Cell Phones in the Classroom

School District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties in Irmo, South Carolina, a suburban town just outside the capital city, is the latest district to permit cell phones and cell phone use inside the schools. They are the latest school district to approve a measure that is not only making many teachers and parents wary, but one that begs the question, "Can cell phones be integrated successfully into the classroom or are they bound to remain marginalized?” While one could speculate about its future implementation, the real answer lies with the individual classroom teachers. It lies in their willingness to allow phones in their classroom, their creativity to integrate them into the curriculum, and their ability to direct learning while their students are using a device that could easily become a distraction rather than a tool.

While modern cell phones possess many abilities, most people typically think of texting, video games, and the ability to use facebook as the main functions, and they are immediately turned off from the idea of allowing them within the classroom, much less using them as an educational tool. However, when one considers the real power and strengths of cell phones, he may reconsider his position.

As cell phone ownership and use continues to grow around the world, the capabilities of cell phones continue to grow as well.  Check out this snippet from Walking Randomly.com (accessed June 20, 2011):

According to the current Top 10 Android Linpack results, a tweaked Motorola Droid [cell phone] is capable of scoring 52 Mflop/s which is over 15 times faster than the 1979 Cray 1 [supercomputer].  Put another way, if you transported that mobile phone back to 1987 … it would be on par with the processors in one of the fastest computers in the world of the time, the ETA 10-E, and [it] had to be cooled by liquid nitrogen.

Simply put, modern cell phones have incredible capabilities that cannot be ignored! Furthermore, many areas have adopted “one laptop per child” initiatives, but given the widespread use of cell phones and the fact that they rival many computers in abilities, cell phones may prove to be a readily viable option for allowing students access to the Internet and providing them an opportunity to connect with their classmates, peers, community, and the world in new ways!

So, how might I use cell phones in my classroom?
Rather than listing a myriad of resources, let’s consider several broad applications for education.

1. Class Discussions
The media has recently produced several stories of teachers using Twitter as a conversational tool in their classrooms. (Click here for CNN’s story or for Philly.com’s story). By posting a question on the board and by utilizing Twitter students can engage in a class conversation that gives a voice to every student and no one person is allowed to dominant the conversation, which encourages quieter students to participate. No one is being asked to stand in front of the class, but everyone is able to share his/her thoughts, opinions, and understandings with everyone else. CoverItLive.com also has mobile capabilities, which acts like Twitter, but can be embedded into a website for later review.

2. Class Polls
Want to know if your students understand what you’ve just taught them, in spite of the fact that no one is raising a hand? Try a cell phone-generated poll by using a site like PollEverywhere.com. Students can text in answers to a classroom poll and watch as the numbers change before their eyes! Poll Everywhere is free and easy to use and would allow you another way to engage your students.

3. Web Quest
Lately you may have seen those funny black-and-white codes the size of a postage stamp popping up on everything from movie posters to a carton of eggs. These are called QR codes and, by using a cell phone’s camera, these codes will direct a web browser to a specific site on the Internet. You can generate a QR code for any website by visiting a site like qrcode.kaywa.com. Then, print up the QR codes for different websites you’d like your students to visit. This is especially useful if websites have long and complicated URLs.

4. Microphones
Many sites (i.e. VoiceThread.com, Voki.com and Blabberize.com) accept phone calls from users to record a comment on the page or add their voice to an avatar.

Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter found itself in the news again recently. However, this time it doesn't involve the number of people following Ashton Kutcher or Shaq's latest rant, but how an inventive teacher is bringing the social network into his history class. (View the video or news piece here.)

In case you are unsure of what Twitter is, it is a social networking site (meaning that it is a way to communicate with other users of the network, whether that is the facebook network, Ning network, or Twitter network). What makes Twitter distinctive is that users submit messages of only 140 characters, called tweets. So, tweets work much like text messages, which means there is only a short amount of text to read, rather than a typical blog posting. You as a user will then "follow" other users, which allows you to what they are tweeting. Depending on who you follow will determine the kind of tweets you receive on Twitter. That means if you follow questionable people, you will receive questionable tweets...and you may thereby have a hard time finding the value in Twitter.

To use Twitter as an educator, you will want to locate other trustworthy teachers so you will benefit from their tweets. Many teachers have found the benefit of gleaning resources from the site, but it hasn't had the same reception within the classroom. In fact, most districts have blocked access to Twitter to staff and students alike fearing that the unrestricted freedom of social networking may be abused. The question of cyber-bullying is also a concern.

Let's return to our original topic, which is using Twitter in the classroom. The subject of CNN's story is Enrique Legaspi, a history teacher from LA. After realizing how integral cell phones are to his students he decided to utilize their capabilities rather than trying to fight a losing battle to curtail cell phone use in the classroom. (I applaud Mr. Legaspi for finding a way to bring in what already engages students in order to teach the curriculum!) Mr. Legaspi would then post a question to Twitter and allow his students to tweet their responses. The biggest benefit he has found is that shy students are more likely to join a conversation when they aren't required to stand in front of the class.

Mr. Legaspi has found this to be a great tool in the classroom, but not everyone is a fan of the idea (see here), believing Twitter stunts students' ability to communicate face-to-face.

What are your thoughts on bringing Twitter into the classroom? If you currently use Twitter, how do you use it?

If you're reticent about utilizing Twitter but you like the idea of an interactive class conversation, you might be interested in trying out Cover It Live as a viable option.