Why should a teacher be prepared to allow or require students to use mobile devices to achieve learning objectives?

The obvious response to this question to me is that learning does not only take place in the confined walls of a classroom.  Learning happens in every day experiences.  Why not tap into these opportunities to enhance the learning that takes place.  Have students actively participate in the community and their surroundings.  Let’s empower them to be active participants and leaners vs. passive observers.

We are faced with 21^st century learners that live and learn in a different world than what our industrial model of education is based on.  Getting Smart (2012) provides us with a descriptor of 21^st century students.  

 They are:

• ·     Globally connected to their peers via social media innately flexible, and expect flexibility from institutions they are associated with more accepting of diverse populations

• ·         demanding instant contact with people and information

• ·         always connected in a seamless, virtual world of friends, information, and entertainment

• ·         consuming most media on mobile devices

• ·         likely to prefer interactive media

• ·         wired for the fast delivery of content and information from computers, video games, and the internet

• ·         multi-taskers

Mobile devices are readily available to most students.   Taking advantage of a device used every day by our students seems to be not only advantageous but necessary.  If mobile devices are not readily available to any given student, there should be a plan and policy to lend these students a school owned device.

If we don’t use mobile devices and incorporate mobile learning into our teaching style we are at risk of setting our students up for failure and worse, dropping out. The American system of education was built for a society and an economy that no longer exists (National Education Association, 2012). As of 2007, only 75% of public high school students in the U.S. graduated on time; the 25% of students who dropped out stated that: 1) they did not believe their coursework was relevant; 2) the teaching they were subjected to did not match their learning styles; or 3) they experienced a lack of personal attention (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014).

Finally, the realities of 21^st century learners are requiring us to change our fundamental approach to how we teach.  These changes include the integration of 21^st century skills into the core curriculum.  The list of skills usually includes:

• ·         creativity

• ·         innovation

• ·         communication

• ·         collaboration

• ·         critical thinking

• ·         teamwork

• ·         decision making

• ·         research fluency

• ·         problem solving

We need to do more than pay lip service to the mission of preparing our students for college and career.  We must produce college and career ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face.  We must facilitate learning that align with defining attributes of this generation of learners. (Larson & Miller, 2011)

If we are to adhere to rigor and the standards set forth by our states and Department of Education, it is imperative we incorporate mobile devices to achieve learning objectives for any content or curriculum.  A few examples of using mobile learning:

·         science class

o   take pictures while walking through the community for plant life and animal life (taxonomic identification)

·         art class/design

o   examine the buildings in one’s community/design/architecture

§  could be paired with history class. Compare architecture from earlier centuries to modern day.

o   visit city’s art museums

·         history

o   visit the city’s history museum

o   record parents and grandparents or neighbor of times past… life stories

As we implement and require mobile device use to achieve learning objectives we need to acknowledge and be mindful of five proponents

1.      TURNING MAJORITY MINORITY

Ø  Recognize and accommodate the diversity that 21^st century learners represent

Ø  This generation of students will become the most ethnically and racially diverse group in American history

Ø  Planning for the academic success of this generation requires attention to specific needs of English Language Learners (ELL), learners with disabilities, and low-income learners

2.      ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Ø  The fasted growing population segment in public schools (NEA, 2014)

Ø  ELL enrollment in U.S. schools will exceed 10 million by 2025 (NEA, 2014)

Ø  ELL students come from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds and can face challenges in the classroom

                                                              i.      Murphy, DePasquale, and McNamara (2003) state that technology can be a particularly effective tool for ELLs          

3.      LEARNERS WITH DISABLITIES

Ø  When 21^st century students with disabilities are unable to achieve the academic and behavior goals expected of them, it is important for us to recognize the need to integrate tools and supports that will allow them to successfully learn (Edyburn, 2005)

Ø  Using both high and low-tech devices to facilitate academic and social change

Ø  Use of mobile devices and technology can be less threatening to students on the autistic spectrum

4.      LOW-INCOME STUDENTS

Ø  Despite growing up in the digital age, 21st century learners from low-income communities and underserved minority groups are still less likely to have computers and Internet access, and generally have fewer adults around them with skills to support technology-based learning at home (Warschauer, Matuchniak, Pinkard, & Gadsden, 2010).

