Mobile+Learning+in+the+Elementary+Classroom

 Mobile Learning for the Ele﻿mentary Level
Created By Meredith and Sam

**__Summary:__** The impact of mobile technology on learning is summarized eloquently by Bonk when he writes, “Now that roughly half of the world has mobile phones and 80 percent live in areas accessible by mobile devices, educators need to think of effective and innovative ways to design and deliver education with mobile devices” (Bonk,298). Of course, since WIO was written in 2009, those stats are even higher, and educators have not only started to think about designing instruction with mobile devices, but they have actually implemented these delivery methods and students are currently using and learning with technology in a portable format.

Mobile technology has been a topic of debate for some time, however in the past couple of years, “Student access to mobile devices is increasing at exponential speed, and attitudes toward the potential for smartphones and other mobile devices to enhance learning—while saving districts money—are changing just as quickly.” ((Eisele-Dyrl, 46) It is not a far fetched idea to have portable technology in every child’s hand anymore. Actually, even parents are jumping on board with the mobile learning idea. “Project tomorrow’s annual speak up research project for 2010, involved surveying over 350,000 K12 students. The survey found that some 62 percent of parents would purchase a mobile device for their child if their school incorporated them for educational purposes, and some 74 percent of administrators now believe that mobile devices can increase student engagement in school and learning.” (Eisele-Dyrl, 46)

So it is obvious mobile technologies are going to be in schools soon but how will mobile technologies reshape K-12 classrooms, you ask? It’s an easy answer, “Mobility finally shakes us from our fixation on walled classrooms as places of learning to the passageways and corridors of a new generation of learning tools and environments” (Bonk, 326). Basically mobile technology has transformed learning from something that is done solely in schools, to a continuous, life-long journey for the quest for knowledge and understanding. That’s a huge change that effects us all! Mobile technologies makes it so that the no matter where the student is, they have access to documents, the web, applications for learning, and references, and students can “…actively contribute to learning as well as receive learning. And one can be situated in a learning process where the higher-order thinking skills that the human race needs to survive in this millennium can be roused to life and nurtured.” (Bonk, 323) Essentially, everyone, no matter what your age, is a student of life.

Mobile technology is also reformin g schools in terms of how teachers are teaching the student. It has been proven as pedagogically important to customize and individualize learning. Mobile technology is attacking that challenge. According to technology analyst Gerry Purdy, “Mass assembly line education has to be changed into an individualized and personalized educational process where mobile technology is used to facilitate the personalized approach” (Purdy, 1). He suggests that every teacher and student have a mobile device so that assessments can be given, and student progress can be QUICKLY, and EFFICIENTLY tracked, with clear steps for improvement no matter where the lessons are being completed. The lessons can also be modified for each student to challenge them and work on skills they need to develop. In this process, a more Progressivist philosophy followed, where “Teachers become mentors; they help each student with the problems each is having, instead of focusing on giving mass adoption lessons to everyone.” (Purdy, 5)

It all sounds great however there are still some questions that need to be answered. What about those students without mobile technologies, where will the money come from? What about the rapid upgrades of these technologies? What about those students with special needs who cannot access the mobile technology? What about professional development for teachers? Safety issues? Is all instruction going to be equal using these technologies? And how does early and continuous exposure to technology effect students physically? These are all valid points that need to be addressed but as Ben Fraser, President of Blackboard says, "I don't think that there is anything more revolutionary that is happening more rapidly than the adoption of mobile technology in learning" (Eisele-Dyrl, 49).

__Sources:__ 1. Eisele-Dyrl. “Mobile Goes Mainstream”, District Adminstration, Feb 2011 (pg 46-55) [] 2. Bonk, World is Open, pg 293-326 3. Gerry Purdy, ”Inside Mobile” []

**__Elementary Level:__**

Why should we use mobile technology? ﻿Mobile technology expect, Tony Vincent, visits Horrell Hill Elementary School to explain the importance of using mobile technology in today's classroom.

media type="custom" key="9253660" align="center"

﻿A little more about Tony Vincent ... He is a former fifth grade teacher and technology specialist. He currently has a program that's called Learning at Hand where he instructs teachers on how to use and inclube mobile technologies, such as the iPod, iPad, iPod Touch, PDAs, and netbooks in the classroom. To learn even more about Tony, visit his website and maybe your school district might be interested in hosting him. []

