutorial) and gets a Channel number/password (which they give to the students)
2) Students are given a list of items they must learn for homework (this would also be a nice Spring or Winter break activity). For example the list may have to do with American Government, and they are given a list of government concepts they need to learn.
3) For homework (in the real world) when they find someone who knows the concept, they capture it by recording in Gabcast on their cell phone and it will automatically post to the class Gabcast account (This can be put directly on a blog or just saved in the Gabcast account).
4) Back in class, students could upload the audio concepts to their cell phones by using csharpcomputing to use as a digital review or they could download them into iMovie and add images to represent the concepts.

Video Scavenger Hunt
This could also be done with video using Eyespot. Students in a math class could video tape experiences where they had to use their math skills in the real world (at the store, at the bank...etc) and send them to the private eyespot account set up by their teacher.

PowerPoint for Cell phones!

A really neat idea created by Doug Belshaw is to convert your PowerPoint to a mobile Ready device such as a cell phone. Doug has posted a really easy tutorial on his blog. I would only extend the tutorial by saying that once you convert the slides, you can use an easy free uploading site such as cellfish to send them to your cell phone. You can also use this tutorial to convert your slides to iPod-ready format for itunes. It's a great way to give students more access to class PowerPoint presentations (they can study the slides while they are in line at McDonalds). Students may also be more motivated to create a "mobile" PowerPoint to share with their peers and community members. Great Idea! You could also use this concept to create charts and graphs to be read on cell phones. Students could collect data and graph them in PowerPoint. Then they could export the graph/chart as a jpg from PowerPoint and upload it to their cell phone. They could also share their charts/graphs with others (for example if they were in charge of presenting about the 2008 election, students could put the data into a chart and send it out to students the night before the presentation so their classmates can start to ponder the issues in presentation the next day).

The Murmur Project: Cell Phone Oral Histories

In Canada an interesting project is being conducted on capturing "instant" oral histories using cell phones, called the Murmur Project. Basically people call in to Murmur from different geographic locations and walk around to recite recollections or more formal oral histories about their own experiences (or others that they interview, sometimes in real time at the location) in that particular geographic location. By allowing participants to walk around the location that they are referring to, it causes them to dig up memories or stories that they otherwise would have forgotten. It also allows them to interview people in their neighborhood to contribute to their stories. What a great way to capture and archive oral histories! And a very smart way to use cell phones as data collection tools! It also can give listeners a new perspective or a variety of perspectives on a particular city or location. It is a great resource to use in a class discussion about culture and ethnocentrism. You and/or your students can also participate in the project by filling out a simple form. What a fun homework or class project assignment for your students! And they get to use their favorite tool--the cell phone!

Eyespot=Instant video blogging!

I have been using the Eyespot website for the last 2 years. I love the online video editor, so that my students can edit videos from anywhere at anytime on any computer. They do not have to worry about storage. Eyespot is a nice alternative to iMovie and Moviemaker. While I love iMovie, with those huge iMovie files, you can really only work on the same computer while editing---of course you can try to transfer the gigantic iMovie file with a hard drive but sometimes the versions do not match from computer to computer and the file will not always transfer properly. And MovieMaker only lets you move the video "shell" from one computer to another, so you still have to transfer all of your media files....not easy for many. Additionally in schools, it is often hard to reserve the computer lab or laptops with the editing software, so students are often rushed to finish their projects during class. Also, teachers do not want to take away too much class time for video editing projects, so again it may stifle what the students can really do with a video-based project. Finally, video cameras are often scarece in schools and hard to check-out for students.

Eyespot is a fantastic alternative. While Eyepsot works a bit like Youtube, you can upload and share videos with anyone. Like Youtube, Eyepsot also allows you to upload videos from any cell phone directly into a private Eyespot account. But in Eyespot, you can also post directly on a blog from your cell phone by simply changing the settings in your Eyespot account! Finally Eyespot offers an online video editor (like iMovie). So you can send your videos from your cell phone to Eyespot, then edit them online. This means you do not have to be at the same computer to do all your editing and you do not have to worry about storage issues! Also, no need to check out a camcorder when you have a cell phone with video-capturing abilities! Fantastic! Students could do their video taping and editing for homework rather than taking class time. No need to bring the cell phones to class, because their final video could be safely in their private Eyespot account ready to download at school. And it is all FREE!

