Day 4 – new directions
What one change would you require to adopt m-learning for your own teaching and learning?
This is not really a change, but rather an area for research. I’m not a teacher, but within my work context I would need to hear from our audience that mobile learning is something they’re interested to try and use. I’d also need to survey people about the kind of tools they currently use. Our ‘audience’ are all volunteers from across BC — a lower-tech mobile tool could have great application for people, but I don’t yet have any sense of what kinds of mobile devices they’re using.
How might you use m-learning in teaching and learning?
Looking at this list, there are several things I’m already doing, such as using calendars for reminders, photographing diagrams or other items for later reference, listening to podcasts (sometimes podcasts about education podcasting 🙂 ), etc. Things I could be doing more of or doing better would include accessing materials through my phone, using it to store or transfer files, and using the multimedia features more.
The option to capture moments from my environment through photos, audio or video is something in which I’ve only dabbled. I’d like to record specific things that happen in workshops to share them with others and expand our learning resources. Through recordings or images we could increase the reach of some of the key elements of our face-to-face events.
Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
David William Price 7:25 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think Steve Jobs would say that people don’t really know what they want (although a UX consultant I mentioned this too beat me up for saying this). But I think it’s true, beyond early adopters. Most people don’t bother with something if they can’t see how it makes a significant positive impact for them.
The multinational I spoke with loaded Blackberrys up with software and put them in the hands of their executives to show them the possibilities. Jobs did something similar when he showed people in Apple the swipe-scrolling function of the iPhone.
Consider the discussion this week… I’ve really been pushing opportunity-based thinking about mobiles for learning while roaming, but I find most people see mobiles through the lenses of their typical lives today… mostly sedentary and mostly using laptops. To engage interest, you have to mock up new ways of engaging with the world… ways that demonstrate value and not just gee-whiz coolness.
andrea 6:49 pm on November 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree that people find it hard to visualize how something will transform their lives or a current practice. (This was my own experience with the iPhone – I never imagined it would be as useful or become as indispensable as it is.)
However, I do think it’s important to ask people how they currently use the tools they have so we know the starting point. From that we can better determine the kinds of support or roll-out that will help people to adopt it. And, if we create something that works for smart phones only to find out that 80% of them are still using the original Nokia phone, we’ve wasted our efforts. As much as, I would love to load some iPhones up with cool apps and give them to our volunteers, but that’s not how health care non-profits usually roll. 🙂