It is interesting teaching at the college level – the common phrase of “put your cell phones away during class” is still heard regularly. I actually have one colleague who will confiscate the cell phone until the end of class and then return it – yes a college class. While I don’t particularly want students texting from class to their friends about their weekend plans, I do believe that smart phones or tablets can have a place in class. We have one faculty member who is experimenting with having students enrolled in a Developmental Reading class “tweeting” this summer. Who knows how it will work, but it seems to be engaging the students outside of class time by responding to other tweets. Why this is more engaging then posting to a discussion board – I am not sure – but it seems to be.
One program I have recently found relates to using mobile devices as personal response systems – socrative – allows the teacher to set up a “classroom” that allows up to 50 participants at once each using their own mobile device to respond – including open ended responses such as exit slips. I am planning on trying this during the upcoming semester with a methods class – and would love to hear about any other people’s experiences using this or other programs such as this.
How do you bring mobile technology into your classroom????
There are alot of mobile tablets in the system which engages students outside the classroom, and I agree with you that if we are able to guide students to effectively use these tablets in class they may work inline with the teacher and enjoy the lessons.