I was very engaged with this week’s assigned readings. In a majority of my posts from this class and previous classes I have consistently displayed an overlying theme with how I view myself as an educator, my theories of learning, and learning environment. That theme has been the personalization of learning. Reading the article about viewing learning from a pedagogical perspective was very rewarding for me as it aligned with my perspective. I think great learning takes place when the teacher switches lenses from educator’s perspective and looks through the learner’s perspective. When you focus on how authentic, personal and collaborative a task or assignment can be we start to see innovation and learners that are better prepared for their tomorrow.

Mobile Learning:

Seamless, Authentic, Personalized, and Collaborative

Where we are learning, we won’t need roads. Time and Space. When I think of these concepts I think of Doc, Marty and an ’82 Delorean. It was an enlightening read in Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning about how mobile technology can traverse through these two concepts. Traditional learning had a specific time and a specific place. Set in stone. The place was the classroom. The time was typically 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM. With mobile learning technology time and space are not constraints as the learner has the ability to set their own parameters. A child could be learning about the the water cycle in school, go home and do their own informal learning about the water cycle. It can even be in the car on the way to soccer practice through their smartphone accessing data from their wireless provider. They can then bring this knowledge back into the classroom to share with peers or their teacher to enhance the lesson or supplement it. This would allow the learner to be more engaged, connect better to the content and make the learning more meaningful. As discussed in Viewing mobile learning from a pedagogical perspective, this is authentic learning. Children can also be working collaboratively without the constraints of time or space. They can use shared documents via g suite to make schedules, set tasks, and share information. Through video calls and chat children can be as close to face to face as possibility within their own spaces. It also allows learners who geographically had an unrealistic chance of collaborating the opportunity to learn with each other. Experts, Teachers, and learners all have access to these times and spaces at the learners discretion. Learners are navigating through socially negotiated time. I think of the word flexibility. In a traditional setting it is much more rigid and set, as opposed to informal learning which is much more flexible and adaptive by its nature.

I thought it was very interesting to see the sub scales and examples of high, medium and low. As teachers, when we use mobile technology in our designs we need to be reflective and evaluative. We need to ask the tough questions to understand the quality of the learning occurring. For learners and educators, reflection and evaluation are extremely valuable skills to assess ourselves.

How can we implement this learning into our environments? Seamless learning needs a strong focus on pedagogy. It should be personalized, authentic, and collaborative. Educators need professional development and trainings that are on-going. When teachers lesson plan they need to consider learning styles such as implicit, informal and formal, as well as learning spaces and where the learning can occur. Educators should be reflective and evaluative of how they are using technology and mobile learning devices. Educators should consider different lenses and perspectives when designing their lessons and implementing them. Finally, educators need to consider affordances of the technology, such as affordable mobile learning devices, availability, access to wireless internet and data etc.

Looking at table 1, in Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning, there is a lot of affordances to consider. Platform, Mobility, Connectivity, Applications, Battery, Cost, Support, Features, and Memory. As educators we just want what works and don’t really care or understand how it comes about. I just want a tasty soup, I don’t care how it’s made. It’s been interesting to learn about this perspective and how it is very important to the implementation of technology into our classrooms.

When I think of how the above figure figures into my classroom learning environment it is tough. I’ve only begun to experiment with technology in mobile forms in classroom. Sure we have used programs and devices daily for typical assignments, but this year was the first year I made it a priority to make my assignments personalized, authentic, and collaborative. I’ve mentioned my podcast and video editing projects numerous times before. I’ll use that example in relation to the figure. The children arrive in the classroom (public space) and in this place they are interacting with fellow community members. They personalize their assignment by creating groups based on their interests. THEY decide what the topic of their podcast will be, the name of their podcast, the content that goes in, theme songs, if it will audio, video, or audio and video. Through mobile devices they can access shared documents and editing software from anywhere they have access to internet or data. It allows them to work from their private spaces and engage with others in the public spaces. They work at their own pace and place. The learner moves from the classroom to their homes and back again. Seamless. They are creating artifacts. They ask questions, find challenges, plan, create, improve, share, and reflect.

