In this age of technology convergence, some clarifications are in order.   It would be very easy to alter the dynamics of this question by envisioning an iPod Touch as the iPod referenced.  It's flexible web and application capabilities would unfairly tip the scale in this question.  In the same vein, envisioning an iPhone as the cell phone referenced would drastically alter the nature of the question in the same way.  
In light of these issues, I intend to answer these questions with a simple, basic iPod and a simple, basic cell phone in mind.
When comparing and evaluating the instructional potential of devices, I look to the following criteria:
1. Is the device and any accompanying systems designed for reliable, easy use by the student and the teacher?
2.  Does the device and its accompanying systems operate in harmony  with and support fundamental  principles of learning?
3. Does the device have potential for effective use in a wide variety of applications and settings?
4. Is the cost of the device, any accompanying systems, and any ongoing services worth the expenditure?
5. Are there any negative implications or undesirable consequences associated with the use of the technology in question?


Clicker

I have personal experience with only two of the three items that are to be compared.  I have never used a clicker system either as a student or a teacher.  An examination of online documentation regarding the INTERWRITE PRS clickers (the ones that are commonly used on UN-L's campus) seems to indicate relatively durable and reliable designs.  Similar to common home entertainment remotes, the devices use either infrared or radio frequency communication with a receiving device.  I assume that UN-L's transition to the RF-based systems involves better non-line-of-sight performance when compared to the older IR systems.

The limited number of reviews of this system that I found online  do not bring doubt to my mind that the system works.  My biggest questions regarding ease of use would focus on the amount of time and level of teacher preparation necessary to utilize such a system.   Each of the following would likely involve a substantial investment of time and effort on the part of an instructor:

• Entry or importation of students into the management software.  
• Entry or importation of questions or other assessment content for display to the target audience.
• Distribution of the clicker transmitter units to students at the beginning of class.
• Keeping track of what transmitter corresponds with what students.  
• Collection of the devices at the end of class (and figuring out who didn't actually turn theirs back in).

Some of these downsides could be alleviated by the permanent assignment of transmitters to students or by requiring their individual purchase.  Students would be expected to bring the unit to class on a regular basis and therein lies the risk of not having the device available if the lesson depends upon it.

Battery life of these transmitters seems to be quite reasonable with an estimated span of about 20 weeks.  The devices use commercially available batteries that can be easily replaced.  The user interface of the student transmitter seems to be very straightforward and easy to use.  Once necessary student and content data is input, the system seems to be fairly user-friendly for the teacher as well.

iPod

Even Apple's lower-priced iPods are regularly hailed for their design and ease of use.  The accompanying iTunes is a free piece of Apple software that provides a intuitive way to search for and subscribe to podcast feeds of audio, video, and other formats. The software then automatically checks for newly published episodes and downloads them unassisted by the user.  This software also provides the means by which the user can group and manage their desired audio and video content into organizational units called playlists.   A single cable connected to a personal computer then allows the transfer of multimedia content to the ultra-portable device from the files in the users iTunes software.  This transfer takes place automatically when the iPod is connected to the user's computer, in accordance with parameters that the user has set.  The cable also provides a means by which the iPod is charged. Once this transfer and charging process is complete, the iPod can be untethered and is ultimately free to go wherever the user desires. The iPod's battery life is generally described in terms of hours of use before recharge is necessary.   The overall battery life of the device does degrade over time, are not readily available, and are difficult and expensive to replace.
Of the two lower-priced iPods, the Shuffle is designed to be ultimately simple and unobtrusive.  Barely the size of a matchbook, it has an extremely simple user interface with no display or visual feedback.  Control over the playback of content is very limited and is very linear.

The next item in the iPod line is the Nano.  Recently re-designed with a larger screen, the Nano is now quite a bit larger than before.  This has advantages and disadvantages.  The new design provides for easier to read control interface and easier to consume video content.  Bulk has inevitably been added, however.
The use of an iPod to download and consume instructional content assumes the existence of that content.   There is definitely a level of effort and knowledge that needs to be attained if an instructor is going to create and publish their own instructional content.  Once that level of expertise is achieved the process to make the content available to students is relatively painless.  Apple, Inc.'s iTunes U is a source of a wide variety of free, ready-made instructional content that ranges from kindergarten level material all the way up through advanced particle physics.  The task for the teacher here would be to locate the appropriate  artifacts and to provide students with appropriate direction to find it for themselves.

