Tech Blog: Using Cell Phones in Education

I decided to research how teachers could use cell phones in the classroom. I did this because I believe that most students have access to a cell phone, either they have one themselves or someone in their immediate family has one. Through a little bit of research I found that according to Pew Research 66% of twelve to thirteen year olds and 80% of fourteen to seventeen year olds own cell phones. The students who do not own a cell phone will have access to a cell phone through a parent, sibling, or friend. It would be a shame for students to have access to many mobile technologies and not be using them in the classroom. In fact students are using cell phones in the classroom without their teacher's knowledge. According to Pew Research 58% of teens from schools that don't allow cell phones use them anyways. Instead of discouraging students to use this beneficial technology in the classroom teachers should be encouraging the use of this wonderful technology.

I thought it would be beneficial to research some potential uses for cell phones in the classroom. I found many programs that could be used in elementary through high school and would like to try using some of this technology in my internship next year.

http://jott.com: Jott can be used in the classroom because it allows students to speak into their cell phone and it creates written text. This technology is a lot like speech-to-text on the computer and can be used for taking notes, sending e-mails or text messages, and staying organized by recording homework assignments.

http://www.talkshoe.com: Talkshoe is a website that allows you to create audio-blogs, listen or join live interactive discussion, or listen to podcasts all using your cell phone. Teachers would have to monitor or control what topics students were engaging in, but I like talkshoe because they does not allow inappropriate materials on their website. There are thousands of different topics to choose from or students can create topics that they are interested in. This is a great websites for students to use because they can get their opinion out there and get feed back from a live audience. If this is too intimidating students can post audio blogs that subscribers can belong to. This is a free service to students over the age of thirteen.

http://www.polleverywhere.com: This technology can poll students even when they are not it class. This system is very easy, the teacher can ask a question like, 'What is your favorite food?' and then list three answers like, "pizza, hamburgers, or other." The students then text back their answer to a number given out by the website. This technology has similar benefits to clickers or audience response systems, but is much cheaper. This technology can be used to poll students, keep track of attendance, or see what students know and understand. This technology is free for classes under thirty students and $15 dollars a month for classes under fifty students.

http://www.wattpad.com: A free e-book website to read and publish written work. This website is an easy way to publish and read original works. You need a computer to publish the written work, but you can use the free online application or phone application to download the books. You can read the books on your phone and there are many different genres and lengths.

http://www.chacha.com: This is a service that allows students to text a question to 242-242. The student then gets an answer back quickly and some answers even have websites that have more information about that specific topic. This service is useful for students who have a lot of questions and instead of interrupting the teacher they could find out from another source. Standard text messaging fees apply

http://www.textthemob.com: This is another service that teachers can use to poll the class or find out there opinion on a subject. I like this polling service because there are a lot that teachers can do with it. Teachers can set up a poll with an unlimited number of answers and have the students respond by texting a number given by the site. I liked this site a lot because teachers can ask a question and students can send back a response via text message. Other possibilities for this website are to have the audience pick the winner of a contest, collect questions for a panel, or create message boards. All of these results can be seen immediately. This service is free, but standard text messaging fees apply.

There are definitely pros and cons to using cell phones in the classroom. Some pros are that by using cell phone technology it replaces the need for every classroom to have a set of expensive laptops. Teachers can assign homework on the Internet and students that don’t have a computer can still do their homework via cell phone. I think the most beneficial thing about cell phone technology is that it will help personalize education and allow students to work at different rates and at different levels. Some cons from using cell phone technology is that students could send or receive text messages or phone calls in class. Students could also receive messages with the answers to test questions. There is also potential for bullying or harassment through text messages or the taking and distributing inappropriate photos. The negative that I am most worried about is that students who do not have cell phones may feel isolated and left out. Overall I think using cell phone technology would be beneficial in the classroom.

For more statistics on Teens and Cell Phones visit:
http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/