[YL] Text-messaging in education?

[Donlin, Mike]

Good Morning,
 
I would love to hear what other educators have to say about this.  It is an issue which very much needs to be addressed.  And it is an issue which could be addressed to the benefit of students, educators, parents/families, if well thought through.
 
Thanks for bring it to the fore.
 
Mike Donlin 

 <http://mdonlin.myedesk.org/> http://mdonlin.myedesk.org   

206-252-0799 
http://mdonlin.seadesk.seattleschools.org 

-----Original Message-----
From: youthlearn-bounces at milhouse.edc.org [mailto:youthlearn-bounces at milhouse.edc.org]On Behalf Of HCHUNG
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:07 AM
To: youthlearn at milhouse.edc.org
Subject: [YL] Text-messaging in education?



Dear YouthLearn members-

I am contacting all of you with my personal question for the first time.

I was wondering how many kids in America use cell phones as an ICT tool, and also curious if there is an example of any good use of using mobile phones in class. In fact, my recent trip to my home Korea reminded me that how text-messaging permeates lives of Korean youth. In East Asia, text-messaging is more frequently used than calling among the young. The typing speed with phones is unbelievable, especially that of young kids. The disruption by its use in class has been always an issue - so some schools or teachers periodically censor kids' back packs (-_-;) to ban the use of them. But, it will become harder and harder to stop this growing number of kids who possess cell phones. Maybe we will have less control of banning covert phone activities in class. Do Americans kids text-message while they're in class? If yes, I'd like to step back and contemplate why kids love doing it, and would be interested in figuring out if there is at all a way to engage students in class by using the good functionality of SMS feature on cell phones. Some of my friends who are teachers in Korea mainly use cell phones to stay connected with their students during school vacation. My question would be about "in class" use. Someone on my team said that there could be a possible use of SMS when it is associated with Palm-based projects. Any ideas?

Maybe, another question would be if there is any governmental or corporate effort to provide real-time educational services for mobile phone users (teachers and students) who can access to the Internet through their devices. It's obvious that nowadays people can easily access to any kind of information through their mobile phones. I wonder how useful it would be if our kids or teachers can receive any information or government level of services through mobile phones during class.

Well, relatively speaking, this technology is not new, but I never thought about using it for education before. 

What do you think?

Sincerely,

 

Haejung Chung

Research Assistant, The YouthLearn Initiative

Education Development Center, Inc.

55 Chapel St, Newton MA 02458

617-618-2730

YouthLearn:  <http://www.youthlearn.org> http://www.youthlearn.org

EDC:  <http://www.edc.org> http://www.edc.org



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