Mobile technology appears in my classroom on a daily basis, but most of it doesn't belong to me or my school. Many of my students have mobile devices that seem to be surgically attached to their bodies, so how can I utilize this technology in an effective way?
I was excited to read more about this topic and find ways to enhance my lessons with mobile technology. The Digital Generation Project video spoke to the issue of student engagement. Technology can definitely aid student engagement, but I think we need to look deeper when we utilize technology in a lesson. Is the technology really enhancing and aiding student learning? The youth profile videos gave some great examples of this. This video about an 11-year old student from Indiana, gave many examples of the student collaborating with his teachers to aid everyone's experience. We need to remember that technology is a helpful tool rather than the solution to all of our problems.
Clickers are a classroom technology that I have never had access to in my classroom, so the free online options are an intriguing topic. Nearpod offers many great features at no cost. Students can access Nearpod on any web-enabled device, so I could utilize it in my classroom with relative ease. Nearpod allows students to follow my lesson on their device and answer questions throughout. I would love the opportunity to get instant feedback during my lessons and adjust accordingly. Nearpod also provides reporting options for the teacher.
In researching other ways to utilize cell phones in the classroom, this blog post by Jennifer Carey offered some great ideas. Backchanneling in the classroom was an idea that I was unaware of. This sounds like a great way to help those students who don't like to share in the classroom because of shyness or other reasons. She offers a few different free methods that allow backchannel discussions during your lesson. I would like to try this in my classroom and see how it would impact engagement and understanding.
I completely agree, Nearpod sounds like an absolute incredible resource for incorporating mobile technology into classrooms. We often speak of giving our students instant feedback, but teachers need instant feedback as well! During my research, I found www.polleverywhere.com. This is another great resource on the topic of instant feedback, and it is a way that you could utilize cell phones in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jamie!
I liked the point you made about technology being a helpful tool rather than a solution to all our problems. As educators, we must find a way to get students engaged and technology seems to be an appropriate avenue for this to occur. I have done some brief exploration of nearpod and it definitely sounds intriguing. I also like the price as clickers can be quite expensive but since most of my students have a MacBook Air, they already have a device which could be used to access nearpod. Thank you for some great ideas.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I agree we need to find ways for technology to enhance the learning process, not control it. Nearpod does seem like an awesome resource to use. I think any way we can blend the technologies they use on a day to day in the learning process can only help the student to better understand the topics at hand.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I liked the way you described technology as being a tool and not a solution. I agree. The technology is just one road on the way to the solution. You might want to check into the app called Socrative. This is another online tool similar to clickers. I haven't looked into Nearpod, but I have used Socrative and it works well. You can also upload images and links into the questions you design.
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