ETEC 522 – Sept. 2011

Week 11: Mobiles Page 2RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  khenry 10:04 am on November 19, 2011

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  Days 3 and 4 – M-Learning Venture and Mobile use in the Classroom 

  Day 3 – M-Learning Venture Problem – Time to review all students work, meet with students individually and provide personalized assessment, diagnostic checking and remediation activities. Affordances: Mobiles can allow for increased accessibility and support of e-learning or mobile activities as well as provide immediate response capabilities. Learning Theory – Constructivism (self-paced and self directed […]

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    David William Price 10:33 am on November 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Interesting concept!

    If I understand your idea correctly, you would have a learning management system that monitored student performance and automatically prompted the set-up of interviews to follow up with students having problems.

    Take a look at the Khan Academy video where Khan describes a complete monitoring backend that tracks student performance on a question by question basis so teachers can see which students need help with which questions.

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    khenry 6:14 pm on November 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Hi David,
    Your summary captured the salient points indeed. I visited the Khan Academy (thanks for the suggestion) and their backend reporting shows elements that I am indeed interested in. The additional component I am interested in is the personalised and self directed element from the students end and the ability to link and book tutorial sessions and remedial activities directly from quizzes et al.

    Kerry-Ann

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    hall 11:57 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Hi Kerry,

    I think post is very informative and as result I have copied it with the intention to share it with my colleague at my institution. You have made some great points. I like the information you shared on mobile solutions.

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      khenry 11:07 am on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Thank you Conroy. We should collaborate further on this.

      Kerry-Ann

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  khenry 7:43 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Day 2 – M-learning devices and apps 

  Day 2 Good m-learning device? If I were to use the Koole (2009) framework my mobile phone would be considered a good m-learning companion. However, I only use it for that regard if I have to, which is practically often. However, I use it more for reading and answering short blogs or responses. For responses […]

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    David William Price 8:24 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Interesting that you use your mobile for answering short posts and reading. What kind of reading do you do on it? Which mobile do you have? How might you use your mobile to encourage learning out in the “real world”… interacting with real life problems and collaborating in groups to apply knowledge previously learned through more traditional methods?

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    khenry 4:51 pm on November 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Hi David,
    Great questions. The readings surround navigating web/blog sites and hyperlinked material. I have a blackberry. Availability for on spot research is a significant area that i would encourage, particularly in problem solving and using social or messaging networks or groups to brainstorm or checking references

    Kerry-Ann

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    hall 11:44 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Hi Kerry Ann,

    I enjoy reading your post. It is very informative. I too have a blackberry which I find very useful for on the spot research. I constant use it when observing a student during his or her teaching practicum to matriculate for the diploma in education.

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      khenry 11:15 am on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I do as well. On the spot research, recording sessions, comments, thoughts and action lists. Also for grading and setting follow up acitivities/new activities within courses.

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  schiong 7:10 pm on November 18, 2011

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  The Survey said …. 

  Thank you for doing the survey. Here are the results :      

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    mcquaid 11:39 am on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    I find it quite surprising that only around 22% of mobile users use it for voice calls. It’s the sole thing I use mine for (other than its alarm feature on possible stormy mornings / nights).

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  Jay 5:01 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Tags: 2, apps ( 9 ), Blackberry ( 4 ), Day, Day 1, Urban Planet Mobile   

  Day 1 & 2 

  Day 1  If we are to narrow m-learning to the context of cellphones as mobile learning devices, I would not consider myself a very active participant. This is for two reasons; I do not consider my device a great m-learning device and second and most relevant reason, it is too expensive. I own a blackberry […]

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    David William Price 8:57 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Thanks very much for evaluating your BB and reviewing Urban Planet English.

    I have to admit I haven’t heard a lot of good things about BB and m-learning. It was the platform chosen by a multinational I spoke with… they created bite-sized learning for their professionals to consume to refresh their memory just before walking into client meetings. That was the key for them – mlearning was performance support, not a lot of reading and not learning things the first time. They didn’t do any kind of assessment on their BB mlearning partly for that reason.

    It is possible to do a lot of learning activities without any Internet access… capturing real world audio, images, video for instance to share back with classmates or coworkers to illustrate the issue of learning in the real world. Another possibility is standalone apps that coach learners through doing processes they’ve learned previously and now must do in reality. One example at Christian Abilene University was providing students with a coaching app to facilitate meetings out in the real world. THen they could record data about those meetings and bring it back to class to share and comment and reflect.

    You’re right that Urban Planet English doesn’t in itself give the ability to practice… but one thing I’ve seen in reading journal articles about the use of mobiles in the developing world is sharing the mobile in a group of learners… the app may encourage sharing itself, or sharing may simply be something learners do so they can practice what they learn together.

    What do you think?

