Mobile Phones Wiki Forum

Hello darlings,

Here I am back, nose to the grindstone again with more thrilling insights for you! Up for discussion today: mobile phone use in the classroom and wiki forums.

To begin with here are my De Bono’s Thinking Hat thoughts on the use, or possible use, of mobile phones in the classroom.

Black Hat (negative) – not all students may have phones with the same capabilities so would standard phone be provided by the schools? Also how would behaviours such as bullying or looking at/sharing inappropriate content be monitored?

Blue Hat (process) – currently mobile phones are seen as the bane of every teacher’s existence and their use is hard to police in classrooms. However, it may only be a matter of time before they are incorporated into classrooms. It was not long ago that mp3 players weren’t permitted during classes and now they are commonly used, if not encouraged.

Green Hat (creativity) – it would be quick and easy to include mobile phones into lessons, some ideas are below but the list is almost limitless.

• ·         Using calendar features to provide assessment dates.
• ·         Sharing information with the class such as videos or pictures.
• ·         Reminding students of due dates with whole class text messaging.

Red Hat (intuitive) – while it would take some time to establish and much initial policing from teachers and parents incorporating mobile phones into the classroom is inevitable. There are so many possible uses and benefits from this technology that it can’t be ignored any longer.

Yellow Hat (positive) – for most teenagers, their mobile phone is almost an extension of their hand and they are almost never without it. By using this technology within the classroom or as a means of communicating with them we are engaging with them on their level and I feel that (if used correctly) the positive results would be evident.

White Hat (objective) – we know that most students have mobile phones and we also know that there is a large range of cheap mobile phones available that we could use to provide standard phones to a whole class (similar to how many classes are provided with lap top computers).

I think that the wiki forum is linked closely with constructivism (the theory that humans generate knowledge through interaction with their experiences and ideas) and connectivism (the theory that knowledge exists out in the world rather than in the head of the individual). The wiki allows us to share knowledge of our experiences and opinions and then also gain knowledge from others through their contributions. My experience of the wiki has been through individual and group contributions and this has led me to believe that a wiki forum provides opportunities for the sharing of information and the development of individual knowledge.

Wiki forums could be easily incorporated into classroom activities and it would allow students to share their ideas and opinions. It would be especially useful in group activities so that students who are not at school during a class can still participate and contribute. Also the opportunity for students to use technology and for them to feel that they are contributing information to the internet would make the lesson or activity far more engaging as students could see that their input has an affect outside of the school environment. However the activity should be tailored to the needs of the specific contingent as work can be easily lost when others are editing the page and detailed instructions may be needed, often it may not be enough to go over the information just once.

I’m going to go back to waiting for my mail man now; he’s overdue with a shoe delivery for me!

Stay tuned.

First Post (you know.... ever!)

So here I am making my first ever contribution to the world of blogging and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed with myself. I'm a frequent reader of several comedy and fashion blogs so I guess I thought that if I was going to enter this world it would be in a hilarious and witty manner poking fun at the many fashion faux pas of the general public. However, being thrust into this world dragging my heels (Tony Bianco, cobalt blue, peep toe stilettos in case you were wondering) has reminded me of the impact the internet has on the students I teach. I don’t think a class goes by without somebody mentioning Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr so why aren’t more teachers harnessing the benefits of this gigantic and largely free resource? Luckily for us courses like this one are being included in Learning Management degrees to help teachers use their student’s fascination with technology to their advantage and create engaging learning experiences for modern classrooms.

So let’s begin the hard stuff.....

Our first task in FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning was to nab ourselves a partner and create or update a Wiki article to show our findings on a reading. I was lucky enough to have two partners, both students I frequently study with out in the ‘real world’ and it was our task to examine Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences and then briefly discuss the Plus, Minus and Interesting points of the topic. We were already familiar with Gardner from previous educational theory courses and I personally find his theory an interesting one. He proposed that intelligence is not a single factor but is made up of several elements in varying quantities. These multiple intelligences are linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal (the exact classifications are still under debate but these are Gardner’s original ideas). From an educational stand point we can use this theory to assess which intelligence is most prominent in a student and then convey the information in the way that the student will respond to best. For example, a student with strong logical-mathematical intelligence may respond best if a task is set out in logical steps or a useful pattern can be indentified in the information that may be then used to discover the answer. Today we take this information for granted as we have been exposed to the theory and its associated teaching strategies for many years but Gardner’s theory was originally quite controversial; up until that point it was widely believed that our intelligence was a blank slate until outside influences developed our ability. A detailed knowledge of this theory will help me to deliver more personalised learning experiences to my students that will encourage and engage them so they are able to reach their full potential.

Aside from getting to know a little more about Gardner’s theory, this activity also gave me a useful teaching strategy. I had never encountered the Plus, Minus and Interesting idea before and it would be excellent to incorporate it into a research activity or lesson for my students. It would give them a simple and clear method of gaining the best out of any article or piece of information they come across.

That’s my piece for the day readers, I hope you enjoyed it! To stay true to my roots I think I’ll try and incorporate a little humour and a little shoe love into each and every post, just to give you something to look forward to.

Stay fabulous dahhhlings!

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