Activity 4 I am not so sure about this.

Bringing mobile phones into the classroom, now why would I do that?
It is difficult enough getting my students to pay attention as it is, if I make the mobile part of the learning just what do I expect to happen.

I shared my concerns with a small group of 19-20 year old male students to try to see if they were on board with my ideas. I posed questions like, if your phone was allowed on the desk during lessons what would you do with it? Do you know what a web 2.0 app is? Would you make notes on you phone? What would be the most useful app you would use?

My findings told me quite clearly that these students are not ready for this yet.

Here is a taste of some of my findings. The most used tool would be facebook not twitter none of the group actually used twitter and when I explained it they said "well we can do that on facebook", good point I suppose. Notes? we can just write it on the precis in front of us why would I want notes on my phone, less room for photos. Only one student gave a glimmer of hope, when he said "I could google something if I needed more detail" but then he ruined it by saying "I might be able to find an awkward question for you to answer" , give me strength. As for web 2.0 not a clue, they just use the phone to quote one student.

21stcenturyfluency.com

This left me in no doubt that if I introduced a activity that utilised a mobile phone it would be nothing more than a distraction at the moment. They are just not ready for posting live questions or blogging their ideas for a project. It also identified another problem not all students had a smartphone one hated technology and only used his phone to make calls and avoids using a computer as much as he can. Surprisingly in this small group (12) he was the most attentive and asked the most questions, he was in tune with the lesson material, I know for a fact that some student where there in presence only and no doubt were thinking how can I get a message on facebook without the old guy down the front seeing them.

Little do they know about the power of the phone in their pocket and the apps they are missing out on, but for now I am happy to keep it that way, especially with this current trend of students.