Mobile Learning Lab

I joined the classroom 2.0 social networking site.  This website looks like it offers a great opportunity to learn from other educators about how they are using technology in the classroom. It will be a place where I can share any thoughts or ideas that I have about technology integration. As I was looking around the website, I found a discussion post about podcasting in the classroom. This is the topic of my wicked problem project. I found some helpful tips about how others are using podcasts in the classroom and how they are being successful at it. For example I learned that one teacher is using garage band as their recording resource. I had heard of this before but didn’t know exactly what it was. Now I am going to check it out to see if it will be a good tool for my specific podcasting project. I also learned that Smartboards have voice recording features.  Since my school has this technology, I plan to see if this would be a good resource for my students to use as they create their podcasts.

In this lab I also research the various mobile learning devices. I was familiar with a few of them like iPods and Smartphones. I spent quite some time looking into the flip cameras. I had never heard of those before. This tool sounds like it would be a great addition to the classroom. When I envision video recording my students for my wicked problem project, I was planning on using my webcam. Now I am going to look into getting flip camera for my personal use and use that in the classroom as well. I like how easy it sounds to put the videos on the computer after recording. I also like that is can record for 30 to 60 minutes.  This will be plenty of recording time and will force the user to immediately put the files on the computer so the camera is ready for the next use. The website that I looked at gave really great examples of how to use flip cameras in the classroom. For example students could use it to record various steps in solving a math problem. I also really like how the video files can be edited in windows movie maker to help the students create a finished project. I also like the idea of the flip cameras being use versus outdated video recorders because the files can quickly be uploaded and made available online in a classroom blog or website.

There are a few things to consider with integrating the mobile learning tools into the classroom. First of all the tools are expensive to get classroom sets up. Also since they are mobile it can be very easy for students to walk away with them. I think security of the devices would be a big challenge. However with the proper supervision, I think that the benefits of using these tools outweigh the challenges. I plan to start incorporating iPods and flip cameras into the classroom. I realize at first it may take my own personal tools to accomplish this as I work on getting classroom sets.