Mobile Tech and the Classroom

Mobile and PDA technologies and their future use in education:

by Paul Anderson and Adam Blackwood.

In recent years there has been a phenomenal growth in the number and technical sophistication of what can loosely be termed 'mobile devices' such as PDAs, mobile phones and media players. Increasingly these devices are also internet-enabled. This JISC report reviews the current state of the art, explores the potential uses within education and discusses some of the trends in technological development such as wireless networking, device convergence and 'always-on' connectivity.

The section on "Staff Training and Awareness" rings especially true.

Staff in HE/FE are likely to need training and awareness in mobile and PDA technologies. Staff who are less technically aware may have little, if any, comprehension of what is possible with newer mobile devices. As an example, experience from the University of South Dakota suggested staff training was a key issue to the successful use of PDAs (Smith, 2003). Pressure for adoption is likely to come from the student body, who will increasingly be handling such devices and using them as support tools in an ad hoc fashion during courses.

PDAs were distributed in our shop. No training was provided. Approximately 25% of the devices were never unboxed. Each term I observe more students using wireless devices in class. Either we integrate these tools into the classroom experience or loose relevance.

Grab the report (MS Word).