Polling and texting

When I took the poll, my initial reaction and response to cellphones in teaching was "not likely at all".

Currently, I do give my cell phone # to students so they may contact me. In nursing we attend "clinicals" in hospitals, and since these sites are off campus students need to reach me if there is a problem. Normally they are quite surprised when I tell them to text me- they say "You text?"

I think part of my initial 'no' response was due to the amount of time I have spent trying to get students off of their smart phones in class. But the more I think about it, allowing their use in class in this manner may actually decrease their personal usage.

As far as this assignment, I have now changed my response to "very likely". I do see the value in polling with students whether it be via a smart phone or other method. I have used clickers in a f2f class and texting can equate to those.

Polls/texting lets you know what the students are thinking right now. They can bring interactivity into the classroom.They can also increase participation, encourage risk taking with anonymous responses, and grab students attention with thought provoking opening questions.