Debate...Should Cell Phones Be Allowed in Schools?

On the America's Debate website, they are contemplating both sides of whether Cell Phones should be allowed in schools. It is a great way to read about all different perspectives on this issue. Probably one of the most cited reasons for allowing cell phones in schools is "student safety" and not for learning. I think this may be because many are unaware of potential learning opportunities that can occur from coupling cell phones with classroom content. The debate is interesting and worth a read (maybe even a contribution if you are so included). While I believe that cell phones have learning potential and should be explored by teachers, I am not advocating that they have to always be brought into the classroom in order to be effective. As I have mentioned previously on my blog there are plenty of outside of school activities where the students can use their cell phones such as field trips or homework assignments. Additionally, by creating podcasts or collecting video or images with their cell phones for homework, teachers can save time on the in-class data collection activities and focus more on content learning.

Hurray! For Gcast Podcasting...

I want to share an article about one of my former Master's students. Pat Sattler is an innovative and very creative technology teacher in Southeastern Michigan. She works at a Catholic K-8 school where she wanted to do podcasting, but did not have lots of cash for equipment. She turned to the cell phone coupled with Gcast and Hipcast so that her students could podcast and create Radio Theaters. She only used one cell phone (her own, a basic Motorola Razr) with many students to create some fantastic Radio Theater. The projects continue and each podcast gets even more creative and interesting. And it all started with one cell phone and a free website! Even the state-wide Catholic school journal decided to publish about her successful project! A great lesson for me from this is that you do not need every student to have a cell phone in order to have engaging learning activities from them.

Cellfish...Easy Uploading to Cell Phone from Web

I came across a resource called Cellfish, where you can easily upload just about any file type (.mov, .jpg, .wmv...etc) to your cell phone! This is a really easy way to upload unique ring tones to cell phones. Learning connection ideas...

1) Students can create content-based ringtones such as a rap about elements in the periodic table for Chemistry or a jingle about a math concept (such as fractions) using Audacity or Garageband. They can then upload them to their cell phones using Cellfish. They can share their ringtones with each other so that they can program different ringtones for different cell phone actions (such as a rap about Calcium can be a ring tone for one friend and a rap about sodium can be a ring tone for another friend). Thus every time their cell phone rings they have an instant review!

2) Students can upload their video projects (exported from iMovie or MovieMaker as .mov or .wmv files) to their parents' cell phones so they can instantly view the projects (especially if they do not have internet access at home).

3) Teachers can assign videos to watch for homework (such as a PBS or NBC special) rather than taking class time to watch a video by having students upload the videos to their cell phones to watch. While not all videos are in QuickTime formate, more and more are being compressed for the ipod or QuickTime.

Make Any Blog Mobile!!

With a new site called FeedM8, you can easily make your blog cell phone friendly! This is a great feature for any teacher who has a class or student blogs and they would like parents (who do not have computers at home, but might have cell phones) to visit the blogs. It allows for more access. The images/movies seem to show up fairly well and all text and links work! It also allows you to embed the FeedM8 player on your blog site so people can sign up by clicking on the cell phone icon (I put one at the bottom of my page). Additionally, you can sign up by simply typing in your cell phones number and the blog is sent to your mobile phone. Fantastic!

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!).

Mobile Study Notes...So much "cooler" than notecards!

This video focuses on a teacher in Australia who was able to engage his students in studying by using the cell phone for mobile flash cards and study notes, rather than the traditional pen/paper/note cards. He found that by using the cell phone, studying become so much "cooler" and engaged more students in learning the content. Therefore, cell phones may not only aid in learning, but they may help make learning more "hip" and motivate more students to take the time to study. Additionally by having mobile note cards on the cell phone, students have a "built-in" study aid with them at all times, so if they are waiting in line they can take out their cell phone and study! Whereas they may not always carry around paper note cards with them.

