Cell Phones in the Classroom, and Other Controversies

In recent years students' use of cell phones has periodically surfaced as an issue in schools, occasionally grabbing mainstream media headlines . Some boards have banned, and then later permitted, cell phone use, while our school board has chosen policy and guidelines which say that phones can be used, but only with explicit teacher permission. I may be fortunate, but my experience so far at Unionville has been that cell phones have not been a big distraction in classes. The rare time I do see eyes peering suspiciously down into their desk or lap, I ask students to just use the device on the desk if what they are doing is important and that usually helps them to make a good decision.
But cell phones now are only one of the many kinds of electronic devices my students carry to class. With pockets and bags stuffed with communication tools, am I missing an opportunity if those devices stay hidden in pockets and bags? I am pretty sure the answer is yes, so the next challenge is to find out how best to have them used to support student learning.

Bring Your Own Device

"One to one" programs where each student has access to their own computing device have been discussed for over a decade, but the idea has been more recentlydeveloping a higher profile. Proponents point to increased critical thinking skills and student engagement by focusing on higher order skills like evaluating over remembering, by encouraging collaboration, and by allowing students to learn at different rates and in different ways. A 2010 study of 997 American schools found that one to one computing significantly improved student achievement through a variety of measures, especially when computers are used for formative assessment and teachers collaborate weekly. Still, "one to one" programs are not common, especially because of the cost to provide and difficulty to maintain computer equipment for the entire student population.
In response to the slow adaptation of "one to one" programs, some teachers are beginning to ask students to "BYOD", or "Bring Your Own Device." Some strongly object to BYOD because of equity concerns and the challenges of leading a class with a variety of student-owned hardware. I think these issues can be reasonably addressed by surveying classes to find out what technology students already have and would be willing to use, and designing class activities that fit with those devices. My experience with three classes of Grade 10 Academic math is that 50% of students currently have Internet access that they are willing to use in class, which means that in pairs or groups I can already ask students to search or respond online. One day "BYO Device" may be as mundane a request as "BYO Pencil," but we do not need to wait for 100% saturation to begin experimenting with how student owned technology could support their learning and evolve our classroom models.

See Also

• Royan Lee's excellent blog "Why you shouldn't do BYOD" ( http://bit.ly/t8lKHv )
• Royan's follow up: "Why I don't think BYOD is a socio-economic issue, Why one size never fits all, …" ( http://bit.ly/sIbP9N )
• Education World reviews pros and cons of one-to-one computing (http://bit.ly/vaFKQV )

LiveScribe: Student-Centred Large Group Discussion

My two year old daughter has a new favourite song called "Rolly-Polly." Consequently, "Rolly-Polly" is not one of my favourite songs because we sing it over and over (… and over), but because it has actions and only six words she has learned it. For her obviously repetition is a key part of learning, but I think the reason this one has stuck more than other repeated songs is that she can, and does, participate in its rendition.
Most of us learn well by participating, and in class setting one way of participating is by discussing ideas. In a good discussion we can hear a variety of points of view, connect new ideas with old ideas, and share ideas or questions to move the conversation forward. Discussion based teaching models fit well with constructivist educational ideas and can help to develop higher order thinking skills, but also can have difficulties.
A key difficulty with discussion in large groups is encouraging all participants to contribute. In a group of a dozen students or more, some need to learn to listen carefully so that they do not speak too much. Others are self-conscious of their ideas or language and need support. Still others are not engaged because they have not prepared to be able to contribute, and so lose interest.

The Harkness Mapping and LiveScribe Pens

Philips Exeter Academy in the 1930's, may help. One element is physical arrangement. In the Harkness Model a dozen students are arranged around a large table so that they can see each other, and the teacher does not have a distinguished location. This is to help discussion to remain student-centric.

While it may not solve all ailments of group discussions, elements of the Harkness Model, a tutorial style teaching program developed at

A second element of the model is discussion mapping as a group reflection tool. A rough sketch of the table layout is drawn with each of the participants shown. Then a recorder puts their pen to the page at the name of the first speaker, and moves their pen speaker to speaker during the conversation to create a visual representation of the conversation flow. Patterns emerge showing loud spots and quiet spots at the table, and which speakers interact most frequently with each other.
This could be a great application for LiveScribe pens which we have looked at in the last two "Digital Literacy Dispatch" articles. No additional time is needed on the part of the recorder during the conversation, but during debrief of the discussion map afterwards the audio of any portion of the conversation can be replayed to help the participants identify why imbalances exist in their discussion.