Cell Phone

Text-messaging capable cell phones are quite commonplace.  In/Out communication is conducted through wireless cellular phone networks.  While these networks are nearly ubiquitous, there are still places (even near relatively large cities) where geographic features cast doubt upon reliable connectivity.  While there are millions of people who successfully send and receive text messages, I (for one) can only receive them.  I've never been able to get one to send from my current phone.

Sending texts from a basic phone generally involves two thumbs keying in messages on a non-QWERTY keypad.  Multiple letters are assigned to each of the keys and as a result requires users to cycle through the options for each key until the desired character is selected.  While some experienced users can become very proficient at this form of communication, it is far from being naturally easy.

It is hard for me to imagine an interface that would allow an instructor to easily aggregate and manage the text messages from a large classroom's worth of cell phones.  There are some possibilities that web services like Twitter can offer to this challenge (which will be discussed later in this document).

Once we begin talking about smart phones with good quality web browsers on-board, we begin to see a different story.  The door would then be opened to an nearly unlimited world of interactive web-based forms and multimedia.  While standard cell phones are becoming increasingly capable of managing, sending, and receiving multimedia artifacts, it is generally a "view one at a time" proposition.   The lack of an effective user interface  limits ability to see connections and relationships. 

There are some situations where basic cell and satellite phones are being utilized in distance education in third-world countries.  I can see the usefulness of even low level communication in impoverished nations that have no other opportunities.  Use in an American classroom as a regularly used instructional tool?  I don't see that being worth the effort needed to overcome the hurdles of inconvenience that are  involved.   There just seems to be so many more accessible options to consider first.


Learning is the long term establishment of retrievable knowledge and reproducible skills within an individual's brain.  This is accomplished by repeatedly  exposing working memory to new information, experiences, and challenges in attentive, practiced, and evaluated use.

How do each of the devices in question stack up in their ability to expose the learner to "new information, experiences, and challenges in attentive, practiced, and evaluated use"?

Clicker

A clicker would most likely be utilized in the context of a group meeting.  It would likely be used to collect and aggregate responses to opinion or content-based questions as they are posed to the group by an instructor or instructors.

There are a couple of potential benefits produced by the use of clicker systems.  Attention and involvement on the part of the students has been shown to be enhanced.  In addition, instructors are able to modify and adapt instruction based on the assessment that student responses provide (Wood, 798).  The clicker has great potential for making a traditional instructional format (lecture) more interactive and powerful.

The classroom scenario is unfortunately the extent of the application.  The student can only use and benefit from the clicker system in that synchronous, co-located type of environment.   There is really no longer-term personal application or opportunity for use in individual practice.  There just isn't a "long range mode" where individuals in their homes could contribute responses to questions during a synchronous or asynchronous meeting at a distance.   This functionality, however, could be mimicked through a web-based browser/server system (but that would involve a different device).

Cell Phone.

A cell phone with text messaging could serve in somewhat the same role as a clicker.  As stated in the "design" portion of this question, while it might be difficult to aggregate the responses (using this technology, collection would be easy--aggregation and processing difficult), cell phones COULD be used to solicit responses from members of a large group.   In this functionality, the text messaging cell phone is actually superior to the clicker in that the interactive session is not restricted to a face to face classroom.  A teacher could send a text message out to all of her students during an evening when her students are supposed to be working on a particular set of homework problems.   This message might ask a "check for understanding" question that solicits feedback that might give the instructor a sense of her students' progress toward understanding of key concepts (Kharif, 2008).

Twitter is a SMS (text message) capable system in which each user is allowed posts containing content up to 140 characters in length.  The concept is to briefly answer the question:  "What am I doing?"  Other Twitter participants can choose to "follow" or subscribe to other individuals Twitter feeds.  A person can set up their Twitter account in such a way that posts may be both sent and received through text-messaging in a cell phone. 

I can envision an instructor encouraging her students to set up Twitter accounts, associate them with their phones' text messaging, and then having them subscribe to her feed.  The instructor could also subscribe to each of her students' feeds.  In the absence of other formats of communication, this could be a promising interface/mechanism for teachers to send out instructional inquiries and a way for students to send feedback easily to their teacher through their phones.  This could be done from wherever the individuals involved are located as long as they have cell or satellite coverage. 

