The Wikiness

In September last year I championed Juliette LaMontagne‘s championing of the mobile phone in the classroom. Now school districts in places like Ohio are getting smart with smart phones.

These 1:1 handheld computers –smart phone or ipod touches too– (averaging around $100 to districts) reduce the “digital divide,” provide for quick and easy RTI acounting, make the schooling “greener,” make students feel motivated, can be used across the disciplines, and (most exciting to me) let students collaborate with students around the planet.

For K-12 districts, a revenue stream boom is possible, perceived and described by an excited administrator, Mike Toschi, the director of technology services for the Southgate (Mich.) Community Schools:

Toschi envisions creating a new high school course in multimedia creation that would attract students interested in graphic arts, computer programming and teaching. As part of the curriculum, the class would create new mobile learning games for the district’s elementary students. “It’s going to be gigantic, because we’ll be developing custom software by our students for our students,” Toschi says. “And we won’t have to pay for it.”

I love that sort of edupreneurial thinking!