25 practical ideas for using Mobile Phones in the Classroom
Good list of ideas, credited to Doug Belshaw (here is his new blog location). A lot of people promote the use of mobile phones in learning. But here's my take: I want to see something like a cost-analysis on this. How much does using a mobile phone (with unlimited data transfer, at decent (3G or better) speeds) as compared to using (free?) wifi and a netbook? Or as compared to a typical desktop with DSL or cable? Also, I would like to see a study of how much freedom a mobile phone user has to use software and access content as compared to a computer user. We're getting a lot of promotion for mobile phones - but honestly, I think moving in this direction in any serious way would be a big mistake. Graham Attwell, Pontydysgu, November 20, 2009. [Link] [Tags: Web Logs] [Previous][Next]Comments
Re: 25 practical ideas for using Mobile Phones in the Classroom
I think your view is too simplistic - phones versus laptops or desktops. I see them as being complementary; for instance I'm on a desktop at the moment, if I travel I'll have my laptop but at most times of the day I have a phone. Phones increase the anytime, anyplace options, desktops are tethered to a location, and while laptops are portable, like most people I don't carry one everywhere.
I wouldn't expect to interact with text on a phone the way I might with larger devices but I am able to read blogs and other articles if they format for mobile. On the other hand, I can record audio and images in places that I can't with my laptop and would need a separate device to capture for the desktop. When I go for a tramp in the hills I will still take my camera but walking round campus or town I can take useful shots on my phone.
The cost factor is valid but the differences in this dimension will vary by location. Where I currently am in New Zealand, data plans for phones are expensive but so are uncapped internet plans. Free wifi is hard to find too. Even at university, students can be charged for their internet access so recommending resources that exist outside the intranet has a cost and therefore equity implication.
I think mobile phones have some way to go in terms of cost, access and interface, but they are getting there and while still at an early iteration, people are coming up with many ways to use them to support learning.
Cheers, Nigel [Comment]
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Re: 25 practical ideas for using Mobile Phones in the Classroom
Thanks for the link, Stephen.
As Naismith, et al. point out (quoted in Lankshear & Knobel, 2006), new technologies can be plotted along two axes: Portable-Static and Static-Shared. The two things you're comparing - as the previous commenter points out - lie in different quadrants.
In England, where I teach and most schools ban mobile phones the problem is that we haven't got enough access to the internet. Ironically, many of the very devices that we ask students to put away could access the blanket wifi coverage available at many schools nowadays.
The shift will come. :-) [Comment]
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Re: 25 practical ideas for using Mobile Phones in the Classroom
These may lie along different axes, but they are related. One is connected to the other in a way that can be abstracted out by placing them on separate axes.
The argument I would pursue is, in brief, something like this: if mobile phone costs are sufficiently high, resulting is significant earning for the provider, then the provider (or affiliate agencies) have an incentive to limit or even curtail access to competing technologies, even if (or especially is) they would cost less, such as wifi.
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Re: 25 practical ideas for using Mobile Phones in the Classroom
Yes, but the 'provider' in this instance (mobile phones) is actually 'providerS' - the mobile phone company and the telecoms company. So, for example, if Nokia bring out a new mobile phone that has 802.11n wifi there would be an absolute outcry if, for example Verizon or Orange crippled that functionality. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]
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