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New educational uses of cellphones are challenging the "turned off and out of sight" rules that many districts have adopted for student cellphones on campus.

A growing number of teachers, carefully navigating district policies and addressing their own concerns, are having students use their personal cellphones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework

"In our district, especially at high school, students have a cellphone on them at all times, just like a pencil—it's an underused too

Researchers at the Pew Internet and American Life Project polled Internet users and found that 11 percent are using Twitter and similar short-form online message services or status updates.

Profiling the Twitter set, Pew found that they are prone to mobile computing, frequently dashing off status updates from their smartphones or laptops using a wireless connection.

Roughly 20 percent of online adults between the ages of 18 and 34 said they use status-update services, compared with four percent of adults between the ages of 55 and 64, and just four percent of those 65 and older.

Online classes may be a relatively young instructional practice for K-12 schools, but experts already generally agree on one point: Research shows that virtual schooling can be as good as, or better than, classes taught in person in brick-and-mortar schools.

Studies of state-run virtual schools show, for instance, that the courses tend to draw students at the extremes of the academic spectrum—advanced, highly motivated students looking for academic acceleration, and students who are struggling in regular classrooms

Not surprisingly, the students with the best academic records in online classes tend to be in that high-ability group, according to experts in the field. But some new research also finds that online courses are beginning to score more successes with the lowest achievers­—possibly because many are high school students who see the online courses as a last chance to earn enough credits to graduate.

The best option, of course, is professional development on the use of a netbook for staff and students (these are so inexpensive that I have no doubt that Parent-Teacher Organizations will want to buy them for students to use in and out of school; I've already had one request for this!). Some quick ideas:Pass out USB Flash drives with anti-malware/anti-viral free tools that can be installed. Passing out USB Flash drives with the school logo and contact information, maybe a web site address to find more tools and tips online, can be a positive way to interact with your audience. Some districts are getting custom USB drives from providers like PexagonTech.com (http://pexagontech.com) or Ram-It.com (http://tinyurl.com/cmkzum).Or, if you rather not use USB solutions, start setting your students up with digital lockers using solutions like Xythos.com, Gaggle.net, or Acma.com.Schedule a "Bring Your Netbook to School" Night and encourage safe computing.

Use Flickr toys to make a magazine cover

Create trading card sets.(Flick Toys - http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php

1. Use Flickr toys to make a magazine cover.

Applying the conceptsHow can you visualize your presentation like a comic? No, not literally perhaps — but something like the sequential flow of a comic or rough sketches in storyboard form. You can do this on a whiteboard, but one of the best analog ways is with sticky notes (Post its) on a wall on in a notebook (a technique Bert Decker, Nancy Duarte, and others have talked about before as well).

Here is a good short video reviewing the art of the storyboard as it's used in story development and production in the motion picture industry.

Storyboards are an effective, inexpensive way to develop the story. You can "board it up" on the wall and see if it works. Because ideas can be changed easily and quickly, storyboarding works. The key is to put down in your storyboards the minimum amount of information that gives a dynamic and quick read of the content (and the emotions) of the sequence.