Mobile Phones - Getting Started

Does this poster make any sense? Should a "Learning Area" make use of ALL available resources and tools?

Possible uses of mobile technology:

• Individual Research
• Evidence Gathering (video, photo)
• Resource Sharing
• Revision
• Many more with modern smart technology

With many students having their own encyclopaedia/HD film camera/portfolio in their pocket the key is in its effective use.

As with all teaching, starting correctly is paramount. Initially it is important to set out ground rules with which you are comfortable. For example, are they going to need to leave them on the tables when not in use? Are they all set on silent mode? Do they all need them? 

Once these questions (and a few more) are answered an initial activity should be set up. It may be worth creating a 'practice' activity that will allow you to test and enforce the ground rules without having major curriculum impact. Some possibilities are; setting a short quiz where answers are needed to be found online, asking students to photograph another individuals work and then send a message with peer feedback or possibly recording videos of what they think the ground rules should be.

Further examples will be given in future posts... 

Tweet, T'who?

An earlier post outlined how to use Twitter hashtags to collect work together. But why follow others, and who?

I use a separate Twitter account for work purposes to create as much of a professional barrier as possible within the social platform. A few students follow this account, but I have consistently refused to follow students accounts. This is mainly due to the students' inability to separate private and public forums - which would end up filling my (your) timelines with who's fallen out with who, or what sauce they had on their burgers that evening.

I use my account to follow people of interest within the field and also those within the wider spectrum that may have benefit when looking for inspiration outside my subject.

Some good examples of maths specific people to follow...

Mark McCourt ‏ @EmathsUK

Chairman, Teacher Development Trust; CEO, Beluga Learning; Former Senior Director, Tribal; Director, NCETM; School Leader; Inspector; AST

Marcus du Sautoy ‏ @MarcusduSautoy

Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics

Algebra Fact ‏ @AlgebraFact

One fact per day M-F from algebra and number theory by @JohnDCook. Other daily math tweets: @TopologyFact, @ProbFact and @AnalysisFact.

There are plenty more like this last one.

As I've already said it is easy to find people around the subject area that may also be of interest...

CERN ‏ Verified account @CERN

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the biggest particle physics laboratory in the world.

Royal Institution ‏ @ri_science

The Ri connects people with the world of science through events, education, and the world-famous Christmas Lectures. Watch Ri videos here: http://www.richannel.org 

Blogger, getting started.

So a Blogger post on how to use Blogger?

One of the best things about the internet is that most stuff already exists...

So click here to learn all about getting started on Blogger

Using Twitter Hashtags

Twitter can be used as an easy way to collect images of students' work by using hashtags. For example #mrhoadmaths will collect together any students' posts containing the hashtag.

This can be used for peer assessment purposes or could be a 140 character limited self assessment statement.