Frameworks of Mobile Learning Environments:

Walking into a modern classroom in the year 2019 it is fairly easy to see the difference from years past. Most schools are flooded with technology, from smart boards to chrome books and iPads even smartphones. Once forbidden and banished to the dungeon like backpack underneath empty bags of Doritos and folder less papers. It is not enough to have technology. Like us, technology needs an environment that supports it so it can thrive.

The RASE model, discussed in Framework for designing mobile learning environments, emphasizes Resources, Activities, Supports, and Evaluations. As I previously mentioned, it’s not enough just to have technology (resources), you need to have authentic activities that are collaborative, support systems in place to assist the learner, and an evaluative tool for reflection and assessment. I enjoyed reading about the RASE model as it built itself with pieces from key theories such as problem based learning, situated learning, collaborative knowledge building, and more. Learners are asked to become an active participant, not a passive receiver. Educators are also forced to look at their mobile technology usage they ask or allow of their students and ask themselves key questions: What are we asking the learners to do? Do they have a choice in their activities? Are they collaborating, solving authentic problems? Do the learners have support options? Such as blogs, forums, social networking, texts etc. Do the learners have a way of receiving specific feedback and direct praise? How are they being evaluated? Such as Portfolios, blog posts, reflections, artifacts etc. This model is very useful for educators to consider when constructing their learning environments. Students and teachers have the ability to stay connected constantly and have ubiquitous access to so many resources. It only makes sense that we take advantage of these affordances to prepare our learners accordingly.

I Really Meme It

My Identity

References:

Churchill, D., Fox, B., & King, M. (2016). Framework for designing mobile learning environments. In D. Churchill, J. Lu, T. Chiu, & B. Fox (Eds.), Mobile learning design: Theories and applications (pp. 3–25). Singapore: Springer.

Kearney, M., Schuck, S., Burden, K., & Aubusson, P. (2012). become an active participant, not a passive receiver . Research in Learning Technology, 20(1), 1–17.

Looi, C.-K., Seow, P., Zhang, B., So, H.-J., Chen, W., & Wong, L.-H. (2010). Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning: A research agenda. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 154–169.

The theme I have gathered from this week’s assigned readings is that learning is happening. It is happening anywhere and everywhere, even when we least expect it. Learners are discovering who they are as learners,  perceptions of the learner or observers can have an impact on their identities, and how learners use social media can have a positive or negative impact on their social well being and ability to interact with other learners. Learning cannot be placed in a box with a bow and a universal label.

Learning Anywhere & Everywhere:

Implicit, Informal, and Formal

In the article, Learning theories and education: Toward a decade of synergy, the authors discussed three ways learners are gathering knowledge.

Implicit, the learning of information in an incidental manner, effortlessly, and often without awareness of what has been learned.

Informal, learning via participation or learning via knowledge creation where a designed and planned educational agenda is not sustained over time.

Formal, is education normally delivered by trained teachers in a systematic intentional way within a school, university, or higher learning facility.

With kids who are growing up digital, mobile devices and learning has changed how and when learners can learn. It used to be that the formal setting was reserved for serious learning and content building, while at home and outside of school routines were learned or trivial information. Now learners have ubiquitous access to all sorts of information in various forms of media with the ability to collaborate, consume, remix, and share. Kids are “hanging out,” “messing around,” and/or “geeking out,” as experimenting with new ways to showcase their comprehension of content. All three of the learning styles should be a part of the 21st century learning that an educator hopes to see in their classroom. Using mobile technology learners can go to their teacher and say I want to learn about this, this is the research I want to do, and this is the product I will create and share.

Who Am I?