Mobile technology is constantly being added to the classroom. The following are ways in which this technology is being used, some emerging trends in technology within the elementary schools, and some applications that can be used:

﻿Students with cellular phones in the elementary level can use their device for all of the core subject. The calculator can be used to find the solutions to equations and expressions in math class. It can also be used in real life settings just as determining the tip or tax when purchasing food from a restaurant or out shopping. Most cellular devices has a compass, so in Social Studiess students are able to go outside and determine different directional spots using the imbedded compass. Does your cell phone have an camera? If so, use this for reading class to record a skit/play created with group members or create a video story with the camera to tell a story. What about science? While conducting different experiments that incorporates rates of speed or time that it takes something to react, why not use the stop watch on your cell phone? It would be more accurate to use the stop watch than to watch the clock on the wall in the classroom, especially if you need a larger space than in the classroom.

media type="youtube" key="ZU09beqSqXY?version=3" height="252" width="358" align="center"

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿Here are some Amazing, Emerging Technology Trends in Elementary Education: <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">1. iPads - Allows the teachers to customize learning so they can tailor their lesson plans. Will allow more social interaction between students during learning, better mobility, focused learning, and special needs accommodations. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">2. Ebooks - Textbooks can be easily updated in electronic form which can save school districts thousands of dollars! <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">3. iPods, cell phones, and smart phones - Can be used for research, one-to-one computing, e-mailing assignments, sharing information, taking pictures for projects and research, and using drawing tools.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

<span style="color: #00ff00; font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿**How about some applications to use with your student's iPad or iPhones? On** __Moms with apps__ **they featured Stacey Jett who created the apps "DoReMemory" and "NameThatNumber" which are educational apps for students. The following article gives ideas on how to use apps with iPads and iPods through the use of Reading, Math, Science, and Musics.** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿ **Note [|http://momswithapps.com] is a great website that has daily articles and blogs that reference the use of mobile technology in the classroom**

<span style="color: #00ff00; font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

**__Issues:__** There are several issues that go along with using mobile technologies in schools and for learning in general. Many of the arguments are similar to the arguments for using technology in schools at all. These issues have to do with safety and privacy of students, as well as the concern for deepening the digital divide gap between various subgroups. Here are some other issues that come up with mobile technologies at the elementary level:
 * Ability to turn on and independently use the technology
 * Access for students
 * Quality of instruction... are games enough to really teach a student?
 * Cultural equality- expectations of use, what is appropriate, etc
 * Cyberbullying and cyberstalking
 * Creating content, not just consuming it
 * Reading ability
 * trouble-shooting abilities


 * The Big Issues Review link (below) leads to a place where papers were written from a European conference about mobile technologies and it delves into appropriately using these technologies. [|BIG ISSUES REVIEW: "Adequate integrative design for mobile learning needs also a deep understanding of the affordances and inherent functional constraints of the technological components."]**

1. **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Issue 1: **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Parental support at home

We know about the great things mobile technology can do to change the face of school and education, however, when students at the elementary level are involved, there is an expectation and a need for parents to also become involved in these changes. Bonk says a benefit of the emergence of these devices is that, “mobile and wireless learning devices place our family or personal life more directly into our work and learning life, and vice versa” (326). He believes that these devices will greatly improve the communication between students, teachers, and parents, leading to a more productive education system. This all sounds great… for the parents that are tech savvy and have experience with the technology.

One challenge for students at this level is that many parents, particularly those parents from low socioeconomic backgrounds, do not have access themselves to these great technologies or have older technologies or non-compatible technologies. In an ICM poll funded by Microsoft of over 1000 people, "1 in 5 parents <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">do not feel their computer skills are competent enough to aid their children with their homework and 2 in 5 adults are concerned that their skills are not keeping up with advances in IT and technology" ( []) Picture a 2nd grader who has a iPad and all learning at school is done through this device. When the student goes home, there is no support because his/her parent may not know how to navigate the technology. The student becomes frustrated and no learning can be done, and the parent feels a disconnect from their child’s learning.

What can be done about this? Well aside from giving every parent matching technology as their student (which is not a bad idea!), teachers should make their classrooms very open to parents to observe the lessons done with technology. When the technology is first introduced, a HOW TO reference book for parents should be printed, available in multiple languages, so that there is a hard-copy trouble-shooting book for difficult tech problems that may arise while the student is working at home. There should also be designated tech nights for parents to come in and experiment with the technology their child is using, be able to ask questions, etc. Also, schools should aim for continuity in technologies. Blackberries shouldn’t be used for 2nd graders when they will need an iPad in 4th grade, and a laptop in 5th. If one technology, with upgrades, is kept constant then the learning curve for parents will be less stressful and then the mobile devices truly will help enhance learning - at school, or at home!



2. **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Issue 2: **

The issue that I originally was going to discuss was the issue of parents disagreeing with their elementary student having a cell phone at such a young age; however, as of yesterday I am now aware of a new issue - cell phone content!

Background story: On a school field trip to NYC to visit the MoMA, we let the fourth grade students bring their cell phones with them. The rule was that they could text and play games on the bus, but once we were off the bus the phone could only be used to take pictures. While waiting for the MoMA staff educator to take the students around, we had to wait about 20 minutes. I noticed a bunch of girls surrounding another girls cell phone. I found this odd considering, at this point, they could only take pictures. I went over to the group of girls and asked for the cell phone which was on a text message screen. Unfortunately, I didn't even need to read the entire text message because some of the vulgar words that immediately popped out! At that point I confiscated the cell phone and contacted the parent. As I'm imforming the parent of the content, I am told that she was already aware of this particular text message and asked the daughter to save the text so she could contact the parent who sent her daughter this message.

New issue: If teachers allow the use of mobile technology in the classroom, how is she/he going to be able to monitor the content that the student is using, reading, sending, etc.?

There is not a simple solution for teachers, unfortunately. The first thing that the teacher is going to need to do is build a relationship with the students parents. Since the school districts nor the teacher are usually the provider of the cell phone; they don't necessarily have a way to monitor the content. However, the parent can purchase My Mobile Watchbog or any other cell phone monitoring device to their child's cell phone which helps to monitor everything that is sent, received, or emailed []. If the district has any money or a grant, they can purchase cell phones for the students and then turn off the calling and texting features so that content isn't a problem in the classroom, but all of the cell phones other features are still available (view Haverstraw Middle School - 1 min 45 sec into attached video as an example) []. Once schools make the decision to allow the use of cell phnes in the classroom, then the district needs to meet with the parents and students about the rules and expectations of the cell phones. Everyone should be on the same page with consequences if misuse. Currently, the majority of school districts in the nation do not allow cell phones because of the distractions and misuse; however, as there are more ways being added to monitor cell phones and ways in which they can be used appropriatley used in the classroom then more school districts might allow them.

[]

[]

__Extras:__
 * 1) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The __video below__ shows another aspect of mobile devices for learning - a greener classroom. With tech tools like iPads, students and teachers can save money on school supplies and number of prints per year. This also helps teachers keep track of all the student's work in a virtual, easy to manage, portable, way. Watch how one classroom, at Summit View Elementary, begins the implementation of iPads for learning. Look how engaged and excited the students are!

media type="youtube" key="R8QxXIZvc08?rel=0" height="243" width="300" align="center"

2. This video is great example of why we should allow mobile technology is the schools. The video also uses a current song that gets all viewers interested.

media type="youtube" key="kM4oOBtLY2c?version=3" height="210" width="367" align="center"

Mobile technology means learning can happen anywhere! Check out this website for the best recommended Applications for the iPad for Elementary Students. These suggestions are for young students and are mostly attention grabbing games with colorful graphics and audio components. Imagine your students practicing skills you are teaching in school, at home and not complaining about "another boring homework assignment"! [|iPad For Kids]

For elementary students, it is important to protect their privacy and safety. In order to do this, one way is to restrict certain apps and sites. Here are some ways to monitor activity on iPads and to change certain accessibility settings: [|How To Monitor Or Restrict Activity On An iPad]

Even though the economy is going through a tough time, there are individuals who understand the importance of education and the technology that is involved. Just the other day Bill Gates and his wife gave $20 million towards digital technology. They have paired up with Pearson to help develop games with technology to help bridge the gaps in the old curriculums with in the new Common Core Curriculum. []

