“Let us know what is the position of your workplace regarding the use of mobile devices in the classroom/for learning. Who is allowed to use mobile devices: teachers, students? What for? What are the obstacles? Are there any success stories? How does the use of mobile devices change the way we teach and learn?”
I can say that I am very lucky to be working in a school district that embraces technology and is not afraid of change. The Vancouver School Board has a district wide policy on the use of mobile devices, but it is up to the teacher on how it is implemented in the classroom. This allows me the flexibility and the freedom to decide when and how I want to use mobile devices; ie. cellphones, iPads or iPods. I personally am ‘all for’ using mobile devices in the classroom. Our school has 2 iPad carts containing a total of 50 iPads for student use and we just received a mobile iPad educational cart that will replace all overheads, TV’s and projectors.
One tricky obstacle that I do face is in my grade 7 classroom where I job share at the moment with another teacher. Her policy with mobile devices is different than mine. I allow my students to occasionally listen to music with their earphones in, since some students are more focused this way. If they are doing their work and not distracting anybody then why not? If the iPad’s are not available (already booked by another teacher), I will allow my students to use their cellphones to do research or look up something for an assignment. Some students also never write down in their agenda and it’s like pulling teeth to get them to write their homework down, so I will allow them to take a picture of the homework board with their cellphones. My jobshare teacher does not allow this.
Traxler (2007) mentions that, “…mobile learning delivers learning to the learner when and where they want it” (as cited in Ciampa, 2013, p. 92). I completely agree with this statement. Most of my students own a phone so allowing them the flexibility of using their own technology is very convenient. My class also has a SMART Board and I will use this if I want to show something to the entire class. I don’t completely agree when Ciampa (2013) states that the teacher named Natasha doesn’t see the same focused activity of her students when using other devices such as the SMART Board. My students love it. I use it throughout the day and I’ve had students come up to me to say that they like how I always use it and in the manner that I do. After watching the video in our week 5 Module which mentions the website Poll Everywhere, I asked my students the question, “Should cellphones be allowed in class?” We were all able to see the results instantly and it was a hit amongst them.
I’ve taught in many classrooms before where there was not one piece of technology to use. I can’t imagine now not being able to use or teach with some type of technology; let alone the students not being able to use it.
Ciampa, K. (2013). Learning in a mobile age: An investigation of student motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(1), 82–96