Mobile technologies in the classroom

I think that online survey tools, such as Survey Monkey, can be very useful in the classroom.  I think they provide an opportunity for students to be creative in designing their survey, and they enable students to gather information about one another that they might not otherwise know.  A survey is also a nice segway into important graphing and charting activities, which can strengthen skills in organizing and presenting information.  In addition, I think teachers can use a tool like Survey Monkey to poll students on topics like what they think of a recent project and why, which can help teachers modify their instruction as needed.  

For my survey, I polled classmates and family on whether they cook dinner at home or eat out, and what types of food they enjoy in both scenarios.  According to my survey results, 60% of respondents cook dinner at home 1-3 nights per week.  The top three types of food that people enjoy cooking at home are pasta (80%), salads (60%) and soups/stews (60%).  The foods people cook the most often at home are pasta and pizza.  When people eat dinner outside of the home, they do take-out (60%) more often than they eat in a restaurant (40%).  Finally, peoples' favorite restaurants have a common Italian theme and include such places as GoodFellas, Bertucci's and Pinnochio Pizza.

I also created a QR Code for this week's assignment.  My code links to a recipe from one of my favorites chefs, Ina Garten.  

I think QR Codes can be a very fun and engaging way for students to access information.  I can imagine linking students to cultural information or current event news articles with this tool. 

Despite the value I see in these mobile technologies, I still have a degree of reservation about giving phones such a prominent role in the classroom.  I read through the articles provided in class that outline some very real benefits of giving students permission to use their phones in school.  For example, the article about the student in a rural area who could not get to school and texted her teacher to communicate this information revealed a very positive benefit.  I believe phones do enable students to easily communicate with their teachers, something that is often difficult for students to do.  If the texting option encourages students to be in better touch with their teachers, then this is definitely something to explore.   My concern with giving the phones such an important role, however, lies with the fact that not every student will necessarily have access to a phone.  This could be for financial reasons, or it could be because parents simply do not want their middle school student to have a phone yet.  I realize some schools have 1:1 programs that eliminate this issue, except in the case where parents would rather their child not have a phone yet.  I also think these phones can be a distraction - in all honestly, my iPhone can be a distraction to me!  If a school is going to allow phones to be used in the classroom, I think guidelines around phone use need to be clear and enforced, and parental buy-in needs to be present.