While the cell phone's text messaging capability is a a significant enabler of two-way communication, ongoing self-directed practice opportunities seem to be a bit constrained.  The user of a cell phone can open the phone, select an artifact that has been received, and direct their attention to it.   The interfaces of basic cell phones do not generally facilitate the rapid switching to other content artifacts.   Automated playback or repeated playback is generally absent in phone interfaces as are methodologies for user-directed grouping or organization.

Multi-channel interaction with content is not really an option with a cell phone.  Textual content, audio content, and visual content are generally discrete and separated within the phone interface.  While some phones are capable of capturing, sending, and receiving video that contains audio, it is generally of such low quality that value is relatively limited.

As stated in the previous section, this interface and methodology might be of even more significant application in third world distance learning settings.  In the absence of other opportunities, the cell phone would likely be considered extremely valuable.
 
iPod.

An iPod has several ways in which it can be useful in learning.  Nearly all iPods have the capability to store and play both audio and video  files. This is the first of the three devices in question that can truly traffic in multimedia.   The clicker is purely geared toward feedback and response.  As stated previously the cell phone with messaging has the capability for pictures and text, but not generally simultaneously.  The iPod (that is, all current models except for the lowest cost Shuffle) has the ability to not only play audio wherever the learner wants to listen to it, but there is also the capability to simultaneously display text, graphics, or motion video on the (albeit small) screen.  Research has consistently shown that using multiple channels of input in learning is more effective than instructional content that relies on only one channel. 

Audio alone, however, has an advantage that should not be neglected or ignored.  One can listen to audio-based instructional content during other activities that might not fully demand all the "cycles" of one's brain.  Yard work, commuting, exercising, and other activities are all ones that can be successfully carried out while still giving a fairly significant amount of attention to listening to the instructional content.

One of the first educational applications that to come to educators' minds is "let's record my lecture and put it out for a podcast".  The next thing that comes to mind is "Eeek!  If my students can download a podcast of my class lectures, aren't they going to stop coming to class?"  If that is all that we have in mind for podcasting, we are definitely short-sighted.  A more effective strategy might be to expect students to listen to or view a pre-recorded podcast of the lecture before they arrive at class.  With this exposure to the background information already having taken place, class time is now available for more interactive discussions, questions, guided practice, or other checks for understanding.

Easy to use, and inexpensive technologies are now available that will take the text of an electronic document and convert it to an audio file of the document being read by a synthesized voice.  Some of these systems produce very high quality readings with excellent pronunciation.  These technologies can be used by the individual student  to convert documents that need to be read into audio files that can be listened to repeatedly or just a single time during exercise, chores, or commuting.  Literature, research documents, excerpts from textbooks could be listened to during time that might more likely be lost.
Long form audio and video on iPods are not the only options for learners use.  Imagine a very brief audio file containing:

• a native French speaker pronouncing a French vocabulary word
• a substantial pause (several seconds of wait time) in which the learner is given the opportunity to pronounce the word themselves
•  a repetition of native speaker pronouncing the word

Or:

• pronunciation of a spelling word
•  a substantial pause (several seconds of wait time) in which the learner is given the opportunity to pronounce the word themselves
• the spelling of the word is given

There are many different types of content that might be reviewed and practiced in this way.  Definitions of words in advanced vocabulary lists, symbols of elements from the periodic table followed by their names and atomic weights.   Questions such as: "State in your own words the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution".

Playlists of these different types of short audio files could be assembled and loaded onto iPods for repeated listening and practice.  They could be shuffled randomly for more challenging practice.  "Album art" that provides input to the visual sensory channel could be associated with each file for display on the iPod's screen when the file is being listened to.  A file format characterized as an "enhanced" podcast can also provide a visual channel as well as increased levels of user control through a "chapters" interface.

The main advantage to the iPod as an instructional tool is the potential for independent, anywhere, anytime practice that an individual could perform.  This would not be dependent upon a class meeting environment, upon the actions of an instructor, or the actions of a classmate.  As long as the individual is motivated enough to actively listen and attempt to retrieve the target concept from memory, there is real potential for long term learning.

Repeated listening and practiced retrieval may be criticized by some as being simply "rote memorization".  Perhaps.  I believe that this is an unfair characterization of the methodology.   This is a way for an individual learner to work repeatedly with information in manageable chunks that don't exceed the capabilities of their working memory while the processing necessary for movement into long term memory takes place.