Identity’s Intersection with Mobile Learning

I really enjoyed reading the article by James Paul Gee, Identity as an Analytic Lens for Research In Education. While I was reading I couldn’t help but have some words and phrases pop into my head: personalized learning, participatory cultures, learning communities/niches and more. As teachers, do we consider our students identities beyond academic ability, race, gender, and socioeconomic status? I thoroughly enjoyed his breakdowns of the identity types and where their power resides. I also found it facilitating how perceptions of the individual and others have an affect on how the identity may be viewed or defined. Are our learners aware of their N-Identities? (Nature, State) Do they participate in Affinity groups? (A-Identity) These were all questions that came into my head as I was reading this piece. It really made me think of how my students view themselves, and how I am viewing them as well. Sometimes, we make assumptions of identity based on bias and prior interactions. But how does identity intersect with mobile learning? The affinity groups. Whether in school, at home, or in set up meetings, online chat rooms, wikis, etc. learners are gathering information formally, informally, and implicitly. They are participating in participatory cultures. These can be face to face, or online through mobile devices. Learners are sharing their identities with fellow group members and teaching and learning from each other. They are creating and consuming content. For example. I have a student in my class who loves Marvel movies. There are several other students in the class with this shared interest and they started to share comics and discuss the movies and super heroes. Now they are all apart of a fan group where they are reading from peoples thoughts and reviews from around the country. They have also created their own podcast/vlog by using cell phones, Chromebooks, and apps like g-suite and we video to create collaborative content. Members in this group are of varying races, economic status, age, and gender. They even describe themselves using different traits ranging from artistic to nerdy to complete fanboy/girl. While most of their identities are different, they share their a-identity and have formed a community all possible due to mobile technology.

Face to Face With Learning:

Tweenagers Using Social Media

It’s no secret that the learners of today are “Growing Up Digital”. Screen time is trending up at a very rapid pace over the past decade, and it’s clearly due to the advancements in mobile technology, social media in particular. In the piece by Dr. Pea, Media Use, Face-to-Face Communication, Media Multitasking, and Social Well-Being Among 8- to 12-Year-Old Girls, they focused on social media and multitasking. They sought to see its effect on social well being, intimacy, feelings of normalcy, rejection, influence of peers and friends, sleep, positive and negative feelings, and how users derive feedback regarding social success. 

Apple even has an app on your phone that tracks “Screen Time”. It breaks it down into categories and charts.

I’m no teenage girl, but I was shocked at the amount of time I spend on a screen, 5 hr and 33 m. It’s hard for me to fathom since as an adolescent and youth I’ve always prided myself as an athlete always outside til the crack of dawn barely having time for digital or screen media. But over the past 25 years of my life, that has changed and the roles have reversed. What jumped out to me is the amount of social networking vs creativity.

I was very surprised at the correlations and results for certain aspects, and not surprised at others. I admit that It was certainly ironic that children who were multitasking showed an inability to multitask. I was less surprised about the social and emotional findings.

I do think there is a place for social media use in the classroom in regards to mobile technology. But it has to have limits and specific intended uses. It can not be used to just substitute or just for the sake of using technology. If used properly, social media can increase student collaboration by providing ways for learners to easily contact one another for projects, assignments, etc. Social media can increase participation in the classroom by allowing a voice to students who may not feel they can express their own thoughts in person. It can be useful for problem solving and seeking out help. When leaders have questions they can easily contact another learner or post a message asking for assistance. Social media is a great platform for showcasing and sharing created products. It allows learners to offer specific praise and direct feedback, as well as an ability to quickly share resources with the whole class or groups. Social media can also be used to keep students, teachers, and parents all on the same wavelength. It can eliminate miscommunications and keep everyone up to date on what is going on in the school or classroom. I think there are clear issues with social media in the classroom as well. It can be very distracting. It can cause learners to become off task and side tracked very easily. Inappropriate use and materials are also a big hurdle for educators to jump. It is very hard to monitor everyone’s use every second and the school’s firewall is not 100% effective. Cyber-bullying is another nationwide problem with social media that can really be harmful to learners as well as the learning environment. A final con is using social media for prolonged periods in the classroom can detract from human interaction. When learners become reliant on social media, they lack social skills like tone, body language, and more. Just because you use social media, doesn’t mean you have social skills.

Small Devices, Big Issues:

Strengths and Weaknesses of Mobile Learning

“The use of (mobile) technology is not the target but rather a means to enable activities that were otherwise not possible, or to increase the benefits for the learners.” Mobile learning: Small devices, big issues. pg 5. This quote really jumped out to me because it sums up my philosophy on mobile learning and technology’s purpose in the classroom. It’s not the entree but rather one of the serving trays. I really enjoyed how they discussed how sometimes technology is not used for its intended purpose, and sometimes that can be negative, but in other instances it can be positive. It reminds me of my classroom where we are using technology for a certain project and then a few weeks later some students are using it for their own purposes that wasn’t my original purpose. Technology can be appropriated.

