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Mobile Phones and EducationThis page contains these sections: Table of contents 1. About this page1.1 Ownership, contributions and history of the pageExplanation: This page is facilitated by Therese Sippel. Please feel free to contribute to this page by adding comments or contribute with your experiences as you see.
1.2 Summary of this pageThis page will explore different ways mobile phones are being used in schools in to enhance student learning. Often a burden to educators mobile phones are soon becoming a powerful computer in student's pocket. Feel free to add comments and contribute to this page as you see fit.2. Mobile Phones EverywhereMobile phones are everywhere! It is estimated that there will be 2 billion mobile phones in use in the world in 2008 (Slawsky, 2004) . Also a known as cell phones, more often than not they are seen as a burden to educators and a strong distraction for teachers trying to get their message across. But how can we as educators use these powerful little computers to create a better classroom for our students. This facilitated page will examine ways on how teachers can intergrate this technology into their classrooms. I guess it is the attitude of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!No longer is a mobile phone just used to make phone calls. Devices now double up as GPS tracker, internet browser, data logger, camera, mp3 player and recorder and so much more! In many ways, if we think about it, educators could quite possibly cut down on owning a large number of resources as the students already have ready access to it. 3. Mobile Phones in EducationMore and more we are seeing Mobile Phones pop up as a way of enhancing student learning. It is estimated that 73% students use their phone daily and 97% students believe that they should be allowed to have their phone at school for emergencies (Royal, 2007) Mobile Phones are often being used in different ways across a range of educational institutions and across a range of subject areas. With the large number available, they can go a long way to reducing the digital divide. This section will explore specifically how Mobile Phones are being used positively in education. Before we begin the section, it is interesting to note the following statistics based on Katz's (2004) research. They are desribed as the opinion of students concerning experiences with mobile phones in Educational settings.
The study probably needs to be conducted further to review, what the teacher was using the phone for. One thing is clear however is the large number of students owning a mobile phone and perhaps this resource could be utilised. I believe this news article "Adobe wants to push Flash onto Wireless devices"  will definitely have implications for the use of mobile of phones in education for the future. Especially when considering the 'net generation' and their expectations of learning! Contributed by Deborah Griffin3.1 Mobile Phones in Effective Teaching and LearningMobile phones are continuing to have an impact on teaching and learning. Potential problems exist however, trying to convince other educators and administrators that the use of mobile phones can indeed have a positive impact on students' learning. Here are some great examples of how mobile phones are changing the way we teach and the way our students are learning: I use my BleckBerry to record voice notes and send them as messages or e-mails to colleagues and friends, especially longer once that will stretch my text skills or very personal once. Last year after I read some research on audio feedback I even tried recording verbal feedback for students and e-mail it together with the written feedback, which was very well received. I use it to access my e-mail: receive and reply as well as access the Internet. When I was a tutor I used to post on forum discussions or reply to urgent requests from students posted in an online course. Of course take pictures and short movies and then transfer to my laptop. here are some good examples of mobile devices used to support learning at my institution. StudyTXT is an on demand study support system using text messages on cellphones that our Nursing tutors use. They have developed podcasts and messages for nursing students. There are movie downloads on deer kidney, heart and lungs dissection for students to download and watch on their iPods, 3G mobiles or PCs. Students use the small gaps of time in thier day (waiting for a bus, traveling to Uni, etc.) to 'snack on study' with the StudyTXT messages. Here are some videos that I located on YouTube. The first one Robin Good on mobile technologies in supporting learning is likely to match how most teachers feel today about mobile devices in their classrooms, the second shows some M-learning Case Studies and the third looks at Mobile learning in the near future. VasiIn addition to the convenience of mobile phones, in that most students have them on their person at all times, mobile phones offer advantages for both visual and auditory learners. In a study of Japanese students studying for TOEIC, those who used mobile phones as a study tool showed improvement equal to those using computer learning tools. However, when comparing mobile phone learning to computer learning of a short video of a news program, mobile phone learners scored higher on a vocabulary post-test (Kimura, 2006). "Merrilee" Therese: I work in distance education along with about 100 other teachers and with about 2000 students across the province of Alberta. Last year I learned that the art teacher was reluctant to actually collect the student art projects which they delivered to her on their visits to the campus, when dropping off assessment pieces. what she does instead is use her cell phone and take pictures of the student work, form different angles back to front and upside down. Then she returns the work to the student and uses the cell phone photos to remind her of the student work when she come to the actual assessment. She says that way she doens't feel responsible for potential damage of student art work if she were to ship the art back to the student. I thought that was a pretty clever use of her cell phone! Alison 3.2 Mobile Phones and Social InteractionThe main reason students possess a mobile phones is so that they can interact socially with their friends. Largely this communication takes the form of a text messages or SMS (Harley, Winn, Pemberton, Wilcox, 2007). Reasons for this is because it is relatively cheap and there have been whole studies looking at SMS as a form of communication. The following gives a description of an example of how mobile phones can be used socially to assist in student learning.