LiveScribe: Working in Groups

Recently, I have been experimenting with more group practice and problem solving in my grade ten math class. My main motivation comes from trying to find ways to help weaker students while not boring stronger students, and from believing that communicating well and working well with others is just a good life skill.
It seems to me there are some risks to allocating time to group work. Group work is not always efficient, so use of time may be a concern. Groups do not always stay on task, so classroom management may be a concern. I have been fortunate that I have not really encountered those issues so far, but the one issue that has concerned me is when groups in my class function as several individuals who just happen to be sitting in close proximity.

Can LiveScribe Pens help to Improve Student Discussion?

At the last Staff Meeting I mentioned group work as one of the contexts where the LiveScribe pens might be helpful, so this week I took my own advice and decided to see how the pens might help my grade ten students to improve their mathematical discussion. The process I used was:

1. Brainstorm elements of good discussion in math as a class.
2. Introduce the basics of the LiveScribe pen
3. Alert them that what they write and record will be shared with their group, another group in the class, and me.
4. Ask each student to write, speak, and listen to their name so that all students have a chance to try the tool.
5. Give students a problem to work on with the pen, first discussing their approach before starting calculations.
6. Ask the groups to listen to their discussion and evaluate it against the elements of good discussion
7. Ask groups to exchange their pen and notebook with another group, and evaluate their discussion
8. Ask groups to give feedback on whether using the pens was enjoyable, and whether they helped their discussion

And the Students Say…

All five groups said that the pens were enjoyable. They do have a certain "wow" factor to them, so this is not surprising. Beyond the wow, some comments were that they liked to "[hear] other groups' discussions," that they "would be good for studying," and "would be good for taking notes during a lecture." [1]
As for being helpful to their discussion the feedback was more mixed. Knowing they were being recorded was seen as both positive because some said "it helped us be aware of what we are saying," and negative because some students either felt they had to speak to get a sound bite in or felt scared to speak because they knew they were being recorded. I observed some groups being more deliberate about making sure everyone participated in the conversation, but this could be come from the initial list of elements of good discussion rather than from the technology.
Afterwards, I listened to each of the group discussions in full, and while I did have a fairly good sense of how well groups were functioning during class I picked up some more details from the full transcripts. Some comments were brilliant, one was inappropriate and I had to follow up with the student today. The pens did add to my workload in that respect. Still, the class has since asked to use the pens again, so I may yet bring them back.

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[1] This comment raises some clear concerns to think about before smart pens become common place.

LiveScribe: Unobtrusive Technology

Somehow I picked up the idea that technology is supposed to make our work and our play simpler, richer, or more fun. Too often technology disappoints these expectations and just seems to get in the way. Laptop screens around a meeting table make a wall isolating each person in their own work space, and though a tablet (like an iPad) in the middle of a group can more easily have shared focus, there can be some degree of learning curve impeding everyone's easy use. The best solution is sometimes the simplest solution, and in the case of a working with a group the best way to have a good discussion might be just to talk and ask someone to jot down some notes.
What intrigues me about LiveScribe pens is that they are an unobtrusive technology. Writing with a pen on paper is simple. It interferes little with discussion, and all of us can do it without a lesson. The benefit to writing with a LiveScribe pen over a Bic is that the notes and the discussion can be replayed together; either directly from the pen's built in speaker or from an interactive PDF document which can be saved, emailed, or posted to a website like Moodle.

Making Financial Literacy “Click”

Since the stock market crash of 2008, the ability of average citizens to make wise financial decisions has risen in importance in the public sphere. In June 2009 the Canadian government appointed a national Task Force on Financial Literacy, and following from their recommendations Jim Flaherty announced November as Financial Literacy Month.
Financial Literacy is described in the Task Force report as “having the knowledge, skills and confidence to make responsible financial decisions,” and in my school board it is one of the 13 facets of literacy (“multi-literacies”) listed in our new draft Literacy Policy. Put together, the multi-literacies cover practically every area of knowledge (albeit with some significant holes), but they are also fairly interconnected. Here are some thoughts about the intersection of financial and digital literacy.

Taking the message online

There has been an online explosion of Financial Literacy resources lately, and it seems that every financial services company, agency, and regulatory body has added their own set of tips, tools, and toys to try to entice the public at all ages to learn more about money. A few of the better examples I’ve seen from the overwhelming number to choose from:

• The British Columbia Securities Commission developed http://www.themoneybelt.gc.ca/theCity-laZone, a Flash based online world designed as a financial teaching tool.
• Visa Canada offers financial learning games, along with other learning resources and financial calculators through http://www.practicalmoneyskills.ca/
• The Canadian Securities Administrators supports two sites: http://www.makeitcountonline.ca, with lesson plans, and a kid-friendly online tool and iPhone app to monitor spending and set goals for savings, and http://www.financialfitnesschallenge.ca/ where students are enticed to answer financial quizzes and share the link with friends for a chance to win an iPad
• The Ontario Securities Commission backs the Investor Education Fund and their sitehttp://www.getsmarteraboutmoney.ca, a wide ranging site with extensive high school resources employing videos, interactive tools, and SMART Notebook templates.
• Sun Life Financial aims at a slightly older audience through their site http://brighterlife.ca/ which provides money and lifestyle resources in a blog style format.
• The American non-profit credit counselling service Money Management International offers a free eBook about Financial Literacy in the resources section of http://www.moneymanagement.org

