of class materials to share with students. Students can use web-clipping
tools to add select materials to their
notebooks from the teacher and other
classmates. A free annotation tool
called Skitch ( www.skitch.com) allows users to select webpages, mark
them up, and incorporate them into
Evernote.
;e bene;t of a tool such as Evernote is that it allows students to participate no matter what kind of device
they have, and they can convert their
notes into study materials in a variety
of ways. ;e app Evernote Peek allows
students to use a tablet’s smart cover
to create instant ;ash cards. Li;ing
the cover presents a question from the
study material. Opening the cover further reveals the answer.
;e combination of mobile devices
and the cloud enables collaboration
and sharing in unforeseen ways. Some
teachers use Evernote to capture snapshots of work written on the whiteboard for students who are absent.
Other teachers scan student work into
Evernote so that they can review it
from any location and make graded
homework available as soon as they
have ;nished their review. Proliferation of fast scanners with automated
document feeders facilitates this type
of digital conversation.
Science ;ction novelist William
Gibson famously said, “;e future is
here—it just is not evenly distributed.”
Evernote Peek is a free learning app designed for the iPad 2
Smart Cover. The latest version
comes with a swipeable virtual
cover that allows iPad users to
use it with or without a Smart
Cover.
In an era in which the majority of
adults have multiple mobile devices
connected to the internet, coding experts routinely use collaborative sites,
such as Stack Over;ow, to identify
the best solutions to programming
problems. Participants earn reputation
points and badges for contributions.
In contrast, many schools concerned about student safety view mobile devices as a problem rather than
a potential educational solution and
ban their use. Other school systems
are shi;ing from a stance that bans
mobile devices to a “bring your own
device” (BYOD) policy. ;is allows
students to bring the device that they
are most familiar with for recording
and annotating information. Students
can use these mobile devices in concert with computers that the school
provides. A laptop from a classroom
cart or a desktop computer in the
lab may be a better choice for writing a full paper, while the mobility of
smaller devices may make them better
suited for impromptu notes.
Edison’s invention of the light bulb
required the development of a power
generation and distribution system.
A mobile device that captures, annotates, and shares sound, images, video,
and text from multiple sources will
o;er its full potential only when educators embed it in a distributed learning system that takes advantage of its
many capabilities.
Today’s learning management
systems were designed during an
era when educators regarded one-to-one laptop initiatives as state of
the art. We now need examples of
learning management systems designed for a future where students
have multiple mobile devices connected to the cloud. Some e;orts
to envision this future have already
occurred. Coursekit ( www.coursekit.
com), launched in 2012, is a learning management system designed to
allow students to interact and share
relevant materials, such as links, videos, podcasts, PDFs, and other media.
Stanford and New York universities
are two schools that are putting the
system to use. Like Evernote, Skitch,
and similar cloud-based tools,
Coursekit is free.
Managing newer types of social
learning systems in concert with
personal mobile devices will require
experimentation. E;ective use will
require support and sca;olding for
teachers and students. ;e addition
of new capabilities o;ers new educational opportunities but also adds
complexity.
Computer science pioneer Alan
Kay suggested that the best way to
predict the future is to invent it. ;e
mobile connected world is changing
work and society. Migration to these
environments is good preparation for
collaboration in the workforce a;er
graduation. Our challenge is to determine how best to integrate the same
types of connectivity in the classroom.
Glen Bull is co-director of
the Center for Technology
& Teacher Education in the
Curry School of Education
at the University of Virginia
and editor of Contemporary
Issues in Technology and
Teacher Education ( www.CITEjournal.org).
Glen serves as a volunteer columnist for L&L.
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