3.3 Mobile Phones: The Impact on Literacy and Numeracy3.31 Mobile Phones and LiteracyWe often hear the media complaining that students cannot spell or read properly. We also see students not verbally communicating to one another and rather sitting during lunch texting on their phones. This has led to a rapid rise in sending text messages (SMS) and multimedia meassaging. The increase in SMS messaging and limit on how many characters can be sent in one message has led to the introduction of shortening words and other texts. Some such examples include:
Feel free to share some of your own examples. However, educators are using mobile phones to enhance literacy outcomes defying the message the media is portraying. Positive outcomes in Literacy can be found in the following examples: Texting linked positively with literacy achievements Contrary to popular belief, the use of text message abbreviations is linked positively with literacy achievements, according to work carried out by researchers at Coventry University. The study explored how the use of text abbreviations might be related to the skills children need in reading and writing. 11-year-old children were quizzed about their use of mobile phones and asked to translate messages between standard English and text language, as well as complete tasks to reveal their English writing, reading and spelling abilities. Most text abbreviations were phonetically based. Surprisingly, the children who were better at spelling and writing used the most 'textisms'. For more information on this research visit www.coventry.ac.uk/latestnewsandevents/a/2341 (Coventry University, September 2006) Mobiles used to improve literacy in Australia The TES reports how researchers at Melbourne University have conducted trials in schools and technical colleges to see how mobile phones can boost learning and claim to be achieving remarkable success. For some students who find writing difficult, the phones have improved their literacy. For example, three boys who are using the phones to develop their writing and reading skills: capturing images, writing about them, and emailing the work to friends, families and teachers. The school's principal said he had been been "overwhelmed by the resulting enthusiasm" among disengaged students. (TES, July 28 2006) Research shows texting helps shy teenagers communicate The Telegraph reported how psychologists have said the growth of text messaging can boost the confidence of introverted and anxious people, who otherwise struggle to communicate. More than half of mobile phone users prefer to send text messages to friends than talk to them, according to a study of 1000 people carried out by Donna Reid at Plymouth University. (Telegraph, 9 February 2005) 3.32 Mobile Phones and NumeracyMathematics can be applied to every aspect of life imaginable. Often we continue to look for patterns and structures in life and how mathematics can be applied to them. Imagine giving your students this task... Ask students to take out their mobile phones and find all the mathematics possible with it. Check out the following scenario as written by Yerushalmy & Ben-Zaken (2004)... You are a 16-year old student, sitting at a bus stop waiting for your bus to arrive. Trying to prepare for your upcoming Geometry exam you take out your cellular phone, open the installed mathematics m-Book and start learning—you review theorems and definitions while manipulating interactive diagrams, search the web to look for additional definitions, use geometry applets to explore concepts and test your understanding by doing some quizzes that your teacher stored in the class site for you to browse from the mobile device. You are already on your bus when your friend calls and asks for help with an exercise. You both then send a message attaching the module of the exercise each of you reviewed and compare the solving attempts. Now you feel ready to send the exercises to your teacher for her or him to check them. While busy doing all of the above, you’ve meanwhile reached home. Using your home PC you check your teacher’s comments and continue your preparations there. Sounds unreal? It shouldn’t! More and more, experiences just like this one are popping up all over the place. Other mathematical applications include:
4. Misuse of Mobile Phones in EducationAfter all of the above great examples of how to use mobile phones to enhance student learning and provide real life situations into their learning, schools are still reluctant to allow mobile phones into their classrooms. Why? From the examples below of misuse of mobile phones in education it is easy to see why:
4.1 Potential Problems in Education
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7. ReferencesForshaw, D. (2007) Why new powers for teachers to control pupils are welcome Community Care 1672, 27-27, Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.Harley, D. Winn, S. Pemberton, S. Wilcox, P. (2007) Using texting to support students' transition to university Innovations in Education & Teaching International 44(3), 229-241. Retrieved August 18 2007 from EBSCOhost (AN 25902181). Katz, J.E. (2006). Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Daily Life: The Next Phase of Research on Mobiles Knowledge Technology and Policy 19(1). 63-71 Retrieved August 18 2007 from Academic Search Premier database (AN: 23303042). Kimura, M. (2006). English Language Learning by Multimedia Mobile phones. Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications2575-2578 Retrieved August 18, 2007, from http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reader.ViewAbstract&paper_id=23370 Parry G (2005) Camera/video phones in schools: law and practice, Education and the Law, 17(3), 73-85. Retrieved August 18 2007 from EBSCOhost (AN 18908553). Royal K (2007) Cell Phones in North Carolina Classrooms District Administration 43(7), 18-18, Retrieved August 18 2007 from EBSCOhost database (AN 25782843). 8. Contributors to this Page
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