On the Go: Mobile Learning

Until recently, schools banned the use of cell phones and other mobile devices by students during class hours. While some students argued that the devices could be helpful to the learning process, teachers and administrators focused instead on those students who used the devices for non-learning related tasks, such as texting their peers and trolling the Internet.  Although the abuse of mobile devices by students is still a valid concern, some enterprising educators have embraced mobile technology and are increasingly incorporating it into the curriculum.

Mobile learning, or m-learning, is related to distance education and e-learning in that each method uses forms of technology to enhance the learning process. Mobile learning, however, focuses particularly on learning with mobile devices such as tablets, cell phones, and iPod Touches. Mobile devices have the advantage of being small, easily portable, and familiar to the vast majority of teachers and students alike. Their inclusion in the curriculum opens a wealth of possibilities, as students don’t need to be tethered to workstations or even a classroom as they explore concepts relevant to their learning anytime, from just about any location.

Last fall, Project Tomorrow released a report about technology and education at a Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC. Their research found that 64% of teachers surveyed believe that mobile devices could be beneficial for increased communication among parents, teachers, and students, as well as be used to access online textbooks at any moment. The same study also asked K-12 students to envision what going to school would be like in 2015, and many foresee classes where mobile devices are integral to the teaching and learning process.

There are numerous accounts of teachers effectively using mobile devices in their classrooms, and perhaps more schools will ease their current restrictions on use of the devices during school hours. Using devices such as iPads and smart phones can help address the need for students to acquire 21^st century skills, and also help to foster increased student-directed learning.  This week, I’ve selected three resources that bring mobile technology into the classroom in meaningful ways. Each of the featured resources below is from Apptivities, an organization that aims to support teachers in using mobile applications effectively to improve student learning. We’ll also be featuring lots of new lessons and resources on mobile learning each day throughout the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to check those pages regularly.

Historical Detectives

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-09-28.1656118109

Subjects: World History

Grade: 1-6

Using iTouches or iPads, students will use images to draw conclusions about ancient civilizations. In addition, the students will add captions and speech bubbles to ancient civilization images in order to explore their background knowledge on the subject and/or to summarize information they have learned from the chapter.

Dictating Foreign Language Fluency

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-09-28.9585057880

Subjects: Foreign Languages (also ELL)

Grade: 6-12

An essential part of improving student’s fluency in a foreign language is providing practice in speaking. However, for practice to be effective, students have to receive feedback on their pronunciation skills.  This apptivity is designed to give students an opportunity to document their fluency improvement.

To Kill a Mockingbird

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-09-28.4540014188

Subjects: English

Grade: 9-12

In this To Kill a Mockingbird project idea that uses iPads, the importance of perspective is first introduced through Dorothea Lange’s iconic Migrant Mother photograph and is reinforced through images of the Jim Crow era.  As a final project, students are asked to personalize Atticus Finch’s famous quotation about the importance of “walking in another’s shoes.”  By shadowing an acquaintance for a two-hour period, using the pedometer and GPS features to track their physical movement and voice memos and notes to create an interactive diary, students will develop their own sense of empathy and reach a deeper understanding of Harper Lee’s famous novel.

~Joann's Picks - October 13, 2011~

Twitterpated in the Language Classroom?

There are some excellent free online resources available to help teachers enhance their lessons and appeal to the tech-savvy audience that makes up many of today’s classes. With so many students using social networking tools like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, it seems like a logical step to start including these types of tools as instructional aids in the classroom. You can discover which of these tools and resources might work for you by using the faceted search on the Gateway to 21st Century Skills. While looking through Joann’s language picks this week, I was particularly intrigued by the Five Minute Twitter Crunch Drill. Instead of simply linking people together socially, creative resources like this are using social networking as a tool for students to use in the classroom for practice, research, and demonstration of important skills.

I was a Twitter newbie at the beginning of this year. Before I started using Twitter, I was skeptical of the usefulness a community that provided random thoughts (in 140 characters or less) from people, most of whom I didn’t even know. Since I joined Twitter, I have begun to see what a powerful tool it can be for educators. For me, Twitter and Facebook have become ways to be a contributing member of a worldwide community of educators. Educators are creating worldwide PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) to support one another and be a part of 24/7 professional development. Go to Twitter and search for #edchat to see an example of the valuable discussions going on every week. The value of social networking for educators is a topic I could write about a lot longer, but I will save that for another post. This week, I want to focus more on the ways social networking can enter the classroom as a tool for students.

