Hi guys!  This week we were exploring the idea of using mobile devices for learning, and we were focused on using Nintendo DSi consoles.  These consoles have quite a few fun and interesting features on them even before you insert a game card.  They have an app called Pictochat, which is where the children can speak to each other in chat rooms using the DSi devices, there are four chat rooms that are open to DSi owners.  As long as the children are in the same chat room they can communicate with each other, a plus side to this is that 1. The teacher can monitor what is being said with their own device and 2. Only DSi devices in the classroom/school can connect as the devices have a range to which other devices must be in so they can connect to the chat rooms.  Another great app is called Flipnote, this is an animation based app which allows the children to create their own Flipnote animations.  What they do is, they create slides and on the first slide they begin to draw their idea, for example, a stickman walking down the street.  There is a feature that allows the drawing to be traced or copied onto the next slide, the trace feature is very useful as it helps the children create a more fluid animation as they can see exactly where they drew on the previous slide and they can match or move slightly to give the illusion of the stick-man walking.  There is also a camera app on the DSi device which has lots of fun features.  The children can take a picture of themselves (selfie) or another pupil and they can then edit the picture.  They can distort it which allows them to drag the picture around leaving the person with elongates ears or big eyes or even a swirled and twisted face.  They can also draw on the picture and add in stickers, such as a moustache or a floral headband, big red lips, pig noses and stars are just some of the stickers.  They can also use a pen to draw anything they want to, there is also a rainbow pen which allows them to draw in a bright rainbow.  The pictures they take and create are saved onto the device and can be accessed whenever, the device can hold just over 400 pictures and they are easily deleted if need be.

There are quite a few curricular activities than you can do with these devices, and the following are some of the ones we did in class to show the benefits and the different uses of using these devices.

1. Pictochat can be used in a group activity called ‘The Chase’. This is where one child in the group is made the host and they have to write in the chat a topic related question, for example 9 x 6, that is either set by you on a question sheet or made up by the children themselves.  The contestants then have to quickly answer the questions and the first name to appear on the hosts screen wins a point.  The core is kept on a sheet and after a round of maybe 5 or 10 questions the person with the most points becomes the new host and they go on to round 2.  This kind of activity is great because it allows the children to learn in a fun and slightly competitive environment and this can sometimes give the children the illusion that they are not really learning at all when in fact they are!
2. Flipnote can be great for literacy lessons based around a class book for example. Firstly, the children are given a warm-up task, they are given 3 adjectives and they have to draw what that word looks like, for example excited they could draw a happy face.  Then they are given 3 pictures and are to write down for each 3 adjectives that describe that picture, this is just to solidify in their minds what an adjective is.  Second the children have to pick an interesting scene or they are given an interesting scene and they have to create an animation of what the scene looks like in their head, for example what the edible room looks like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Then they describe what objects are in their room e.g. giant lollipop trees and then right down 10 adjectives to describe their animation e.g. big, yummy, exciting etc.  Finally, the children are split into small groups and given a major scene in the book e.g. for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it could be; when Veruca Salt gets attacked by the squirrels, when Violet Beauregarde turns purple, when Mike TV gets vaporised, when Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river and is sucked up the tube or when Charlie Bucket goes up in the glass elevator.  They have to use Flipnote to create their own version of the scene and then use as many adjectives as they can to describe what is happening.  As an additional part the groups could then present their animations to the class and get feedback from them too.
3. The camera app can also be useful for literacy activities as they can use the different features of the app to create their own characters. They can then use those characters and incorporate them into a story that they create either in a group or on their own.

These kinds of devices can be great to use in the classroom as to the children it is incorporating something that they like and something that they’ve all probably used too.

Using mobile devices such as DSi’s or iPad’s can have a drastic impact on a child’s education.  Secure Edge Networks says that there are four main benefits to using mobile devices in the classroom, they say that they are preparing students for the future, because they are being educated on how to use these devices to benefit their education.  They allow the children to access up-to-date learning and information, by using mobile devices the children have access to a library of ever updating information online.  Mobile devices are an alternative to textbooks, because what child would choose to carry a pile of heavy textbooks around all day when they can have all the information at their fingertips on a mobile device.  Lastly, they can allow learning to go beyond the classroom and take place at home, this happens because the children become more interested and engaged in what they are learning and this in turn makes them more eager to do more learning outside of the classroom.  As much as using mobile devices in the classroom can benefit a child’s education, their are also a few drawbacks as well.  For example, if the use of mobile devices in the classroom is dependant on a BYOD (bring your own device) system, then there is the chance that not every child in the classroom will have access to a mobile device at home to bring in.  This could cause issues for that child in other areas of their social life because they have been seen as the ‘poor’ kid for not having an iPad to play on.  Another drawback is the cost of supplying mobile devices for every child in a classroom, it can cost thousands of pounds for schools to pay for mobile devices for use in the classroom and if you have an under-privileged or deprived school there’s a high chance that they wouldn’t be able to afford to buy mobile devices for their school.  Seeing as mobile devices can drastically improve a child’s education, the children in those schools who can’t afford to buy mobile devices will be missing out on making their education even better than it already is.

Here is a short video clip of my groups activity on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was done on Flipnote.

Until next time

Chloe x