I watched H Songhai’s presentation from the K-12 Online Conference, on using every day technology in the classroom such as cell phones, MP3 players, video cameras and digital cameras. He talks about a trip to Virginia he took with a group of grade 11 students, to visit colleges, who were constantly text messaging and listening to their mp3 players. He then encouraged the students to use their cell phones and digital cameras to take pictures of campus and use the voice recording on their cell phones to document important information such as admission requirements. I thought that this was such a good idea. Whenever I am out somewhere and I need to remember something, I automatically am searching for a pen and paper. The voice recording option on cell phones is a great idea and I will definitely use it more often now!
Another point he brings up which I thought was important was he says to not use paper in the classroom and to just blog. At first I did not agree with this statement, but the more points he gave, the more sense it makes. He says when he was a teacher and he handed out paper, half of the sheets would be laying on the floor or left on the desks. If the information is on an educational blog, the information can never be lost and the students cannot make up excuses at to why they are unaware of the assignment. Also, an educational blog showcases the students work that is produced all through their schooling years. This information can then be read and commented on by teachers, fellow students, parents and people all over the world, which encourages the students to want to blog more.
Another strong point he makes towards technology in the classroom is how the students will have their personal work with them forever. Most of the time, paper just gets thrown out which is a loss of their hard work. He said that he allowed his students to make voice recordings, from their cell phones, of his lectures, and take pictures of notes that they wanted. They then could save these files and use them in the future for studying purposes. I totally agree with this. Looking back on my high school years I do not have many significant assignments with me now, as they probably got lost or were thrown out. It would have been nice to have all of these memories in one spot to look back on.
He gives a few tools at the end that he believes every teacher and student should be using such as delicious, audacity, skype, twitter, wikispaces and many more. I agree that delicious is a very good tool to use for personal use and in the classroom. I am not too familiar with skype but will hopefully become more familiar with it when I do a video chat with Mrs. Knee and her kinderkids! I have played around with audacity a bit and think its a pretty cool program that could be used in school.
I have never really agreed with using cell phones in the classroom, but after watching this presentation and learning more in my ECMP class I think that there are certain times and places that they could be incorporated into the classroom. On the other hand, what about schools that don’t have access to a computer for every student? What about students who cant’ afford cell phones or digital cameras? These are very good ideas for future students, but the availability may not be open to everyone. How can I, as a future teacher, incorporate these elements into the classroom without sufficient funding or accessibility?
Amydennis's Weblog 
Hi Amy Dennis,
Thank you for taking time to watch my presentation. You make several really good points in your post – especially in your last paragraph.
The computer teacher is fortunate to have a one-to-one computer to student ratio in his/her classroom, but as we both know, most (English, math, science, history, art and language) classrooms are not set up that way. Most classrooms have only one computer and that computer is usually for the teacher. I’ve seen some classrooms with three, even four computers, but with 25 students, that’s a little cramped and sharing just does not work.
I still struggle with students who insist that they cannot afford a $40.00 USB headset/microphone, or a 2gig flash drive. but on the other hand,I find that most students do have cell phones which are extremely versatile devices.
Many students today have some kind of an MP3 player. Only a few own or have access to digital cameras. A very few have video cameras.
Over the years I’ve come to understand that many schools just don’t have the resources to provide students with everything they need, so I’ve adopted a kind of “have resources will travel” kind of attitude. I share a great deal of my personal equipment with my students in order for them to get their assignments done.
Thanks again for checking out the presentation.
H Songhai
Thanks for your comments. That is great that you share your personal equipment with your students. I have never really thought of this before, but if I am in a future classroom with not many resources and access to equipment then this may have to be an option for me and my students, in order for them to benefit the most. Do you find that you integrate cell phones into the classroom alot, or just certain times? Are the students more respectful of the times when they are to not use their cell phones because they are given the opportunity to use them at other times?