Need people to comment on my students Mobile Cell Phone Audio Blogs from their recent outdoor field trip

Hey Everyone

Im about to show the principal how i was able to effectively use mobile phones in class on a outdoor ed fieldtrip but need as many comments from people in the wider community to show just how valuable this all was. At present our school is against the use of them, but im hoping to change that with a meeting with the principal. Would really appreciate it...

http://vceoes.wordpress.com

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Permalink Reply by Andy Carreiro on November 3, 2008 at 5:08pm

Hi Jarrod,

I'm a teacher in Canada and I'm putting a project together regarding technology in the classroom. Would you be able to let me know how things go with you principal? Things like: How was your work recieved? How did other teachers respond in your school? How did the kids respond?

Thanks so much,
Andy

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Permalink Reply by Tom Daccord on November 4, 2008 at 8:00am

Congratulations! Cell phones are a simple and speedy way to create podcasts and I think they are especially useful on field trips. Instead of those "scavenger hunts" where kids write out facts in response to questions on a piece of paper, you can immediately capture a kid's reaction to what he/she is seeing and feeling and they can articulate it in detail.
I have also used "mobcasting" (mobile podcasting) to capture my students ideas about a topic or essay assignment so they could listen to each other's viewpoints that night and reflect on their own thesis arguments as they write. I use the free Gcast service and have posted some of my podcasts online: http://www.gcast.com/u/tomdaccord/main
It's interesting how your school is against the use of them, but often schools have no idea how effectively an educator can use something as omnipresent as cell phones to further classroom instruction.