Exploring the Project Tomorrow
“Learning in the 21st Century Mobile devices +
Social Media = Personalized Learning” reports as many as 67 percent parents
claim that their children have personal smartphones. This is not surprising to
me because I have noticed similar percentage of students in my class who have
smartphones. I do agree with some of the concerns regarding allowing students
use their own mobile devices, like, providing equitable learning environment
for all students who do not have access to these devices, student Internet safety
and potential distraction that these devices can cause in the classrooms.
The young students today, are concerned of their own
learning and feel that “no phone” policies of the schools are limiting them
from accessing information. They want to direct their own learning and ask of
the administrators to be assured that they want to learn in different ways than
in the past, at their own pace and any time they want. The students are aware
that the mobile devices can be distracting in the classrooms but the advantages
outweigh them.
I think the programs like Teach2learn have a great potential
to provide the students with great opportunities to learn how to collaborate
with other people, mentors, who can help them climb up their careers, while
teaching the much needed and valuable lessons in math and science in elementary
schools, acquiring skills like public speaking, team work and leadership and
gaining experience in the filed they want to pursue in the future. I would
collaborate with the teachers at my school site to explore the venues of
starting this project. I would also introduce the idea to the students and get their feedback.
Hi Smita,
ReplyDeleteThe use of mobile devices in the classroom can definitely benefit the students if implemented thoughtfully and correctly. It’s interesting to see these surveys that report that students really are involved and engaged in directing their own learning. It’s unfortunate that some teachers are convinced students need to be coaxed or force-fed to learn. I didn’t quite get the idea of what Teach2Learn was about from your blog post; it would be fun to hear more about the project, what it implements, and what kinds of things it accomplishes.