Most of my classes I teach, web design & App Design, need smart phones to understand the ways of Apps in order to design correctly for them, and to see how a web site works on a desktop browser compared to a smart phone.

I've thought for a while now that a great solution to the absurd cost of physical textbooks would be to include an iPad or Kindle with student tuition and load it with ebook versions of all of their textbooks for their given program. This should be done at a fraction of the cost of traditional printed textbooks.

I am not only a student of technology but I teach it as well. I am currently in the last stages of my doctorate in computer science in emerging media. But I am also a high school and college teacher of digital video productions. Even with my educational level, I find that my digital native students teach me something everyday. It is so important as teachers that we incorporate technology into our teaching, if only to keep up with our students and keep them actively involved. I work with many "older" teacher who believe that the lecture is still the way to teach. As I believe that there is much to be gained by a good lecture, if we do not add multi media into the lesson plan we will begin to lose the students attention and eventually the student. Our jobs as teachers it to engage. Our students live to their technology. This is how we will connect.

I show the students the good, the bad the ugly.

How can we tell when the students are using the phones for the good of education.

Do we let the students use the smart phones, in class?

An important consideration to any of the suggestions in this module is whether or not you are allowed to use 3rd party websites. Some schools only allow approve sites to be used in the curriculum, which means you may not be able to have your students use GoogleDrive or other sites that require them to create a login. The same is true if you are looking to create a wiki, blog, or other information sharing site. Check with your IT and academic departments to make sure there are no policies that would prohibit this.

We are considering supplying the students with electronic devices (IE. Tablets) and going to EBooks, does anyone have any advice on doing this, pro's and con's?

Any ideas on how to get the student to use discussion groups without requiring a number of posts. I find that when you require a number of replies, it becomes just that, a chore for the student to accomplish.

Does anyone have any ideas on the use of smart phones in class. We normally restrict the students from even having their phones out during class time, and I'm trying to give them opportunities to actually use the phones.

I have found it works best for me if I set up my power point presentations with very little text. I like slides with pictures and diagrams that I can talk about. You can include an outline as a guide so you remember what you need to discuss with the students regarding each slide, and offer the notes to the students in a printed form if you like. This way you'll avoid simply reading the notes to your students and putting them to sleep. It does require that you know the information inside and out, because you can never tell what questions your students will ask you.

Technology does enhance learning and helps students stay engaged.

I like these for the reason that they are hassle-free for the instructor. I don't use them because they are hard to proctor, they become open internet browser tests. I am finding that I still prefer to hand out my printed tests and quizzes and collect and grade them myself although the "times they are a changin'" as Bob Dylan once said.

I think the students that I teach are on their phones so much already, I am not sure I want to encourage them to be on them even more. I do understand how it could benefit a classroom situation but having something class related like that, almost gives them free reign to use their phones whenever and however they want during class.

Boy, I must be way behind the curve, I use power point and my knowledge of the subject to engage the student. It requires a lot of energy but I love what I do. Things like Google Apps and wikispace are things I am going to have to learn more about...very interesting!

Comparing and Contrasting PowerPoint and Prezis, which one is considered to be better?

I would like to discuss the pros ad cons of Technology Integration in the classroom. I have had positive and negative experiences utilizing technology in the classroom. What are your thoughts on this?

A very important consideration PRIOR to utilizing social media is to discuss proper online etiquette. Doing so up front should prevent issues later. Controversial topics can lead to heated discussions and/or flaming. Below is a good list of core rules. http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

The sharing of technology can hurt the profit margin of many creative enterprises. Millenials tend to expect forms of entertainment like music to be free of charge.

Rather than preparing a powerpoint that displays images and bullet points about a specific piece of software, it is more advisable to just use the software itself during class and have students watch as the instructor works through scenarios. Agree or disagree?