Comments on: Mobile: The Key to Education Anywhere

By: Rob Woodbridge

Rob Woodbridge — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:53:48 +0000

Thanks for bringing these points into the conversation Douglas. You are right – starting by allowing students to bring devices into the classroom is a good place to launch from. This isn’t going to be easy but there is movement on all fronts here. Some universities and colleges are handing every freshmen an iPad, K-12 schools are bringing iPads and tablets into the classroom for learning purposes, schools of all levels are bringing WiFi to the campuses and forward-thinking teachers are assigning homework for students that involve the simple act of using their phone to take a picture of something on their way home.

The full interview I did with Sidneyeve Matrix (quoted in this article) will shed some great light into how she uses mobile to teach at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The interview also addresses a number of issues you raise and can be found here: http://untether.tv/ellb/sessions/the-impact-of-mobile/special-series-education-sidneyeve-matrix/

By: Douglas Crets

Douglas Crets — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:03:54 +0000

Nearly everyone who works in education or has a kid in school thinks this way. It’s probably the most prevalent barrier to the simple process of just trying it out first, to see if it would work. Seems that people are more inclined to think they know the outcome rather than to test one.

http://www.douglascrets.com

By: Douglas Crets

Douglas Crets — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:02:31 +0000

Who, reel it back, gigaom and Rob. The internet is still the first volley. Actually, the ball is in the air, and the server’s racket is poised. Reel back. We still have to loosen up the restrictions on access to the internet in public education. Although, I would that it were true that mobile is even in this category. Let’s allow students to bring a mobile device to school, for starters. I’d be interested to know what conversations with teachers and administrators this gentleman has had, and what was revealed in such conversations. It’s easy to work in this field of internet and mobile and video and see the future, but it’s another to try to integrate it into education. There are political, legal, and bureaucratic nightmare scenarios that hold sway. Let alone that it is a vendor only market, and the way the vendors operate really precludes any mass adoption of the kind of solutions those of us outside of public education readily use and manipulate to success.

By: domcoballe

domcoballe — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:41:05 +0000

When talking about inside the classroom learning, concern that mobile devices may be a distraction is natural reaction. Some would consider a piece of paper and pen could be the most distracting technologies inside the classroom. In progressive pilot projects around the world, when the school systems took time to comprehend the technology (its power and its liability) and use its built-in features to control access (disable texting) and or functions to be strictly educational, they have noticed a steep incline in student participation and learning. In these cases, devices were used to complement learning during class, the same way bunsen burners were brought out when it was time to learn about titration in our chem classes of yesterday.

This learning model is still in its 3rd trimester, it remains under-developed to be fully embraced or discarded, but the potential is great.

By: Rob Woodbridge

Rob Woodbridge — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:18:39 +0000

Hi Betty, perhaps they are a distraction now but that may be as a result of teachers/schools/educators not bringing them into the learning process. If mobile phones were embraced by the classroom, used as another research tool and part of how subjects were taught instead of banned in the classroom it would open the students up beyond the social aspect of the devices.

By: Betty

Betty — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:07:19 +0000

Too me, it just seems like mobile phones and the like are extremely distracting to students – especially in high school level and below. They will be far more likely to be using it for social purposes then for actually educational purposes.