In this reflection, I specifically deal with the use of mobile phones in my classroom by me-the teacher and my students. This implies that any form of smart phone that the learner are capable of buying can be used in learning. 

I have learned that classroom management procedures when using cell phone need to be used appropriately and responsibly. Students should obey the following regulations:

Upon entry and departure of class please ensure cell phones are turned off and stored in your backpack. When cell phones are being used for learning please ensure they are set to silent.

Phones should only be used for learning purposes related to classwork.

When phones are not being used for learning, place them face down on the upper right side of your desk. And when seen in the class using their cell phone inappropriately, there should be provision for peers reminding each other of proper cell phone use etiquette. The teacher has authority to command a student to take and keep the phone in the bin in the front of the room with a post-it indicating your name and class when not appropriately being used. Alternatively, students may work under the guidance of the teacher to develop a policy concerning classroom management with a plan which they should be ready to abide by and enforce.

Let students get past their excitement of new devices so that they can eventually settle and concentrate. Ensure that the students stay engaged/ setting firm due dates of assessment and scaling the assignments of students who finished first. Walk around the classroom and look at what students are doing. The more active and mobile you are, the easier it will be for you to ensure that the students are doing what is expected of them.

Treat devices as learning tools so that the perception of the devices in classroom changes. Students begin recognizing the value of their devices for research and exploring. Using phone boxes to neatly store students' devices. This will make students know that they must put everything with a screen in the box during testing or doing any other activities. Connect students with educational applications only so as to cultivate technology fluency. Students learn how to leverage applications for learning.

I have not yet explored the use of mobile phones in my class but I hope to do so if my school rule and regulations are revised. The only challenge is that of having to convince the school management to allow students to bring their mobile phones to school. Once this hurdle is jumped I would encourage the students to bring mobile phones into my class. 

"How can I 'break down the walls of my classroom' without actually having to incur great expenses or construction costs?"

"How can I 'break down the walls of my classroom' without actually having to incur great expenses or construction costs?"

The answer is very simple

·         Today students are doing so much more with technology;

·         They are emailing, texting & tweeting; Facebook can be useful or detrimental but we can use it for research & for study purposes outside school hours.

·         Use of websites or WhatsApp can connect students from all around the world.It is quite evident that restricted classrooms confine limited parameters on students’ thinking and ways of doing things.

·         We need to redesign new educational spaces in order to release new ways of thinking about learning without necessarily tearing apart the walls of the classroom.

·         The main areas of concern here are:  Setting up learning studios, grouping up students into shared learning area to be able to provide spaces capable of supporting the learners individually, in small groups, as well a whole class and in larger groups.

·         Indeed classrooms should be maintained but still go beyond the classroom walls by creating virtual technology learning spaces as a way of integrating technology in teaching and learning.

·         In Uganda, there is a full ‘University’ of technology which shall remain unnamed here which runs without buildings. Basically the teachers and students spend all their time roaming in bushes and tree shades and on the streets of that town-side, interviewing people and communities to learn what they know and then codify their findings using computer technology, which later constitute their dissertations and thesis.

·        
So, overturning the 100 years of something in education is not easy but we need to open up the education system with technology so that the new generation may not see things like people of yesterday did in their olden days.

·         Old spaces do not consider the entire spectrum of student success. They do not prepare students for a global economy.

·         The proponents of creating new physical learning spaces argue that: it promotes real student engagement and encourages ingenuity since it accommodates the principles of constructivism.

·         For instance, with increased use of computer technology in schools and increased access to learning resources like cyber technology tools and information, students are drawn deeper into a topic than ever before.

·         They can even direct their own learning.

·         To me; this can be done without necessarily altering the physical set up of the classroom.

·          With the advent of the use of technologies in modern learning spaces, teachers use projectors, interactive whiteboards, and computers like desktops, laptops, tablets, or mobile devices, digital cameras, video conferencing, sound and video playback systems, voice enhancement, Wifi, Internet access, and others which need to be attuned to the activities in the learning space for learning to be most effective.

·         On the other hand, mobile technology which is fairly affordable compared to other technology Gadgets can be adopted and used in the classroom and the students would be able to do all the above. However, in the initial stages, emphasis on the virtual learning spaces would be the most affordable more especially mobile technology like Ipads or smart phones.

·         Learning should be limitless. If the ideas around global learning are adopted, every individual on the planet can contribute towards teaching and inspire the next generation.

·          I see a future where there is a mix of educators, students, and professionals in areas of study that can easily be part of a free and open global learning environment – regardless of economic or geographical barriers. Technology enables all of this.

·         Remember; even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.

·          Be one in a million to initiate this technology integration move in your teaching.

END

A Reflection of lesson 7.3.4

I am in support of the use of computers in school however access to computers is not yet universal Uganda and in my school. We still use low density labs. Access to computers remains low and it is tailored to computer labs in some of our schools, although this may change as some parents can afford to buy laptops for their children.

There is a general inadequacy of awareness among my fellow teachers about the positive educational value that computer technology can add to our teaching and it is accompanied by various objections in some cases; the use of computers by my learners at school, also serves as an inhibiting factor.

Use of computers and use of modern technology in learning has not yet been institutionalized or mainstreamed within the Ugandan national teacher development systems apart from making it a unit for study as a subject. At the University level, computers and use of social media are not well integrated into teacher education programs offered by teacher-training institutions. So teachers take it as a gimmick in the school society.

However, technology is changing the way in we view learning spaces and the personal learning environment of our students because students surf the Internet, Tweet, use Facebook and come up with lots of learning material that a teacher may fail to find single handed for his learners.

I am adapting to the new ways of technology integration through the use of curation sites and use of the Internet by giving assignments to my students so that I widen their understanding of a given topic under study.