Mobile Technology

Mobile technology is an up and coming tool that will be used inside of classrooms in the very near future. The articles I reviewed gave some interesting examples of how mobile technology has been used and some of the positive and negative aspects from it. The first article I read titled Mobile Devices: Are They a Distraction or Another Learning Tool? introduced the readers by listing some interesting facts. It stated that by 2015, 80% of people accessing the Internet will be doing so from mobile devices and Internet-capable mobile devices will outnumber computers within the next year. This forces us as educators to evaluate what practices we need to be using in the future. Skiba also listed different ways she has seen mobile technology used to engage students. The first was by understanding information access. The teacher could ask a question in class and have the students look up the answer by using their mobile devices. They could also be used as polling tools that are readily available during class. Mobile computing via smartphones are a new tool for media that deals directly with the moving human body and the ecological interrelationships among the virtual space of everyday life. These mobile smartphones have GPS technology to enable other users to locate their whereabouts through websites and social media platforms (Skiba, 2011). The rest of the articles describe learning with mobile technology by all different age groups. The second article titled The Role for Radical Teachers in Teaching with Technology shows the same mindset that a large majority of teachers have towards mobile technology. They see it as a radical form of teaching. The author states that over the course of the past ten years, we have moved from a paper-based, print culture to an online digital culture (Drabinski, Clark, & Roberts, 2011). Not only are we seeing this trend with textbooks and e-learning, but also in the corporate world with the recent struggles of newspaper print companies due to the information being readily available on the Internet. The article interviews three teachers and how their roles have changed with emerging technology within the last decade. The remaining three articles focus on the role of smart phones and one-to-one learning. One-to-one learning is a concept that people learn differently as a result of owning personal handheld computing devices. Their attributes including portability, connectivity and context sensitivity combined with sound pedagogical ideas can transform learning from being a merely productive knowledge acquisition process to an active social interaction activity (Chen-Chung, & Milrad, 2010). Mobile technology is not only a growing trend in children, but adults as well. An article titled Adult Education and the Social Media Revolution states that with the advances in mobile technology, the delineation between computers and various other electronic devices(e.g. mobile phones, music players, personal digital assistants, digital tablets) is blurring, and what was once termed e-learning or computer-mediated learning has become more commonly referred to as digitally mediated learning(DML). The article also did a study with adult learners and mobile technology. They concluded that the flexibility and adaptability of mobile software applications are driving new paradigms in digitally mediated education delivery and have the potential to support organized approaches to life-long learning (LeNoue, Hall, & Eighmy, 2011). The potential of mobile technology inside the classroom is nearly endless. The most obvious examples are the ones given in Skibas article. Having the Internet readily available at the palm on your hand makes searching and answer questions a fast process. The app that has been create by the Apple iPhone and used by many other mobile companies, opens up a whole different avenue for mobile technology. Today, thousands of free apps are available to help support students inside of the classroom. Scientific calculators, rulers, dictionaries, and many more are available through the Internet at just the touch of a button. These applications have provided Internet users with the ability to easily create, contribute, communicate, and collaborate in the online environment without need for specialized programming knowledge. Purdue University has created two different mobile apps to students enrolled in their University. The first one is called Mixable, which is billed as a social learning environment centered on the classroom. Students can build and share their personal learning environments using the social tools they already know Facebook, Twitter, and Dropbox. The second app is called HotSeat. Students can download this application on their devices and provide real-time feedback in class. That might include posting questions, voting on questions, sharing ideas, and providing feedback to the instructor (Skiba, 2011). A teachers first reaction to this tool being used inside of the classroom is probably negative. It could be intimidating to start using mobile technology after years of it being outlawed inside of the classroom. Teachers who are not up-to-date on their technology standards could be more reluctant to implement this in the classroom. I have personally used mobile technology in a few different ways inside of my technology classroom. Before using mobile devices of any type, guidelines, and consequences for breaking those guidelines, must be set to ensure that students stay on task while working on the assignment. Mobile technology has been used in my class to record time (stopwatch), answer questions when a computer was not available, take pictures of a project to upload to a website, take video of competitions that can be quickly uploaded to a website, and as a personal search engine to provide information. With the development of more apps related to education, more teachers can test out this technology and see how it works for them. There are a number of different merits produced by mobile technology. Each article list many positive influences that it has on the students who participated in the research. Mobile technology is a natural for distributed learning and fieldwork. The students can learn just in time and within situated learning experiences. Many of our students are also very familiar with these devices so its easy for them to use. Students would be able to connect instantaneously to an electronic classroom through wireless services. I think that one of the greatest merits of mobile technology is that it promotes active learning, student engagement, and collaboration. Especially in larger classes, students are able to connect with each other as well as the instructor. A student who is normally quiet would be able to ask and answer questions without taking them out of their comfort level. Mobile technology also supports lifelong learning as it is integrated within a tool used for daily living (Skiba, 2011). . With all the positive that come from mobile technology, there is also a list of negatives. First and foremost would be the availability and cost of the hardware and software. Users would have to have the proper device and also a data plan that would allow them to connect to the Internet. Some schools might have to reconfigure their network services in order to provide a wireless connection for students to login to. Hardware