                                                              i.      Policies must be in place to lend students mobile devices to provide more opportunities to engage in mobile learning with mobile devices

                                                            ii.      Technology providers have acknowledged this challenge, and responded. For example, Comcast’s Internet Essentials program offers low-cost internet service and computer equipment as well as free digital literacy training to families with at least one child eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program.

                                                          iii.      Leveraging the assets of the community—through community centers, religious organizations and analogous institutions is another effective access strategy. Yet, success in such endeavors requires intentional teaching and learning efforts, an infrastructure to support outside-of-school learning, and a leadership and culture that embraces the school’s relationship with its community. (roadmap21, 2015)

5.      THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER’S FUTURE

Ø  In this digital age, it is not enough for 21st century learners to master only the traditional core curriculum (National Association of Elementary School Principals, 2012); organizations such as the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, which is dedicated to advocating for21st century readiness for all students, suggests fusing the traditional three R’s with the four C’s: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.

Ø  Employers not only agree, but are increasingly demanding that our nation’s schools respond to this need (Casner-Lotto, Barrington & Wright, 2006).

Ø  Employers recognize new skills are vital in a society and workplace that has seen a rapid decline in “routine “work.

Ø   There has been a rapid increase in jobs involving interactive communication, non-routine skills (such as abstract reasoning and collaboration), and analytic skills (National Education Association, 2012).

Ø  Twenty-first century students need access to a constantly evolving set of technological tools, and to engage in activities that demand problem-solving, decision-making, teamwork, and innovation (National Association of Elementary School Principals, 2012).

Lastly, we need to adhere to the following guided principles when requiring the use of mobile devices to achieve learning objectives:

Ø  Learning is personalized

o   Address each individual student’s needs

o   Provide a learning experience that is effective, efficient, motivating and possible for the student to master

o   Students engage actively in their own learning at a deep and personally meaningful level

Ø  Learning is rigorous

o   It challenges students to meet defined, high expectations, while supporting them along the way

Ø  Learning is flexible and adaptable

o   Adapts to students bringing diverse prior knowledge to any learning experience and to students learning at different rates, and can quickly refocus as students’ understanding grows (roadmap21, 2015)

Ø  Learning is open-ended and inquiry-based

o   Requires students to be active learners by investigating questions, solving problems and mirroring the kinds of inquiry that real world requires (roadmap21, 2015)

o   Students have ample opportunities to make choices and exercise control over appropriate aspects of them learning experiences.

o   Student learning connects to the local, national or global community, and might incorporate work experiences, such as job shadowing and interning.

Ø  Learning is ongoing

o   it involves students engaging outside the traditional classroom as much as they do within the four walls of the classroom.

o   They make connections in the real world and benefit from the content and connectedness technology provides.

References

Digest of Education Statistics, 2013. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_203.50.asp

Edyburn, D. (2014). Assistive Technology Devices. Encyclopedia of Special Education. doi:10.1002/9781118660584.ese0202

Larson, L., Miller, T., & Ribble, M. (2010). 5 considerations for digital age leaders: What principals and district administrators need to know about tech integration today. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(4), 12-15.

Murphy, K. L., DePasquale, R., & McNamara, E. (2003). Meaning connections: Using technology in primary classrooms.Young Children on the Web, 58(6),. 1-9.

National Association of Elementary School Principals: Serving all elementary and middle-level principals. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://www.naesp.org/

Renfro, A. (2013, September 16). Meet Generation Z - Getting Smart by Adam Renfro - social media. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://www.gettingsmart.com/2012/12/meet-generation-z/

Special Education Technology Practice, 8(4), 18-28 ... (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://www.bing.com/cr?IG=41CF8FED30374D5294423BE49AA620FA&CID=391BB504639E6E85080CBFAF62986F83&rd=1&h=WNAlXukS0bdDYBLgXVDYlCE-rojkLKCTPG7oM9CIui8&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sbcselpa.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2014%2f10%2fEdyburn-AT-MildDisabilities.pdf&p=DevEx,5062.1

The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16

TOPICS. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://www.roadmap21.org/

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