Stephen's Untold Stories

Very interesting list.

• 26% store info on their phone and look at it while taking a test
• 25% send text messages to friends, asking for answers
• 17% take pictures of a test – and then send it to their friends
• 20% use their phones to search for answers on the Internet
• 48% warn friends about a pop quiz with a phone call or text message

There has been some serious discussion in the edtech blogosphere about these. Is letting your friends know that you had a pop quiz really cheating? When I was a teacher I wouldn’t always give pop quizzes to each class on the same day. I might have given one early in the day, and by the afternoon classes all the students were expecting one. They were so miffed when I didn’t give them one. I even had some of them complain about it. “Why didn’t you give us a pop quiz like you gave 1st period?” I would explain to them that since they knew about it that it really wouldn’t be a “pop quiz” for them, and that they would get theirs on a different day and they wouldn’t know when it was coming. I rarely gave pop quizzes anyway, but the possibility was always there.

Anyway, here is a link to the complete article.

The key word is, of course, “slowly.”

Smartphones now have hundreds of applications meant to educate kids — from graphic calculators to animation programs that teach spelling and phonics.

And while most public schools don’t allow the devices because they’re considered distractions — and sometimes portable cheating tools — some school districts have started to put the technology to use.

The key, educators say, is controlling the environment in which they are used.

In St. Mary’s, Ohio, a school district of 2,300 students is continuing a pilot program where third-, fourth- and fifth-graders are assigned PDAs, or personal digital assistants, for use as a learning tool in the classroom, and at home. They use applications created by a company called Go Know! to draw pictures and create sketches, journal and write essays, said Kyle Menchhofer, the district’s technology coordinator. Other applications create flash cards for spelling and math.

Students took the phones on a museum field trip where they took photos, uploaded them to a server where the teacher could view the assignment and wrote blurbs about what they saw.

Read the rest here.

They started this a year ago, and here are the results.

We knew the “what” already: ACU handed out 957 devices to incoming freshmen, as well as 169 to faculty and another 182 to staff. It wasn’t a blind move, or a gimmick; it was the result of much research, planning, and even a faculty contest to submit ideas for implementing technology — namely, the iPhone — into the curriculum in ways which would be beneficial, non-distracting and begin to chip away at the age-old paradigms of the lecture hall.

The incoming freshmen were given a choice between an iPhone, an iPod touch, or neither. Unsurprisingly, every incoming student accepted one or the other, with about 36% choosing a iPod touch over an iPhone. This is in large part due to the fact that the school, for several reasons, was unable to provide any contract with the iPhone, and many students had existing cell phone contracts which would result in a significant enough penalty to discourage starting an AT&T plan. Even among those, though, there were some iPhone switchers willing to pay the price.

The ACU iPhone initiative would be a gimmick if research wasn’t done in post to determine its results. Several surveys were taken (with an unusually large percentage of respondents), and information was compiled. One of the questions asked was about the distraction level the iPhones and iPod touches generated in the classroom. George tells me that, in a post-semester survey, 90% of the faculty and staff stated that the devices “were not a distraction in class.” Students reported that they were bringing their devices to class, and that their performance, grades and class work all benefited. The studies also revealed that 82% of the students had used the web portal at least once per week during the Fall semester, 49% said they were given at least one assignment that required device usage outside of class, and 60% of students said they had regular opportunities to use the device for at least one class.

On the faculty side, about 65% of the 167 iPhone/touch-using faculty and staff members responded to survey questions on topics such as demographic and experience factors, personal and classroom usage, and perceived impact on student engagement and performance. An overwhelming majority of the respondents deemed the program a success, said that there was adequate communication and that the device was easy to use and implement. 70% responded positively about the course calender, 83% were in favor of online course documents, 63% for podcasts, 74% were happy about in-class internet searches, 76% responded favorably to the devices’ role in taking attendance, and a whopping 87% stated that they felt comfortable about using the devices for required course activities. The research also revealed that faculty were using the devices to students’ benefit, even when the students in their class didn’t have them. All in all, a positive response from the faculty and staff, and a desire for further training and continued app development.

