When I used Poll Everywhere, I decided to go in two directions with the program. For one poll that I created, I utilized both the “Free Text Poll” and the “Multiple Choice Poll.” For the free version, students are told to text a certain combination of numbers to a particular text “phone number” with their answer. From what I could tell, my only dislike about the program was that it seemed like each question had its own code that you had to use when texting. When I researched on the FAQ if there was a way to have more than one question, I discovered that the messages could be “grouped” on My Polls for my monitoring, but the PowerPoint that aligned with each question did not contain the entire group results. Instead, each PowerPoint just answers one question. I think if there could be an option of combining multiple questions, it might save time when viewing results. Perhaps the version that requires money provides this service.
Another feature that Poll Everywhere provided was a “Goal Poll.” I thought this could be an awesome resource to use as we get closer to our standardized test each year (or even student assessments throughout the year). Students could “pledge” a certain amount of hours that they will commit outside of class toward studying for that particular standardized test. I think sometimes providing a community of accountability with students could largely benefit student success. I think this little activity that students could engage in with their mobile device might have more value to a student because they are involving themselves in their learning and their responsibilities toward learning.
Overall, I think that some of the “Poll Everywhere” tools could really be used with the class set of clickers that I now own, other than my idea for the “Goal Poll.” However, from the research that I was doing about Mobile Learning, I think that my clickers have somewhat a disadvantage in other areas compared to mobile phones. Reading all of the articles and watching the videos about how mobile technology can incorporate the internet so much made me partially jealous (spoiled me) that my clickers did not have the same capabilities. I think mobile learning in the classroom could really extend student engagement because we could be using more personalized videos to explain concepts. Maybe students couldn’t understand a way that I described a concept, but found a video I provided to be more resourceful. Beyond this, maybe students themselves could create and share videos or blogs that explain different concepts in class.
One thing that I would personally like to see more of would be showing applications mobile technology has for math beyond providing students with a calculator. On Classroom 2.0 I saw teachers mention how resourceful this was as a calculator, but I didn’t see too many teachers sharing other applications for mobile learning in a math classroom. In one of the articles I looked at, they provided IPhone Apps that support Algebra learning for 8th grade students. Unfortunately, I don’t have an IPhone to view this feature (similar to many of my students).
The biggest challenge that I foresee mobile technology having would be how to monitor what students are doing on the device. If students are using the mobile phones that disable texting and calling, as well as monitor what websites students are allowed to view, I think this technology would be awesome! At the same time, many articles I read said that districts hope to eventually just have students using their own personal cell phones. As a teacher, how will we be able to monitor student usage? True, engaging lessons and assignments for students will be a way of encouraging them to behave in appropriate manners, but that won’t guarantee appropriate behavior.
Regardless, I think that these ideas of mobile technology are on-spot with the direction our students and our classrooms should be heading. I can’t think of how many times I have had to ask students to put their cell phones away (in the hallways and unfortunately sometimes in class). Perhaps instead of always forcing students to stop “hiding” what we know they will be doing regardless, we can start to redirect that usage of the cell phones toward student learning and engagement.
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