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  Deb Kim 4:34 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Tags: app ( 2 ), m-learning ( 10 ), math ( 3 ), mobile learning ( 8 ), secondary, technology ( 4 ), venture ( 6 )   

  [DAY 3] Math Master 

  Describe a problem in teaching/learning/performance. One of the problems I face when I teach Math is that there are not enough resources available out there for students to study in order to improve their fundamental Math skills and problem-solving skills. For example, some of my students still have difficulty adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers/fractions/decimals. However, […]

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    David William Price 8:49 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Great ideas!

    I’m glad you enjoyed the assignment. You have an interesting concept. I love the idea of educators creating and sharing questions to enhance and grow your database.

    What do you think of minimizing translation issues by focusing on using icons and imagery in your problems instead of words? Take a look at Robert Horn’s work, or think about “wordless instructions” like those used by Ikea or in emergency exit brochures for aircraft.

    How might you use the computer in the mobile itself to generate questions? It’s probably not necessary to create all the individual questions yourself. Instead you could create heuristics, and the mobile would use the heuristics to generate infinite questions based on those rule sets. THat way you wouldn’t even have to use a lot of data transfer or updates or translation.

    Social networking could be used for collaboration to solve problems together. What about an app that requires collaboration to solve math problems? You can see each other working on the problems… or you share a mobile to work a problem out.

    I guess another issue for me is why people have trouble with math. Do they have a breakdown in conceptual understanding? How might they use the real world to help them understand math problems? A mobile could scaffold them through using real items or conducting real activities that illustrate the math concepts. To some extent, the Khan Academy does this in their videos.

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      Deb Kim 11:08 pm on November 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Thank you for the questions, David.

      “What do you think of minimizing translation issues by focusing on using icons and imagery in your problems instead of words?”
      It’s a good idea that we can minimize translation issues by using icons and images instead of words. However, as the math curriculum and new textbooks that have changed over the last 2 years are focusing on mathematical literacy these days, students still need to learn the ways to translate word problems into diagrams and mathematical sentences. I’ve seen so many kids who can solve a word problem that includes a diagram, but not the one without a diagram. Although I give the same word problem to the students, one with a diagram and one without it, the scores between the two are very different. Many students still need to work on solving word problems.

      “How might you use the computer in the mobile itself to generate questions?”
      The collection of questions in a question bank is kind of like creating heuristics. Same formatted question with different numbers each time it’s generated.

      One of my issues with math is how to make a connection between the real world situations and conceptual understanding in math. I’ve applied some real world situations for teaching. For instance, I once used the Tower of Piza to teach trigonometry in Math 9. I briefly went over the history of the Tower of Piza and told students to find as many angles as possible using sine, cosine, and tangent ratios. Another example is that I sent my AWM (Apprenticeship & Workplace Math) 10 students to a convenience store and ask them to pick up things they want to purchase and calculate HST, sale price, and discount.

      Deb

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  Deb Kim 3:37 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Tags: app ( 2 ), children, Hesabi, High School, Human Anatomy, m-learning ( 10 ), math ( 3 ), mobile app   

  [DAY 2] Cool M-Learning Devices 

  Choose two apps from the sample list below (or find your own award-winning apps) and evaluate them with these questions: what problem does the app solve? what affordances of mobile does the app rely on? what are the non-mlearning (competing) methods of teaching the subject? how is the app’s mlearning approach more or less compelling […]

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    David William Price 8:20 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Thanks for your reviews!

    What do you think the possibilities are for apps that scaffold authentic learning vs. trying to do the learning in the mobile itself? An app might help you do a dissection, or might guide you through learning math in realistic contexts, with collaborative activities and sharing of the mobile…

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      Deb Kim 11:15 pm on November 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Hi David,

      Whether an app “scaffolds authentic learning” or “[tries] to do the learning in the mobile itself”, it should suit children at the right age/grade and at the right knowledge level.
      Why not have an app that does both? I’ve seen many websites and games that focus on secondary Math and collaborative activities, but haven’t seen apps for m-learning that focus on them.

      Deb

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  ashleyross 3:10 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Tags: apps ( 9 ), m-learning ( 10 ), Week 11   

  M-Learning 

  I have a Google HTC Nexus phone and I use it for many things, including: email, texting, reading blogs, making to-do lists, setting alarms, playing games, taking pictures, recording and watching videos, getting directions using Google Maps, and I also enjoy using the Mobi app to connect to QR codes. I only recently bought a […]

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    David William Price 8:39 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Thanks for sharing about your mobile, and your reviews.

    As you noted, WIFI is a way to get around expensive data plans. There are even people who do voice-over-IP (VOIP) calls over WIFI instead of using minutes / long distance!

    THe Carleton App is a great example of performance support… mlearning that provides you data you need when you need it. How might you extend the performance support concept for your own work when you’re on the go?

    The Grace App is another amazing performance support app that integrates many mobile affordances. Arguably it helps teach people to communicate in new ways, and to use the picture-taking capability to expand and sharpen “vocabulary”. This is a great example of sharing a mobile… one person creates communication and shares it with another person to understand what is being communicated. Together, the communicator and the audience and working together to understand the message.

