Mobile Learning

Why mobile technology in the classroom? The argument is simple:

Technology, including mobile devices, is pervasive in our lives, no longer a luxury, but the norm. Even in the low-income school district in which I work, most students come to school with at least one mobile device. Now, my school does not have a school-wide policy regarding personal devices in the classroom. Teachers establish their own policies. And what I’ve observed is that those teachers who do allow students to have personal devices don’t have a clear directive for how or when they should be used. A lot of time is wasted disciplining the students, asking them to stop texting, playing games, listening to music, etc. With the prevalence of such technology, why not help students learn how to use their devices responsibly and creatively so that they go into the world better prepared to make a significant and positive impact? The technology is not going away, and it will not be enough for them to know how to just use social media or play video games.

But like many teachers, I am concerned that if we spend a lot of time trying to cleverly integrate technology, kids will know how to make videos or websites but won’t have any real in-depth knowledge about anything or even be able to perform on those damnable state tests. Will they even be able to construct an intelligible sentence beyond simple subject-verb-object?! According to Mark Pensky, Founder and CEO of Games2Train, “If we really offered our children some great future-oriented content ([e.g.] bioethics, genetic medicine, and neuroscience...), and they could develop their skills in programming, knowledge filtering, using their connectivity, and maximizing their hardware, and that they could do so with cutting-edge, powerful, miniaturized, customizable, and one-to-one technology, I bet they would complete the ‘standard’ curriculum in half the time it now takes, with high test scores all around.” (Pensky, 2005) Only time will tell if that is true, though in my personal experience with Teach-Now projects, I have learned and retained a great deal of new knowledge while creating multimedia projects.

Here are some best practices that will guide me as I integrate mobile technology into my teaching:

1. Establish a clear policy with the help of the students that establishes when and how they are to use devices. Hopefully, by having the students help make the rules, they will have more of a sense of ownership and thereby, accountability. I will have the students create a Global Digital Citizenship contract specific to our classroom. In small groups they can read and discuss ideas presented by the Global Digital Citizen Foundation and then each group will be responsible for drafting language for one section of our custom contract (e.g. “Respect Yourself”). This contract would not only cover online citizenship, but classroom citizenship (e.g. is it appropriate/respectful to text, play games, etc. when the teacher is giving instruction or a fellow student is making a presentation?). This process should help the students really think about how they use their devices out in the world. Small group discussion could include questions like, “Is it appropriate to use a mobile device during a job interview? on a date? at a job site? Does it depend on how it’s being used?” etc. Global Citizenship, including personal accountability, would be a great outcome of this exercise.

2. Establish a hybrid BYOD/1:1 program. I will make it known to parents and students that personal mobile devices are encouraged in my classroom (Bring Your Own Device) and outline how and when they will be used. I will make it clear to parents that they should not feel pressured to provide their student with a device if they don’t have one already, but will work with the school and the district to obtain enough devices for my classroom for students who need them, knowing that number to be fairly small.

3. Involve students in creating new lesson plans/activities that integrate technology. As Pensky points out, our students, digital natives, will always be more creative and innovative with technology than we ever will. “The only way to move forward effectively is to combine what they know about technology with what we know and require about education...there are many more old things children are doing in new ways -- innovations they have invented or adopted as their preferred method of behavior -- that have not yet made their way into our schools.” (Pensky, 2005)

4. Use the “Doing old things in new ways” test. As I work to integrate technology I will continually ask myself if I’m simply “doing old things (communicating and exchanging) in old ways (passing stuff around)” (Pensky, 2005) or if I am truly doing something innovative that will serve the students for the future. Will they acquire or practice 21st century skills with this new use of technology? At my current school, all Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors use technology to research and write their required Language Arts research papers. But in the end, they’re still just research papers. Nothing innovative or 21st century about it. I definitely think students should be allowed to work in groups and present their work in alternate digital formats. If a teacher were so inclined, s/he would practice 1:1 instruction by looking at each student’s learning preferences, hobbies/interests, and future aspirations and, with the students, come up with a relevant form of project presentation for each.

5. Allow ample time for preparation. As teacher Daniel Roggenkamp made evident in his ESL activity, plenty of lead time is needed for both teacher and students before a new tech-related activity or assignment officially begins. His students had to learn how to use the screenshot app on their devices, which was different for each. And they all had to learn how to use Google Groups. Additionally, the directions for his activity were simple, but the class went over them at length to make sure everyone was on the same page. I really think this pre-activity activity is crucial. In the end, it saves time and prevents unnecessary frustration. And the teacher doesn’t have to be the driver. Students can help each other get prepared.

