Group items tagged

"Nearly a third of children aged ten or under now have their own mobile phone, according to survey of parents. One in ten said their child was using an internet capable smartphone, such as the iPhone or Android devices." And yet, most schools make kids 'check' their technology at the door. Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

I saw this on the LabNotes today. It's pretty amazing! What could these kids possibly be using these internet ready cellphones for that isn't learning?

Ideas for using texting at school.

great article. relevant to today's discussion about web 2.0 / social media. for those who didn't read it. Here's there article's list of interesting sms based tools for education use: Remind101: Remind101 allows teachers to send text messages (and email) home -- to students and/or to parents -- to offer reminders and updates for class. Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their classes without either teacher or students having to share their phone numbers. Poll Everywhere: As the name suggests, Poll Everywhere allows teachers to use cellphones for polling in class. Students text their responses, using their cellphones to give feedback, answer questions, take quizzes. Celly: Celly provides SMS-based group messaging. Classrooms can use the service to take quick polls and quizzes, filter messages, get news updates, take notes, and organize and hold study groups. The groups can be public or private, moderated or open. StudyBoost: StudyBoost allows students to study via SMS-based quizzes. The questions can be self- or teacher-created, and can be multiple choice or open-ended.

I like Celly for its group messaging and polling applications. Note: The link to "Poll Anywhere" is broken.

"This publication, developed by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in collaboration with IDEO, details a human-centered approach to evolving the system of early education for the needs and possibilities of the 21st century." - The ideas presented in this publication are interesting, but I found the presentation of information particularly compelling.

One teacher claims that "The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids' own time and homework is done at school." - Do you agree that this is a good solution? 

I too am intrigued by this "inverting" of time spent in the classroom and at home. My idealized model would be to introduce learners to new material at their own pace out of the classroom (allowing for pausing, note taking, reflecting and/or rewinding) and focus classroom time on face to face guiding and coaching of clusters of students or individual students engaged in applying or exploring the current material. To help facilitate this (and assist with accountability) some brief form of pre-assessment before class or at the start of class could illuminate for student and teacher alike what material has been mastered and what needs more attention. The research report from the TIE Foundations summer reading appears to support this type of hybrid approach. => Marsha Lovett, Oded Meyer, and Candace Thille (2008). The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning.

An added benefit of tools such as Khan Academy is the option for reinforcement. In a traditional K-12 school environment students do not have the option to watch a video of their class or spend personalized time reviewing a concept they need more time with during class time due to the required pace of school curriculum. An online learning tool allows a student to watch a lesson as many times as needed and to learn from an expert. Often if a student needs help outside the classroom the only people they turn to is parents, who may or may not know about the content themselves.

How will teachers cope with so many avenues for communication with students and parents? How can we preempt these issues?

Good share, Diana. This article is particularly interesting for the issues it chooses to raise and the way in which various arguments are presented. One quote struck me, "We have Smart Boards in every classroom but not enough money to buy copy paper, pencils and hand sanitizer," said Nicole Cates, a co-president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Kyrene de la Colina, an elementary school. "You don't go buy a new outfit when you don't have enough dinner to eat." But she loves the fact that her two children, a fourth-grader and first-grader, are learning technology, including PowerPoint and educational games (Page 5)". How can we work to harmonize these two? This reminds me an article I read in the Boston Globe this morning regarding teachers going out-of-pocket to equip their classrooms with enough supplies for an increasing number of students. The article suggests that budget cuts that make this necessary save teacher positions. There has to be a better way. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/05/budgets_cut_teachers_dig_deeper_for_supplies/

This recent survey shows that tweens and teens may be more concerned with their internet safety than adults may think, but more education is needed.

This is what I'm saying :-) We tend to do a decent job at making sure children are being safe online...but more is definitely needed. Parents and teachers are concerned with making sure that what happens on the web stays safe and healthy - valid concerns, but instead of thinking about the harms, what if we shifted our thinking more about the potential benefits? Media education shouldn't be preventative, it should be pro-active!

Technology is a double-edged sword. Young children cannot be exposed to the screen all day long, but there is no need to make a fuss about it. They can still learn a lot if they are properly guided.

A contrarian view. "Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains."

First of all - the girl in the picture of this article is reading Nancy Drew - who else spent most of their childhood with their head buried in a mystery series? :-) Secondly, I cannot tell you how valuable mud was to my childhood. Had I not been at a camp every summer where I was able to play around in mud and run through the woods all day, I would not be the person I am today. I think I did most of my growing and much of my learning in informal environments such as camp. It sounds to me like this school is trying to replicate those learning experiences...in a classroom. Not saying it's the way to go...but certainly an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!

Waldorf philosophy is different approach. For example, children learn to write first before they learn to read. As a result children may learn to read as late as 8 or 9. It's based on the anthroposophy philosophy. Children's who parents value these things will do well in a school without technology. Children who are plugged in at home would have a difficult time. This is effective for private school but not public school.

This article is from July 2010, but I found it interesting that the featured parents subscribed to the Waldorf approach to learning, but were lured in by the "irresistibility of technology" and began to make apps. "I decided it was better to contribute positively instead of taking a reactionary, orthodox stance." - Lynette Mattke

Another example of a one-to-one laptop program in schools. Interesting to think of this from the standpoints of the various stakeholders, and how awesome is it that we have so many representatives in our classroom alone - teachers, parents, siblings, caregivers, researchers, and of course, publishers :-) Sally Ryan for The New York Times MUNSTER, Ind. - Laura Norman used to ask her seventh-grade scientists to take out their and flip to Page Such-and-Such. Now, she tells them to take out their laptops.

There's an emerging "app gap" in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms. Parents are increasingly allowing their young children to use IPads and IPhones apps for learning and entertaining.