District Administration - January 2011 - (Page 26)

going mobile • Cathleen Norris and Elliot Soloway Mobile Tech Continues to Advance The world is rapidly embracing mobile, and schools are next. There are some asTonishing new facts about mobile technology: • 417 million cell phones were sold in the third quarter of 2010, up 35 percent from the third quarter of 2009. Almost half a billion cell phones sold in 90 days! Almost 20 percent were smartphones. Smartphone sales effectively doubled in comparison to last year. • The amount spent on mobile ads doubled in 2010 compared to 2009 to $750 million, and the number of Google queries from mobile devices increased 400 percent. • Sales of smartphones (not cell phones, but full-fledged, computing-capable, Internetconnected, hold-in-one-hand devices) are predicted to pass PC sales in 2012. The growth of mobile is greater than that of any other technology, even the Internet. The Internet is a roadway; without a car, a roadway is useless. Mobile technologies are the cars for the Internet roadway. By 2012, more people will access the Internet via smartphones than via PCs. Tipping Point Based on Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up survey of 400,000 educators, parents and students, the organization’s CEO, Julie Evans, says that mobile learning is at a “tipping point.” The theme at this year’s Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators (HECC) conference was “Mobile Learning: The Next Generation.” And submissions to ISTE’s 2011 conference that describe mobile learning activities are up 200 percent over last year. While the world is experiencing tremendous change, K12 education isn’t. Why do schools think that moving from textbooks and whiteboards to digital textbooks and electronic whiteboards is substantive change? 26 January 2011 The Samsung Galaxy Beam, available in Asia, is the world’s first Android-based smartphone with an integrated projector. There are school districts in the United States that have thoroughly integrated mobile learning devices, and they are reporting—hold onto your hats—upwards of 30 percent improvement in standardized test scores. While such numbers must be taken with some serious salt, there is no question that time on task by students and teachers sees a healthy increase in mobile learning classrooms. And increased time on task leads to increased understanding, which leads to increased student achievement. Why will students spend more time on task using a mobile learning device (MLD) than they will with pencil and paper? There isn’t a simple answer. But, since students are competent and confident using MLDs outside of school, they can use those same skills on their schoolwork inside of school. Clearly, more research is needed. Mobile Learning Takes Leadership We hear from school districts that they don’t have the money to move to mobile learning. Indeed, with bond issues not particularly popular, raising new money is a real challenge. But we are seeing superintendents who recognize the value of mobile learning make hard decisions about what to buy and what not to buy. Putting a school district on the right side of the 21st century takes real leadership. We predict that within five years, every child in every grade in every school in America will be using an MLD 24/7 for educational purposes. You know it, your teachers know it, and your students certainly know it. DA www.DistrictAdministration.com Visit Cathleen and Elliot’s Tech Disruptions blog. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet SliCk AnD Cool AS ThEy mAy well appear, today’s smartphones are, relatively speaking, still model Ts! With their current limitations (e.g., small screen size, low computational horsepower), concerns that these devices may be hard pressed to support educational demands is not without merit. But if you had the opportunity we had recently in Singapore to play with a notyet-released, paper thin Samsung Galaxy, your concerns would be allayed. it projected its screen, brightly and clearly, onto a wall or tree trunk! And with intel, ARm and AmD all competing for hefty chunks of the multibillion-dollar device market, next-generation smartphones will be blessed with ultra-low battery drain and high-performance chips powerful enough to support video editing. in short order, we will all have Ferraris at Volkswagen prices in the palms of our hands! Cathleen Norris is a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas and co-founder and chief education architect at GoKnow Learning in Ann Arbor, Mich. Elliot Soloway is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan and co-founder of GoKnow. (In the next installment of this guide, they will address the cost and pedagogical issues that enable essential one-to-one computing.) District Administration http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2011

District Administration - January 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Online Edge
Professional Opinion
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Product Focus
What’s the Value in Value-Added?
The Politicization of Bullying
Holding On to Parent Voices
Tough New Issues Refocus Health Education
New Products
Books

District Administration - January 2011