“Quit blaming the devices” is a blogpost by John Spencer which sets out a reasoned discussion about varying views by teachers starting on the journey of having their pupils using mobile devices in their classrooms.
http://www.spencerideas.org/2015/12/quit-blaming-devices.html
It’s not a technology issue! A blogpost by Eric Sheninger which encourages educators to reflect on how they view mobile device use in the classroom. How do we as educators now use mobile devices, what example are we setting for our learners? How should we view their use, how do we change the culture of our school to embrace them as tools to support our learners in their engagement with their learning?
“Technology still gets a bad rap in many education circles. Perception and lack of information influence the decision making process. This ends up resulting in the formation of rules and policies that severely restrict or prohibit student use of mobile technology and social media as tools to support and/or enhance learning.”
“The process of effectively integrating devices begins with our ability to model appropriate use while reinforcing student expectations for the role of mobile devices… to ensure that devices afford students the opportunity to support and/or enhance their learning”
Click on the link below to read the full blogpost
http://esheninger.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/its-not-technology-issue.html
BYOT for Parents – an explanatory video about Bring Your Own Technology by US educator Amy Mayer, aimed at parents/carers, describing different ways in which mobile technology might be used in a classroom situation to support learning and teaching. It gives examples of situations and specific tools and how they could be used in an educational context. The examples are specific to a particular school district in the USA at a particular moment in time, however the principles (feedback, researching, collaborating, communicating, note-taking, creating, demonstrating understanding and more) can generally be applied elsewhere with different tools.
BYOD for Parents pkc – an explanatory video by Perth and Kinross Council explaining the introduction of Bring Your Own Device and what that means for learners in a classroom context.
BYOD in the 21st Century – an short video by Canadian educator Marc-André Lalande presenting some of the advantages and limitations of this concept for education.
5 back to school bits of advice for smartphone-carrying pupils (and 1 for parents/carers too) – helpful guidelines from Common Sense Media for pupils who are starting back to school with their mobile device or smartphone. Links also to additional resources and games to help everyone make best use of their mobile devices.
Digital Activities and Icebreakers for Gen Y is a great post by Shelly Sanchez Terrell full of ideas for using digital technologies with groups of learners for them (and their teacher) to get to know each other, while at the same time learning about a host of digital tools by using them in short practical activities. This includes digital bingo (where participants have to find others who have used specific digital tools or have undertaken specific activities); mobile Pictionary, avatar introductions, 3,2,1 introduction, avatar bucket list, and much, much more. The activities let learners know about a range of mobile and online tools, and use them in activities, all of which can then be later applied for use in other areas of their learning.
Considering 1-1 but don’t know where to start? CommonSense Education has put together a helpful step-by-step guide to help schools looking to see how best to implement the use of mobile devices in their school. This online resource includes guidance, tips and ideas, examples, videos, survey tools and much more. It’s all presented in such a way that you look at where your school is at right now, then look at the resources which best match your needs and aspirations for where you wish mobile learning in your school to reach. Then it guides you through identifying the issues, the key stakeholders (and how to involve them in decisions and planning) and offers advice and resources to help on your chosen path to making use of mobile devices to support learning and teaching in your school.
Classroom Response Tools for Assessment for Learning. There are several ways in which mobile devices can be used in a classroom setting to provide feedback to the teacher about every learner’s understanding of material being covered.
And there are a number of tools which can be used in tandem with mobile devices, regardless of the device (they can also be used by desktop computers, tablet devices or smart phones) – essentially an internet-connected device is all that’s required, though some also have device-specific apps which make their use even easier. So click on the link below to see the range of device-agnostic tools to support using mobile devices as classroom response tools, including Socrative, Kahoot, mQlicker, Tricider, Formative, The Answer Pad, Vizaroo, GoPollGo and Plickers (which works with only one device in the hands of the teacher):
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/fa/ICTFalkirkPrimaries/pupil-response-devices/
The Case for Mobile Learning is a post with a visual infographic poster on e-Learning Infographics site which sets out statistics about the current and projected usage of mobile devices in terms of ownership as well as when and how they are used in any day. Although this is derived from information about the adult population, and impact mainly on businesses, it illustrates a direction of travel in society at large, upon which educational establishments may wish to reflect.
Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics
