Friday, February 22, 2013

Mobile Learning Lab_812

I spent some time exploring Classroom 2.0 and liked the various features (webinars, recordings, etc.) that are available for educators. I added it to my RSS feed, and I'm looking forward to reading more posts when I have some extra time. Below is the screenshot of a post regarding iPad use in the classroom. Our building just got iPads for each teacher (1 per teacher) and we will be getting WiFi sometime in the near future (fingers crossed). 




Additionally, with exploring the various roles mobile learning can have in the classroom, I created an initial survey question that I normally use along with other related reading questions on a written survey for all of my students to help me get to know them as a reader. The focus of all the questions will be on reading. What I like about this particular website is that there are many ways to poll students. For instance, it can be an online website, polled via text messages, embedded into a Prezi, etc. I have attached a screenshot of what the "text message" poll looks like.



I was first told about text message polling through a colleague at MSU who tried it for one of her case studies. She did say that it was a bit time consuming to get permission from the principal and from parents (in regards to text messaging rates), but thought it was well worth it. This was two years ago, and most Acceptable Use Policies have been modified since then to accommodate for mobile technology in the classroom. I know that the high school where I teach plans to modify our AUP for this fall. I think using text messaging polls/surveys can be beneficial for gathering inventory on students for particular purposes (i.e. opinions about reading) or for short answer questions. For instance, I could see this being a great "quick quiz" tool for grammar or vocabulary. Prior to using this in my class though, I will have to get permission from my principal, check the new AUP, and okay it through parents. I'll also have to have alternatives for those students who may not have text messaging capabilities or a cell phone. Most of my students would be able to partake in this kind of survey/poll as most have smartphones, if not iPhones, and are very capable of doing all things technology. We are also right now in the stages of having green-red-yellow light classrooms in terms of cell phone and other technology usage varying by teacher/classroom. Overall, I really liked Poll Everywhere over other websites I have used because it offers a variety of choices to educators, as mentioned above, and I look forward to introducing it.

1 comment:

  1. It's amazing that most of your students have SmartPhones, but exciting to think about leveraging this access to make the curriculum more interactive.

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