Using the Cell Phone

This past semester I collect the cell numbers, companies and which students had unlimited texting. From there I setup the ability to mass e-mail text messages to my students. I then would send messages (tried at least once a week) that related to class. From trivia games .. first to text me back kinda of stuff. To questions about the content. Around final time I send a question for them to consider each day for a week. I even held a review with the volleyball team as they came home from a match. Had 4 girls in my class and we were texting back and forth questions about class.

Ok .. now how have you guys incorporated the cell phone in your class?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Natalie Wojinski on January 7, 2009 at 6:58am

Alan:
These sound like great ideas. I like the idea of finding out who has unlimited texting. Cell phones technically aren't allowed on my campus so I use them infrequently in class. Since we have limited resources, I've mostly used texting in place of paper dictionaries by sending requests to Google. I've also used PollEverywhere as a quick check for learning.

Permalink Reply by Alan Beam on January 7, 2009 at 7:08am

I've used the PollEverywhere on our student laptops. I'm going to try and setup a few of these this semester on cell phones. I should note those students who do not have unlimited texting I simply e-mail them the same material. I give them more time to reply back as well.

Permalink Reply by Sara De Voogd on June 8, 2011 at 1:37pm

That seems to be a great accomodation for those without unlimited texting. Thank you for the suggestion!

Permalink Reply by susan smith on February 23, 2012 at 2:38pm

I just went through the tutorial of PollEverywhere, and it looks like a great tool to use. I do not have a classroom right now but will certainly use it when I do.

Permalink Reply by Daniel Winther on February 25, 2012 at 2:10pm

It really is an amazing tool! I haven't used it yet either, but I am very excited to get it started!

Permalink Reply by Amanda Kain on February 26, 2012 at 9:40am

I have used the Poll Everywhere and found it very easy to use and a great tool! I like your idea of using e-mail for those students who do not have unlimited texting. It never occurred to me that students would not have unlimited texting, but good to keep in mind when I try to use in a future classroom of mine.

Permalink Reply by kristina.badgley on April 23, 2011 at 3:42pm

I got a great impression of Poll Everywhere in just a few minutes of browsing the site. Its seemed very easy to use, and although the pro version is a little more appealing, I think the free version still allows a teacher to accomplish a lot. The way I see it being used in my setting (a high school math classroom) is as a quick check at the end of a lesson or the start of the next class period after students have learned something new. I decided that I probably wouldn't ask anything content specific because it didn't appear to have any sort of "mathtype" capabilities; instead I would ask more of a "poll" type question to see how my students felt about their understanding. With a SMARTBoard to display the results on, I thought that it would be an awesome thing for myself and my students to be able to watch the responses come in.

To give it a try, I tested it out with 3 of my classes this past week (roughly about 77 10th/11th grade students). You can check out my question and responses below:

The unexpected occurrence that I ran into was that of the 77 students I had in class, only 31 of them were actually able to respond or have their responses make it through. I learned that in each of my 3 classes anywhere from 10-16 students were unable to participate for two main reasons:

1. No service in my classroom. (my classroom is isolated in the middle of a school, no where near a window)

2. Cell phone providers not allowing messages to be sent to the specified code.

I realize that Poll Everywhere can be used on the computer, but to me, the best use of it is to obtain nearly instant feedback without wasting much class time. Meaning, in the past, I have used the SMART response system clickers and found that the time it takes to prepare the question set, fire the remotes up, pass them out and collect them - is often not feasible in a packed class period. I really liked the easy access approach via Poll Everywhere, especially as a teacher who would love to incorporate a quick "do you get it?" question after each lesson. However, after my first implementation, I'm unsure about whether it'd be worthwhile to use when only about 40% of students were able to participate in my classroom.

As far as my students "abusing" this unique opportunity to use their cell phones in class, I didn't really have any problems. (It was interesting to find out how many students aren't able to use their cell phones in my room on a daily basis! I would have never known...) I imagine if I were to use Poll Everywhere consistently in my room, I'd have to develop some type of "speech" to give about why we are using them and when it's appropriate, etc.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences with cell phones not working when using this?

