I think mobile technologies can be used in interesting ways in the classroom. The possession of cell phones by most students in middle and high school can be leveraged by a teacher so that a school doesn't have to spend money to purchased an maintain certain types of equipment. Most modern smart phones have a camera, and many are equipped with the ability to capture video. In your typical classroom, you this basically means you have 1:1 or maybe 2:1 student to device ratio for digital photo and video cameras.
Before the ubiquitous spread of smartphones, Flip cameras were a great boon to schools because they made digital video cheap: about $150 per unit, compared to $600 in the past for a decent DV tape camera. Not only that, but the Flip camera's user interface is extremely easy to use, similar to an iPod, which means you can just put one in the hands of a student and they are working with it immediately. The flash storage on a Flip camera with the direct USB connection makes dumping the video to a computer for editing nearly frictionless.
I had not considered the use of cell phones in the classroom for communication or polls. Most middle and high schools have stringent policies about possession and use of cell phones, so the best you could hope for, in many cases, would be to allow the students to use them for the camera and video capabilities. I tried out the PollEverywhere online poll taking tool. It is a novel idea, but may not really be suited for MS and HS classrooms because existing policies assume that cellphone's don't have an academic use in the classroom and are distracting.
We have a similar cell phone policy in Durand. On the flip side, I know of some enterprising teachers who have been able to get administrative permission to use them occasionally for classroom projects. Phones are collected at the beginning of the hour, then handed back to the students for the activity, then collected again at the end of the hour. I think that it's time that districts loosen up the restrictions just a bit and develop a comprehensive AUP that includes cell phone and BYOD regulations. Given the cell phone bans that are in place, I can see teachers using the Poll Everywhere, or something similar to survey parents and colleagues. Thoughts?
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