Mobile Learning Lab

Classroom 2.0

I have been following classroom 2.0 on twitter for about 9 months now. They are one of the first people that I followed on my student teaching twitter and they always tweet great resource, especially during #edchat.

This is what I posted in the group on the site:

I think that we obviously need to adapt our teaching to the students that we are teaching. Young people are attached to their phones and their whole lives are on their phones. While I was a technology intern at a high school outside of Pittsburgh, they were on board with using personal devices as much as possible in the classroom. Not every single school is as supportive as this school. I think that using cell phones in school depends on the school culture and how it is educationally beneficial as well as if it is properly implemented. The school that I student taught at was not a school that I would want to use cellphones in the classroom a lot with. The high school students would take calls during teachers' classes and be on their phones all the time in other teachers' classes. The teachers never said anything and could not control it. I was lucky and was able to talk to them and set boundaries with repercussions before I started teaching. The worries of many are that the students aren't actually doing something productive because you can not see their screens, they are doing inappropriate things during class time and it is a distraction. I was able to do an activity with my students and their phones using google maps and they really liked it. While I was a technology intern the teachers and students liked using their personal devices and the students respected the limitations of using the phone in class. There also needs to be thought that not every student has a smart phone that is capable of accessing the internet. I think that if it is implemented appropriately, cell phones are a good thing to use in classrooms. There are many educationally friendly applications and web-based resources.

Survey-Poll Everywhere

For my survey, I asked people what their favorite season was. It was a survey that anyone would be able to take. I posted it to my facebook and twitter and I had 11 participants. 5 people said their favorite season was summer, 5 for fall and 1 for winter. 

I think that poll everywhere is a great tool to use in schools. I would use it to check comprehension as well as get feedback from students of things they are struggling with. It does not tell you who the text is from so students can feel comfortable sharing their opinions without their names. I know that it is something that many teachers are beginning to use and I think it is great! I do not think that it is something that should be used all the time, but maybe one of two times per unit.