Sources:

Roggenkamp, Daniel. Gathering Authentic Language Snippets with Mobile Devices (pdf). nd. Retrieved from http://teachnowprogram.com/resources/downloadfile/24144

Prensky, Mark. Shaping Tech for the Classroom. July 22, 2015. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt-shaping-tech-for-classroom

Digital Citizenship School Program. nd. Global Digital Citizenship Foundation. Retrieved from

http://globaldigitalcitizen.org/digital-citizenship-school-program

21st Century Learning

The world has changed dramatically since I stopped teaching French at a private high school 12 years ago. Now that I’m studying 21st century teaching/learning, I cringe when I look back on my classes. Not that you could blame me. We were barely into the 21st century. Information and communication technology was not as advanced, and we were only just beginning to understand how hyper-connected our world would become. My classroom was teacher-centered and largely textbook-driven. Hands-on projects were limited to posters, skits and the occasional cooking of French foods. The internet was only a research tool. Oh, and there was a lot of exciting rote memorization!

The professional development organization, 21st Century Schools, asserts on their website that:

Our students are facing many emerging issues such as global warming, famine, poverty, health issues, a global population explosion and other environmental and social issues. These issues lead to a need for students to be able to communicate, function and create change personally, socially, economically and politically on local, national and global levels...Schools in the 21st century will be laced with a project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter. (What is 21st Century Education?)

Now that I understand how crucial 21st century skills are for today’s youth (tomorrow’s leaders), I am highly motivated to change how I teach.

One component of 21st century teaching is allowing for the integration of interdisciplinary themes. This is a move away from the traditional education model in which students study different subjects in an isolated, fragmented manner. 21st century curriculum should be “interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-driven” and be “connected to the community-local, state, national and global (What is 21st Century Education?). It allows teachers to make their core subjects more holistic and relevant. These are a few of my initial ideas for interdisciplinary lessons for a high school French class:

Civics: Compare and contrast the political systems of France and the U.S., including a look at our shared political history.

Civics/Language Arts: Learn how language can change over time by investigating the who, what, why, where, when and how behind the current argot (French slang) of les d’jeunes (the young). It becomes a Civics lesson when students learn how things like technology or large emigrant populations can affect language.

Economics: From animation studios to production factories, several large American corporations have opened branches in France. Why? What are the benefits? Drawbacks?

Another critical component of 21st century learning is the 4Cs: creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration. Creativity is easy to incorporate when one gets beyond textbook assignments and chapter tests and instead opts to have students tackle a research project and present their work in any number of creative ways from mind maps to videos. Creativity is taken further when critical thinking and problem solving are added to the mix by asking the students to address a central question without a clear cut right or wrong answer.

Collaboration can be achieved by having students work together as they learn and practice their language skills as has been done in language classes for years. But there are options that go beyond the classroom, such as ePals, an online educational service that connects students in classrooms around the globe to communicate with each other and collaborate on projects. Students in a U.S. classroom could consult with French students on how to start a student-led effort to convince legislators to promote stronger non-GMO laws in the U.S. similar to what has already occurred in Europe. The project could end with the American students creating a PSA. I love how the Food and Culture Project (“A Global, Collaborative Classrooms Project”) articulates a goal we should all strive for, to “develop global competencies by studying ‘with’ the world instead of ‘about’ the world.” (Food & Culture)

Obviously, effective integration of technology is a huge part of the new education model. Effective being the key word. Allowing students to be passive media consumers (using media solely for entertainment, research or information storage/retrieval) will not serve them for the future. Students have to be taught how to conduct internet searches that will lead them to credible sources and be introduced to tools that will help them create powerful, multimedia presentations. And they have to be taught safety and ethics, especially how to avoid copyright infringement and abide by fair use rules. Another consideration is the age and maturity of our “audience,” our students. It can be tough for them to be online and not be tempted to surf for fun, get distracted, or, heaven forbid, stumble onto some seriously inappropriate material. I am especially excited to try the Yabla service which will keep my language students from surfing YouTube.

Yabla is an online multimodal (simultaneous use of textual, aural and visual elements) language immersion tool that uses videos from “contemporary television, film and music, videos intended for native speakers and made by native speakers (Yabla).” I tried to incorporate tv clips, films and music into my classes, but it was tough to get my hands on that stuff. Now, of course, there is YouTube. And all the pitfalls, distractions, and limitations that come with it. Yabla carefully selects their material then goes one step further with interactive games that reinforce what the students have seen and heard.


On a final note, I would say that a teacher is mistaken if they think they’ve moved into the 21st century if all they do is have their students do online research and type their papers in Google Docs. Even the use of a document camera is barely a step forward. It allows you to face your students instead of turning your back on them to write on the board, but it’s still just you, the teacher, talking and writing. If we are going to adequately equip our students for the future, we have to intentionally and creatively incorporate “higher order thinking skills, multiple intelligences, technology and multimedia, the multiple literacies of the 21st century and authentic assessments” into our teaching models (What is 21st Century Education?).

Sources:

Food & Culture website. Retrieved from http://21stcenturyschools.weebly.com/

What is 21st Century Education? 21st Century Schools. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm

Yabla website. Retrieved from https://www.yabla.com/