I was inspired by a recent tweet from Joe Bower, a great person to follow on Twitter, when he posed the above question. How should students use cell phones in school?
This prompted me to research some innovative possibilities that might help increase learning both in and out of the classroom. From fun new apps to creative ways to communicate, there are plenty of new and exciting ways to harness the power of the smartphone in today’s classroom. Instead of just listing off some popular education apps, here’s a few different ways to harness the power of that phone in a student’s hand thanks to Cell Phones In Learning:
Text Reminders for School Projects / Assignments
Remind101 is a free site is created for teachers and students to seamlessly create text and/or email reminders for assignments, projects, quizzes, tests, labs, class activities and homework. Teachers create accounts, upload syllabi, insert all class projects, activities, homework and assignments. Then students can log in to Remind101, search for their class, subscribe to the class, and automatically start receiving all reminders on their prepaid cell phones for the class activities. Learn more.
Phones As A Studying Tool
There is a new free resource called Study Boost that connects with mobile phones. You create an account on Study Boost, then you can create your own “batches” of study questions. You can subscribe to the study questions via cell phone (you can also view them on the mobile web). This feature is available for T-Mobile prepaid phones as well. In addition you can share your study questions with friends, teachers, and others so they can also review on the go. Learn more.
Used As A Voting Tool
A new resource similar to Polleverywhere has just emerged and it is very simple to use. It is called Let’s Go Vote and uses texting messaging from any cell phone to vote. Learn more.
Accessing Twitter Without A Smartphone
If you have a class twitter account or your students have accounts to use for learning, you know that some students do not have access to the account at home. While some students can use text messages, it is cumbersome to participate in Twitter with a basic phone and SMS text (not too mention costly if you don’t have unlimited texting). However, with the free resource Tweet Call, your students can dial in (1-877-TweetCall), speak their tweet and it instantly shows up on Twitter as a speech to text translation! Learn more.
As A Scavenger Hunt
In SCVNGR you can participate in or create your own mobile scavenger hunts. The great aspect of this application is that you can use it with basic text messaging (no GPS or smartphone required) OR you can use it with an iPhone! Most of the scavenger hunt type applications online only use smartphones, so it is fantastic to come across one that is more accessible (since over 60% of cell phone users still have basic phones). Learn more.
Weigh In
What are some of the creative ways you and your students use cell phones in / out of the classroom? Weigh in by mentioning @edudemic on Twitter or participate in the discussion via the Edudemic Facebook page!
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kids should use the simple phone to keep them safe .
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cell phones are important for elder students and not to younger students especially in rural schools
Thanks for the post! We're making some changes & will re-open in the next few weeks. Long story short, we spoke to a lot of teachers & learned what they really want. If anyone wants to check out the changes go to http://www.remind101.com or email me Brett@remind101.com with any questions.
-Brett
co-founder remind101
Has anyone used cell phones in the classroom to conduct projects or anything mentioned above?
sharing data for a spreadsheet activity
Our school just adopted allowing teachers to use cell phones in class, and while I support it, I never imagined having to fight parents who think using cell phones in class is the stupidest idea. If I had it to do over again, I would have kept my mouth shut when I tried to bring my school into the 21st century. It's not worth the drama to fight parents paying a private school tuition that think using cell phones is stupid. One of the worst decisions I ever made as an administrator. Maybe I should just go back to public school where thinking innovatively is a norm
During a chapter on Simple Machines, I had students do a Photo Scavenger Hunt. They had ten minutes to search the campus and take pictures (with their cell phones) of an example of each simple machine. I gave extra credit to the most unique examples to make sure they weren’t following each other around. When they got back from their hunt, they had to show me the picture and name which simple machine it was. The kids loved it. and it didn’t cost any money (besides one of the partners needing to own a cell phone).
During a chapter on Simple Machines, my students do a Photo Scavenger Hunt. They have ten minutes to search the campus and take a picture (with their cell phones) of an example of each simple machine. I usually give extra credit to the most unique examples to prevent them from following each other. When they return from their hunt, they have to show me the picture and name which simple machine it is.
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thank you
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@erbalt This is a strongly effective unmentioned article that has been integrate about the students.