Using mobiles in

your classroom

Dr Andrew LeeHead of Juniors, St. Pauls SchoolLondon, United Kingdom | Geography

Secondary physics teacher

Interested in social media and mobile tech

Avid blogger

Google certified educator

Honarary geographer…

Primary Geography

Apple Distinguished Educator

…In charge of the iPads

Obj

ectiv

es• Learn to adapt our pedagogy to

accommodate mobile phones• Look at how to use mobile phones to

distribute information• See how mobile devices can be used to

get contributions from students• Get students interacting with each

other • Take away a toolkit of ideas that we

can adapt and use

What you’ll need

Essential• A smartphone or tablet with

internet connection • Ability to access websites• Ability to send emails• Barcode scanning app (for

iPhone you can use RL Classic, Android use Barcode Scanner, BB has a barcode scanner too)

Nice to have• A Google/Gmail account• A twitter account• A facebook account• [A posterous & bit.ly

account]• A computer

You don’t really need• Loads of apps

• Most people have one• Cheap • Access loads of information

at your fingertips• Ability to collect a range of

data• Instant access• Connectivity

“An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator... these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is…”Steve Jobs

• Most people have them• Distracting• Lots of different systems

and devices• Difficult to input large

amounts of text• Accessing resources can be

a little fiddly

Ice cream sandwich

Gingerbread

Froyo

iPhone 3G

iPhon

e 4G

iPad

iPod

touc

h

Windows mobile 6

Windows mobile 7

Windows mobile 8

Distributing resources part 1

Using bit.ly

ProblemTyping in Long URLs makes accessing web resources difficult

SolutionUse a URL shortener. http://bit.ly is a really useful one

Example http://geography.org.uk/cpdevents/annualconference/programme/

shortens to

http://bit.ly/IwM3DP

on a phone you just need to type in bit.ly/lwM3DP

Distributing resources part 1

Using bit.ly

Give it a go1.Find the longest URL you can 2.Go to the address bar (in the iPhone you need to hold your finger down and drag to the start of the address. In Android, scroll to the left)3.Type bit.ly/ (you may need to click “123” or “Sym”)4.Press the big “Shorten this link” button*

*I experienced some trouble with this on iPhone

Distributing resources part 1

Using bit.ly to make custom URLs

ProblemThese new URLs are kinda…hard to type and remember?

SolutionUse bit.ly’s customization feature. You will need to sign in to use this*

*I experienced some trouble with this on iPhone

http://youtu.be/qP8F3uAIqIg

Distributing resources part 1

Using bit.ly to make bundles

ProblemWhat if I have a lot of links I need to share?

SolutionUse bit.ly’s bundles feature. As far as I know you can only do this on a computer i.e. not yet in the mobile version, so you may need to use the Full site link at the bottom of the page if you are using your mobile

https://bitly.com/tour/bundles/

Bundle for today’s session http://bitly.com/INak2U

Distributing resources part 2

Reading QR codes

ProblemSo we’ve made the process shorter but text entry is still pretty inefficient…

SolutionQR codes

and they are what exactly…?

iPhone/iPadUse the Red Laser/RL Classic barcode reader app

AndroidUse the Barcode Reader App

Blackberry Use the Scanlife App

Instructions – line up the 4 corners so that they fit in the scanner. The device should read the address.

Distributing resources part 2

Using QR codes

Q.R. – WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR…absolutely everything!*

*(as long as it’s on the web and “public”)

Never heard of QR codes before this. They look really useful! I kinda wish I could run a lesson like this, the ideas seem sound

…but QR codes look really hard to make.

This lesson must have been really hard to put together

It’s simple Mr Parrot. Just click “Info+” next to the link you want in bit.lyOr you can just type “.qrcode” after your bit.ly link…

http://bit.ly/geoagenda.qrcode

You can do this with bundles too.

As a Rhinocerous I find this really cool….

Wow. That was easy. How about showing me how this all meshes together? And let’s try and fit in those iPhone users who are having trouble with

bit.ly shall we…

Bringing it all together

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andytgeezer/6779296686/

1 – make sure your phone has a barcode readeriPhone – RedLaserAndroid – Barcode Scanner

2 – Create a QR code using an online QR code makere.g. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

3 – Print your QR code and stick it where you need it

QR Codes

What they do• Takes long web addresses

and turns them into a barcode

• Use barcode reader on phone to read the information

• Easy access to multimedia on phones

• Allows you to “embed” digital information in real locations

Treasure hunt• QR codes printed out and

posted around campus• Students learnt very quickly

how to use QR codes to access information

• Information was also printed out as text in case of electronics failure

Distributing resources part 3

Developing custom resources

*(as long as it’s on the web and “public”)

Distributing resources part 3

Developing custom resources

*(as long as it’s on the web and “public”)

Contributing resources part 1

Developing feedback forms in Google forms

http://docs.google.com

Distributing resources part 1

Pros and cons of using Google applications

• One login for many applications

• Easy to get started • Formatting is dynamic

with native apps for Youtube, docs, maps on most platforms

• Privacy settings are consistent across all products

• Too big to fail?

• Some schools have blocks on certain products

• A little too basic• Privacy settings are

not perfect• Different sites for

every format of media

Contributing resources part 3

The Posterous advantage

Posterous is quickly becoming my favourite educational blogging platform

Contributing resources part 3

The Posterous advantage

Common blogging queries for an e-learning advisor

• Please show me how to set up a blog• Can I (easily) get my students to share easily

among themselves but not with anyone else?• Is there any way students can share

documents/videos/music/etc without having to reinvent the internet?

• Can you set up something where students can upload from their mobile phones?

Contributing resources part 3

The Posterous advantage

Easy to set up. Privacy controls way too basic

Not easy to set up for one off projects and costlyCustomisation for all the features needed takes too long

Set up in secondsPrivacy really well thought outNo account set up for bloggers – post by emailPosterous takes and rearranges all media for you – upload anything you want!

http://ga2012.posterous.com/

[Password – Geography]

- Just email- Teacher moderates- Post automatically goes up online- Posterous handles most file types and

formats them appropriately

ga2012@posterous.com

Contributing resources part 3

The Posterous advantage

Now your turn

• ga2012@posterous.com• http://ga2012.posterous.com/[Password – Geography]