A weakness of this strategy would be in regards to evaluation and feedback.  While the "answer" would be provided after the "thinking pause" it would still be up to the novice learner to evaluate if they had successfully performed the response.   On many iPods an add-on microphone (at a cost of less than $20) could be added that would allow responses to be recorded by the learner for later evaluation by an instructor or other expert.

The iPod and the accompanying podcast receiving and managing systems fall short in two-way communication capabilities that are very important in instructional settings.  While iPods might be used as part of another system of two-way communication (such as with the use of an add-on microphone), it would still be necessary to augment the device with the capabilities of an internet-connected computer.  Such connectivity would be needed for the student to sent messages or media artifacts back to the instructor.


When making a comparison between different technologies, I believe that there is a need to examine the range of potential uses.  If a financial expenditure is made on a form of instructional technology, I would expect it to be more than a "one trick pony" that offers only limited latitude in the different ways that it can be utilized.

Clicker

  As discussed earlier, the clickers are the weakest of the three in regards to variety of locations in which they can be used.   They are really only useful in the context of a classroom because of the close proximity needed for the operation of the system. 

As far as variety of uses there is a bit more of a range (largely dependent on the creativity of the instructor).  There are uses in a variety of group sizes when the instructor is checking for understanding or attempting to garner student opinions on various issues.  There are situations where students could lead their classmates in interactive sessions that emulate game-shows. 

While having potential for instruction at school, the basic premise of the clickers and the accompanying systems really make them useless during individual study sessions.   These personally directed study sessions are critically important to the learning process.  A clicker is really of no value whatsoever to a student studying by herself in her bedroom.

Cell Phone

Cell phones with text messaging are far on the other end of the spectrum in regards to variety of location.  Though "dead zones" exist in cell phone coverage, there are ever-growing expanses of real estate throughout the world that enjoy cell or satellite connectivity; even extraordinarily remote areas in third world countries(Comer & Wikle, 2008).  The cell phone's forte is the potential for two-way, back-and-forth communication which is not (like the clicker) restricted to a singe room and which is not (like the iPod) a only a one-way channel.  The globe can actually become an interactive, multicultural classroom (Islam & Doyle, 2008).

Instructional content can be delivered to students in various media formats through the cellphone network.   Students can submit artifacts back to instructors with the purpose of evaluation and feedback.  The cellphone and its instructional potential stays with the student and can be available to them anytime for individual study and review.  There is great potential here for a broad variety of applications.

While most standard cell phones can handle text, audio, and images, they are still weak in execution within this area of rich media and multimedia.  As stated previously, the limitations here are not so much in the ability to play or view, but in the level of the media's quality and in the interface through which the learner interacts with it.  Relatively low storage sizes on standard cell phones restrict the size, resolution, and quantity of the media files that can be stored.  The small size of display screens needed to make standard cell phones compact also limits the quality of the experience.  While the content of the cell phone can be accessed repeatedly for ongoing review, it is really not designed with this in mind as a primary purpose.

iPod

The iPod can be used in quite a large variety of locations.  Once the desired content has been synchronized with the iTunes software on the PC, a connection to the PC or any other system is not required.  With headphones or earbuds, the user can listen to and/or watch the media on the iPod wherever or whenever they desire.  If the media is audio only, there are even more opportunities.   Attention can be given to the audio of the media while commuting, exercising, household chores, or any other task that does not demand full attention to that channel.  The iPod has potential for application both within the confines of the school day as well as outside.

The easy-to-use interface and high-end media quality lay a firm foundation for a wide variety of different uses.  While the LCD screens on the standard iPods are generally quite small, their high-resolution makes the video channel quite practical to watch; even on such small screens.   The ability to easily navigate through available media files, the ability to easily develop custom organizational strategies by means of playlists, and the ability to choose to automate the repeated playback of files all make for a excellent user experience within the context of learning.

Teacher presentations on various content areas can be recorded and made available to students with the expectation that the students will give their attention to it before they come to class.  This enables the classroom instructional time to focus on more interactive activities such as discussions, guided practice, and simulations.

As long as it can be accessed in electronic form, tests, sections of textbooks, or other written content can easily be converted to audio files using Apple's new text-to-speech voice "Alex".   These files can then be moved onto an iPod for playback that is completely at the control of the user.  Special needs students would no longer need to have someone else read test questions to them during assessments;  they would be able to play back any part of the test as many times as the students needs.

