Teach42

Shortly before NECC, I had a tough decision to make. I was ready to upgrade my mobile phone and had narrowed it down to two choices: the iPhone 3G and the Nokia N95. Both have their pros and cons when compared to each other, but I decided to go with the N95 for two reasons. The first is that it has an incredible high quality camera that takes phenomenal video, which is definitely something I’m very interested in right now. The second reason is that having been around for about a year and running the Symbian 60 operating system, it is very well developed and had a slew of applications built for it. I know, I know, the iPhone didn’t take long to catch up, but that’s why I decided to go with the N95.

The lack of keyboard was the only real buzzkill to me, and to be honest, I thought that might have been a deal breaker. But here I am, months later, and at this point I dare say that this is by far the best phone I have ever used. And when I think about how it could be used by teachers and students? Well, I have to admit, I get a little giddy. So let’s explore a little bit. Let’s take a look at some of the things this amazing device can do and brainstorm a bit about how it could be used educationally. Yes, I know your school has a policy against cell phones. Yes, I know they can be used to send text messages and be distracting. And yet, if we just suspend our disbelief for a few minutes and say, “What if we actually gave it a shot…” Well, I think you’ll start to see some possibilities.

Specs
Real quick, before we get into the details, let me give you the run down on the phone itself. It’s a Nokia N95-3, which means that it isn’t the latest version. The newest one has 8GB of memory built in, but no memory card slot. Mine has a MicroSD slot, which in theory can support up to 12GB, but I only have a 4GB card in it. It has a 5megapixel camera on it. Yes, you heard me. 5 whopping megapixels. It takes video in 640×480 which looks simply amazing on a computer. Definitely one of the high points of the camera. It also has a camera on the front of the phone, so you can see your own face in the screen while your recording/broadcasting. That camera is only 1 megapixel though. Great for video conferencing, if American cell companies would support it! It has a built in GPS, decent looking screen and a standard headphone jack that doubles as video out. It connects to… well, everything. It has a standard mini-usb port, Bluetooth, Infrared and even WiFi. It features a double slider, meaning it can slide both up and down. Sliding down reveals the standard phone keypad, sliding up reveals media buttons and switches the phone into landscape mode. In theory, it’s better that way for watching media. I’ve watched one movie so far and it was ok I guess, but I rarely put it into that mode (except for web browsing at times).

Browser
Obviously the phone is connected to the internet. In fact, it’s connected at 3.5G. I’m not sure if that’s .5 faster than the 3G iPhone, but it sounds neat. It comes with a browser that’s adequate, but both Opera and Firefox make mobile browsers that I like quite a bit better. I should point out that it’s a full html browser. That means you’re looking at REAL web pages, not mobile/wap versions. As you can see, it renders them pretty darn well. No, it’s not nearly as nice as the iPhone’s browser, but I have had no problem at all scrolling around pages and surfing like I normally would. Firefox loads pages quickly and is easy to navigate around in.

Typically when talking about accessing the internet, I’d throw out a list of mobile websites that students could use to enhance classroom experiences. I won’t do that here. Why? Because they can go to ANY website using the N95. Sure, a few flash sites don’t work, but 99% of the sites I’ve navigated too have loaded just fine. With a flip of the slider, you can switch into landscape mode see even more real estate. Works like a charm.

Google Maps
Like many phones, I am able to load up a mobile version of Google Maps that rivals the online version. In fact, GMaps will tap into the phone’s GPS and use it to figure out where you are! However, what I really love is the ability to switch into satellite view. By doing that, you can really mimic Google Earth in many ways. Get a geographic perspective of whatever your studying. For example, let’s say you were discussing the Statue of Liberty and you mentioned that one of the architects also designed the Eiffel Tower. A student who didn’t know what the Eiffel Tower was could take out their cell phone, pull up Google Maps, and quickly find out that it’s a monument in France, switch to satellite view and get a good look at it in its actually setting. Check out the screencap below for an example of how it looks on the N95.

While it may not be critical for eduction that it does so, it’s rather nice that Google Maps will tap into the phone’s GPS as well, getting a fix on your current location for things like regional searches and directions. Nice touch, but I’m not sure how that figures into education. Offhand, I’d say Geocacheing, but as you’ll see we can do WAY better than that.

GeoCaching
I hadn’t really thought of this phone as a GeoCaching device until I went to the DEN National Institute this summer. Bridget Belardi was doing some ‘caching with attendees and I realized that since the phone had a GPS, maybe I could find a map program that would work. Lucky me, I found WAY more than that. GeoCache Navigator is an incredibly well developed application that has everything you need to get rolling.