Permalink Reply by Alan Beam on January 13, 2009 at 12:36pm

Using the cell phone part two. Today .. I used the polleverywhere (http://polleverywhere.com) in class. I asked students who had their cell phones (everyone ... surprise had their cell phone) then asked them to remind me who didn't have unlimited texting (only 2 out of 19). I had them partner up with someone who did.

Then we opened class with a multiple choice question as a review from the last class period. I did this as a way to introduce how to text using polleverywhere. To my surprise (and a little sadness) couple of students got the question wrong. So I did a quick reteach.

I use my PPT or Keynote to guide my class. Whether it be the discussion, lecture, group work, etc. I have it outlined on the PPT. So I added some questions along the way to test currently new knowledge that had been introduced during class. Most of them were opened ended. To address the use of cell phones I asked students to turn their cell phones on vibrate and place on their desk. If they went off when they weren't to use it- to simply ignore it. When the questions popped up on the screen they were to respond. The students loved it. Yes, one phone went off but it just sat on the desk while we continued the class (I'm sure he check it when we did the actual texting but who cares). I saw students excited about answering the question as well as needing to clear a few points up along the way. It reminds me of a CPS system (which cost money and in our district is housed at the middle school).

My questions to any of you who maybe doing this already is how many have purchase the whole package of polleverywhere? Does it allow you to assign individual names so you can see the student and their answers instead of just an answer? I didn't like the fact I couldn't see who gave me what answer. I will most likely have them add their name when they do open end from now on.

My plans are to continue exploring the cell phone use so please share any you have.

Permalink Reply by Alan Beam on January 13, 2009 at 2:24pm

I was asked on Plurk to share some examples so here are the questions I asked today. Remember this was day one.

Multiple Choice was "What was the turning point in American History as both a military and economy power?" Choices I gave them was Civil War, War with Mexico, Spanish-American War or World War I. Each choice had a different number they needed to text to demo their answer.

Then I moved to open ended starting with something I presented in class then something they had to draw their own conclusion (still simple)

1. What were the two causes of the Spanish-American War?
2. Outline the Treaty of Paris of 1898?
3. What is the difference between the Platt Amendment and the Teller Amendment?

In the evenings I text questions the relate to upcoming test material. For example:

1. Can you define Imperialism?
2. If asked could you explain to someone why America turned to Imperialism at the turn of the century.
3. Could you explain how the story Wizard of Oz relates to the Populism Movement of the time?

Ok just a few examples.

Permalink Reply by Alan Beam on January 15, 2009 at 1:36pm

Seems like I'm talking to myself (smile). Day two of my cell phone project failed due to limited service for many of the kids. I moved to a room that doesn't get much service. However, I'd really like to hear some thoughts on this.

I created a "study room" using www.gabcast.com This site allows people to call in and post messages. My hope was students could call in their questions and other students would answer them. Creating a study room. To my disappointment the students were not excited at all with this. After visiting with a few it came down to having to call in. They would prefer to be able to text the message and then have the answer texted by their fellow student.

Is there something out there where a person can text to a large group of people (have it archived so I could see it). I know they could setup a group and text to one large group (then you have the issue of different services and cost) and then the students with the answer could text them back. But I want a place where the text is posted as well.

Looking for ideas???????????????????

Permalink Reply by lucy haagen on April 24, 2009 at 1:41am

You might try Text4Free.com
Think there s a google SMS application where students can text in a factual question and get an immediate answer txted back.

Permalink Reply by W. Keith Nunnelee on November 18, 2009 at 12:50pm

(My ideas hinge on a phone's ability to take pictures.)

I allow students to take pictures of notes on the board to send to students who were absent. If no student has the cell number of the absent student, I take a picture with my phone and save it until the absent student returns.

For my TV Studio Production class I allow students to take pictures when scouting a location for pre-production.

Although I haven't used this idea yet, I plan on allowing students to take pictures with their phones and use the pics in storyboarding.