Cell Phones in Class

I found the podcast with Liz Kolb to be extremely interesting. When I first thought about using cellphones in class I could not think of ways to use a cellphone that would truly enhance my students' learning. As I listened to the teachers talk about the creative ways in which they integrated cellphones into their classroom teaching, I began to realize that cellphones really can be utilized effectively in the classroom.
I was particularly impressed with the idea of allowing children to call in an assignment using the website dropio as another means of expressing themselves. There are many children who express their thoughts and ideas better orally than through writing. This website allows students to call a phone number set up by their teacher and leave a voicemail which is converted into an mp3 file for their teacher to replay for herself and in class.
As my curiosity about this grew, I did a quick google seach about using cellphones in school as a teaching tool. I came across an interesting article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-27-cellphoneschool_N.htm) which discusses a school which gives children a "school cell phone" or a PDA device to utilize within the classroom for educational purposes. As Kyle Menchhofer, the St. Mary, Ohio district's technology coordinator rightly points out,"Cellphones aren't going away. Mobile technology isn't going away; right now, what we're telling kids is 'You go home and use whatever technology you want, but when you get to school,, we're going to ask you to step back in time.' It doesn't make any sense."