The other day I was on a tour with my AT as part of her Dean-ing (My AT is also a Dean) visiting every class checking to see if any student has a cell phone on them. If found our 'mission' was to confiscate them. What an irony, I thought. The intent of my practicum was to actually experiment, use and promote these technologies for the purpose of thier multi-dimensional learning. Here I am doing the opposite.
Internet enabled computers offer students the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer communication via email, chat rooms, bulletin boards and instant messaging (Demb, et al. 2004). In addition, mobile communication that includes multimedia messaging, web access, email and voice/text messaging, provides short learning activities that are attractive to students and foster collaboration (Shih & Mills, 2007). Gay, Stefanone, Grace-Martin and Hembrooke (2001) suggest that within a collaborative learning environment, students working in groups recognise and use social communication for the exchange of information, and I have noticed that even before teachers formally start using these technologies in their teaching certain groups of students effectively use them for collaborative learning. Of course, thanks to the wireless connections, they increase the ability for students to collaborate whenever and wherever they want. Probably teachers need to legitimise the use of these technologies currently hiding in the students pockets.
Internet enabled computers offer students the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer communication via email, chat rooms, bulletin boards and instant messaging (Demb, et al. 2004). In addition, mobile communication that includes multimedia messaging, web access, email and voice/text messaging, provides short learning activities that are attractive to students and foster collaboration (Shih & Mills, 2007). Gay, Stefanone, Grace-Martin and Hembrooke (2001) suggest that within a collaborative learning environment, students working in groups recognise and use social communication for the exchange of information, and I have noticed that even before teachers formally start using these technologies in their teaching certain groups of students effectively use them for collaborative learning. Of course, thanks to the wireless connections, they increase the ability for students to collaborate whenever and wherever they want. Probably teachers need to legitimise the use of these technologies currently hiding in the students pockets.
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