-: Coming up on Mobile Learning In The Classroom
Monitoring Technologies.
(upbeat electronic music)
-: Hi, my name is Guy Trainin
-: And I'm Zoe Falls
-: And this is Mobile Learning In The Classroom
from Tech Edge and today we're talking
about monitoring technology use and a lot
of teachers and instructors are really
concerned about technology use in the classroom.
Zoe just told me that one of her instructor
asked for no technology in the classroom
which is something you can do although it can
be very problematic especially if you do
want to use some capacities that technology can add.
And one other thing that I want to add
at all ages, but definitely with younger kids
is we actually want to teach kids to
be able to monitor their own technology use
and make decisions, smart decisions, about technology.
And we as adults struggle with it sometimes.
Do I really need to look at my phone right now?
And there are lots of projects and ideas around that.
So if you look for example at Common Sense Media
they've had this campaign about
technology free dinners which,
-: There we go.
-: I think is a really good idea.
So you really are looking constantly
for ideas around monitoring technology use
and being really purposeful about
when you're using it and when you're not.
And this is exactly what we're
as teachers, we need to teach.
Because these kids are going in
a very technology rich world and it's
not gonna get less so.
So they need some strategies to think
about when is it appropriate, when is it not.
How do I actually disengage?
Which is really hard.
-: Very hard.
-: So the first thing that I see a lot of teachers
do when they're using technology on a regular basis
in their classroom is what I call Flaps Down
and you can call it many other things.
And that's basically taking and making sure
that the screen is actually off
and that's partially because as a teacher
if you're standing in front of your kids
you can't see what they're seeing on on their
screens and that's a way to make sure
that wherever they are, even if they're not
really on anything that they shouldn't be
they're not looking at their screen.
They're looking at you, they're looking
at somebody else presenting or a video
or anything else and with iPads
you just ask it to be face down.
It's the same way, it doesn't mean
necessarily it's turned off
it usually isn't, but it does mean
that your focus goes somewhere else.
Okay and you have one.
-: So when I was teaching last semester
I had several of my students ask me
if I used Pocket Points.
-: All right.
-: And after I stared at them with a blank
face and they were like, no you don't understand,
and they showed me Pocket Points which
is an app that they can get for their phone.
And it's Apple or Android and you download it
and what it does, and I'm gonna show here how
it works from their webpage, is you
open up Pocket Points when you're in class.
And...
Guy: I'm downloading it.
Zoe: And it monitors when you're not using your phone.
Guy: Mmm-hmm
Zoe: So right now we have Pocket Points
running and if I were to turn my phone on
it would stop counting.
Guy: Alright.
Zoe: And so it does it based on
time and as you can see here it fills
up this little present box so you can monitor
how long you've not been using your phone.
And what I noticed with my students
when they were telling me about it is
they would do it for specific rewards.
Guy: Mmm-hmm.
Zoe: So, as you accrue points
and you see here where it shows the gift page
and it targets to where your local community
is so here in Lincoln, one of the things that
I noticed is you can get discounts on Toppers
and you know--
-: Oh!
-: And you know money off and I like Toppers
quite a bit so that was a very exciting thing for me.
(laughs)
So you have goals that you can set for yourself.
-: Yeah.
-: And as a teacher I think especially maybe
for college-aged students it's an easier way to present
-: Yeah
-: If you have a specific time where
you're not using their phones or if you want
them on a laptop and not on their phone.
It's a way where they can still do something
that most of them found just through their
peer group but encouraging them to practice
I don't know what you want them to do with technology
Guy: Yeah.
Zoe: In your classroom and I see them setting up
competitions with each other and seeing how
long they can go even outside of class.
So if they're just in the library.
-: Yeah.
-: So it doesn't just have to be restricted
to in a class and because it's on their
phone the GPS tracks if they're on campus or off campus.
-: Mmm-Hmm
-: So they register with their school
and if they're not on campus Pocket Points doesn't work.
When they're on campus it does work.
-: And what I like about that and if we extend
that idea and find other apps that do something
similar is that it can actually be used
just for example for doing homework
-: Mmm-hmm
-: For other things.
So there are some interesting ways to think
about how you can use some kind of
a point system to support kids being off
because it is hard to disengage once
you're engaged with your phone.
So finding ways to manage that
is really really important.
Another way that you can, as an instructor
or as a teacher at any grade level,
really monitor technology use is by using your location.
So in a classic classroom the teacher stands
in front of the kids and if you
have phones or iPads or laptops
of any kind Chromebooks you don't see
what they're seeing and they can
easily, and they think they're sneaking around
(laughing)
really as a teacher you know that they're
not paying attention but you can't see.
And one of the things I'm seeing a lot
of teachers do is reorganizing where they are
in the classroom or they're reorganizing the classroom.
For example I've seen a lot of college instructors
if there is technology use that you want
during the class for example, if you're teaching
writing and you taking some time
you were doing discussion and then each person
goes back to the machine and writes.
The desks are actually organized on the outside
and the the technology is on that outside
where the desks are so when everybody
is discussing things they're actually
in kind of a circle without any desks
or anything else and then when it's time
to write and use technology
everybody turns to the outside
and now you can see that they're engaged
and they're engaged at the appropriate time.
In other classrooms especially
middle schools I work with what they're
doing is they're, all the kids are sitting
and you talk at the beginning of class
in the front and then the teacher
moves all of her stuff or his stuff
to what would be traditionally the back
of the classroom so they can see that
everybody is engaged while they're
actually responding electronically
to what the kids are doing.
So it's a way to keep an eye without
being too police-y about it because there are
apps there are systems
that are actually designed for a teacher
for example if you've got Chromebooks
or laptops or even iPads to be able
to see what they're doing Hapara is one such example.
For me, as a teacher, that makes me
more policeman and less of an instructor
and I don't want to be that.
For some people it seems the way to go.
I don't want to police that much
but I want them to know that I can see what they're doing.
And that helps.
-: Well there are low-tech tricks
I mean that I know I've used in class
even if it's something as simple as I make them stand up.
-: Mmm-hmm.
-: And move in the room.
-: Yep.
-: And you know their response to a question
has to be physical.
-: Yep.
-: And they get up and move on a spectrum
and that's how they respond or I've
done putting myself at the back of the classroom
'cause in the room I teach in that
happens to be where the white board is.
Using a white board in a technology class
-: Yep.
-: really really bothers them at first
-: Yep.
-: because they don't quite understand
-: Why -: What's going on
-: Yeah
-: And because I've shifted the focus
and sort of the feel of the class
-: Mmm-hmm
-: They almost engage just to figure
out what's going on.
-: Yeah.
And it is really important, like anything
with any expectations you should be very clear
about your expectations what's allowed and what's not.
And because kids will try and test the limits
and you want to be sure, and that's at any age
in any classroom, you want to be sure
that you're putting those boundaries around them.
So today on Mobile Learning In The Classroom
we talked about really monitoring
and really shifting kids to self-monitoring
in technology use and we'll see you next time
on Mobile Learning In The Classroom.
(upbeat electronic music)