Mobile Learning Summit II

A week ago today I attended the NYSCATE and LHRIC Mobile Learning Summit II in Westchester County. The crowd was energetic and listened to keynote presentations by Richard Culatta, USDOE and Travis Allen, iSchool. Check out the Twitter Hashtag #mobilesummt12 for the chatter during the day. I want to thank two Shift Shapers from the LHRIC that really pulled the day together, Sarah Martabano (Distance Learning/Videoconferencing Coordinator) and Leslie Accardo (Model Schools Core Coordinator). Leslie Accardo greeted the presenters before the Summit started, and unfortunately I missed the greeting because I was sitting in traffic in the pouring rain.  But that didn't matter. She met me and got me settled in the Spruce Room at the Edith B. Macy Conference Center. Sarah Martabano was terrific as the MC and introduced Mr. Culatta to kick off the day talking about Designing Mobile Learning: Personal, Portable & Engaging, and Mr. Allen to wrap it up with a presentation on Becoming a Mobile Learner.

During the three break-out sessions, presenters shared information about iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, BYOD, Verizon Wireless, the impact of mobile learning, and student devices in the SMART classroom.  I had the privilege of presenting two sessions. The first session was Nook Colors in the Classroom and second session was Implementing an eReader: Players, Policy, Purchase, Planning, Process, and Pedagogy. Three Shape Shifters from the Highland Falls - Fort Montgomery CSD joined me via Skype for the first session. Phil Yosso, High School English Department Chair, connected first. Mr. Yosso shared how he has been using Nook Colors with the students in the 12th grade English classes. A year ago we launched a 1:1 initiative with Nook Colors for the Seniors, and Mr. Yosso has has embraced the move to mobility and accessibility. While each Nook is preloaded with 108 titles that are in the public domain, the real heart of the class is launched from his teacher webpage. For each unit of study, Mr. Yosso updates the webpage with related multi-media resources. Mr. Yosso toured the session participants through his webpage and talked about how the students interact with the content via the devices. Next I was joined by Kristen Magyar, Instructional Technology Coach, and Sandra Doller, K-3 ESL Teacher. Mrs. Magyar and Ms. Doller have just started using the Nook Colors with the K-2 ESL students. Their discussion started with an explanation of how they introduced the responsible use of the devices to the students and how they are able to differentiate content, instructional strategies, and assessment by using different stories and applications. The participants asked many questions related to the teachers' efforts and were delighted to learn about the strategies for deploying, managing, and utilizing Nook Color in the Classroom.

Join me next week and I will share how we began our 1:1 initiative with Nook Colors.