Read and React: 3

An Explosion of WMDs
Rosen discusses the variety of communication devices available to the public.  The use of cell phones in the classroom has a bad reputation.  According to Rosen, if teachers capitalized on the use of a cell hone, the students would ultimately be more connected to the current lesson being taught.  He suggests that the cell phone could possible be a motivator for our students.  MVLEs (Mobile Virtual Learning Environments) have 9 key features, in shortened form, engaging, flexible, relevant, interactivity (material and human), student centered, collaborative, creative, and 24/7.  This may sound difficult and complicated for teachers to achieve, but Rosen believes it will boost student learning and after a teacher creates the tools, they can be used many times.  The teacher does not have to reinvent the wheel for every lesson.  Use the resources available via the web (etc).

Chapters 2,3, & 4 Teaching With the Tools Kids Really Use
The WMD's that Rosen mentions in his text is discussed in these 3 chapter in more depth.  The history of each device is discussed along with some of the objections, especially the use of cell phones in class, and the possibilities of how they could be used to improve student learning.  Using the camera on the phone can allow students to record an image to help them complete a task on a homework assignment or project hey are working on.  The students could use the phone to post answers on a blog or a survey the teacher has created.  Obviously there would have to be rules and regulations with all the WMD's used in a school setting and all the students would have to agree to these and know the consequences when the rules are broken.  Today's MP3 players are able to hole more and more information, play videos on the screen and allow Internet access.  This is another tool many students already own and teacher could use these as tools for education.  The last device is a netbook, which is a small laptop computer.  The benefits of using computers in the classroom seem to be endless.  Teachers have so many opportunities when the students have access to an individual laptop.  Although they are relatively inexpensive, to provide every student with a $300 netbook is unrealistic for many schools.

Digital Diet Chapter 7
This chapter had good instructions on how to create a blog.  I learned many terms I didn't know before, which helped me understand the process a bit better.  I will have to admit that I looked ahead to this week's assignment and have been experimenting with the blog for a couple of weeks.  I didn't read the chapter before I began working on the blog and knew most of the information in the text just by looking around the site.  It is really self-explanatory and I'm excited to be creating my own blog.

Reflection
As I was writing this summary, my first thought was yes these would be great tools to use, however, in my district there are several students who do not have cell phones or MP3 players.  Many of them do, but some families cannot afford for all their children to have their own.  What do we do for these students?  Should the school provide one for them?  I don't think we could 'requier' our students to have these devices.  I believe many administrators and teachers would find it difficult that allowing a student to use a cell phone in class will help them learn.  After being educated on the concepts some of them might 'come around' but there will always be those few who resist the idea.  I also believe traditional education could be improved by the use of technology as Rosen discusses.  I think many of the lessons teachers present could benefit from the addition of technology.