Mobile phones in the training room have a really bad reputation. Whether it is managers keeping one eye on their blackberry or an advisor tapping out a sneaky text under the table, they are perceived as a source of distraction by most trainers.
Rather than imitating King Canute trying to turn back the tide, what can we do to harness this insatiable desire to communicate by handset?
Perhaps a High School in Tampa Bay can show us the way.
Some Tampa Bay high schools allow cell phones to be used in class – St. Petersburg Times
Recognising the potential of the technology in our pockets, they are encouraging the students to use their phones to research during class. The article reports an exchange in the classroom:
“I need at least three people who can get a signal in here,” Gould said to her advanced placement literature class. “We’re going to be studying the works of D.H. Lawrence, and I want you to find some things about him that you don’t already know.”
Nearly everyone whipped out a phone and began tapping away. Within moments, the teens were sharing their Internet discoveries.
“He lived during World War I.”
“He had relationships with men and women.”
“He lived the second half of his life in exile, considered a pornographer who had wasted his talents.”
This encounter is fascinating for two reasons:
Firstly, it highlights the change in emphasis from learners being consumers of facts and information delivered by the expert at the front to explorers seeking solutions and creating knowledge for themselves with the support of a skilled guide. Paul hinted at the significance of this in “When the brain goes off piste pt.2”
As the next generation enter the workplace, they have a different outlook, expectations and values more aligned with self discovery than reliance on an authority figure ‘telling’ them the truth.
Secondly, it highlights one way to keep many of our people engaged in an always on, wirelessly connected, social networked world that we now live in. The school, in the news story, encourage the students to use their phones to:
- research questions posed by teachers
- take pictures for projects
- calculate math problems
- check their teachers’ blogs
- take lecture notes
What’s the difference between taking notes on a pad with paper and writing a blog post?
What’s the difference between students asking questions in a group discussion and sending a tweet to their followers?
What’s the difference between participating in a group discussion and writing a message on a friends wall on Facebook?
Blended Learning has extended many face-2-face environments to allow learners to harness new technologies in a fabulous way but often this is outside the workshop environment or in a separate ‘systems’ session.
Social networking tools offer us a wonderful opportunity to harness our learners natural need to explore and collaborate within the workshop.
They have the technology and love using the tools.
How can we harness this to help them develop rather than ban them from doing what comes naturally?
projected mobile image by jisc_infonet texting businessman image by Joi
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2 Comments
Interesting take on the mobile phone issue.
Especially when the topic is information gathering – rather than giving let them get.
Nice.
You are dead right Andrew – information gathering is probably the easiest and most relevant way to allow learners to use their mobile phones in the training room.
I had a brief exchange on twitter with @finiteattention about this where we agreed that the subject matter would also be signficant. Some topicslend themselves more easily to impromtu research than others.
I’ve done this when running induction course for new starters at a couple of the mobile phone companies, although this was a way of getting them familiar with the handsets! For example, on Day Two of a 3 week induction, we get them to text hints and tips to other teams and take photos of their work to send to each other.
Thaks for commenting and do come back and let us know how you get your learners to use their mobiles in your training room.
2 Trackbacks
"Please keep your phones ON!" @bftrainer on harnessing, not banning, people's relationship with their mobile devices: http://bit.ly/1BaKUS
"Please keep your phones ON!" @bftrainer on harnessing, not banning, people's relationship with their mobile devices: http://bit.ly/1BaKUS