I really enjoyed reading the exemplars Sharples and co shared. Such amazing things these learners and educators have participated in and designed. I’d like to share an exemplar from my class which we implemented this year. I noticed a lot of my children lacked skills in collaboration, creation, and higher level reasoning such as justification, evaluation, interpretation and reflection to name a few. Teaching these skills was very hard for most learners, and their motivation wasn’t very high. We have a whole class cart of Chromebooks and it seems all they want to do is use them. I decided to research what the children’s interests were outside of school, what technology/software we had at school outside of our Chrome books, and what technology they had access to at home. I let children form into clusters and from those clusters even smaller groups based on their interests to form passion groups. Children then decided if they were going to record vlogs with video editing software and green screen etc, or audio podcasts. The software we have is mobile based and called we video so the children can access it from anywhere their is internet connection. The children were off and running. First they were geeking out on the software trying to learn the ins and outs. If one student figured something out they would share it with the rest of their peers even outside of their groups. If they couldn’t figure a tool out or how to make something happen they would seek out others in the class in return. Students then began to realize that their podcasts and vlogs had a lot of bells and whistles but lacked in content. They set out to research and this is where the amazing part took place. They begun to delegate. They used google docs to share a collaborative document where they assigned roles and recorded their research for everyone to see. They did most of their research at home, or if they didn’t have access in the morning when they arrived at school. For example, my sports groups were scouring scores, news, and more to have accurate and up to date information, but also added their opinions and reactions as well. This is a 4th grade class, and while their work won’t make it on to ESPN or NFL Network, the skills that were clearly visible were nothing short of astonishing. The most visible aspect: passion and motivation, and of course learning.

5 Aspects of Mobility

1. Mobility in physical space
2. Mobility of technology
3. Mobility in conceptual space
4. Mobility in social space
5. Learning dispersed over time

When I consider the 5 aspects discussed in the chapter and look at my described exemplar above I believe all 5 aspects were being touched on.

References:

I know the expression is, “United we stand…Divided we fall.”  I learned that as a 20th century learner.

As an educator in the 21st century I can’t help but feel divided. We are in the most technologically advanced era that has ever walked this Earth, yet the results are…divided.

Researchers are not seeing the envisioned results that computer and mobile technology were expected to have on learning.

What is clear is that technology and mobile technology is more present in classrooms and homes. B.Y.O.T, 1:1, and many more programs are being pushed through schools and communities with a common goal: increase learning productivity, increase learning engagement, and connect communities.

As a learner and educator, I have been reading and examining the “Digital Divide” for years now and you would have expected for gaps to have closed. However, when one door closes another one opens. In such a rapidly growing field, filled with unknowns and innovation, this is bound to happen. Our job is to research and analyze these findings to better understand where this is all going.

Consider these topics as potential “divides” currently trending in learning:

• Haves v. Have Nots (Rich v. Poor)
• Can v. Can Nots (Digital Media Literate v. Illiterate)
• Creators/Producers v. Consumers v. Pro-sumers
• Informal vs Formal Learning
• Passion Driven v. Community Driven v. Curriculum Driven Learning

21st Century Learning: Mobile Learning

Thanks to the internet and advancements in portable technology over the past 10-15 years, mobile learning has presented learners with more opportunities than ever before.

These devices and technological tools are making learning more fluid and personalized. Learners are more motivated and engaged. Mobile learning is helping learners become more passion and interest driven in their learning. They are joining communities outside of their 10 by 12 bedrooms and 20 by 12 classrooms. They have ubiquitous access to information all in the palms of their hands and the tips of their fingers. Learners are beginning to realize the power they hold over how, when, and what they learn. A major benefit of this type of learning is how the learning can travel. Having the learning come from home into school, or leave school and continue at home, seamless learning. Mobile learning should not just be pigeon hold as using a device to learn, but rather how, where, when and with who the learner is learning.

