Becoming a Body in Motion
By Kristi Bush
resolutions each year involve getting moving. If what the advertisers of Celebrex say is true, the most important step is the first one when it comes to getting moving: becoming a body in motion! This is also true when it comes to technology policies in education.
Getting Mobilized
Obviously the word “mobile” applies to both the devices that are taking our entire world by storm and to the action that is necessary to bring about progress in our schools. In the past, it seems like budgetary constraints have been the main stumbling block for schools when it comes to instituting new technology practice. We would have never expected parents to send a personal computer to school with their students to accommodate our desire to increase students’ access to technology. This is still true with mobile devices, but the amazing thing is that we don’t have to ask! Students are already toting smartphones, tablets, iPads, iPods, and more because they have become such integral parts of their everyday lives outside of the classroom. As a matter of fact, they will go to extreme lengths to have items like their phones in their possession within the classroom. Unlike the traditional textbook or pencil, teachers do not find themselves asking students if they have their phones only to be told, “It’s in my locker” or “I left it at home.” So perhaps students have taken the first step for us by making it a top priority to get connected through mobile devices?
A Time and a Place
The clear next step is to look at a policy for mobile device usage in the classroom. Gone are the days of passing notes and making Cootie Catchers. Today, students update their Facebook status, text, shop, and play Words with Friends and Angry Birds when teachers aren’t looking. At Shepherd High School, our Technology Committee decided to put a plan in motion to harness the power of mobile learning devices that students already own and utilize. As of the 2011-2012 school year, we allow cell phones in the classroom (gasp!).
As I sit down to write this article, it is December 31, 2011. Like many other people, I have spent the past week or so trying to nail down a couple of resolutions that I think might survive beyond January. Perhaps you have seen the commercial (I believe it is for Celebrex) that says, “A body in motion tends to stay in motion, but a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” It seems like the most popular
Okay, let me rewind just a bit on this. Shepherd High School Principal Doug Bush and I began researching mobile learning several years ago. Between conferences, articles, and professional development opportunities, we began to gather information about other schools that had already become “bodies in motion” in this regard. Overwhelmingly, we heard that allowing cell phones actually decreased disciplinary issues, expanded learning options, and empowered both teachers and students. Our next step was to take this issue before our staff. There were, naturally, mixed reactions among our teachers, but the consensus was clear: Teachers who were ready to utilize mobile learning devices in their classrooms wanted the freedom to do so. Those who chose not to could set their own classroom guidelines for cell phone use. After taking this before our local Board of Education and determining that educational use of mobile technology was consistent with our board guidelines, all that was left was to make the student handbook change and to put our new theory into practice!
Theory into Practice
Putting mobile learning devices into use as educational tools was our next challenge. Guess where we looked for ideas? We looked to our students! They quickly let us know that they “needed” to be able to access PowerSchool, Moodle, and Google on their devices as some of their top resources. This involved working
20 | SPRING/SUMMER 2012 | MACULJOURNAL
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