The first resource I mentioned was intended for a language classroom. There are a few other creative ways to incorporate social networking tools in a language classroom. It could be really fun to create a serial story, called “twittories” where all the students in the class contribute through Twitter. If you are teaching a foreign language, have the students write their entries in that language. Look at how this class did it. If your school’s filters prevent you from doing that, you could even do this activity without Twitter. Just allow each student 140-character entries each time it’s their turn to add to the story. Compressing their thoughts into 140 characters is an interesting and challenging exercise! The best way to learn a new language is to use it, and students have the perfect opportunity to do that with the worldwide connectivity offered through social networking. Can you set your students up to have conversations with native speakers on Twitter? What about Facebook friends from other countries, a kind of modern pen pal? Maybe your class could Skype with people that speak the language fluently. What fun ways to really use the things they are learning. Look at this powerpoint presentation for some more facts and interesting ideas.


We received some positive feedback about the interactive mapping tools we highlighted earlier. We featured some great ways for students to use interactive maps to become more connected to the world around them. Can we integrate social networking with these kinds of tools to help our students become personally connected with what they are learning? Stay tuned for next week’s post for more discussion of social networking in the classroom. We love hearing from YOU! Have you used social networking in a creative way in your classroom? Do you think you’ll ever try it? Why or why not?

~Peggy's Corner - 6/5/2010~

Watch Your Language!

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.
- Dave Barry

The above quote by humorist Dave Barry is funny, yes, but would be even funnier if it weren’t so true. Despite foreign language course offerings in U.S. schools, Americans don’t seem to place much of a premium on the ability to speak languages other than English. While English is still the predominate language used in international business, the CIA World Fact Book contends that only 5.6% of the world’s population speaks English as a primary language.

When I was in middle school and high school, there were two foreign language options: French and Spanish. While these still may be two of the most commonly offered foreign languages in American schools, they are far from being the only languages now offered. Mandarin Chinese, Italian, American Sign Language, and German are also popular offerings, while languages such as Japanese and Russian have seen a slight decline in student enrollment over the past few years. The U.S. State Department has issued a list of “critical need” languages, including Arabic, Persian, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Punjabi, Turkish, Indonesian, and Azerbaijani. Are any of these offered in your school?

Budget cuts have forced many schools to eliminate foreign language courses altogether – worrisome news for a nation that needs multilingual graduates to conduct diplomacy and compete effectively in the global marketplace. My picks this week focus on various types of foreign language resources that are hopefully engaging enough to provoke some students to focus more intently on acquiring another language.

Stroke Order
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-01-22.0305246061
Subjects: Foreign Language, Chinese, Japanese
Grade: 9-12, University, Continuing Education
Stroke Order is an online animation tool that allows students to view the stroke order rules for Chinese characters (a page for Japanese characters is in development). Written directions accompany each type of stroke, and an animated example of each key rule is demonstrated. Developed by Skritter, a company that aims to help students learn and remember Chinese and Japanese characters.

The Five Minute Twitter Verb Crunch Drill http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-02-04.2544339320/
Subjects: Foreign languages, Latin
Grades: 6-12
This outline presents a five minute verb crunch drill for Latin students using Twitter. I love the creativity of this exercise, as well as its simplicity. While the students (and teacher) need to have some comfort level using Diigo and Twitterfall, this activity can pay rich dividends in getting students to grasp the material much faster. This drill can also be adapted for other subjects. This exercise was originally posted on the TeachPaperless blog, which is dedicated to helping teachers to teach “greener” and support each other’s efforts via social networking.

Russian Alphabet
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-05-17.9181787725
Subjects: Foreign Languages, Russian
Grade: 7-12
This resource provides a comprehensive guide to the Russian alphabet. Russian letters are presented, along with their pronunciation and spelling rules. Audio files and exercises for additional practice are also included. This resource was created by RussianLessons.net, which offers free Russian language lessons from novice to advanced levels complete with exercises and audio files for correct pronunciation.