Mobile Mania: Changing the Way We Teach

           According to Thomas Cochrane and Roger Bateman (2010) in their article: Smartphones Give You Wings, there were more than 1.5 billion iPhone applications available in 2009. It is now six years later, so we can assume that number is even greater. At this point in time, we can find mobile applications on our phones, laptops, and other such portable devices that help us to do our shopping, manage our bills, find the best happy hour specials, and know exactly how to dress based on the most current weather conditions. And this, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people use mobile applications for pure entertainment purposes, with literally millions of games and social networking capabilities to choose from. You have seen it: the guy waiting next to you for his oil to be changed while playing Temple Run on his phone or the girl in the chair next to you at the salon perusing Facebook. Maybe you have even been that person. Whatever the case, there is no escaping the fact that mobile applications have taken the world by storm and are not going away anytime soon. As educators, we need to find ways to use mobile applications effectively in the classroom and to help young people recognize them as being useful learning tools as much as being fun things to play on. Children have been exposed to mobile technology from a very young age, but how they view the devices is based in large part on how they have used them at home.

           In my classroom last school year, each third grade student had his or her own personal Chromebook to use each day. The problem was that several students viewed these devices as toys rather than pieces of important learning equipment. They were more concerned about their background pictures when their time spent using them was supposed to be dedicated to such things as research or math practice. We, as educators, have to figure out ways in which to change this mindset. Modeling appropriate usage of mobile devices for learning purposes on a routine basis, and making a clear distinction between how mobile devices might be used at home versus how they are expected to be used at school, are a few ways in which we can do this.

           Yet, teachers have an even greater job to do than just modeling and explaining the expectations for using mobile devices. Yes, they have to be cognizant of the fact that students view mobile devices a certain way based on their home experiences and address that, but they have to make sure the ways they have students using the mobile devices is pedagogically sound. Case in point: our school purchased a classroom set of iPads a few years back. Teachers could sign out the cart in order to give their students time using the technology. The problem is that in many cases the devices were used as somewhat of an after thought. They were available for students who finished an assignment early, for instance. Students were getting onto applications related to school topics, such as fractions and phonics, but it did not mean that true learning was taking place. I have found that a great deal of mobile applications are terribly designed and have little, if any, educational value even though they claim to. In my opinion, and speaking as an "instructional technologist," mobile applications that are being used by students in the classroom should not be only for purposes of rote memorization or to fill time. They should be carefully selected and designed to make students think at higher levels.

          One example of how I have used a mobile application successfully in the classroom was for a writing project. Students had read the book: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (one of my personal favorites!) and then had to develop a food-related wacky weather report. They accessed the free application called: Popplet, and used it to brainstorm and organize their ideas. When it came time to formulate the actual report into complete sentences, the students were able to open Popplet on their devices and pull up their brainstorming webs to guide their composition. Not only did this help to solidify the steps involved in the writing process, but it was motivating for the students as well. They enjoyed using the technology, but were doing so in a way that required creative and developed thoughts. The same cannot be said for many of the "educational" games that are available. This is not to say that I have always used technology perfectly and in the most educationally sound ways, but I try to make a conscious effort in doing so. In many ways it is trial and error. Still, I strive to make mobile applications an integral part of a lesson, rather than using them as backup tools to fill extra time. It is my belief that more teachers (myself included!) need training that would give them mobile application choices which are known to promote higher level thinking, and ideas on how to incorporate them into lessons. In one of my recent course readings, a great point was made that connects to all of this: we need to use technology to actually change (and improve) the way we teach and not just use it to instruct in the same old ways as always or in the limited ways in which we might understand them.

Until next time...