As an elementary teacher I have had many interesting experiences with mobile technologies and my students, particularly over the past year, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has caused me to stop and think about what is really working with our youngest students, where mobile education is concerned. So my analysis is concerned with the current successful uses of mobile technologies in elementary education. I invite you to explore my site here.
A1 – Mobile Technologies in Elementary Education
5 responses to “A1 – Mobile Technologies in Elementary Education”
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Hi Wendy,
I really enjoyed looking through your project and getting some ideas for more mobile technologies that I can try with my grade 1s. I find that I rarely use mobile technology in my classroom and the only time I do is for independent reading on RazKids and using Abracadabra during reading intervention. I struggle to know how much technology is too much, or too little, but my goal is to utilize some of the tools you mentioned on a more regular basis to teach my students technological literacy skills. I think that slowly introducing different types of technology, including mobile technology in the early grades can benefit students in the long run because they become more comfortable using it and gives them an opportunity to problem solve as they learn to use it.
Thanks Erin. I’m glad my project is useful for you. I don’t think we (elementary school teachers) get enough time and professional development to properly consider the best use of mobile technologies with our students, and I understand your struggle. I agree that students in the early grades need those opportunities to become comfortable with various uses of technology, and our challenge is to choose the best ways to help them do that. I often hear statements like, “Kids are spending too much time in front of screens these days,” so I’m always conscious of trying to use technology very purposefully. How do you feel about the amount of screen time your grade 1 students have at school?
Right now I am teaching online so definitely too much screen time! To counteract it I give my students choices of digital and non-digital work to do when we are not in our “meets” and I make sure they log off after each lesson. In person, screen time for us is mainly through the smartboard which we use a lot and we do Razkids on Chromebooks for about 45 minutes once a week and I have a few class iPads that are rarely used.
Wendy, this project looks fantastic on my mobile phone. It was very easy to follow and no clutter. It was a joy to read through. You touched on a lot of interesting topics, such as VR to support students with autism spectrum disorders, so I’ll be keenly following your future posts!
I do respectfully challenge your claim in the introduction that elementary-age children are our “youngest students” as I believe a case could be made that society’s youngest students are at least preschoolers, if not infants. That said, preschoolers are likely the youngest to benefit from educational technology. What do you think?
Thanks Lyndsay. You are quite right – I overlooked preschoolers when I used the phrase “youngest students”. My intent with this project was to focus on elementary school (K-6) students, so that phrase is not quite the right one. I appreciate you pointing that out!