Make the classroom flat, level the playing field

“Mr. Myers? Can I use my cell phone to do research?,” asked Greg.

Like in most schools, Mr. Myers was hesitant to say yes because of the schools strict no cell phone usage during school hours policy. Students, if they have cell phones in their possession, must have their phones out of sight and powered off in school.

But Mr. Myers had never had a student ask him to use a cell phone for an educational purpose like researching about the Civil War as the student before him just did.

Knowing that Mr. Myers was a strict but fair maverick of a teacher, Greg played his hand wisely knowing several things. One, that Mr. Myers just got a smart phone and was eager to learn how smart these smart phones really are. Two, that the class was denied access to the mobile computer lab to do research because another class had it reserved. And three, Mr. Myers loved it when students took initiative.

So the answer was yes and the question of what else can cell phones do was posed to me in the hallway by Mr. Myers after he shared the story above. And I smiled and said, “A lot.”

As technology continues to advance and we use more complex technologies in our daily lives, does it not seem logical that we use these same technologies as tools in the classroom to not only enhance learning, but also reinforce the positive every day application of these tools that they were meant for in the first place? (Man, that was a long sentence.)


In a lot of ways, I feel that schools have not recognized the power of the technology our children are exposed to every day outside of the six and a half hour school day. My first computer experience included a warm welcome by my Apple IIe was a mad dash to crunch numbers in Number Crunchers and exploring the great frontier in Oregon Trail. These games got all the kids excited. And still do.

Computer class has the potential to do so much more than just reinforce basic skills in video gaming supplemental activities. There are hundreds of practical computer and technological skills that our students can learn in real world applications sharing knowledge, culture and experience beyond the confines of our classroom walls.

We can all learn from another. Collaboration has been the buzz in education for decades and technology’s evolution (specifically Web 2.0) has given us a golden opportunity to realize our collaborative dreams.

Using Web 2.0 spaces like Wikispaces and Ning in the classroom invites others to participate in your class, not just the students on your roster. As the world evolves into a truly symbiotic network of individuals, our lives intersect more closely and it would be a crime to continue to isolate and shelter our students from this world. If we continue to lag behind the rest of the world in Web 2.0 participation, students will be schooled on places like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Places that have been deemed inappropriate for school actually are places that “teach” kids a lot of things.

For one, it is the 21st Century way to network. Being on a college campus recently I observed students meet and network asking for each other information. They did not ask for a phone number or email. They simply said, “Oh, you should facebook me.”

Using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and cell phones as educational tools are one of the driving forces behind the Flat Classroom Project. They seek to find ways to include students and technology to make education holistic and constructivist.






Here are some of my ideas of how to use facebook, myspace and twitter in the classroom....

1. Use Twitter as a way to summarize chapters in a book. Imagine all the “twitter book reports” you’d get. I’d love to see a kid condense Crime and Punishment into a blog post in 140 characters or less. Those kids would go to college for sure!
2. Make students make facebook apps that quiz you on different content area subjects. At the end of each correct answer, you can get a “facebook” prize to post on your profile.
3. Use MySpace to stream student projects, i.e. digital movies made on iMovie or Windows Movie Maker that discuss student identity, experience and opinion.
4. Students can use cell phone cameras to record results in a science experiment. They then use the images for a lab report and follow up video documentary/blog post.
5. Use of cell phone contacts as a way to distribute homework assignments.