Ubiquity-PBL+Essential+Learning+Functions

 Portable Computing Devices Mobile Phones Wireless Internet Web-based Mail and Instant Messaging Portable Productivity (Google Docs, Zoho Suite, the soon-to-be-released Google Wave, et cetera)

These are the categories as outlined in the [|book]. In the year since the book was published these categories have been merged into "[|Web Convergence Devices]." While these devices don't replace a full computer connected to the internet, they do however meet the [|majority of needs] people have for being connected.

With this technology literally in the hands of our students at almost all times, possibly not while sleeping- but not probably, we must harness the potential that they represent. It has now been 2 years since this book was published and cell phones have even more capabilities than before. With the advent of Smart Phones, and with more and more students owning Smart Phones, students have access to the web and applications at all times. Since students have this technology and use this technology, why not incorporate this technology into the classroom? Here is a [|great article about using Twitter] in the classroom. This is a viable way to incorporate something students already do into a classroom setting.

As educators, we should be instructing and guiding our students more and more in using Portable Productivity tools (i.e. Google Docs). These tools allow students to have access to all of their created materials at virtually any moment. Students can also share and collaborate on documents and projects. If students have access to academic information, the ability to collaborate, and a forum to ask questions and this access is available at their fingertips (from their cell phone), it can help students see education not just as something that happens in school between 7am and 2pm, but education and learning can be available on their terms - any time of the day.

How do these work in a classroom environment; furthermore, what is the response of K-12 institutions on their educational applications.

 As elementary school teachers, we're thinking about how the ubiquity of technology tools applies to our learners. For sure it promotes learning outside the walls of our school and becoming life-long learners. By extending communication among students outside of our classrooms, projects and learning become a self-perpetuating entity and more relevant to our kids' lives. As kids make connections to the learning that's going on outside of school, they can find ways to become teachers themselves and share the information. A critical element is students must feel compelled to do this -- perhaps inspired by fellow students, teachers, family and community members. For example, when kids are on summer vacation and they find something incredible, they have a spot to upload pictures. Other kids/teachers can view and learn. Another idea would be to set up a classroom blog in which outside of class, students could communicate with each other. At the middle and high school, the potential for the power of this ubiquity is exponential.