Once you load up the application, you can search for caches nearby your current location, or search by address, zip code, or cache code (from GeoCaching.com). It will pull up a list of caches nearby, tell you how far away you are and what direction they’re in. Very convenient for spontaneous caching. Then, it provides you with a compass, maps, full text information about the cache, and even access to hints and logs if you need a little help. Once you find the cache, you can log it directly from your phone. I’ve done about 4 caches using this device love how easy it is to do on the fly. No prep needed, if you have the time you can do a cache. The program itself is compatible with a pretty fair number of phones and is either free or available for a low cost (depending on phone and service).

Live Broadcasting
Anybody who has visited this blog in the last few months knows that I’m big on live broadcasting right now. I think it’s absolutely amazing that via a mobile device I can broadcast just like I could with something like uStream.tv. Oh yeah, except no wires, no computers, no browser needed. My site of choice right now is Qik.com. It automatically archives it, announces live streams over a variety of sites, and even permits two way chat during broadcasts. It also does an incredible job of making sure the final recording is clean, even if the live connection is flaky. While there are plenty of other sites that are offering similar services, Qik has won me over for right now at least! It works with most Nokia phones, a handful of Windows Mobile devices and even supports jailbroken iPhones.

So why would you want this for education? A few reasons come to mind. First of all, after the lesson is done and you’re reflecting on what the class has learned, you can share the learning with parents, the community or even the world. Students can quickly and easily present for an authentic audience, and have records of it to share on their blogs or the classroom website. When a particular student does something incredible, they can share it with their parents in real time. Assemblies, sporting events, speeches, can all be shared with people who aren’t able to be there, but AS it happens instead of days or weeks later. It could also be used to bring guests into the classroom from remote locations across virtually any distance. Student weather reporters can actually do their reports from outside! Quite simply, it opens up a new world of opportunities for us to explore with students. How will it actually be used in classrooms? I don’t know. Maybe you’ll tell me.

One thing to note: Some people might say that this is pretty scary stuff. Broadcasting live video with students? What if something happens or some student abuses the privilege and does something horrible with it? In my opinion, that’s precisely WHY educators need to be leaders in this arena. Students WILL be using this technology, and likely without ethics, morality, forethought or good judgement. But where are they supposed to learn that stuff if not in school? We need to make sure that they have the skills, knowledge, and understanding to use these tools appropriately. After all, even members of Congress are using it!

Music
Obviously many mobile phones make great MP3 players. Most have the ability to record as well. So if a music teacher wanted to provide students with a copy of the song they’ll be playing or singing, and have students record themselves at home rehearsing, that’d be easy enough to do. Or you could even have students use their phone to record them playing so you could SEE what they’re doing as well. But then there are other applications that can support music instruction in different ways. For example, I found an application called Chords. You put in the key and the fret position you want and it’ll show you where to put your fingers on the guitar! Nothing too fancy, but it fills a need.

There’s also a drum machine application that looks promising but I haven’t tried out yet. Or if you just need a little help staying on rhythm, maybe using your phone as metronome would be music to your ears (pun intended).

Astronomy
I’ve always been an astronomy buff, but I’ll be honest… Most of the constellations look pretty similar to me. Hard to pick them out in the sky, especially when I don’t know which are SUPPOSED to be above me at any given time. That’s why I love MicroSky so much. It’s a planetarium in your pocket! It can use the GPS to figure out where you are and based on the time and date, display to you what constellations will be directly over head. You can also look up any other celestial bodies that may be of interest to you, whether it be stars, suns, planets, or galaxies. Truly an incredible application that is a no-brainer for all star gazers, whether their unpacking their first telescopes or are seasoned astronomers.

Second Life
Seriously? Second Life via mobile phone? Yeah, that’s right. I wouldn’t say that it’s exactly ideal, but it seriously does work! Using an application called Vollee, you can actually log into Second Life as your avatar on your cell phone, navigate around, and even fly! Yes, you can chat with people in world, but it’s tough because you have to open up window that covers up your view of SL. Additionally, it’s a little pokey. Hardly a surprise considering the graphics that it’s funneling, but just something to be aware of. Regardless, while I’d hardly say that this is an ideal way to experience Second Life, it’s pretty darn impressive that you can. This short video was my avatar wandering around one of the locations Riptide used in his photography class.

Fitness
This is one of those applications that simply blows me away. Nokia Beta Labs released a program called Sports Tracker, an unbelievable application that tracks your fitness activities, both on the phone and online. You switch it on when you begin your workout and then it uses the GPS to track your speed, elevation, laps (it figures those out based on your route) and more. It’ll give you averages, charts, and just about any information you could possibly want except heart rate. Needs bluetooth heart monitor integration I guess for the next version.

