Smartphones in Class

Smartphones in class, it seems like teachers are either for it or against it. Teachers who are against using smartphones in class seem to view them as the enemy, as a resource that is only for leisure and should not be banned from class.Teachers who are for using smartphones in class might not have an idea how to use them efficiently other than letting students use a dictionary on their phones.

As you might know I am an advocate for using digital aids in the classroom, hence this and many other blogs. However, I have found myself wondering how to integrate smarthpones in my class efficiently. At first, I also felt that smartphones should not be used in class since they were a major distraction for students. But, as the year went on I started wondering why: was I against digital aids like smartphones, or was I afraid that using them might limit my control over the situation, therefore a lack in authority that I thought I needed in order for students to learn. Now I feel that students like it when I set goals or frames in which they can learn in combination with providing them the autonomy they need to design their own learning process. I feel that digital aids are a great help for students to work at their own pace and level as well as playing a major role in connecting with them in a modern fashion.

So, now I have established that I think using digital aids such as smartphones in class are helpful for teachers and students. The next step is to find out how I can integrate them efficiently. With this in mind I started to investigate using google and pinterest. I was overhwelmed with the possibilities. There are many blogs and articles out there which describe ways to use smartphones in class but most of them don't apply to my teaching style, my knowledge of digital aids or to the Language Centre. So, I had a short brainstorm session with Chantel discussing the options for the Language Centre. They are pretty basic which I like because that would be a good starting point from which to propel. We have come up with 7 rather simple ways to use smartphones in class:

1. Recording

From experience I know that every iPhone has a recording app, but I assume there are many free apps for this purpose as well. Chantel told me about using the recording app for speaking. She let students record their presentations and have them listen to it. While listening they had to look out for mistakes they made and come up with a way to improve themselves. The feedback from the students was that they heard themselves making mistakes, for example with the past tense. They also notices that they said 'uhm' a lot. With this knowledge they could start working toward specific goals themselves which is great because the students have set that goal, not the teacher.

A recording app could also be used by students when a teacher gives them feedback or an explanation. That way, students can listen to it several times, kind of like the videos used for flipping the classroom where students can watch a video again if they like, or simply pause it to make notes.

2. Stopwatch

Most phones have a stopwatch function, even basic, non-smart phones (that sounds funny :)). Most students have to be able to talk about a topic for about three minutes. Timing could come in handy while practising since they then have an indication of how long they have talked and if that is sufficient or not.

3. Twitter

In period 2 I did a treasure hunt through twitter. Students would get directions from me through twitter. Once they had arrived at the location they had to send me a picture of themselves proving that they were actually there. I would then post their assignment through twitter and they would also twitter the outcome.
This idea sounds really simple and do-able. However, I had never used twitter before which caused some issues. Lotte did the same in Leeuwarden and that was succesful, so I guess it can be concluded that it the reason it didn't work out was my lack of knowledge. Overall, I think twitter could be a great resource for instant feedback or directions from and to students. A tip I can give is to start twittering yourself first :).

4. Socrative

Recently I had to teach a lesson at the NHL to second year students who are , like me, studying to become a teacher. I thought of a way to interact with the students during the lesson because I didn't want it to be boring, at the same time it was a perfect opportunity for me to inspire other teachers to use more technology in their (future) lessons. So, after my introduction I told them to get their phones out and download the 'socrative app' . The look on their faces was priceless :).
The lesson was about my Master Project which was about healthy and unhealthy foods and eating habits. To get information across on this topic I wanted to know how much they already knew about it (activate previously obtained knowledge, didactiscs out there know what I'm talking about). So, I made a prezi in which I posted some true/false statments. Since the students were in my online classroom on Socrative the only thing I had to do was choose for true/false question and they could then choose for true/false, the results showed on the smartboard as a live feed. So we could see straight away how many chose true and how many students chose false. Knowing that I could ask them questions like 'Who chose true and why' etc. This turned out to be an efficient way to interact with students since I felt that they were really involved into what was going on and they had good input.

Socrative has many other options for live feed such as short answer and multiple choice. There is also the option of setting up a previously made quiz (which are interexchangeble between teachers), an end of class pulse check or using a quiz as a game.

5. Zello

A friend on mine introduced me to Zello, oooh the nostalgia! Basically, it's a walky talky app. How I imagine using this is as follows: Person 1 has a map of the building and hides an object somewhere. Person 2 goes out to find this object using the directions that person 1 is giving (using the map). When person 2 finds the object they could take a picture of it as proof as sent it through edmodo, twitter, facebook, whatsapp, etc. Person 2 could then hide the object somewhere else so that they could swap roles. I think this would work well for teaching students to give and understand instructions, to act professionally (for example when the instructions are not clear) and to ask questions. Also, I think student like doing stuff better than sitting still and I believe that having fun as well as turing theory into practise are important to the learning process.

6. Note making

Using apps like evernote will enable students to take notes efficiently as well as store photos (of instructions/writing/drawings/etc. on the white/smartboard) and documents in one place, making it easier for them to organise. For those of you who are not familiar with evernote, have a look at the video below or look up some videos on You Tube.

 

7. QR Codes

Another great way of using smartphones in class would be by using QR codes. This way teachers could make documents accessbile online instead of printing them. Lotte will devote a blog about QR codes soon so I don't want to steal her thunder by going on about this. Watch the video below to spark your interest.

I hope this blog has inspired you to start using smartphones in your classroom. Let me know if you have any other ideas or if you have tried one of these options, I'd love to know!

Roos