Is Your Webiste Mobile Friendly?

At ready.mobi you can check to see if a website or webpage is mobile friendly. This is a free resource that will give you statistical feedback on how user friendly the website will be on a mobile phone (a mobile readiness rating of 1 to 5). It also includes a visualization emulator to see what your site would look like on a mobile phone (you can even select the brand of phone). I think this resource could be very handy for teachers who want their students to access the internet for homework or out-of-school activities knowing that some of their students will have to access the web via cell phone. This is also nice for students who are building websites and want it to be accessible to as many people as possible, they can check their site statistics on ready.mobi!

Create Mobile Websites! So Easy!

I am so excited about this new site I came across called Zinadoo. While there are other websites such as Winksite or Mob5 that allow you to create "mobile friendly" websites, Zinadoo is one of the first that is an easy template-based flash site. In Zinadoo they have design templates based on categories such as News or Politics, and then you can even add your own images, text, and links just like working in a Word editor! And it is free (of course, as with most web2.0 sites, there is an upgrade option)! Fantastic! Once you create your mobile website, you can register it so you get a mobile friendly .mobi link. This is great for teachers who want to create class websites that students and/or parents can access from their cell phones. Additionally students can create mobile websites for class projects or assignments. At anytime students can log in to their Zinadoo account and update their website. The best part is that students do not need to bring their cell phones to school in order to create mobile websites. They may even have fun learning and doing with Zinadoo!

K-12 Online Conference Teaser!

In October I will be presenting at the virtual K-12 Online Conference. I will be presenting on Cell Phones as Learning Tools. Below I have pasted the "teaser"--a preview of my presentation. The conference has some fantastic and very current topics in web2.0 education. Some of the ones I am very excited about are “Oodles of Googles”, “The Electric Slide! Twenty-First Century Style”, “Crossing the Copyright Boundary in the Digital Age”, “Acceptable Use and the Web 2.0”, and “Collaborative Concept Mapping - Breaking the Bounds of Location and Time… for $0.00 per Seat”. I encourage everyone who can to check it out!

Create Surveys for Student's Cell Phones!

Using a resource called ModiOde, anyone can create simply surveys and polls to distribute on cell phones! There is an option for a free account, where you can have 1 active survey at a time (but no limit on the number of people whoa can take the survey). Additionally the poll results immediately show up in a private account on the ModiOde site, where the statistical results can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet! I really like this resource because it lends itself so well to secondary classrooms that are interested in opinion polling. For example a social studies class studying the current presidential election could have students create different polls to find out who the top candidates are. Or a science teacher could have students conduct a research study by creating a cell phone survey as part of their study (they may be able to gather more participants in their studies since the polls can be distributed over the Internet and via cell phone). Furthermore teachers who want an "ice breaker" activity to start a new unit can send out a cell phone poll for students to take before class on the unit topic (such as "what causes an earthquake") to see how much knowledge the students currently have on the topic. The best part of this resource is that students do not need to bring their cell phones to school in order to create cell phone surveys or participate in them.

Some Thoughts on Future Cell Phone Technologies

Cell phones are changing everyday, bigger and better improvements. I remember a time (not so long ago) when cell phones were big and bulky, now cell phones are being created the size of a credit card! I thought I would take some time to explore what features the Cell Phones of 2008/09 will hold, and how those features may be useful in learning. Below are ten new features that I think are impressive.

1) Classroom projection tool (LCD display). (http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17395&ch=infotech) Cell Phones will soon (some do now) have the ability to project in high definition and project. Hence, no more need for expensive LCD projectors in school!

2) Scanners and Faxes. Scanr (http://scanr.com) gives cell phones the ability to become digital scanners and faxes...Scanr can turn a camera phone into a pdf creator.

