Cell Phones in Education Part 4: Learning on Location Disclaimer: While this post presumes the use of a smart phone, and while it is true that not all students own a smart phone, with the current shift toward smart phones, soon, smart phones will be as prevalent as cell phones are today. When I reflect on what is traditionally thought of as a field trip in a typical K-12 school setting, what often comes to mind is a visit to a location that may have some direct or indirect connection to the unit of study being taught. The vision of students visiting different areas or exhibits with “experts” telling students why this or that is significant dances in my head. Students may walk around with paper and a pencil answering questions based on what they see or what they are told. These sheets are submitted later to the teacher to see if the students were on task. To me this type of learning seems to be inauthentic as this way of organizing field trips seems artificial and top directed. This is where the mobile phone comes into play. Like this:
Wikis in Education: Teaching Students to Share Knowledge Wikis are gaining popularity in an educational setting as a way to give students a hands-on learning tool. Providers see the demand and are creating wiki tools to help teachers make wider user of wikis in the classroom. Teaching and learning have always had a collaborative element, but wiki technology has in recent years made collaboration central to the method of many educators. Since they can be edited by anyone with access to them, education wikis are ever-changing and evolving documents that ideally represent the wisdom of the student crowd. Teachers are constantly finding new and creative ways to use wikis. One college new media class is writing its own textbook, for instance. The possibilities for wikis in the classroom, in other words, are as limitless and never-ending as wikis themselves. Scientific Method "We needed something that was a better community site," Mader told LinuxInsider. By 2003, the site, The Science of Spectroscopy, had become completely wikified. Wise Wiki Use
Edutopia Have you ever plunked yourself down in a staff meeting where some of your colleagues were, for lack of a better phrase, not paying attention? Grading homework? Having private conversations? Texting? As we know all too well, kids aren't a whole lot different than adults: If they aren't absorbed by what's going on, they'll find something else that interests them. Getting all your students focused, eager, and on task at the beginning of class is challenging enough. Still, unless you manage to capture and keep students' focus, whether at the beginning of or midway through class, the engine of student learning that you are trying to drive simply isn't even in gear. From Dead Time to Active Learning I call this lack of engagement dead time. I have come to feel that dead time is so pernicious that I will do everything I can to prevent even the hint of an outbreak. They call students at Level 4, the lowest level, the work avoiders, and on level 3 are the halfhearted workers. Building Your Arsenal