1 Why is it important to know how to manage mobile devices in the classroom?
Mobile devices can change a traditional classroom into a more dynamic working space. When used effectively, they can increase and maintain your learners’ interest during class. And if you get your learners to move around with their devices, either in the classroom itself or around the school, the learning space itself is transformed, stretching out beyond the classroom walls. Knowing how to manage these changed dynamics and spaces effectively is an important teacher skill, and one for which we may not necessarily have received any training.
2 How can I stop my learners sitting alone in class and staring at their mobile device screens?
Learners sitting alone in class hunched over their individual devices is arguably not very conducive to language learning! The solution is three words: effective task design. We need to encourage interaction between the learners, in situations where they need to use English to communicate. To ensure that you have interaction and communication while your learners are using their mobile devices, encourage pair- and groupwork.
3 But what if not all my learners have devices?
This is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be effective to have one device (phone or tablet) per pair of learners, so that they work together on activities and tasks. With well-designed tasks, groupwork can also encourage the learners to interact with each other. For example, an activity in which groups of three learners, with one tablet per group, create a video tour of their school would require interaction with each other. Remember that the small screen size of mobile phones is more suited to pairwork, especially in tasks where both learners need to see one phone screen clearly. On the other hand, three learners sitting close together can probably all see a single tablet screen. If the groups are bigger (four to five learners), then ideally they should have at least two phones or two tablets per group.
4 Can you give me an example of a task that involves movement?
A treasure hunt activity that gets the learners out of the classroom with their mobile devices, looking for or collecting information, is a good example. Here’s a very simple activity that can be carried out with low-level learners: Create a list of objects that your learners need to find and photograph around the school. You could link your list of things to vocabulary or structures recently covered in class. For example, ask them to find and photograph objects with colours (eg Find something blue, Find something yellow, etc). Or you could make it more complex by combining colours and clothes (eg Find a blue shirt, Find some black trousers). Or give your learners a list of tasks to carry out in English, and tell them to audio record their questions and answers on the devices (eg Ask the receptionist when her birthday is, Ask the director of studies what her three favourite hobbies are). You’ll find a detailed description of a treasure hunt activity that includes a variety of task types for learners on my blog at www.emoderationskills.com/qr-codes-a-treasure-hunt/.
5 What management issues do I need to keep in mind with this kind of activity?
For treasure hunt activities, make sure that you get permission in advance for your learners to move around the school from your school director. Ask the learners to work in pairs with slightly different treasure hunts, so that they are directed to different places in the school and don’t move around in large noisy groups. Ensure that you give a clear time limit for the activity (eg ten minutes). Ask the learners to set the alarm or timer on their devices to ten minutes when they start the activity. When the alarm or timer rings, they need to come back to class.
You can avoid your learners getting distracted by their devices by giving clear time limits for activities, and by designing engaging activities that involve a certain amount of challenge. A well-designed treasure hunt can fit the bill nicely!
Nicky Hockly has been involved in EFL teaching and teacher training since 1987. She is Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E, an online teacher training and development consultancy, and she is the prize-winning author of several books about language teaching and technology. The Consultants-E (www.theconsultants-e.com) offers online educational technology training courses for English language teachers, including a new two-week ‘Going mobile’ course.