Read the rest here.

I am thoroughly satisfied with my G1.

Click the image for the full-sized version.

That’s what some students in Maryland want to be able to do.

Face it administrators and school boards…cell phones and texting are here to stay. Might as well accept it and create some new policies.

Text messaging has spawned an era of uninterrupted contact among friends, especially young people. Students often tap out silent conversations beneath their desks, even though most Washington area public schools forbid them to use cellphones on campus during school hours.

To defuse the conflict, a Montgomery County student leader has proposed a compromise: Let students text while they eat.

A resolution before the county school board would allow high school students to use cellphones on campus at lunchtime. Quratul-Ann Malik, the board’s elected student member and sponsor of the measure, is seeking to define an appropriate place for iPhones and BlackBerrys at school.

Malik, 18, a senior at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, said she believes she speaks for the text-messaging set. A Facebook group to promote her cause attracted 1,200 members in three days.

“They got rid of pay phones a couple years ago in high schools,” Malik said. “The reason they got rid of pay phones is because of cellphones. But students aren’t allowed to use them.”

She faces entrenched administrative opposition. Students in Montgomery, Fairfax, Prince George’s, Loudoun, Prince William, Anne Arundel, Howard, Frederick, Arlington and Calvert counties and the District, among other places, are forbidden to use portable communication devices during school hours.

The rules were written when few students carried cellphones and “text” was not yet a verb. Today, they are difficult to enforce. The main problem is texting, which has supplanted talking and note-passing as the distraction of choice in many classrooms.

“Some teachers with good eyes can stop it, but for the most part it’s ridiculously easy to text during class,” said David Riva, 18, a senior at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

At Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, employees confiscate eight to 10 cellphones a week, said Jim Fernandez, the principal. Serious transgressions, such as using cellphones to cheat during tests or forwarding sexually explicit photos, have not been reported.

Education leaders responded to the first generation of bulky cellphones by banning them from schools, regarding the gadgets with the same suspicion as pagers.

Read the rest here.

That’s what these students are doing in Houston.

Studying on your laptop is so 2007. A group of biology students at Houston Community College’s southeast campus just turns on iPhones.

“Instead of bringing your book to class, you bring your phone,” said Lisa Jackson, one of 15 students enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology II as part of a pilot project to deliver course work on Apple’s trendy smart phones.

Lifang Tien, a biology professor, and Roger Boston, who teaches computer science and business technology, received $100,196 from a fund created by HCC Chancellor Mary Spangler to encourage innovation, then used the money to buy phones and pay the monthly bills. Students have to give the phones back at the end of the semester.

In return, Tien and Boston are studying whether delivering instruction on a phone that can connect to the Internet anytime and anywhere makes a difference in how students learn.

Tien’s students like the convenience. Tiffany DeBurr Brewer has studied in her car while her three kids raced noisily around the house.

“I can study in my spare time,” she said. “I don’t have to lug a laptop around. It makes my life easier.”

Read the rest here!

Original Here

Barak Obama is notorious for his Blackberry use, but he’ll likely have to give it up when he takes office. The main issue is security.

But there might be another option.

Fortunately for an enthusiastic e-mailer-in-chief, some handheld devices have been officially blessed as secure enough to handle even classified documents, e-mail, and Web browsing.

One is General Dynamics’ Sectera Edge, a combination phone-PDA that’s been certified by the National Security Agency as being acceptable for Top Secret voice communications and Secret e-mail and Web sites. Through three separate interchangeable modules, it works with Wi-Fi, GSM, or CDMA networks, and is dust-proof, waterproof, and rugged enough to survive repeated 4-foot drops onto concrete. Physically, it’s a chunkier second cousin to the Palm Treo 750, though with an additional LCD display below the keyboard.

