I wrote about this in my blog around the Fourth of July. I attended the webinar and was interested to hear the discussion about appropriate use since most schools have "no cell phone" policies. As all of these other "technologies" are competing for classroom privileges, I was surprised that there was also a push to use cell phones in the classroom.
I enjoyed the discussion of this concept, however it seems like there are very few places that have actually implemented this concept in the classroom. Most were trials or studies. I do not know if this concept will take hold in the traditional halls of academia, especially since they have already set a precedence for lack of hand-held devices.
I was more surprised that this webinar was sponsored and publisized by a nationally recognized telecommunications company AND an educational publisher as a joint operation. This webinar actually had commercial breaks. It was pretty surreal. I think that I would not participate in live webinars in the future if they had commerical breaks... but I guess time and subsidizing demands will outweight my personal disapproval.
I feel like I am in the midst of a turning point. There are multiple 2.0 technologies fighting for the lion's share of the educational market. I believe this is because of the digital 'boom' of Facebook via college campuses. After the 90's Dot.com crash there was skeptism towards how technology could actually become central to a lifestyle. Facebook becoming central to the college life, and those students graduating to the 'real world' and not letting go has caused new interest in the marketing to young adults. In so many ways, we as educators are actually shaping the future popularism of certain technologies.
@lkolb was one of the presenters and was helpful via twitter both during and after the presentation
These are the links to the archived webinar: Cellphones as Instructional Tools
This is some extra information provided by the post-webinar email:
Guests:
Elliot Soloway, professor, School of Information, School of Education, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan
Cathleen Norris, regents professor in the College of Information, Department of Learning Technologies, University of North Texas
Liz Kolb, education technology instructor, University of Michigan and Madonna University; author, Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education
Ron Myers, principal, Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, Keller, Texas
Please use this URL to access the event http://edweek.org/go/webinars/
Also, we are continuing the conversation about the use of cellphones as instructional tools in the classroom on our forum here. Join in and have your say.
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