mobile phones in the classroom?

We were asked to participate in a group wiki where the question was posed should mobile phones be used as a teaching aid in the classroom.  We were required to use the 6 thinking hats in order to assess the topic.  I had never used the 6 thinking hats before and I found it very useful, it made me think about all of the possibilities, what I do know and what I need to know.  I found it made me think about parts of the question that I may have otherwise not considered.

I feel that the mobile phones wiki covered several of the learning theories. 

Cognitivism was present as what we were visualising on the screen was being processed through our working memory and whether or not we perceived it to be important or relevant it was stored in our long term memory.  This activity made me really think about the theories behind the question.

Constructivism could be seen as we were working in groups, all adding our thoughts and ideas and reading each others responses.  Reading what other people had posted gave me a different perspective.

Connectivism was the back bone of this task!  We were learning with computers, connecting all of our information in the one source.

I found this activity really interesting, I enjoyed participating and putting forward my opinions and thoughts.  Being an external student I found it very helpful to be able to connect to my peers in this way.  The only thing that I found an issue was that many people had already commented by the time I got to the wiki and many of my thoughts were already present.  I did feel a little frustrated that I didn't have anything new to add.  This did force me to think further and attempt to come up with new ideas.

The design of this wiki forced people to think about all of the possibilities rather than their initial reaction.  This was a great group activity and something that I could use in the classroom.  It could be performed using different analytical tools.  It is a great way for the teacher to see everyone participating, even students that might normally be hesitant to put forth their opinion in a traditional classroom situation.