Cases for Mobile Learning

Cases for Mobile Learning

By John GIddings

7/24/2017

First of all, to the first student who reports finding this blog post, see me about your extra credit. :)

Context for Considering Mobile Devices

I have to confess that until recently, I have been very dubious about the benefit of most technology in the classroom. I remember an old adage that said, “The finest classroom in the world is a student sitting on the end of a log -and Aristotle sitting on the other end.”

This summarizes well my attitude toward most of the technical flourishes that educational funding is often spent on (for the records, I would have even included air conditioning!). The main channel for learning is the empowering energy that flows from the teacher to the student. I saw most edtech spending as irrelevant at best and a distraction at worst to actual teaching.

This isn't an uncommon fear. Brian Childs points out that in 2012, although a majority of schools banned cell phones about 90% of students owned a phone. In those early days, he was able to progress with small steps doing things such as have the students send txt messages to a parent or friend polling them on a question such as "Did you vote in the last electrion?" -wonderfuly bringing the students into direct contact with ther world outside.

I do still think that skepticism is a healthy presence, the reality of technology in student’s fingertips gives good reason to not only utilizing that new channel for learning to flow through, but also giving students the experience and skills to use those tools outside of the classroom.

Introduction to Mobile Devices in the Classroom

When I taught my first class (Intro to business for High School juniors and seniors), I viewed cell phones as a war with students in which I would choose my battles. I had an idea that students should learn to manage themselves, but should feel real consequences of bad choices. So I did not collect or ban cellphones in my classroom and spent a moderate amount of time chastising students who seemed to be distracting themselves. I felt like the policy was successful. Cell use was infrequent and only rarely ballooned into a multiple student distraction.

Then, I was caught completely off guard by one student’s seemingly brazen use of his cell phone. He was in front of the class giving a presentation about a company he had been following that had just had an IPO in the stock market. A question from a student had sparked a discussion in the class about what the stock price would probably be by the end of the day. I glaced at the presenting student and was aghast to see him fully immersed with his phone -ON STAGE. I chided him (in my defense, this was a typically disruptive “jock” student) “What on Earth are you doing? Are you playing a game? You are in the middle of your presentation!” He replied unremorsefully, “It’s OK professor, I’m looking up the stock price.”

And he was. And what he found gave new energy to the class discussion. Not only because it was instant and accurate, but it came from the student -not a textbook page and not from the teacher. I realized instantly how fun this series of presentations was about to become. From then on, every presentation was peppered with contributions and question derived live from audience mobile phone research. “Here’s one for sale at 64,000 Rupee. What a Rupee?” The audience was fully engaged in each project, opening up with sincere curiosity and collaboration.

Mobile Phones Enhance the Classroom

Mobile devices are a new channel for information the way newspapers and magazines, then movies and television once were. Martin Moore points out that newspapers were also a considered a potential distraction in their day. To ignore or ban them from the classroom is simply limiting the student’s educational experience. My experience has been mostly positive, and that is coming from someone who was adamantly anti-mobile devices at the start. Students DO use their devices to seek knowledge and it’s gratifying for them to seek desired knowledge for a result better than just winning arguments over who was in a movie. Just imagine these two scenarios:

1. Students, open your books to page 133 and read about John Brown, the abolitionist.
2. Students, using your mobile devices (or sharing one) look up a famous abolitionist..

It’s easy to picture student faces lit up as they engage with their phones. Some will be tempted to peek at social media, but the expectation of presenting their findings and the pressure of others who are in fact looking up the material will help them better than a scolding by the teacher. Most students will indeed find out about John Brown as intended, but others will find John Rock and eagerly contribute their alternative perspective to the resulting discussion.

I imagine teachers once held hope for such a result when they started using filmstrips in the classroom. But this is clearly more impactful.

Mobile Device Activities

An easy way to categories mobile device activities is inward and outward.

An inward activity can drive students deeper into the material, but along their own path. For example, Subject content won’t “stick” in a student’s mind until it eventually connects up with a block of knowledge the student already possesses. This is why finding ways for students to personally relate to a subject is so powerful. So, given the desired lesson material, a mobile device assignment of having the student seek out an analog of the subject in some related field they are interested in. For example: George Washington. Assign the students to search for “The George Washington of….” almost any organization or entity they may be curious about. If they are curious about France, they will find one answer, if they are curious about The Golden State Warriors, they will find another. And now built into the lesson is a personal link for the student to leverage. Now every comment on George Washington will trigger a comparison with the alternate leader either favorably, unfavorably, or not at all. Even students who have never heard of George Washington will have something to contribute to the class discussions.

An outwardly focused activity will have the students use their devices on their own world. For example as part of a lesson about some great controversy, have students go off in teams and take still photos of themselves acting out the discussion points of the controversy. Seeing the pride of Thomas Jefferson portrayed through the familiar smug face of a fellow student will drive the point home much better than a paragraph in a textbook ever could.

References:
Brian Childs, Teach.com (Retrieved July 25, 2017) https://teach.com/blog/cell-phones-in-school/
Martin Moore, Medium.com (Retrieved July 25, 2017) https://medium.com/adventures-in-consumer-technology/newspaper-vs-cellphone-are-we-really-that-different-e400b6d2f8ea