3) Live Streaming. AT&T (http://tinyurl.com/3bsjgy) has created Video Share, where you can stream live video to and from your cell phone...hmmm this may be helpful for kids who are missing class because they are home sick or their parents decided to take a vacation during the school year!

4) GPS and Tracking. While Cell phones have had GPS chips in them since about 2002, they are just starting to be used. WayFinder (http://www.wayfinder.com) allows anyone to use voice navigation for driving, speed limit warnings on your cell, and up-to-date traffic maps right on their cell phone! No need to buy OnStar anymore!

5) E-Commerce. A lot of business is conducted through cell phones today. The amount of business conducted by mobile devices is only going to grow, for example Unwiredbuyer (http://www.unwiredbuyer.com) allows you to conduct ebay auctions entirely through a cell phone. This may be an opportunity for students to participate in more "real world" business and economic projects and learn how to use their cell phones as financial planners.

6) Starter Cell Phones. Some companies are starting to create age appropriate cell phones, such as LeapFrog's My Tic Talk (http://mytictalk.com/LeapFrog). Where the cell phones are entirely controlled by the parents (they program in numbers their children can call and permissions on when they can call). These may be nice tools to introduce younger students to cell phones and digital etiquette.

7) Assistive Cell Phones. Cell phones may be a way to help students with special needs (especially visual and auditory needs) participate better in the learning process and in society. Nuance Talks (http://www.nuance.com/talks) and Nuance Zooms (http://www.nuance.com/zooms) have created cell phone software that will convert any cell phone text into audio and magnify any cell phone screen. Additionally many cell phones will probably include closed-captioning for hearing impaired learners!

8) Education Software. I have posted about this before, but it is important to reiterate that companies are starting to create educational software specifically for cell phones. Two examples: Mobile Math (http://www.math4mobile.com) and Ready To Learn.

9) Solar Powered Cell Phones. "Green" science teachers may appreciate that companies are starting to create solar powered cell phones, thus using up less energy and not having to worry about power! What a great conservation lesson for science students. One example by a Japanese company called NTT DoCoMo (http://www.therawfeed.com/2006/12/solar-powered-cell-phone-charges-free.html). This also means less accessories that you have to cart around with your cell phone!

10) Storage Devices and Radios. The iPhone (http://www.apple.com/iphone) has 8GB of storage space...maybe this means that we can alleviate the need for flash drives and other external storage devices, with a cell phone you will have a built-in hard drive! Additionally, Nokia is already creating cell phones with built-in radio antennas---FM or XM radio right from the cell phone.

Free Text Messaging...hmmm

So lately I have noticed that there are a lot of web2.0 sites that offer free text messaging to any cell phone from the web. One example is http://textforfree.net/. I find these sites intriguing especially since I know how much students (especially high school students) love to text message each other. I know it costs money each time they text, so being able to create text messages from the web may be a nice option for the wallet as well as for learning. I am just starting to think of ideas for using these free text tools.

One idea is for homework/organizational reminders, where teachers and/or students could send a text from school (where cell phones are banned) to the cell phones to remind them of important assignments, group work...etc. Another idea is to use the text messaging tool to develop an assignment around it, such as "poetry text" where students in English class could create text messaging poetry that they would send to each other (in a sense publishing their poetry). They could also create "text reviews" for test reviewing, where students could send each other review questions or reminders. In a business class, students could create a "text advertising" campaign to target teenagers with a new product. In a social studies class they could create a "text election slogan" to get others interested in their candidate or choice, or they could do "text current events" where different students are in charge of texting current national or world events as they occur in real time (for example a student could be in charge of the War in Iraq and texting when new developments occur).

These are just a few ideas I've come up with as I have been playing with these new tools, I'm very interested in any other ideas out there...until next time, I will be texting---for free!

How young is too young for cell phones?