As Sharples discussed in Mobile learning: research, practice and challenges, there are 5 critical success factors integral for mobile learning to occur efficiently:

1. Availability of Technology
2. Institutional Support
3. Connectivity
4. Integration
5. Ownership

The success of mobile learning depends on these factors. I have taught for 9 years. 3 in a rural, low income, predominately white area. 5 in a suburban high income, culturally diverse area, and  currently 1 in a middle income, some what diverse area. Of course, these experiences took place over varying years of technological advancement, but I still think they give me the ability to relate.

In my rural, low income experience 2010-2013 (small coal mining town outside of Charleston, West Virginia)

The availability of technology was minimal, with a smart board and two desktop computers in the room. We had access to a computer lab upon sign up. Institutional Support was very minimal, as we had a IT supervisor who expected lessons to be completed but very minimal training and resources were provided. Our internet connectivity was adequate and I don’t recall any qualms or problems more typically than any other area. However, mobile cell towers were few and far between rendering mobile smartphones and tablets useless without access to the school’s wifi which students were not allowed to access. Integration of projects were tied to the curriculum as it was the teachers reasonability. Ownership was minimal as the school was not setup for bring your own devices and most children did not have these devices at home anyway.

Technology use was minimal and either used to substitute or augment learning, not redefine or modify it.

In my suburban, high income experience 2013-2018 (affluent suburban town outside of Washington D.C.)

The availability of technology was a responsibility shared by the students, parents, and school district. There was a 30 desktop computer lab, class set of iPads (30), grade level wide Chromebook cart (30), and a B.Y.O.T policy in place. Technology was easily accessible and ready. Institutional Support was very high. There were countless trainings, professional developments and resources provided. Connectivity was adequate as the children were able to have high speed internet connection, mobile service, and an ability to use their devices on the school wifi network. Technology integration was smooth as teams of teachers tied their use directly to the curriculum. Students were not able to own these devices, but were able to bring their own devices in. The year I left they went to a 1:1 student rental plan where the students would be able to take devices home and to school and keep as long as they were a student.

This said. There still was many teacher who felt overwhelmed and uncomfortable about how and when to implement technology in their classroom.

In my current suburban, middle income experience 2018-2019 (suburban town outside of Philadelphia, PA)

The availability of technology was a responsibility shared by the students, parents, and school district. There is no desktop computer lab. There is no computer class. We have a class set of chrome books (30) where each child receives their device for the year. They cannot take the device home, but it can travel around the school with them. We have access to iPads (30), through a buddy classroom. There is no B.Y.O.T policy in place. Overall, technology was easily accessible and ready. Institutional Support was low. There were minimal trainings, professional developments and little training resources provided. Connectivity was adequate as the children were able to have high speed internet connection, mobile service, and an ability to use their devices on the school wifi network. Technology integration was uneasy as it was the responsibility of the teachers to find ways to tie into the curriculum. Students were not able to own these devices, but the fact that they had their own chrome book that was theirs in the school provided a sense of motivation and engagement. They customized the screens and profiles etc.

Overall, I felt this year I’ve had some amazing programs, Web 2.0 tools, devices, and software. However, there was little support in how to use these tools efficiently.

Something that Sharples mentioned that I found interesting is that these devices initial intended use was and is not learning for educational uses. Thus, improving usability, a rethinking and redesigning of mobile learning, and new methods of evaluation are in order to authenticate the learning experience.

Divides

Haves and Have Nots

As Yardi and Bruckman discussed in their research, Income, Race, and Class: Exploring Socioeconomic Differences in Family Technology Use, the ethic and racial demographic is closing, but the divide between rich and poor  is widening as the poverty level is the highest has been in 50 years. Yardi and Bruckman discuss the quality and quantity of the technology available to families based on their Socioeconomic status. They also discuss the habits and how the technology is used, shared, distributed and accessed. The divide is clear and easy to see. “Race, income, and class affect access to devices, responsibility with those devices, and ability to monitor teens’ use of them.” Yardi, S., & Bruckman, A. (2012, May). Income, race, and class: Exploring socioeconomic differences in family technology use. 

