Eliminating the Zero!

[stacy_lambert]

At Callaghan College Wallsend Campus, we have a good BYOD program (bring your own device) with over 500 students with a registered BYOD (not including phones). However, students do not always bring them everyday for whatever reason. BUT - they all have a phone permanently attached to their hands/ears etc. There is a school rule that if the phone is being used for educational purposes, they can have it out in class, but if they are just sending Snapchats to each other, then no dice! We have been encouraging the use of the mobile app with them and although only in it's infancy, there are some surprising results. (Apart from their typing speed with two thumbs).

Activity on Canvas has increased incredibly overall – looking at our analytics. Submission rates for tasks have also increased. The good thing we have noticed is some of the students that generally hand in nothing or do not attempt any tasks (that minority of kids that we all have at some stage that are really hard to reach) are actually having a go - all be it a small one. Our 'non-awards' have decreased, some students are actually getting an E or D grade, which sounds like our expectations are really low (this is not the case), but for some of these children, it's the best mark they have achieved in a while. We are actually thinking that maybe with some increased confidence for these students, they might eventually improve across a range of subjects and maybe begin to enjoy learning. We can only hope. The use of the mobile phone and an app may just be the beginning of the end for the ZERO.  @david_summervi1 ‌ #callaghancollegewallsendcampus‌