platforms usually vary in terms of screen size and some might have more or less features than others. Also, there is no current standard to developing applications, especially in the education field and some of these applications might have a small fee in order for students to download. Another big concern of mobile technology is the students ability to stay on task and monitor what websites they are accessing. The IT department might have to adjust their web filtering to become compatible with the mobile devices. Teachers should also implement an Acceptable Use Policy listing the policies and procedures in order for students to use these devices. This document should be signed by both the parent and student and place in their file. The final major barrier would be teacher implementation. A good majority of teachers would not feel comfortable using this new type of technology. Multiple training sessions would need to be readily available at the beginning and throughout the school year. It would also be part of the teachers responsibility to stay up to date with current technology trends in order to successfully keep their students engaged and learning (Skiba, 2011). The lasting impact and evolution of mobile technology is bright for the future, but also depends on the support from teachers, the community, and the school system. In the article An iPhone in Every Hand the author writes that all of our conversations, save for face-to-face contact, is mediated, at some level, by computers and the Internet-the tools- and the conversation- the exchange of messages- is happening globally in which any user of a computer is theoretically part of this globalized conversation. The future of mobile technology has arrived and I believe that it was be fully implemented within the next 5-10 years. Money and resources can be saved by moving from textbooks to e-Readers that have the capabilities of connecting to the Internet and downloading mobile applications. Students will become more engaged inside the classroom and have the ability to communicate with the teacher and other students instantly. Evolution of mobile technology could ensure students of a more personalized experience. With video face-to-face conferencing now available on the iPhone 4, this opens up a variety of communication options between the student and teacher. The main challenge will be educating apprehensive teachers and providing adequate equipment for each individual student (Valcanis, 2011).

References Skiba, D. (2011). On the horizon mobile devices: are they a distraction or another learning tool?. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(3), 195-197. (Skiba, 2011) Drabinski, E., Clark, E., & Roberts, S. (2011). Introduction:shaped or shaping? the role for radical teachers in teaching with technology. Radical Teacher, 1(90), 3-8. (Drabinski, Clark, & Roberts, 2011) LeNoue, M., Hall, T., & Eighmy, M. (2011). Adult education and the social media revolution. Adult Learning, 22(2), 4-12. Eighmy, 2011) (LeNoue, Hall, &

Valcanis, T. (2011). An iphone in every hand: media ecology, communication structures, and the global village. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 68(1), 33-45. (Valcanis, 2011) Chen-Chung, L., & Milrad, M. (2010). One-to-one learning in the mobile and ubiquitous computing age. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 13(4), 1-3. (Chen-Chung, & Milrad, 2010)