Cell phones are remarkable devices that put the world in the palm of your hand, so it’s no wonder they also function as teaching tools. Whether you need to look up a word you’ve never heard before or do some quick research on a puzzling subject, cell phones can help. When it comes to a handheld education, here are seven amazing ways cell phones can foster learning both in and out of the classroom.

 

Collaboration Made Easy

Image via Flickr by Garry Knight

Nowhere is the potential for cell phones to foster learning greater than in the classroom. Whether it’s middle school, high school, or beyond, cell phones are helping students collaborate easier, which helps increase learning potential.

Students can send reminder texts about homework assignments and due dates while also collaborating on group projects over the phone. Cell phones are helping eager students broaden their horizons by learning from one another. This type of collaboration also strengthens real world communication skills.

 

Learning Apps

Apps are taking the teaching world by storm by making learning fun and tech-savvy. There are thousands of learning apps on the market that teach everything from foreign languages, like the Course123 app, to algebra, like the Math Duel and Learn Algebra apps.

There are even cell phone apps that can help students with their homework assignments. For example, the Brainly app allows middle and high school students to post course-specific homework questions to a social network of educators who can help guide them to the right answer.

 

Resources Available Anywhere

Gone are the days when eager learners had to flock to the school library to research projects and complete assignments. Equipped with the all-encompassing power of a cell phone, students have a comprehensive library of information at their fingertips.

Whether a college student is trying to complete field research for a term paper or a middle school student needs to find facts on the Middle Ages, cell phones and new Android devices can help. In addition, search engines like Google help steer students towards authoritative, cell phone-friendly academic sites.

 

Reading and Comprehension Skills

When students are comfortable with the method of teaching, they are more likely to retain knowledge. Students are inherently more comfortable with their cell phones than with outdated textbooks, which increases reading and comprehension skills.

Not only can students navigate their cell phones easier than other teaching materials, they’re also more likely to use their cell phones for research and reading purposes.

 

Brain Exercising Apps

Thanks to brain exercising apps, cell phones are helping everyone with a handheld device improve their learning skills. Keeping your mind sharp is the best way to retain information and increase comprehension skills; apps like Lumosity and Fit Brains Trainer can help you do just that.

There are also memory-specific apps like Little Things Forever that can help jog your memory and improve your information retention. These apps in combination with logic game apps are fostering learning in students of all ages.

 

Digital Literacy

Students who better understand computer technology are more likely to succeed in the real world. This is especially the case considering more and more businesses are hiring tech-savvy candidates over digitally illiterate ones.

From navigating the internet with a handheld device to understanding key commands in different software programs, cell phones help develop digital literacy. Digital literacy not only helps students throughout their school years, it also leads to a wider range of learning possibilities in the future.

 

Teachers On-Demand

Cell phones are great social tools, but they’re also great social learning tools when used in an academic environment. Cell phones allow teachers to better communicate with students by creating an open forum outside of the classroom.

Teachers can text students homework reminders, send cell phone-friendly PDF reading materials, and even update the entire class’s calendar via Google calendars. In other words, cell phones are making teacher and student communication easier, which does wonders for learning.

From improved collaboration to educational apps, it’s plain to see that cell phones can and do foster learning.