What interests me about these sites is how they make use of recent and emerging trends in digital media. The 2011 Horizon Report profiles six emerging technologies, and these six sites employ many of them like focus on mobile devices and game based learning. “The City” is interesting in how it uses virtual reality as a learning aid, and many of the sites have a strong social media component to them, either as a means of spreading their message or to generate a “community” feeling so that users will revisit the site and for ongoing learning.

Into the Classroom

Another message I take from the abundance of online resources is that while many believe that improving money management skills is important, developing Financial Literacy is not any one group’s clear responsibility. That is the same situation with us as teachers. There are some courses that have aspects of Financial Literacy directly in the curriculum, but money influences personal and policy decisions across disciplines. So teachers, perhaps this month you might consider how topics like budgeting, interest, or reading financial documents intersect with one of your courses.

A Little Birdie Told me...

I am rarely an early adopter. Twitter was created just over five years ago, and references to it are about as common as the call sign on many radio stations, but until six months ago I was not counted among its 200 million users. My impression was that Twitter was a collection of trivial comments on what people had for breakfast and other things that truly do not interest me. Last year my feelings about Twitter began to change, and over the past six months Twitter has become invaluable for me as a teacher.

At the Ontario Association of Physics Teachers conference this year I met teachers who were trying interesting ideas in their classes, and I wanted to keep track of them and hear about their teaching. Many of these teachers were active on Twitter, so on May 13 I signed up for an account and began to read some their comments on teaching. Since then the list of those I “follow” on Twitter has slowly grown, and a number of times I have directly used their recommended resources, websites, and teaching strategies in my classes.

Document Camera Ideas

Last year I experimented with using a webcam in class. I projected demos and activities that were either too small (or in one case too large) for a whole class to see clearly, and occasionally something out of the text book. It was kind of a basic document camera, and for my purposes was good enough.

Recently my school received several higher quality cameras, so to help roll them out I collected a few more use cases for the school bulletin

WHAT IS A DOCUMENT CAMERA?

A “document camera” is a small video camera attached to a stand so that it can look down at objects or papers on a table. The image is projected directly through an LCD projector, or though a computer attached to an LCD projector. Some document cameras have extra features like a zoom lens, light, or auto-focus to improve image quality.

WHY WOULD I USE A DOCUMENT CAMERA?

Using Moodle for Assessment

I have been using Moodle to archive class materials for a year or so, but it has been mostly a passive posting environment.  Here are some ideas I have been kicking around for future ways to incorporate Moodle in assessment practices, written up as a brief article for my school's staff bulletin.

My ASI Top Five

Last month I attended the ABEL Summer Institute conference at York University.  Here are a few highlights.
  
1. Documenting group discussions with LiveScribe pens
At a workshop thinking about digital footprints we used LiveScribe pens which record writing and audio together during small group discussions.  After reconnecting the pen to a computer you can interactively replay the discussion/notes, check out this example.  I think these could be a great tool for individual accountability and even assessment of group work, or add self-talk commentary while writing a mathematical solution.

2. People
I finally joined Twitter at the OAPT conference this spring after becoming persuaded that it would help my ongoing PD.  Within the first couple of weeks I found myself incorporating ideas from tweets in my math classes.  At ASI I meet some great people, and added six to the list I follow.

3. TurnItIn in the Assessment Cycle
TurnItIn is well known as a plagiarism prevention tool, but I didn’t realize that it can be used for multiple revisions, can facilitate self and peer feedback, and can speed up evaluation (especially if the new e-rater grammar checker is enabled)

4. Mobile devices will transform education.
Each year the Horizon Report looks at emerging technology expected to influence teaching, learning, and creative expression.  This year’s report identified the rise of Internet connected mobile devices as one of the top six key trends.  I agree.  At the end of June I surveyed my 32 grade 10 math students and found that 15 of them had the Internet in their pocket.  With half of my students connected like this it means asking my class to look things up in real time or interact through sites like poll everywhere may be feasible for partners or groups.

5. Finally, a Blog
In the past I’ve blogged briefly while travelling, but recently I have wanted a spot to share teaching ideas with colleagues.  At ASI I chatted with others (thanks Royan) about the current blogging platforms and played a little on my laptop while listening to sessions, and the result is this blog.  I decided in the end to go for Blogger because of easy integration with my Google account and free personal URL’s, though Wordpress was almost my choice because I like some of their themes better and I have used Wordpress in the past.