Recorded audio "tours" of pieces of literature could be created by teachers and distributed to their students.  The tour could provide the students guidance on what to look for as they read, asking them thought-provoking questions.  Step-by-step directions through the steps  of a math problem's solution could also be recorded with a purpose of assisting students through the completion of their homework.

Students of a second language can listen to extended pieces of literature in the language that they are targeting for acquisition.   This can help familiarize the students with the natural sound and rhythms inherent to the language.

Students can use the iPod to quiz themselves, asking them questions relating to vocabulary, historical events, or other content-oriented information.  As discussed earlier, the recorded questions might be followed by a brief pause that can provide the learner with an opportunity  to think about the answer.  After the pause, the correct answer could be provided so that the student could check themselves.

While the iPod has many positives, the biggest disadvantage is the fact that it is only a one-way medium.  By itself, there is really no way for the user of an iPod to use it to communicate with another individual.

Clicker

The clicker systems are relatively expensive when starting out.   If a  sophisticated system is purchased that uses the more reliable radio frequency communication it is more expensive (when compared to systems that use infrared light for communication).  I found one package that included the teacher receiver, the necessary software, and 32 student transmitters (the clickers) for a little less than $1800.  If additional clickers are needed individual units for this same system seemed to retail for about $50 each.   The nice thing about this type of system is that there are no ongoing costs.  The system communicates over low-power, public wireless frequencies that are freely available for use. 

iPod

The two lower-priced iPods are the Nano (smallest iPod with a display) and the Shuffle (no display).  They are $149 and $49 respectively.  While it is unlikely (in my opinion) that public schools are going to purchase large numbers of iPods for students to use, it has become increasingly likely that a student will own an iPod of their own.  Millions upon millions of iPods have been purchased in the past few years.    Several years ago, Duke University purchased iPods for each of their incoming freshmen.  They have discontinued this program.  I would suppose that they determined that the technology had become prevalent enough that such a provision is largely unnecessary.

In order to download podcasts and other web-distributed instructional content onto one of these lower-end iPods, it is necessary to have a computer that has a connection to the internet.   While there are many areas of the country that do not have economically feasible, high-speed internet connectivity (primarily rural areas), this number of "have-nots" is steadily decreasing.   Publicly accessible, free internet connections are also becoming available in a growing number of places such as coffee shops, restaurants, and public libraries.   The federally-funded eRate program has also taken our nation's school farther down the road to connectivity, providing opportunities for internet access.   The free, iTunes software has been downloaded to and installed upon millions of computers; both Macintosh and PC.

There are no other ongoing costs associated with the use of podcasts and iPods beyond the computer, the iPod, and the internet connectivity.

Cell Phone

Cell phones generally cost less than $100 when an individual customer signs up for a multi-year contract.  Monthly charges for cell phone service are generally at least $20 a month.  Additional charges are incurred for the sending and receipt of individual text messages unless the user subscribes to some type of additional messaging plan.  If cell phones, cell phone plans, and messaging plans were to be purchased en masse for all the students in a school setting, it is very likely that that cost would be substantially reduced.  Even with that being the case, the cell phone with text messaging represents the most significant ongoing cost.

It is quite likely that many students would not need to have a cell phone and plan provided for them.  Many students already have cell phones that are funded either by their own money or are purchased by their parents.  In this case, the biggest area of concern would be the variability of the text messaging plans.   It would not go over well with parents if the limits on a student's text messaging plan are exceeded by a large number of school-related messages.  It could very well produce a large, additional fees from the extra messages.

Clicker

The clicker systems have the least amount of variety in the types of functions that they can serve.  As discussed previously, they are really locked in to communicating with a teacher's receiving station and don't really have a lot of potential carrying messages with negative impacts such as with cell phones or iPods.

Overuse of clicker systems can without using them within a quality mixture of classroom activities could result in students not taking them seriously.  Too much of even a good thing can bore students and cause them to lose attention;  even when the device is specifically designed to enhance active and attentive participation.

iPod

There are basically two categories of potential negative impacts of iPod use.  These are the potential for producing hearing loss and for producing distractions that are not related to academics.

