Mobile phones and iPods make the news

Students make mobile phone news describes how pupils from Lilian Baylis Technology School in Lambeth, London used technology to create multimedia news stories as part of the BBC News School Report project. For example, the Year 8 pupils:

• researched news stories on the net amongst other sources
• wrote scripts to make their final reports more professional sounding
• conducted interviews with each other
• took photos and recorded audio with their mobile phones and iPods
• transfered image and sound files to a single computer via bluetooth
• edited with Garageband.

By using their mobile phones, the pupils were all able to create content quickly and practise recording themselves at the same time. They could be creative as they were already familiar with the technology and boost their confidence ready for making the final version on the laptop.

Examples of the finished reports can be accessed from Lambeth City Learning Centre here. Abigail Norton, manager of the CLC who helped the students put their reports together is quoted as saying:

"Using mobile phones, and other technology, in the classroom makes students feel professional and encourages them to value their work. Lilian Baylis has rules about when students can and can't use their mobile phones, but some schools won't allow phones under any circumstances. It's great to be working with people who are keen to investigate the educational potential of hand-held devices."

The article certainly makes its case for using technology such as mobile phones and iPods to engage learners and enhance the curriculum. Arguably, these technologies could be as equally effective in the foreign languages classroom as in the aforementioned example. Should we however consider letting our pupils use their phones in this way or seek alternative ways for creating multimedia projects such as those above?

Comments

[Lynne]

Thanks for these links Joe. Have a lovely new Mac so going to see if it will talk to my phone via bluetooth and then onwards to pupils.

[Joe Dale]

Hi Lynne,

I wouldn't mind having a Mac myself so I could learn how to use Garageband and Comic Life. Tell us how you get on with using Bluetooth with it. That would be really interesting.