    How might this concept be extended for other situations? I’ve often thought a performance support for resolving conflicts would be helpful and usable in similar ways. By running through the process in the mobile with its coaching and scaffolding, people would learn how to turn conflict into opportunities to enrich their relationships and resolve problems rather than fight over them.

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  Angela Novoa 2:29 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Day 4 

  What one change would you require to adopt m-learning for your own teaching and learning? I think that for adopting m-learning in my practice I would need some changes in the Curriculum. Today’s Chilean curriculum does not provide enough opportunities/spaces for designing and implementing activities that involve collaborative learning and knowledge building. The tests for […]

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    Everton Walker 3:43 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Angela,

    Great that you are implementing these annual projects despite the challenges. How have the results been from these projects? Do you intend to get others on board soon?

    Everton

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      Angela Novoa 2:53 pm on November 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Thanks Everton! The results of implementing these projects always have been great. After each project I have a session for evaluating it with my students. Their own reflections about how they learn by building knowledge collaboratively keeps me wanting to do more. About intending to get others on board, during October I offered a Workshop to teachers about the integration of Web 2.0 tools in instruction at a Chilean University (Universidad de Chile). On december I will coach my colleagues at the school I work.

      Angela.

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    David William Price 8:27 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Great comment!

    This is a huge issue… when you are supposed to “cover” a long list of items in a curriculum, how do you get time to try new things?

    How much of the curriculum is testable knowledge… and how much is skills? Can skills be taught and practised and reinforced better with authentic learning out in the world… using what has been taught out in the world to solve real problems?

    At a recent convention, I heard from a number of profs who brought in real world charities who needed work done… and the students did that work as part of their classes, developing relationships, solving problems, doing presentations, all the while knowing what they were learning would be used in the real world. What other opportunities are out there for our students?

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  Tamara Wong 12:31 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Day 2 

  Blackboard LMS on iPhone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4q_UlHqLHE&feature=related –       This app allows students and teachers to take their learning on the go –       The affordances are accessibility, ubiquity and better design –       It allows for learning on the go and it looks a little nicer and easier to use than it’s computer […]

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    David William Price 1:24 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Interesting comments!

    I have to admit that I prefer generally available resources rather than the confines of LMS. At Concordia we have FirstClass and Moodle. I prefer the web and my own Gmail. Agilix even did a project with Brigham Young university where they created a stripped down system to accept and grade content made and posted anywhere on the web (rather than trying to confine things to an LMS).

    By using widely available resources, we get to use all our favourite mainstream tools rather than get caught in an LMS. Consider ETEC522 where we’re doing everything in a blog, creating blog resources, relying on YouTube and live web links etc.

    Would I want a FirstClass client on my mobile? I’d rather not have FirstClass at all!

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    Tamara Wong 11:15 am on November 19, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    David,
    I can see your point- an LMS can be confining. For work, we use an LMS and I feel like it’s long and boring for the students and doesn’t provide a lot of options for me. I am constantly using outside sources, but I still feel that a properly created LMS with constructivist activities is still better than the other options. Granted I’m looking at it from the point of view of my students, where secondary learning – like technology is not important to them, they want to learn to use English and don’t have the time or often the abilities to visit different sites. I’ve tried a few and the only ones that seem to work are ones that don’t have logins or sign up info. For course content I’d say use mainstream tools because they tend to be more authentic, but for activities and a place for students to find these places I like the affordances of an LMS.
    Tamara

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  Tamara Wong 12:29 pm on November 18, 2011

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  Day 1 

  What, when, where and how are you doing m-learning now? For the most part I use mobile learning in the classroom when I allow my students to use their cell phones as a dictionary or to look up some information.  At first I struggled with this as I felt that it was ‘cheating’ but the […]

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    David William Price 1:20 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    The whole “cheating” issue fascinates me.

    It seems to me the way to deal with cheating is to remove activities that are biased to knowable right answers. If students engage in highly-contextual and personal activities high in Bloom’s Taxonomy, you can reduce the ability and likelihood of cheating. The results have to apply to them personally and rely on creativity and assessment and evaluation related to their own backgrounds and experiences.

    For instance, in the course a TA for, the assignment that is usually best done by students (low cheating, plagiarism, high creativity) is one where they have to create a procedure to explain how they did a job they had in the past. They include pictures, they conduct tests of the procedure with co-workers, and they report on improvements.

    To me, cheating is not a technology issue, it’s a pedagogy issue. I’d be thrilled if my students used any technology available to perfect their grammar and spelling before submitting an assignment. As for resources, as long as they cite, I’m happy.

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    Everton Walker 3:59 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Tamara,

    Very interesting. Is it a case where your students independently use their mobiles for learning purposes? I have to remind my students that they can use theirs for other purposes a part from social networking.

    Everton