From Toy to Tool Audio Blogging with Cell Phone: Review
This is an interesting article as it suggests turning a known distraction in a classroom into a useful tool. The proposal was made by a doctoral student of learning technologies at the University of Michigan. The proposal states that students can interview, take video and pictures and send them to a blogsite. This idea has its merits and has the potential to be an engaging and exiting activity for students who use their cellphones constantly. The message, video or other item would post to the blogsite immediately. Teachers can make projects for students to do based on content standards and grade them accordingly. There are many issues to consider. First it will take a-lot of monitoring to make sure students are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Due to copyright laws students would need permission to put music on their site. Students would also have to pay to get password protection if they wanted it. Lastly depending on the student's phone plan there could be a cost even if there is unlimited text messaging. In terms of teaching in the classroom it would require you to allow cellphone usage in the class and informing administrations about what is on the blogs.
So what does this have to offer? It is a good idea if teachers are willing to put in the extra effort to monitor student progress, inform administration and work with them on what to blog. Administration may not like the idea of trusting students not to follow copyright laws. There are sites the allow one to ask for permission to use copyrighted material. You also have to make sure to teach students to look at their cellphone plans and be responsible which could be a good lesson. Parts that I would like to be explained further are what cellphone plans would allow this and how much it would cost the student.
This article has definitely taught me to think outside the box in terms of teaching strategies. It has potential to be a very good lesson or a very bad lesson if things get out of hand. You will need strict measures governing the use of the blogs. Applying this reading would mean that it would take a-lot of research and setup to ensure a good lesson and cover content standards.
Kolb, Liz. (2006). From Toy to Tool: Audio Blogging with Cellphones. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/store/publications/downloads/l-l
So what does this have to offer? It is a good idea if teachers are willing to put in the extra effort to monitor student progress, inform administration and work with them on what to blog. Administration may not like the idea of trusting students not to follow copyright laws. There are sites the allow one to ask for permission to use copyrighted material. You also have to make sure to teach students to look at their cellphone plans and be responsible which could be a good lesson. Parts that I would like to be explained further are what cellphone plans would allow this and how much it would cost the student.
This article has definitely taught me to think outside the box in terms of teaching strategies. It has potential to be a very good lesson or a very bad lesson if things get out of hand. You will need strict measures governing the use of the blogs. Applying this reading would mean that it would take a-lot of research and setup to ensure a good lesson and cover content standards.
Kolb, Liz. (2006). From Toy to Tool: Audio Blogging with Cellphones. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/store/publications/downloads/l-l
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