My cell phone is working 🙂
After listening to Liz Kolb’s session on mobile devices (a little late, but it did happen!), I have lots of ideas of ways that I can integrate technology into my teaching.
One thing that would be super useful is simply the camera and video cameras that come on many mobile devices. Doing Arts Ed., assessment is difficult and can take up a lot of class time. If my students had a mobile device to record their work (a dance or drama) I would be able to review them to give detailed feedback for their work. It would also take away some of the nervousness and awkwardness that comes with performing in front of one’s peers. While I do believe that live performances are a huge part of performing arts, this is another way students can create and share their work-especially if they use editing tools (combining visual art and dance/drama/music).
I would love to use some sort of audio blogging tool in my classroom. Sharing with others online is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in our society and I would love to be able to have my students share what they create. I know that Liz talked about AudioBlogger, but I wasn’t able to find an app for that on my phone (maybe that system is old). Is there an app that works well for audio that is easy to use and free that anyone knows of?
I also think that EdModo is a fantastic tool. There is so much that can be used. I like the fact that it is all internal, so student information does not get out, which is something we need to seriously consider (check out my next blog post!). In EdModo, students can create their own blogs-with this, I might have them do some sort of arts journal (something that my co-op has her students do on paper). I also love the library tool-I would upload videos, audio files, and images for my students to view and use that to prompt their work or to reflect on (in their journal blogs!). Finally, the badges are a fun way to reward students for their work…it is like when you get a star sticker on the star chart-it is really fun and the students get a feeling of pride.
Lastly, I have used Remind101 on the student end, through groups and classes that I am in, and think it is great for reminders and for getting last minute notices to all the students. I have also been on the teacher end of it, setting my co-op from my pre-internship up with it to use for the students in the musical. She really liked it and it was nice to be able to get the message out to everyone quickly. We scheduled notes to go out to the students at the beginning (ie: Lines and music need to be completely memorized in one week!) which was nice to get that small admin stuff out of the way. I don’t think I would use this in my internship, because I am not going to be involved with anything that will need frequent reminders, and I am only with that group for a little bit.
There are so many options for using mobile devices in the classroom and I am very excited to explore Liz’s website to see what else I can use it for (classroom management?! 🙂 ) Thanks Liz!
Musings 