This post is written by member Claire Lutkewitte.
In a multiyear study on students’ mobile learning practices at the University of Central Florida, researchers determined that ownership of mobile devices continues to rise among college students and that in order for instructors to incorporate mobile devices in their classrooms in meaningful ways, they will need more pedagogical support. While the study discussed pedagogical support in terms of training and professional development courses, pedagogical support can take many different forms, including resource books. Mobile Technologies and the Writing Classroom: Resources for Teachers is one such resource book.
The book provides assignments and activities that writing instructors can use in their classrooms to engage students in a variety of ways. Whether instructors are new to using mobile technologies or not, there are assignments and activities for all kinds of writing classrooms, from online classrooms to hybrid classrooms. The book specifically features assignments about mobile technologies, where students engage in discussions and writing activities about the impact of mobile technologies and assignments for mobile technologies, where students get out of the classroom and compose on location using a mobile device.
Each chapter in the book provides examples of what instructors can do in terms of assignments and activities as well as student examples that demonstrate the outcomes of these assignments and activities. The goal of the book is to provide pedagogical support but also to provide a much needed resource for instructors who recognize that mobile devices can play an important role in our classrooms. It’s a starting point, but certainly not an ending point. As mobile technologies evolve and students use them more and more to complete their academic work, instructors will need more resources and support like Mobile Technologies and the Writing Classroom: Resources for Teachers.
Claire Lutkewitte, PhD, NCTE member since 2007, is an associate professor at Nova Southeastern University, where she teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate writing courses.