Pinelands High School conducted a cell phone trial in two grade 11 classes to determine if cell phones could be used effectively as learning tools. Phones were collected at the start of school and returned by teachers to allow their use in select lessons. Activities included using Twitter for questions and discussions, blogging summaries and solutions, and creating video summaries. Teachers noticed increased student energy, participation, collaboration, and deeper questioning in lessons. While results are preliminary due to the small sample size and short trial period, the class using phones achieved a 4% higher result that was statistically significant.

1. Cell phone trial in school Pinelands High School Nicole Masureik Twitter: nimming Image CC licenced for reuse by JonJon2kB from Flickr

2. Why cell phones? Insufficient access to computer labs Most kids have one Can provide 1-on-1 programmes Cheaper than ipads Wanted to know whether they could be used efficiently as a learning tool

3. Safety and school policy?? Phones handed in at reception before school Special tags – all in one box Box collected/ returned by teacher Parental permission forms AUPs Video release forms Blog is closed to public Twitter names designed to be non-identifiable Outside of these lessons, normal sanctions apply if caught with a phone

4. How did we choose the classes? Two Gd 11 classes (one maths, one LS) Large overlap between pupils in classes Top academics in the school

5. What are we doing? Twitter backchannel for questions, h/w, activities (different hash tags for each class) Blogging summaries/ solutions/ discussions Voice recordings Video recordings Photo-documenting the lesson Evernote for note-taking

9. What have we noticed? Increased energy in lesson Greater participation in lesson Greater collaboration in lesson More questions being asked Questions are broader/ wider/ deeper Lesson format shifting from mainly content delivery to teaching critical thinking skills “Flipped” classroom experience

10. High points? Interactive lesson from home using Twitter & blogs by sick teacher Creating video summaries of lesson BY pupils FOR pupils Having a backchannel for questions! Pupils have access to teacher after school hours to ask questions (don’t have to wait till next lesson)

11. Techniques we’ve implemented 2nd projector and laptop for Tweetboard Twitter host in every lesson Summariser for every lesson Twitter apps to analyse tweets e.g. Archivist

12. Results so far? Stats are always misleading… Small sample size Short time period of trial However, LS class appears to have a 4% higher result with phones. Is that statistically significant? Yes.