Talk and tech in teaching Some ideas for using mobile devices and voice software in the classroom and beyond

Rationale –1) Most students own and are highly skilled in the use of handheld devices 2) Engaging with audio technology helps students develop key skills inherent in A Curriculum for Excellence 3) There is huge scope for formative assessment of learning 4) Mobile devices can become a useful management tool (for self and others)

Idea 1: Mobile phones are personal organisers

Use the ‘calendar’ function for key dates, alarm calls etc ‘Countdown’ – home or school/ teacher or pupil Schools can send out reminders/ messages if they have student numbers:- Cardboard Fish Remember the milk – Internet to-do listing links to your phone

Idea 2: Mobile Phones are multimedia learning tools

Bluetooth – Instant file transfer. Let’s have a trial… Bluetooth ideas – time lapse photographs, project displays Sharing podcasts/videos e.g.Geocasts Transfer pupil audio for editing (file can easily be converted to WAV/MP3) using http://media-convert.com/

Phone video cameras for formative assessment of work Mobile doesn’t always mean phones- Flip? Students need not be in shot Pictures to blog via Flickr or direct moblog Audio recordings-past papers? Gabcasting? 1 minute task- record ways in which a mobile phone can be used by educators or students… More sound and vision

Creating your own podcasts

You will need:- Audacity – Free… A microphone A LAME encoder (allows you to convert to MP3) A host for your podcasts (try Gcast) Both free… Some free music to brighten up your recording Now, let’s have a go…