Yardi and Bruckman suggest that the research indicates that parents need training and resources on technology and how to stay ahead of the advancements and trends. They also talk about how social economic status factors such as race, income level, education levels should be a factor in how technology should be designed, distributed and implemented.

Can and Can Nots

In what I thought was the most interesting read, Splicing the Divide: A Review of Research on the Evolving DigitalDivide Among K–12 Students, Dolan contends that the gap is not closing, but in fact widening. She notes a trend in the divide. A shift in the “Digital Divide” has seen a transition from access to technology, to how technology is implemented. From have and have nots to can and can nots. Right now we have a lot of students who don’t know how to use the devices or programs, as well as teachers who don’t know how, or simply don’t see the value. Dolan attributes this to lack of training, lack of understanding and comfortability by students and teachers, lack of vision and innovation/commitment from the school administration and teachers and a lack of authenticity in how the technology is being used.

Dolan’s 5 Implications of Practice

1. Wraparound services to help struggling families afford and understand new technologies
2. Greater integration of technology education within teacher preparation programs
3. Substantial in-service teacher training and support
4. More classroom practices and curriculums that honor students’ out-of-school literacies and integrate a wider variety of technology into all disciplines
5. Equipping all students with technology that enables each to be a producer, to reduce entrenched inequities between high- and low-SES schools

Personally, these resonated with me greatly. We have been gifted access to a class Chromebook cart, iPads, high speed internet access and a litany of educational tech programs for the kids to collaborate, create, share, edit, etc. However, just because you have the tools doesn’t mean you can build. I consider myself very tech savvy and innovative in my classroom, but I have had 0 training with a majority of these programs and devices and I am expected to learn them, then teach them to the children in addition to my other hundred responsibilities. Providing services that help families have equal access to these new technologies would be a great step forward in closing the divide of the have nots. I am very confused at how schools and districts can make these million dollar investments in the technology and not spend time and money to make sure they are running efficiently. I can give a child the ingredients to make a cake and tell them, “Here is everything you need, go nuts!” I truly believe, that if we invest in training into these devices, tie them into the curriculum, and demonstrate how and when to use them that would ease the burden off the teachers and increase their motivation to implement them into their classrooms. This would lead to opportunities for collaborative learning where the learners are not just taking information (consumers) but are motivated, driven, engaged, analyzing, evaluating, justifying, creating, reflecting, improving, and sharing with the public in authentic learning experiences (producers, pro-sumers).

Findings

Mobile learning isn’t a magic fix, where you can just roll out some handheld devices like chrome books, tablets, and smart phones and learning magically occurs. As Sharples states, it should be treated with caution as it is a new and rapidly growing area of research. “Personal and contextual technologies could enhance a lifetime of learning, but only if they are robust, unobtrusive and enhance rather than distract from everyday activity.”

Whether the divide is between the have and have nots, or can and can nots, it’s clear between these readings that better understanding, further research, and efficient training/resources for parents, teachers, and students is a necessity.

References

Dolan, J. E. (2016). Splicing the divide: A review of research on the evolving digital divide among K–12 students. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 48(1), 16–37.

Sharples, M. (2013). Mobile learning: Research, practice and challenges. Distance Education in China, 3(5), 5–11.

Yardi, S., & Bruckman, A. (2012, May). Income, race, and class: Exploring socioeconomic differences in family technology use. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3041–3050). ACM, Austin, TX.

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

My name is Michael Ponza. I am 32 years old and live in Warminster, PA. I am married to my wife of three years, Heather who is a recent graduate of Penn State.  I was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan to two University of Michigan Wolverines who are not to pleased with my choice of grad school! I later grew up in New Jersey and moved to PA for high school.  I am  in the 9th year of teaching elementary education. I have taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade in West Virginia, Virginia, and now Pennsylvania. I am currently teaching 4th grade for the Neshaminy School District in Bucks County, PA. I teach general education (Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.) We currently have a class set (30) chromebooks and the children are allowed to bring in their smart phone and tablets as part of the B.Y.O.T program. I am very excited to be in this class as I believe education and mobile technology will have a significant impact on the future of our profession.  In my spare time my wife and I are remodeling our newly purchased house. I also like to play pick up basketball and go to the gym and lift weights. I’m an avid sports fan (Michigan, Yankees, Jets, 76ers).

