Coming October 2008! Liz's Book

I officially have an October 2008 release date for my book Toys to Tools: Connecting Student's Cell Phones to Education. ISTE is the publisher, and I hope the book is a starting point for thoughtful discussions around cell phones and student learning. Additionally the book is packed with lots of ideas of how to use basic Cell Phones for learning activities in all content areas. Some of my favorite educators who have tried cell phones in learning are included in the book.

The reason why I decided to write the book.
About 3 years ago I began looking for books, research, and articles on how cell phones can become learning tools. What I discovered was that there were very few resources. I found one article by Marc Prensky that had a positive perspective, but most resources concentrated cell phones being distracting or even harmful to the learning environment. I found this disheartening, and frankly one-sided. The media seemed to really pick up on the negative and ignore potential positives from cell phones and student use, therefore I decided to write down my ideas and learning activities that I had developed around cell phones with secondary students. The book is meant to be informative, to give a different perspective on cell phones and student use as well as practical, a "how to" for using cell phones in learning.

I welcome any feedback, suggestions, or input after reading.