Always Connected

Learning can reach beyond the classroom with the use of mobile capabilities. In this day and age, new mobile devices are created yearly, various phones, ipods, netbooks, each of which are different, yet they all hold the capacity to enhance learning through applications and web use. Mobile learning is a great way for students to communicate, share, and create tools that they can use anywhere at anytime. Mobile learning offers research capabilities, access to communication websites (digo, twitter, facebook, email), and the use of applications and note devices for students to create note cards or leave themselves reminders. Examples of various uses of technology in the educational sense can be found here: http://learninginhand.com/.

Whether or not to use technology in the classroom is of strong debate today. Some are supportive, others not so much. Those who are supportive would like to utilize the mobile capabilities to expand the boundaries of the classroom. The debate of mobile device use in the classroom is highly represented in this video:

Cell Phones in the Classroom: Learning for the 21st Century, video posted by OnOttButton.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXt_de2-HBE 

Ways to enhance education on mobile devices:

Web tools are a helpful accessory for storing and accessing data. There are many different types of web tools that satisfy numerous wants and needs. For instance, google drives and prezi are useful tools for organizing information through the creation of web documents, forms, spreadsheets, and presentations. Both are creative ways to organize information and both are accessible from anywhere, as long as you have internet usage. Evernote, another web tool, is useful for capturing ideas and placing them in one location. Here, the user can save their own ideas, find new things that may be of interest to them, and search for text and images quickly. As well as Evernote, Lino is another web tool that is excellent for saving your thoughts and ideas or note taking. Glogster Edu is yet another web tool. This one relates directly to applying technology in the classroom setting. The purpose of Glogster Edu is for the expression of knowledge and skills by educators and students. GLOGS, themselves, are online multimedia posters that present information with the use of many tools- text, photos, videos, audio, and attachments. It is great for digital literacy and for promoting new ways to present information. 

Podcasts are new ways to use technology to educate. Podcasts are a series of audio and video clips that are created to present information about innumerable topics. Podcasts are popular applications used on mobile devices because people can listen or watch while on the go through their mobile devices. Podcasts are also great for sharing information with a wide scale audience. 

Image by University of Maryland Press Releases
Published on Flickr

Mobile devices are the future. There's much debate about them currently, but I see them becoming part of everyday education sooner or later. This is due to the helpfulness they could contribute to learning in the classroom. It's a demand that schools will learn to accept and to utilize to its full capacity.