Using+Mobile+Phones+in+the+Classroom

Today most students in the senior school have their own mobile phone. These phones have a variety of functions; these include: among many other useful functions - so why not use this technology in your classroom???
 * Camera
 * Voice Recorder
 * Calculator
 * Units Converters
 * mp3 players
 * Bluetooth Technology
 * Calendars
 * document readers e.g. pdfs

Plus: Mobile phones are fast becoming Smart Phones - and these are basically small computers. The potential for these machines to revolutionize education is vast.

Minus: Privacy Issues

Interesting:

Cell Phones for Learning - a website dedicated to this subject http://teachdigital.pbwiki.com/cellphones

Another top resource on this topic: http://cellphonesinlearning.wikispaces.com/

Ideas for the Teacher:

1. **Whiteboard/Blackboard Archive**

Do you ever get done with a class and look at the board with regret because you have to erase everything you or your class just created? Snap a quick picture and archive that for future use. You could even post them on a class discussion board, wiki, blog, webpage or even just e-mail them to your class for review.


 * 2. Handheld Scanner**

This one I take directly from the article.

"Remember those old spy movies, where the secret agents captured documents with a tiny secret mini-camera? Now we all have one. Believe it or not, photographing documents works.

I don’t recommend stealing information, but for random paper information, notes … you can snap a picture to capture the data."


 * 3. Reminder List**

Sometimes you see something that jogs your memory. Take a picture of that thing as a reminder of what you need to do.


 * 4. Learn Student’s Names and Faces**

One of the biggest struggles we have as teachers is learning the names and faces of the constant rotation of students coming through our classes. Take some time at the beginning of the year to photograph the students, or even better yet, have them take pictures of each other and e-mail to you if they have that capability.


 * 5. Security/Liability Device**

I hesitate adding this one in here, but we all know crazy things can happen in the classroom. Sometimes you may need to take a picture of something happening, or something that happened to protect yourself and your students.


 * 6. Assignments**

Depending on the subject you teach, it may be appropriate to send the students out one day to take pictures of nature, people or other things. Try to think of ways to use the phone. Just using the phone in an assignment will help students be more excited about it. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with using technology as a motivator. It works great with these digital natives.


 * 7. Instant Blogging**

This is one of my favorite options. If you are a blogger or have a class blog/website you can set up an e-mail address that you can post directly to that blog. You can give that address out to students or use it yourself.

Granted, you need an internet connected phone for this, but I had to add it in. It is so awesome to be out in the middle of nowhere posting to a blog, archiving.


 * 8. Memories**

We all know we get attached to those we teach and often we don’t want to forget them. Take some pictures throughout the year and print them out at the end of the year for a scrapbook or collage. Five, ten, twenty years from now those pictures will bring up dear memories. http://www.classroom20wiki.com/Cell+Phones

Examples in the Science Laboratory:

Cross Curricular Examples:

//**Mobile Phones in Educational Practice**//
//**Classroom Applications.**// http://magazines.fasfind.com/wwwtools/magazines.cfm?rid=2717
 * //[|Language E-Learning on the Move]// (Tony McNicol / //Japan Media Review//: 2004-04-05) - Japanese potential for mobile e-learning.
 * //[|Schools Dial Up Cell-Phone Content]//(Cara Branigan / //eSchool News// : October 20, 2004) - students at 25 New Hampshire schools use cell phones to access class-related content.
 * //[|Mobile Presence: Enhancing Communication within Learning Environments]//(Dan Sutch / NESTA Futurelab: November, 2005) - exploring notions of mobile context.
 * //[|Mobiles 'essential' in School]// (//[|Ferret.com]// : November 07, 2005) - comment on a report prepared for the ACT Department of Education and Training.
 * //[|If you can't reach 'em, txt 'em]//(Queensland University of Technology: November 08, 2005) - concedes some uses for mobile phones.
 * //[|Learning on the Move, Mobile Technologies in Business and Education]//(//Stephen's Web// : December 07, 2005) - Stephen Downes' comments on an article by Kristine Peters.
 * //[|Guidelines: Appropriate Use of Mobile Telephones]//(ACT Department of Education and Training, 2005)
 * //[|Mobile Phones - Education]//(//M/Cyclopedia of New Media// : New Media Technologies students in the Creative Industries Faculty, QUT, 2005) - features //Gaming Options//.
 * //[|Fun and Games with Mobile Phones: SMS Messaging in Microeconomics Experiments]// (Stephen L. Cheung / ASCILITE, 2004)
 * //[|Mobile Phones in Education: the Case of Mathematics]//(Michal Yerushalmy & Oshrat Ben-Zaken / October 2004)