Use of mobile technology in schools

Recently, mobile devices are equipped with more and more functions, such as camera, video
recorder, high-resolution touch screen, GPS, Bluetooth and Wifi. However, most
of the schools in Hong Kong do not utilize them as a tool for teaching and
learning. Therefore, I would like to suggest a use of mobile devices for this
purpose.

I think that schools can ask students to buy and use notebook computers with Wifi
technology and touch screen for learning purpose. Also, each classroom has to
install an interactive whiteboard for teachers to facilitate students to work
with multimedia. For example, liberal studies teachers may ask students to
discuss a topic in groups. In this case, teachers have to ask students to use
Wifi technology to link with other group-mates and then use the touch pen that
comes along with the computer to write down their opinions on a drawing pad. At
the same time, teachers can monitor what students are working on using the
interactive whiteboard anytime they want. After the discussion, teachers can
let the groups to display what they have written by connecting to the
whiteboard using wireless technologies and present their ideas verbally. And
finally, teachers can comment on and evaluate the ideas provided by their students.
The advantages of this practice are that, first of all, students within the
group can collaborate and collect ideas systematically; second, students can
browse the Internet instantly when they want to acquire further information
about that topic, leading to spontaneous learning; lastly, teachers can make
comments on students’ work immediately during the class, resulting in a higher
degree of interactivity between students and teachers.

Another example is that, biology teachers can ask students to bring along their mobile
devices with GPS, GPRS, and camera for field trips when teaching topics about
plants, animals, insects and ecology. The purposes of the device are, first, to
plan the route of the field trip using GPS; then when reached the venue, teachers
can ask students to form groups, and ask each group to take photos of the items
related to the topic, look for more information about it through the Web using
Wifi or GPRS and record the search result using notepad or screen capturing
tools; after the field trip, teachers may ask students to write a field trip
report based on the findings and make a PowerPoint presentation by groups during lessons.

In conclusion, the advantages of using mobile technology in teaching and learning
are that the number of paper usage can be greatly reduced, also the motivation
of self-learning can be enhanced since students like surfing the Internet;
furthermore, teachers can comment on and evaluate students’ work immediately
after they have done the work, saving the time in handing-in paper work and
correcting the work manually, and increasing the efficiency of in-class exercises.
In addition, the work done by one (group of) student(s) can be seen by other
classmates through wireless technologies, this can encourage peer learning, and
since students need to determine whether the ideas of other classmates are
correct (suitable) or not, students’ critical thinking skill can be trained in
this way. Last but not least, teachers can monitor what students have done during
class activities in order to provide guidance instantly when they make
mistakes.