I look forward to interacting with my fellow peers and growing as an educator in the field of learning, design and technology by researching how mobile programs can be implemented into the classroom for personalized learning and data tracking for targeted instruction.

Thank you,

Michael J. Ponza

Lesson 0 Blog Post

In the reading, WILD for Learning by Pea and Maldonado (2006)., while dated, a few things jumped out to me. I think preparing 21st century learners requires using 21st century tools. Cell phones, smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, handheld gaming devices, laptops, Chromebooks, and netbooks are all devices that most students have access to at any given time of any given day. If you fast forward to 2019 because of the strength of the computing devices, their size, and access to apps these devices are even easier to use and offer a myriad of possibilities. Children can make vlogs, podcasts, blogs, video and audio recording notes, sketches, take pictures, text message, video call, geo cache, and more all with the same device. With some devices students can even augment reality with VR and AR capabilities. Students can go “live”, stream, share, and even upload to the cloud for millions to access worldwide in realtime.

This motivates learners, makes learning authentic, and a truly collaborative experience.

The ideas the author’s mentioned can be very useful for today’s classroom. For example, I am huge on personalized learning, and enjoyed reading about the section on “aggregating across all students”. With the use of mobile technology for assignments, surveys, questioning, and task completion the teacher has more access to the students work and thoughts then every before, and it’s all stored electronically and in most cases graphed, tracked, and with projections/suggestions, and areas of strength and improvements. This makes it very easy for a teacher to pinpoint key points to reteach, intervene, or enrich for a small group or large group of students. For example, using the mobile program IXL on tablets, chrome books, and cell phones in my 4th grade class, students are able to access personalized learning topics at any time and any place and I can see their every stroke and answer. I also receive that data, and it is graphed, and sorted for targeted instruction. I can also see the students working in real time which is amazing.

The screen even turns red if they need help on my device and I can call them to a small group, individual, or come to them for scaffolding. Teachers can also use google forms for a similar purpose. I also enjoyed the pieces about learning in school and outside of school. These devices enable students to bring their learning home and into the classroom as a continuation of whatever it is they are working on. It allows them to flexible and collaborative with classmates, teachers, and other members of the learning community they normally wouldn’t interface with. I think some basic and easily defined benefits of mobile technology are the motivation factor they bring to students learning, accessibility and ease of use/accessibility, and affordability. I remember some of my earliest mobile learning interactions where with leveraging topological spaces at Gettysburg National Park. Using a mobile device you were able to geocache where you were and what historical event may have taken place right at your feet. I remember being so motivated and excited that I took that information, wrote about it and made a powerpoint at home, showed my teacher and asked if I could work this into my school assignments. I was able to bring learning outside of school to school and it was very rewarding.

In the 10-20 years since this was written so much has changed, but the key principals and ideas shared in this still ring true.

Greetings tech co-horts!

My name is Michael Ponza. I am 32 years old and live in Warminster, PA. I am married to my wife of two years, Heather who is a recent graduate of Penn State.  I was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan to two University of Michigan Wolverines who are not to pleased with my choice of grad school! I later grew up in New Jersey and moved to PA for high school.  I am  in the 9th year of teaching elementary education. I have taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade in West Virginia, Virginia, and now Pennsylvania. I am currently teaching 4th grade for the Neshaminy School District in Bucks County, PA. I teach general education (Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.) I am very excited to be in this program as I believe education and technology will have a significant impact on the future of our profession. I currently use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, as well as stay up to date on breaking sports and world news. Professionally, I use twitter to pick the brain of fellow educators and philosophers, particularly when it comes to new and innovative ways to use technology in the classroom.  There is so much content, advice, and valuable pieces of knowledge right at our fingertips.  In my spare time my wife and I are remodeling our newly purchased house. I also like to play pick up basketball and go to the gym and lift weights. I’m an avid sports fan (Michigan, Yankees, Jets, 76ers). I look forward to interacting with my fellow peers and growing as an educator in the field of learning, design and technology.

Thank you,

Michael J. Ponza