Day 2 – #1. Is my device any good?
Do I have a good m-learning device? No! My laptop is OK, but it’s not mobile in the sense we’re talking about this week. I would not use my cellphone for m-learning. Why?
– It’s about ten years old.
– There’s not much a screen, or interface. Mostly just the regular buttons of a phone – no fancy, attractive inputs or displays.
– On my phone, I could really only interact with instructors by voice – no emails / large bodies of text, no images at all, no cooperative abilities unless I arrange some party line-style call.
– There is no WiFi in my phone, or 3G, or anything… just cellular service. I have no current / “good” ways of collaborating, sharing, or accessing information.
This week is depressing me! I’m feeling some peer pressure to adopt or adapt… what I have now doesn’t seem much better than a rotary-dial phone!
Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
bcourey 2:46 pm on November 16, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Isn’t it amazing that our cellphone technology has evolved so quickly that you compare yours to the rotary phone! Don’t blink – you might miss the next great shift!
Brenda
jarvise 7:04 am on November 17, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Don’t be so depressed. You have a laptop. I think part of the issue here is discovering how to combine our devices to get the functionality we want without buying everything! When our laptop got smashed on the floor (on our way out the door on summer vacation – Yay!) we ended up getting our ipad2 instead of getting another laptop. We already had a desktop, so the combo of the ipad2 and the desktop has almost everything we want. My husband and I both have little, old ipods as well that get thrown to the kids for quick entertainment during long car-ride ‘incidents’.
Instead of being depressed about a crappy cell phone (I’m with you), focus on the positive. Does the combined activity of your gadgets approach the functionality you’re looking for? If so, you’re laughing (all the way to the bank).
Unless, that is, you’re running an online business and you’re always on the move…
Emily
David William Price 10:10 am on November 17, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your post.
We didn’t mean to inspire gadget envy. As I’ve mentioned, I have a terrible little candy-bar feature phone with a tiny screen and an annoying interface. I use it only for voice calls which, in my case, consist 100% of check-ins with my partner. I’ve never sent a text in my life.
However, even this phone offers considerable affordances: I carry it everywhere, I can take pictures and record video and audio, I can make and receive text messages.
The question is, how do we leverage the affordances of even limited mobiles for learning purposes? How do untether ourselves from “traditional learning contexts” and go out into the world and use our mobiles for performance support (quick bite-sized pills of guidance), data collection (photos, video, audio), collaboration (texts, sharing media, voice calls) to learn in authentic contexts… and share that learning back with our friends, colleagues, classmates, and students?
Everton Walker 9:40 pm on November 17, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
mcquaid,
I know it will only be a matter of time before you change that mobile. I guess the now sophisticated mobiles will be very ordinary in the next ten years. It is so hard to keep up with technology. It’s costly and can be very frustrating.
Everton