The price is $3,350 with a two-year warranty, a princely sum that’s reflected in the Pentagon-worthy price tags for accessories: a simple adapter for a lighter plug costs $100. (Never again should you complain about how much your civilian analogue costs.)

The Sectera runs a mobile version of Microsoft Windows, including versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Windows Media Player. The NSA claims that the installed versions of Internet Explorer, WordPad, and Windows Messenger are good enough for data that’s classified at a level of Secret. Presumably the federal spooks have found a way to protect IE from the numerous security flaws that continue to plague the Internet’s most popular browser.

The NSA declined to comment on Monday.

Link to article

Very intriguing. I’d like to see more schools supporting this kind of thing.

Andrew Schaper, the 17-year-old founder, launched Soshiku after he himself could not find any reliable, easy way to keep track of his schoolwork. Aimed primarily at high school and college students, Soshiku has been made with ease of use and accessibility in mind.

After setting up an account, Soshiku users can add assignments directly from email, their mobile phone via text messaging (SMS), or the web interface. Users can also receive assignment due date notifications in advance to their email or mobile phone.

It doesnʼt stop there. As many high school and college students are aware, getting an assignment that requires partners is an inevitability. Users are able to add partners to their Soshiku account, so they can collaborate on notes, assign tasks to each other, and share important documents.

Check it out here!

What an interesting story. Students in Marietta City Schools can now text the police if they need to report something suspicious.

Students aren’t usually allowed to use their cellphones at school. But under the “Text a Cop” plan, Marietta High School students won’t face disciplinary action for their efforts to keep their school safe.

The Marietta school board voted 6-0 Tuesday night to allow students to send text messages to two police officers on campus.

“It’s just the way our students communicate these days,” said Marietta High principal Leigh Colburn, who said parents are excited about the progressive program. “Marietta wants to be out front of school safety.”

The idea is that students will be encouraged to report items of concern, whether it be rumored plans of other students, or something more personal, such as abuse.

Marietta Lt. Cliff Kelker said if something serious is happening on campus, text messages will provide quick response.

“We can get help faster than any other way we have out there,” said Kelker, who oversees school resource officers.

Link to article

Better get used to it, administrators. Cell phones are here to stay.

Richfield High School once had a total ban on cell phones.

But Principal Jill Johnson said she started hearing confessions from teachers that they were just as guilty of sneaking a call during the day as their students.

Now, Richfield schools allow cell phones, just not during class. Johnson said that gives students a chance to show responsibility.

Students and staff at several schools say blanket bans are unenforceable. And it’s that sentiment that has many Minnesota schools tweaking their policies.

“What seems like the easy thing to do is to just say ‘no’ to it. ‘Put it away, I don’t ever want to see those cell phones in school,’ ” Johnson said while looking at her own two cell phones at her desk. “But the reality is they’re such a fundamental … that not having them is so awkward it doesn’t make sense.”

Link to article

I’m not sure I agree that this is a “losing battle.” Can’t it be a “winning battle” if the students are taught to use their cell phones to help them learn?

But while school administrators experience occasional heartburn over how creatively students may use their cell phones, some believe the time has come for teachers and school staff to work with technology used by students, not against it.

At this month’s meeting of the Utah Board of Education, board member Teresa Theurer warned fellow board members against restrictions on cell phones that might prove counterproductive as they craft a model policy regarding cell phones in schools. Theurer said her son’s English teacher at Logan High School has found ways to incorporate cell phone text messaging and e-mail into lessons and assignments that engage students to a remarkable degree. Assignments are sent as text messages or e-mail attachments, Theurer said. She’s also read accounts of teachers who use students’ cell phones to “text” a class discussion, rather than discuss a topic in class.

“If you want to get a message to a teenager, you send a text message,” Theurer said. “We need to incorporate what’s going on in the world. We can’t turn our backs on what’s happening, because it’s not all bad.”

Link to article