Once you’ve finished your workout, you can upload that data to the Sports Tracker site and review it all online. It plots out your route on a Google Map, marking off your fastest and slowest points, the elevation and more. You can take that map and link to it, print it out, or export it to Google Earth! The icing on the cake here is that if you take any movies or photos while being tracked, when you complete your workout the phone will scan your media, recognize that you took some pictures and upload them to the server. Since it geocodes everything it records,they’ll show up on the map in the correct place when you view your workout. Love that feature.

Do I envision schools providing GPS enabled cell phones to their students to keep track of them during gym class? Of course not. However, if a student DOES have a GPS enable cell phone, why wouldn’t we help show them how to make the most of it? Just imagine high school track coaches having access to this? Or for physical fitness challenges? Why not create a bulletin board or website for students to share their favorite jogging/biking routes, if for no other reason than to encourage physical activity? Hey, if you think it’s cool, I’m thinking your students will too. And I sure as heck do.

Mobile Hotspot
I don’t know about your school, but at the school I worked at there were a few corners of the building that didn’t have WiFi. Additionally, the grounds outside the school were WiFi free. While it didn’t come up every day, there were several situations when it would have been really handy to have a few laptops with WiFi available for students to use in some of those dead zones. One situation I remember was during dress rehearsal week for the school play. Students were out of classes the entire day, but sometimes they had 20-40 minutes free to work on homework. However, no WiFi was available unless we did a crazy series of bridged routers, which was a pain to set up.

Well, since the N95 has a 3.5G connection as well as WiFi, there are a couple of applications that will create mobile hotspots bridging the two together! With just a couple of clicks, you create your own WiFi network (password protected if you like) and then any computers nearby can see it and connect to it. Speed wise, it’s about comparable to a cable modem. Obviously the more people that connect to it, the slower it’ll go. But I found it plenty fast for myself. I’ve used two different programs, JoikuSpot and Walking HotSpot, but found that the latter has worked much more reliably. Either way, being able to connect a handful of laptops to the internet through your cell phone without any extra charges is a pretty sweet little trick to keep in your back pocket.

Teaching with a Cell Phone
Of course, as anybody who has ever done a cell phone presentation knows, it’s awfully difficult to share what’s happening on your screen with the rest of the class. That’s where applications like Mobiola Remote Control come in handy. it’s what I’ve been using to take these screenshots and create the movies. By loading up the program and connecting to my PC (Via USB, Bluetooth or even WiFi!), I can see on my computer screen everything that’s on my cell phone screen. I can take screenshots, record videos, or zoom in on the image full screen so everybody can see it easily. I’ve read that you can even load it up as a virtual webcam so you can share what’s on your cell phone screen via sites like uStream, Yahoo Chat or Skype, but I haven’t tried that just yet. It works incredibly well, and if you present with cell phones or intend to use them with your students, I highly recommend it. Well worth the cost.

Wrapup
I think that’s enough of a taste for right now. But what’s really amazing to me is just how much I’ve left off. For example I didn’t mention that ALL photos that you take are automatically geotagged. And that it has built in support for sites like Flickr so you can share your photos there. I also didn’t really talk about the fact that there’s a native YouTube client, so you can both watch and share videos through there. And this phone takes phenomenal videos and photos! The 5 megapixel camera on it is almost as good as my current camera! I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you can sync it up with your Google email and calendar, or just about any other mail or calendar application you have. It makes a great media player and will also support instant messaging, like Yahoo and AIM. Seriously, the list of what I love about this phone goes on and on and on. Battery life is awful, but what’re you gonna do? Some sacrifices must be made. I bought myself a second battery to keep handy.

Seriously though… The best part about this all is that while I’m thrilled with this specific phone, all of those features will be commonplace within a couple of years. None of these things will be unusual anymore, and the majority of your students will have access to them. And when that happens, will you be fighting their enthusiasm or leveraging it? I hope that you see some potential and find ways to harness it for your own educational setting.

Disclaimer
I bought my phone off of Craiglist. Any commercial software you see here I bought myself. No handouts, no paid endorsements. I’m just a fan and evangelist. I happen to be using the Nokia N95 and recommend it highly. However, that being said, there are many other phones that will allow you to do the exact same things. So use what ya got!

I was recently invited by Nokia to participate in their Open Lab. I have no idea why they invited me, but they did not ask me to write this post, nor even know that I was doing so. In fact, they’ve loaned me a phone to try out that I didn’t even mention here because I don’t have enough time on it yet to discuss it with any authority.

And that’s all I gotta say about that!

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