Comments: I am dreaming of a classroom like Summit View Elementary: an iPad for every student!!!!!!!! It was so nice to watch the video you added about this classroom! I was also intrigued by your story about the fourth graders with the inappropriate text messaging content. Fourth graders seem like babies. I'm even more surprised that mom knew about it and didn't delete the message and deal with it right away. This content issue was was a concern of mine for my seventh graders in the future. However, it was nice to see that if a county pays for the phone, then it can turn off text messaging, and then the inappropriate texting content would not be an issue at all! - Jaimie Goodness, you have so much information here, it is difficult to know what to respond to. Like Jaimie, I enjoyed watching the video about Summit View Elementary and I'm glad it is going to be part of a research study to determine the effect on achievement. We can already know the effect on motivation!!! The links and info on how to monitor and restrict activity on cell phones and iPads is also useful. Frankly I have never used Mymobilewatchdog but will bookmark it to share. Finally, I've worked with Tony Vincent on several occasions. He has hosted multiple professional development workshops here on the Eastern Shore. In fact, he will be working with teachers from Delmar, Laurel, and Seaford in June. Nice job. Dr. Royer Nice chart of the available mobile devices! As I was first reading your wiki, the picture of the little girl on the cell phone made me think of a conversation some teachers and I had at lunch the other day. Students had brought cell phones to school and got in trouble. The conversation was that elementary school children were too young to have cell phones. In some ways, I agree. However, just like with any technology, if we taught them how to use it, it may not be so bad. Rules need to be established and then see how it goes from there. I just recently bought a Nook Color from Barnes and Noble. WOW! As much as I LOVE it for myself, I could envision so many ways to use it with my students if they each had one also. I bet the use of them alone would motivate them to read more, especially those not too fond of reading. It is also a great point you all made about saving money on school supplies! That would save them and us! ~ Angie Wow, this is the longest, most informationally-packed wiki I have ever seen! Wow, there's a lot of great resources, quotes, and ideas on here - I don't know where to start or what to comment on! I LOVE the chart of the available mobile devices. I think having something like that would be really important for a County that was going to try to go "paperless" and still save some money in the time of budget cuts. I think it also really lets us look at the strengths and weaknesses that each mobile technology has - which helps us find the one that is best for us or our class and teaching style. I viewed the video about the iPad initiative at Summit View elementary and I was blown away! I wish someone would bring me $30,000 worth of something - especially iPads to use in my classroom! I checked out some of the other information giving the iPad apps and things and there are some awesome music apps that I could really use in my classroom. Now I need to find the end of the year "wishlist" form to fill out for my principal.......LOL! Katie F. Just looking at the expressions on the faces of the boys in your first image says it all! I don't know how many times I have seen a student look at a book that way! It may be sad to say, but teaching students through a medium like books, does not prepare them for how they will ingest information as an adult. The written word is still very important (because a computer screen is still reading) but that change of medium is so important. I am with you on the challenges of parent support, but I think that schools need to take the initiative and responsibility for leveling the playing filed for students. Title 1 schools exist because there are students in need, schools don't say, "oh you don't have food at home, sorry", the same should aply to technology. It's not the most important on Maslow's Heirarchy, but if he redid it for 2011, I bet access to technology might show up**//! James//** I loved the pictures on your wiki and they instantly engaged me. They are colorful, with happy children, and plenty of technology. Nice pick on the photos. Your wiki was also very well organized and very informative. You have lots of sources and links to more information. I agree with your 2 isssues. Parental support will be a big issue if schools jump into mobile learning, especially in lower income homes where parental support is already a big issue schools are facing now. The bigger issue is definately content that our students should not be exposed to. It is so easy to stumble across things that are not appropriate. This is why schools are blocking way too much right now, just to be sure the content cannot be stumbled upon. Again great, very informative, beautiful wiki. - Ileta R. I like the suggestions about how to allow parents to learn about the technology their children are using in class. I never thought of letting parents watch lessons about technology and creating a manual is a good idea too. I think that making sure children use mobile technology appropriately in the classroom starts with in the first few months when students are introduced to the technology. You guys are right it starts by developing a respectful teacher student relationship. This way out of respect for the teacher the students will be more likely to stay on task during classroom time. If students are taught how to discipline themselves while using mobile technology from a young age so they will continue to develop those good habits throughout their educational career.