Journal 4

From Toy to Tool
By: Liz Kolb

Liz Kolb discusses in her article that instead of rejecting the everyday technology students rely on, we can help them integrate the "toys" into learning "tools". Her main technology she is discussing is cell phones. She said she had always felt cell phones were a tool to cheat with and distract with, but came to understand that she could use this technology instead of fighting it to enhance her classroom. She recommends using the phones for audio blogging. Audio blogging is done with their cell phones, and is then immediately posted as an audio file on their blogs online. It can be a great tool for interviews instead of tape recorders. They can use their phone and then the interview will be immediately posted in their blog, where they can leave them or use video editing software to make the audio for movie clips with pictures taken on their cell phones as well. The flip side is the concerns with audio blogging; privacy issues, copyright issues, cost issues and control issues. The privacy issues revolve around the fact that blogger.com is not password protected so anyone will have access tot heir blogs. The copyright issues are just to make sure that students understand they can not post copyrighted material, such as songs without permission. The cost issues, of course, arise from the fact that not all students will have phones along with the fact that some of their plans may be restrictive to audio blogs causing their monthly bill to go up. The control issue is concerned with trusting the students with the responsibility of being allowed to bring phones to class. There have to be boundaries of what is acceptable to work on with their phones during class time and what is not. Liz Kolb's point is great in that by allowing students to use their phones we are connecting their technology to learning and teaching them important tools they can use their toys for.

Question?
What other technologies that students regularly use can be incorporated into the classroom?
Answer
Cameras, Video Cameras and Email
Question?
How do you keep the students honest with their phone usage during class?
Answer
Boundaries being set will be important. Giving them guidelines as to what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in the classroom will give students the opportunity to gain trust. If the trust is broken, consequences must be utilized such as loss of privileges in class.