While many teachers that I work with claim cell phones should only be considered for learning at the secondary level (if at all) because most younger students do not have their own cell phone, a new article disputes this notion. The article, Should a 10-Year -Old Have a Cell phone?, describes many parents who are purchasing cell phones for children as young as 8 in order to keep tabs on their kids, stay in touch, and to keep them safe in case of emergencies. The article references a study (Jupiter) that states by the end of this year (2007) 1/2 of 12-13 year olds will have a cell phone and 1/3 of 10-11 year olds will have their own cell phone! While many of these cell phones are limited and restricted (such as only being able to call a few numbers and no text messaging), I have a feeling that the age of children with cell phones will only decrease over time (as I mentioned in an earlier post, PBS has developed programs for preschoolers to use on cell phones). Thus I think it is important to consider potential learning uses of cell phones with students of all ages. The younger we start to educate students on appropriate cell phone use and misuse, the better chance we have to teach them how to use their cell phones as life-long learning tools, rather than just a social toy!

Mathematics by Cell Phone!

Often many of my secondary preservice teachers claim that Mathematics and Technology are not are a cooperative combination (even graphing calculators are controversial withe many mathematic teachers). I recently came across an interesting article about Prof. Michal Yerushalmy who developed a "mobile math lab" program that allows collaboration of mathematics on cell phones. The program is free and can be installed on most cell phones. The program turns cell phones into mini mathematic computers, where students can conduct activities such as graphing, modeling, functions, and quadrilaterals. IN addition the website suggests many age appropriate activities for mobile math programs. Even better, You do not need to have a fancy smart phone in order to use these programs!! Finally, if cell phones are not allowed in your school, mobile math lab activities can be done for homework and I believe (although I have yet to try) the data can be shared between students for more collaborative activities! Maybe students will be more motivated to participate in the math curriculum if they can use their favorite social tool!?

Author Reading Podcasts created with Cells

I introduced Gabcast to one of the teachers I work with, and she used it Gabcast to record original authors read their work. She often goes to author readings and wanted her students to be able to experience the authors reciting their original work, so she decided to ask the authors if they minded her putting her cell phone down next to them as they read and having it immediately posted to the web through Gabcast. Here is a her blog with a couple readings! If you can't bring the authors into the classroom than this is a very good alternative. An additional assignment that comes to my mind with secondary students is having them attend author readings, poetry slams, and other presentations outside of school and recording them with their cell phones. Beyond being able to bring the presentation back to their peers it may also help them remember what was said and how it was said for reflection writing. Of course they should always make sure they ask permission first!!!

Why does it take the invention of the iPhone to consider Cell Phones in Learning?

While I am as excited as the next tech-geek about the new iPhone. I think it is interesting that before the iPhone most educators and non-educators were not considering the cell phone as a potential learning tool. Now, suddenly if you have an iPhone, you have a possible learning tool for the classroom. While I agree that the iPhone has a lot of great features for classroom learning, basic cell phones (you know the cheap ones that come with your calling plan like the one I have) also have a lot of potential for classroom learning. There is so much a student and or teacher can do with just a basic cell phone plan. A few examples include data collection by recording audio, taking pictures, filming movies, surfing the internet, note taking, calculating, and text messaging. As mentioned in many of my earlier blog posts, most web2.0 sites have "go mobile" options (such as Wikipedia, Flikr, MySpace, Blogger...etc) so that a basic cell phone (not a fancy expensive iPhone) can become a learning tool. So I say WELCOME to the new iPhone, I can't wait until I can afford one, but in the meantime students and teachers who have the basic tool----there is so much that you can do!

TXT'ing the Library...a new way of reference

An interesting article came across my email from a colleague of mine in literacy. It is about libraries starting to take advantage of students' interest in text messaging by providing a library reference service through text messaging. This is currently being done in Australia, and the nice feature is that the librarians use email to communicate with the text messages since they are more comfortable with email and it is often easier to type quickly. But students can text from anywhere when they need a reference or have a question. I was thinking this is a fantastic feature for students who do not have computers at home but have their own cell phones. It may help lessen the digital divide. In addition, students on field trips could also use this feature as they are uncovering and discovering new pieces of knowledge (e.g. a field trip to a museum where they want to research about an artist). Also, since the text is stored in their phone, they can retrieve the information at anytime.

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!