While it is more likely that a student will do a high volume "rock out" to a series of Fallout Boy tracks than to a podcasted discussion of quantum physics, the potential is still there for hearing loss.   iPods are capable of generating in-ear noise levels of up to 112 decibels.  This noise level is comparable to that which is produced by a power saw.  Short term exposure to noise levels such as these generally do not produce long term damage.   The improved lifespan of today's batteries that are built into iPod's and other digital audio players can allow the user to keep listening for even seven hours or more at a session.  These long periods of exposure to loud sounds can generate ongoing physiological damage such as the ongoing "ringing" of chronic tinnitus (Hawaleshkam, 2005).
The second area of concern is the fantastic potential for iPods to produce distractions that are not related to academics.  Their capacity to store and playback music, video, and pictures are great opportunities for students to be derailed from their studies.  The additional capacity for downloading and playing various games can also be an issue that needs to be addressed.  The compact nature of the devices themselves and of their displays make it extremely difficult for parents and teachers to monitor what the student is doing.

Cell Phone

Reports on tragic school shootings that happened within the last few years were often accompanied by accounts of students making frantic phone calls to family members and authorities.  Campus shootings like the one at Virginia Tech have prompted university administrations to implement text-message based warning systems to rapidly communicate to students regarding dangerous situations.  Experts tell us, however, of the potential downsides of large-scale use of cell phones at educational institutions;  particularly at institutions like middle and high schools.  

Many school resource officers and school security experts are against the use of cell phones by students in K-12 schools(Trump, 2008). They consider the use of cell phones by students to be potentially disruptive to the school environment with text messaging and cameras being used to cheat on exams.  Cell phone cameras also are used to take indiscrete pictures in restrooms and locker rooms.  Bullies have been known to ply their trade using crank cell phone calls and obnoxious text messages(hAnluain, 2002).

In emergency situations cell phone use by large numbers of people have been known to overwhelm the cell phone grid and interfere with official emergency response.   Cell phones have been used in school settings to call in bomb threats;  calls made from cell phones are particularly difficult to trace.  Actual bombs have been created to be triggered via radio signal;  there is the possibility that widespread cell phone activity could actually set off such an explosive device.
Cell phone usage can overcome rumor control, can facilitate panic, and can accelerate parental response such as their rapid arrival at school.   The traffic and disruption generated by responses such as this can actually interfere with public safety officials attempts to evacuate students to a separate, safe location.


In an attempt to reach a conclusion as to which of the three technologies is "superior", I have attempted to reach some type of quantified ranking in each of the five categories.  As I looked back at each of the areas of my discussion, I forced myself to rank each device as "positive", "neutral", or "negative".  Although in many cases there was very little net difference, no two devices received the same rating in the same category.

As displayed in the table below, the iPod receives the highest summary score.  There are no categories where I ranked the iPod with a negative rating.  The iPod was twice chosen to be the device that performed best in a category.  In three categories, the iPod avoided being considered the weakest device, even though it was not picked as the strongest device.

This ranked analysis seems to agree with my overall sense of superiority as I think about the three devices.  The iPod does what it attempts to do with sophisticated media quality and very little effort on the part of the end user.  Its potential for independent practice in such a wide variety of locations and settings (because of its portability) weighs heavily in my decision.  While there are some negative aspects of iPods, they are problems that are present whether they are used as instructional tools or not.   Their safety concerns are largely individual; being superior to the cell phone in this area because of the cell phones larger community impact.

Each of these devices has certain strengths that would make it the superior device within specific contexts.   This is a forced, general assessment that has chosen the iPod as the best tool of the three across the broadest range of application.

References

Comer, J., & Wikle, T. (2008, May). Worldwide diffusion of the cellular telephone, 1995-2005. Professional Geographer, 60(2), 252-269. Retrieved December 26, 2008, doi:10.1080/00330120701836303

hAnluain, Daithà Ã. (2002, September, 4). When text messaging turns ugly. Wired, Retrieved December 26, 2008, from http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2002/09/54771

Hawaleshka, D. (2005, December 5). TURN IT DOWN!. Maclean's, 118(49), 49-49. Retrieved December 26, 2008, from Academic Search Elite database.

Islam, Y., & Doyle, K. (2008, September). Distance education via SMS technology in rural Bangladesh. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(1), 87-96. Retrieved December 26, 2008, from Academic Search Elite database.

Kharif, O. (2008, August 29). Cell phones make headway in education. Business Week Online, Retrieved December 26, 2008, from Academic Search Elite database.

Trump, Kevin S. (2008). School safety: cell phones, camera phones, & pager issues. Retrieved December 26, 2008, from National School Safety and Security Service: National School Safety and Security Services Web site: http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell_phones.html