Smartphones are widely used devices for not only communication, but searching the Internet and can be used as assessment tools. Smartphones are very applicable because they sync with instructor and student schedules. For example, our learning management system can be subscribed to on mobile calendars, automatically updating, and letting students know what we are doing in class. Smartphones are useful for accessing the learning management system's app. In teaching science, visuals are important for understanding microscopic or invisible processes (Valanides, Efthymiou, & Angeli, 2013). Therefore, smartphones are useful in quickly accessing videos.
Although smartphones increased motivation and independent learning, not all students may be used to the technology or proper netiquette (Backer, 2010). In a community college setting, the student population is diverse and so may be technology skills. There is always a risk on what is being shared or posted and privacy with GPS and social media. Sustaining technology use for students must address privacy and appropriateness, therefore the use of classroom-safe apps and websites should be used. To sustain usage with faculty, professional development, training, and learning communities are important, as we cannot assume that today's instructors are fluent in Web 2.0 and smartphone technology (Kenney, Banerjee, & Newcombe, 2010). Adequate instruction and tutorials should be shared with teachers and students to prolong usage, otherwise we would isolate those that need aid.
Despite risks of smartphones, many people use them. Teaching a student, let's say someone from a different socioeconomic status or nationality or even gender, who faced some form of oppression, can lead to a positive change. This person may take joy in learning a new technology, thus proving to themselves that they are competent (Laureate Education, 2013). It is not hard to find adult learners who think they are too old to learn a technical skill. However, the goal is to sustain usage of new skills, thoughts, processes, and organizations, in hopes to pique their curiosity, interest, and excitement in learning (Laureate Education, 2013).
References
Backer, E. (2010). Using smartphones and Facebook in a major assessment: The student experience. E-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching, 4(1), 19–31.
Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elisa_Backer/publication/228968058_Using_smartphones_and_Facebook_in_a_major_assessment_the_student_experience/links/0046353311345311be000000.pdf
Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elisa_Backer/publication/228968058_Using_smartphones_and_Facebook_in_a_major_assessment_the_student_experience/links/0046353311345311be000000.pdf
Kenney, J. L., Banerjee, P., & Newcombe, E. (2010). Developing and sustaining positive change in faculty technology skills: lessons learned from an innovative faculty development initiative. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 6(2), 89-102. Retrieved from http://www.sicet.org/journals/ijttl/issue1002/1_Kenny.pdf
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Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Dr. Tony Bates: Using technology to engage students and assess learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
The use of smart phones is a great technology to use in education. The automatic syncing and updating would be very helpful for instructors to communicate with students. You are correct though about the privacy issues. The more technology that is available to use the less privacy we seem to have. This would require educating staff on the proper way to use such a technology. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI was reading that in this particular study, smartphones were used for apps, and students were aware of how to use the Internet and mobile resources. However, the issue was with data costs and Internet access. Therefore, it seems as if just having smartphones isn't enough, students must have fair access to sustain such technology.
ReplyDeleteFasae, J. K., & Adegbilero-Iwari, I. (2015). Mobile devices for academic practices by students of
college of sciences in selected Nigerian private universities. The Electronic Library, 33(4), 749-759. doi: 10.1108/EL-03-2014-0045
Hi Shivani,
ReplyDeleteFranklin (2011) classified smartphones as the highly mobile device that is much more mobile than the laptop computers. This high degree of mobility makes it indispensable in learning (p. 261). In my discipline, some students prefer to use their smartphone instead of the TI-84 calculator. Most of them have Pcalc Lite for ios (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/645-8-best-calculator-apps.html) in their smartphones. A few of them have advanced graphing calculator apps. Perhaps these two functions will make the smartphone more sustainable than other mobile devices used in learning.
Reference
Franklin, T. (2011). Mobile learning: At the tipping point. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10(4), 261–275.
I love my TI-83 and 84, been using them since 2000. Do you recommend any apps to turn phones or tablets into a scientific calculator? I know if you turn a phone sideways then you get scientific functions. Thus far, I love my calculators for complex math, if it's a small problem, then I grab my phone. I imagine that students would like phones because it's so widely used and integrated into our culture. You know I was reading something on how we should let students use phones for learning purposes. I personally let students use it to take pictures and videos of lab activities as exam reviews.
ReplyDeleteHello Shiavine,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that smartphone can assist in helping students to improve their academic achievements. At the college where I teach we have not yet started to use smartphones as a teaching or learning tool. The result is that the smartphones have now become a distraction, and in many cases they divert the attention of the students from the task at hand to none germane matters. As smartphone use becomes pervasive among the student population, many of the teachers at my college are concerned that they are becoming a major distraction. The teachers are not resistant to the introduction of technology into their classrooms but for many of them mobile learning is a relatively new phenomena.
I totally understand about distractions. When I taught ACT and SAT prep., the students were constantly playing Temple Run.
ReplyDelete