Students' tools (cell phones, iPods, IM etc) for classroom learning?

[Lisa Schwartz]

I am working on a project that involves teachers partnering with students to figure out how to use new technologies, including the ones students bring to school, for classroom learning. If you have any thoughts or ideas for us, this would be greatly appreciated...I put some questions below. I am a grad student doing research with these classrooms, so I attached a disclosure statement here that explains that I may use your answers for my research but I will not collect your name. Thanks for joining the conversation! The questions below are prompts for what we are interesting in learning about:

• Do you think students' tools and practices (e.g. cell phones, chat tools, w/social networks etc) can and should be incorporated into the classroom?
• What do you see as the challenges and benefits to youth using these tools and practices in the classroom?
• In what ways do you incorporate students' digital tools and practices (e.g. cell phones, chat tools, social networks etc) for classroom learning?
• What kind of rules do you use? Do you create the rules?
• How do you or can you enlist youth into helping teachers figure out how to use new digital technologies for learning?
• What might you be interested in trying?

It may be interesting for you to know that the context we are in is fairly technology poor, but many students have mobile tools (that generally are not allowed to be used in school - general school rules). Thus, a common scenario may be a teacher who has one computer in her room or a few poorly working computers and some students with iPhones that can access the internet.