After reading a blog post from Andrew Douch who reminded me of the service www.mymiamia.com I decided to try it out for myself. The opportunity arose when one of my students asked the question below……
Now if you are unfamiliar with My Mia Mia basically, it is a service that allows you to find out the answer to any question you like by simply sending an SMS or leaving a voice message with My Mia Mia. The service is supported in a host of countries and from what I can gather costs the equivalent of a standard call or SMS. After sending your question through to My Mia Mia you simply wait and within about 5 minutes you will receive a reply SMS with the answer to the question you posed.
In this case I was almost certain that they woud be unable to answer the question that I had asked, however shortly after sending it through, I received the answer below;
So what does this mean for students and the classroom? Could this be used as a genuine tool for learning? Please leave your thoughts below to complete the post.
Filed under: mlearning
Yes, this could be used as a genuine tool for learning.
Or, instead of spending money on an sms and having to wait for a response, you could simply Google it yourself. The seventh hit on a Google search for “australian aboriginal word for smoke on the hill” gives you the answer. Faster, cheaper and requires the student to develop more research skills.
I agree with you 100%, using the internet is highly desirable. However Im thinking more along the lines of situations when the internet isnt accesible, like last week when I was on a snow trip with my outdoor ed students. Sure we now have internet on our phones, but how many of our students can afford to use it? Not many. So with that in mind the option of a cheap SMS well and truly has merit in situations where internet access isnt possible and until internet on our phones is a guarantee with ALL ofour students this will certainly come in handy
I think a device like a mobile phone that is widely used (and well used) by students has the potential to be a powerful learning tool. Already, current thinking about mobile phones in classrooms (that they are more a hinderance than a help) is changing. But isn’t bringing fringe technologies and teaching ideas into the mainstream happening more and more (just look at the variety of Web 2.0 stuff out there now), with the end result being the engagement of kids in class? Teach the students how to use the gadgets and the applications in a thoughtful way and anything is valid if it engages learners.
Excellent response Jonesy, I love the part about Teaching the students how to use the gadgets and the applications in a thoughtful way. This is indeed important as most of our students are unaware of the full potential of the tools they have.
Robbo
One of the PE staff here, Paul McLoughlan, put me onto your site. He has seen you present and he was very impressed. On July 12 and 13th next year we are holding a conference at Marian College, Ararat. The conference is to showcase innovating teaching throughout our regions. The conference is linked to the Innovating Teachers Network which has been set up over the last year. What would be the chances of getting you here to present?
The conference is for primary and secondary teachers from all systems.
Cheers
Darren Hovey
what does this mean for students and the classroom?
Well it highlights the fact that some of the pointless stuff we did at school (eg name all the bones of the body) were not useful in a C21 world.
Rastus, thats indeed very accurate, I can remember learnin a heap of information that was useless. With this in mind and the fact I too teach about the skeleton here is my new version of this classic old chestnut http://thepegeek.com/2009/03/25/learning-the-skeleton-with-qr-codes/
Hello!
I am a graduate teacher, and your blog is seriously blowing my mind!
I have a few questions for you:
How did the school feel about you promoting the use of mobile phones in the classroom? I really want to start using QR codes, but I’m worried about the school’s response.
While using polleverywhere.com there is the issue that the students will know your mobile number… legally this leaves you dangerously open, was the response txt to a number other than yours, as in a website or an untraceable number? This would be my biggest concern with the SMS teaching tools.
What is the number for the Mia Mia service? I went to the page listed, but I couldn’t find it.
In response to your question: what does this mean for students in the classroom? I offer the simple answer “clarification”. If there is a word a student doesn’t understand in their set texts at school, if there is a time/date/place that a student has a question about during history revision, this is a direct way to an answer. I am aware that I’ve only completed about 200 days practical experience with children, so my answer is not very valuable!
Thanks!
Your answer is certainly valubale so thanks for posting, I to am only in my second year of teaching and we certainly have things to offer.
In terms of using Poll Everywhere you can be assured that your students will not know your number as it has nothing to do with your personal phone number, you simply message a number which is unique to poll everywhere and enter the unique code which is makes it realise which poll it is responding too.
In terms of utilisng QR codes and introducing phones, it started out small. I got permission to run an activity in my classes that would be under my direct supervision as a trial, the students would then have their phones taken off them until the end of the day. After seeing the possibilities of using these devices it soon became our policy that they could be used in the classroom if under supervision of a teacher, which suits me perfectly.
I utilise SMS to send reminders etc to my students using http://www.smsexpress.com.au this service creates an original phone number that is tied to ure online account and has nothing to do with your personal phone, this means that students wont end up with your number.