Cell Phone Remote Control with Voicethread

I am a big fan of Voicethread for use in education. Not just because Voicethread gives educators free accounts, but because now they have added a "telephone" option for commenting and controlling the Voicethread presentation. It is so easy, see the tutorial here. Besides commenting via phone, you can also use your cell phone as a remote control with Voicethread and navigate through the slides. One classroom application I can see would be to project your Voicethread on the classroom screen/wall. Next, have Voicethread call your cell phone (yes they call you), and then you can walk around the classroom, navigate the slides, and have different students record a comment (using your cell phone) as you circulate throughout the room. It definitely gives more mobility to the teacher managing the classroom.

The positives of telephone commenting:
1) Voicethread calls you! So you can be on a landline or cell phone to call in your comments and it does not cost you anything! This is great for students who do not have a cell phone.

2) Easy, automated directions as soon as you pick up the phone.

3) If you are in a nocisy classroom, students can record on their cell phones outside of the classroom noise (even for homework).

4) No need to worry about having external microphones for PCs (since many do not come with a built-in mic).

The negatives of telephone commenting:
1) You do have a limited calling time for recording (non-education accounts are limited to 3 minutes).

2) Since you have to type in your number and it is an immediate call, students do have to have some sort of Internet access at home/outside of school to do this for homework.

Classroom Applications:
Well there are already lots of wonderful examples of Voicethread being used for educational purposes. So I thought I would go ahead a link to a few of my favorites.
1) Mathcasts and Social Studies reports, Wes Fryer highlights some excellent examples of Mathcasting and Social Studies reports with Voicethread.

2) Digital Storytelling, here is a storybook on "before" and "after" the hurricane in New Orleans.

2 articles...one conclusion...reasons to include cell phones in learning

I just want to send a big "Bravo" to Craik High School principal Gord Taylor, Grades 8-9 teacher Carla Dolman, and Dean Shareski who are true trailblazers by taking a risk and integrating cell phones into learning! The article Phoning It In, describes how one school in Canada decided to "embrace" their students excitement and interest in cell phone use outside of school and bring it into the classroom. I hope this is the first of many articles and other media coverage concerning the power that cell phones can have in learning. While there have been many articles about the necessity of having cell phones in schools for safety reasons, it is more rare to find articles demonstrating educative uses of the cell phone. If anyone knows of some others that I have not mentioned, I would love to post them on this blog!

Need more evidence as to why we should consider the cell phone as a student learning tool? A recent article in NEA, describes a study that found the digital divide is still a huge issue. The main concern is the "participation gap" where students do not have equal access outside of school to the Internet and school-related web-based activities and assignments. 30 Million Americans still do not have a computer at home (according to a recent PEW study). While the article highlights some creative ways that underprivileged communities are trying to get access to their youth, I think this "participation gap" is yet another reason why we need to take full advantage of the cell phones that some of these teenagers and/or their parents are likely to own. Since the students have a cell phone with them at all times, using them in learning may better connect the student's everyday life experiences (such as communicating via cell) to their everyday school learning experiences.