A New Series: Cell Phones in Education

When I began writing this blog a little over one year ago, the major focus of my thoughts were around using the iPod to help kids learn.  At that time, I began a series of blog posts titled “iPod in Education”.  In these posts, I try to offer practical ideas in integrating this popular mobile technology into classroom instruction to help kids learn and to help motivate students to want to learn.  I have completed 10 posts in this series to date and these continue to be my most popular posts.

While an iPod is one mobile device that can help kids learn, it is definitely not the only one.  As a result, while I will continue with the iPod series, I want to begin a new series that profiles another mobile device and offer practical ideas in using that device to help kids learn.   That device is the cell phone. I see this series as a little more problematic than the iPod series for at least two reasons.  Firstly, using cell phones in schools is a highly controversial political issue in today’s climate.  Secondly, unlike the iPod, cell phones range widely in type, form, and functionality.  However, I view these challenges as an opportunity to discuss the issues and to overcome challenges and biases.

Keep an eye out for the first post in this series.  I look forward to the discussion.