Group items tagged

"McGraw-Hill is building a mobile-phone platform to teach English and college test preparation to people in India, which the publisher hopes will help it tap into rapidly expanding cellphone use in emerging markets. The platform, mConnect, comes as textbook publishers are jockeying to supply learning materials on digital devices. If the software is successful in India, McGraw-Hill plans to offer it in other developing countries in Asia and Africa. The service will initially teach subscribers through text messaging and automated voice response, said Bruce D. Marcus, McGraw-Hill's executive vice president. For instance, automated software will give Indians feedback on their English-speaking abilities, and a text-message service will offer test-preparation questions and grade the responses."

This research shows that cell phone text messages can be used curb problem drinking as compared to a control group that did not receive the text messages. This begs to ask. How can cell phone text messages be used to help with other behaviors? Studying? Test reminders? Behavioral issues? Weight loss? Cell phones are a great friend of education BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS WITH STUDENTS. Kids have a computer in their pocket that we choose to ignore because we are unwilling to teach them the proper way to behave. It is easier to lock up the phones than teach good judgement and the ability to focus. Hold kids accountable but make friends with cell phones, they are here to stay.

Can you teach the intangible, impactful qualities of effective teachers?

This lesson has me intrigued as it uses a mobile phone and Microsoft Tag. I make sure all my students have a windows live id and a google id (using our google apps for domain) so this wouldn't be a problem for me. I like the idea of using mobile phones in esafety lessons.