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I have a couple of graphics to share that were used in trainings recently!

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Five ways to engage students using their mobile devices

With the number of mobile devices quickly closing in on the number of people on the planet, many students are equipped with a device that actually has more capacity and capability than the one that took the US to the moon. The 4 C’s of the 21^st Century are Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical Thinking. Most secondary students have the first three down.  They collaborate and plan their lives using their phones. They communicate with a vastly larger circle than the circles of their parents, grandparents and teachers. They exhibit creativity constantly as they find ways to utilize their mobile devices and phones exploring new ways to use an app to communicate and collaborate.  Many students need help with the last one: Critical Thinking. So the question is, how to move mobile devices from an annoyance to a tool.

First, Daily sign-ins.  This may not seem glamorous but if students know from the minute they walk in the door that they will need to be engaged, it will help set the tone.  Alice Keeler has a great template (http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2013/07/16/daily-feedback-to-students/) that can be copied and utilized with students.  Not only does this form “take roll”, it also incorporates the collection of the “sponge” or “warmup” activity and most importantly gets “Comments/Questions/Concerns/Compliments” daily.  Utilizing a link shortener is important (goo.gl, bit.ly or tinyurl.com) to make this accessible. Google’s solution (goo.gl) also creates a qr code automatically. QR or Quick Response codes are those square black/white matrix of squares that is a two-dimensional barcode.  Created by marketing for the automotive industry, they provide a quick link to any electronic document. Apps on all mobile platforms make scanning them quick and easy. The daily sign-in form is a Google form that automatically formats for both mobile, tablet and desktop viewers. Students without a mobile device could complete the form on a classroom computer. However, according to a recent survey, over ½ of secondary students have a smartphone and if the school has a wifi connection, the vast majority of students have a wifi enabled device like a ipod touch or other gaming tablet that could be used for the same purpose.  Many eReaders are also internet enabled.

Second, In Class BackChanneling or discussions. Backchanneling is a term used to describe real-time online discussions that take place alongside of a live activity or conference. A great example of this can be seen in this CNN news story (http://youtu.be/36QWcC0Y5rE).  By utilizing Twitter and allowing students to communicate using whatever device they have, the whole class is drawn into the discussion and even the most shy student is recognized for his insights and wisdom. Another tool that can be used for backchanneling is TodaysMeet which is easy to set up and is available to all devices on the web. A great feature is that the whole discussion can be downloaded or archived! Finally, since not all students have internet enabled devices but nearly every secondary student has a mobile device that can text, Cel.ly is a great solution for backchanneling since the discussion can take place as a text message (as does twitter).  The Cel.ly groups however are set up for the class and only members of the class can post responses a text messages.  Discussions are also archived in the system.

Third, Sharing information/handouts. Nearly all mobile devices have eReader capabilities because of the plethora of apps available.  From Google docs, to dropbox and evernote, sharing documents with students is simple and easy to do.  Most mobile devices also have built in “read it” capabilities that will automatically format the document. Many parents and other adults will say, “I don’t want to read my book on that small screen”, but it is important to remember that many students think otherwise. 

Fourth, Organizing Info for projects. Built in cameras make documenting learning and allows students to expand their creativity. Apps like Genius Scan can then convert quickly to portable doc format (.pdf) to be emailed to the instructor or uploaded to a system like Evernote, Dropbox, or Google Docs to collaborate on as a group. A little know feature of Evernote (even the free version) is that the program makes uploaded documents searchable, including handwritten documents. 

Fifth, Polling or quick quizzing. Technology make is so easy to quickly check for understanding. Expensive polling system are just that, expensive. For students with smart phones or situations where they can share, Socrative (www.socrative.com) is a great solution. The program has an app and is a solid build for the mobile platform. Students can take teacher driven quizzes where live results can be displayed on the screen or student driven quizzes so two students can enter their own personal responses using the same smartphone. Poll results are emailed to the teacher in a spreadsheet for easy import into a grading program. Polleverywhere (www.polleverywhere.com) also has a free educator version that adds the ability to text in responses. This is helpful for students who have phones with only texting capability. However if a teacher wants more functionality like being able to preview/approve responses or receive the poll results, a paid membership is required.  Cel.ly (www.cel.ly) brings these functionalities together with simple text polling available for classes. A premium paid membership with more robust features is available. 

Finally, as a bonus, Communications. Students communicate using their mobile devices. A classroom can also incorporate this communication. Remind101 and Cel.ly are two free, simple to use, teacher friendly, parent designed systems that strive to help teacher better facilitate communication. Remind 101 (www.remind101.com) is a one way messaging system. It is opt in, meaning a parent / student has to sign up. Most have now gone to a sporting event or concert where a message has popped up “text xxxxx to #### to join our text system and receive updates and specials!”  This is a similar system. Student’s and parents opt in for text message updates. These updates can be as simple as “Picture day Monday” or timely communications in the event of a crisis situation. An added bonus is that updates can be scheduled ahead of time. Instead of only weekly “notes home” most educators find that they now send out appx. 5 communications a week.  Remind101 messages can also be received via by email for parents who prefer that mode of communication.  Cel.ly (www.cel.ly) is a similar system. It allows for different forms of communications and teachers can change these settings as needed. The groups can be open communication (good for class discussions mentioned above yet with unfiltered messages), announcement only (for teacher to send or schedule to send messages), or curated (same as announcement but students/parents can respond and the teacher can choose to forward the message on to the whole group).  Like Remind101, Cel.ly is an opt in, text based service.  Both have Apps available for smartphones!

Mobile devices have really become the pencils of today. Students use them to write the notes, do their homework and creatively be a part of their learning.  Unlike the pencil though, they now have access to an almost endless supply of information. So as they are communicating, collaborating, and creating, the strategies discuss can help shift pedagogues so students can develop better critical thinking as they evaluate the endless supply of information.  This is not an inclusive list but rather a place to start.

Note: nearly 1 year ago I read this post (here) and it really started me on my journey that is described above.