wow, this week is flying past..or is it the engaging topic David? I’ve been talking quite a bit at work with our IT department about this whole idea of mobile learning in our schools. We have so many hurdles to overcome in elementary and secondary schools – first, as has already been mentioned is the […]
Continue reading Day 4 Already? Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
What changes are needed for mobile to grow in the learning market? When I look at the market, I think that two of the main changes could be the design of new mobiles specially made for classroom purposes, more education apps for existing mobiles and a reduction in price for mobiles. The specially made devices […]
Continue reading Day 4 Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for your suggestions.
1. Given the sales numbers for regular mobiles and the cost of development, how would you make the case for developing specialized mobiles for education? Who would make them? Who would buy them instead of the latest and greatest iPhone/Android? How would a larger size screen affect a key mobile affordance – being in a habit of always carrying it around because it’s so small?
2. What kind of apps would you like to see? Consider Vogt’s cube analysis… who would pay for the development of the apps? Who would buy them? How would they be deployed? Consider the popularity of general purpose apps (Evernote, Google Maps, Wikipedia, etc.) for educational purposes… what kind of specialized education apps would you see as valuable enough to drive people to purchase them specially instead of using a general purpose free tool?
3. What do you think is “expensive”? Many developing countries actually have a huge number of mobiles (2.2 billion in India/Africa vs 11 million PCs) and they’re using them for learning now… far more than we do in the Western world. For them, mobiles are the most economical option.
David,
I do agree that there are a lot of mobiles in those countries but how many of those mobiles have the capabilities to foster meaningful mlearning? Here in Jamaica, almost everyone has a mobile or two. However, majority of those persons only have ordinary mobiles with just a few features and in some cases cannot access the Internet.
Everton
What is meaningful learning to you?
In developing countries, simple mobiles are used to teach millions how to speak English. They use voice clips embedded in ringtones. In South Africa, simple mobiles allowed young people without computer access to practice math skills in social networks.
To explore learning on mobiles, start with their affordances. The screens may be too small for you to do a lot of reading, but lots of reading is not required for meaningful learning. The mobile does not have to replace classroom learning or e-learning on a notebook computer. The mobile represents a whole other way of learning.
Mobiles work with bite-sized information, reminders, job aids… helping you remember what you’ve already learned, helping you apply what you’ve learned when you’re in the real world.
Mobiles work with collecting data, photos, videos, audio clips, to bring back to the class or share with the class to illustrate real-world applications of what is begin learned.
Mobiles work with performance support, guidance, and coaching. When you’re out in the field, you can share a mobile in a group to help the group run through an activity. You can use a mobile to coach you through doing things that you learned about in class.
The mobile does not have to be a replacement. Its affordances suggest many kinds of learning (authentic, situated as well as behavioural) that differ from what you may be used to.
Hi Everton,
You have mentioned some very important points. I found the reading information on my blackberry over a long period can be a strain on my eyes. Also there is a major struggle with using the keypad. I take very long time to write using the keyboard of my blackberry. So I agree with you that these challenges are deterrents to mlearning.
It really depends on how you define “mlearning”. Those issues are deterrents to doing a lot of reading in mlearning, but not necessarily deterrents to learning with mobiles.
The questions to apply are: 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 than the competing methods? (consider cost, accessibility, learning outcomes) what changes are needed to make […]
Continue reading Day 2 – #2. Layar & Carleton Mobile Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for your post.
Augmented reality certainly has a high cool factor, and perhaps what it really needs to take off is to turn it more into a Google search/wiki-driven experience with voting. For any one organization to provide all of the content required within the real world seems pretty overwhelming.
Prensky has his critics… it’s worth checking them out. Wealthy and middle aged people are sometimes doing a lot more with tech than the youngsters.
Prensky does inspire a bit of debate. For example, when I went to his site to find the article / pdf that I wanted, it was listed in a section called “The Classics”. I see how someone could take that the wrong way. Someone at our local university does not care for him at all, either. When Prensky spoke to a group of us last month, I half expected him to show up. But I digress.
I don’t necessarily put full stock into the natives / immigrants idea, but it does make some sense to me… and I like thinking in analogies / putting ideas / situations into different views. I would consider wealthy / middle-aged immigrants that do a lot with technology as still immigrants – just really adaptable ones that have changed with their dynamic surroundings in order to succeed / compete. Similarly, someone being a native doesn’t necessarily make them an expert on where they live / what they do.
The search / wiki / vote abilities do seem very prominent / dominant, don’t they? Voting could be used for everything from the choice of specials at a restaurant to m. choice questions / preferred learning directions in a classroom. “Wiki-information” can be used for the historical info of an historical site. The search function could be for just about anything!
I have a fundamental problem with his claims and the claimed implications, but it all goes back to my root prioritization of pedagogy over media. I read recently the notion of “pancake learners” or people who allow distraction, multitasking or whatever you want to call it, to cause them to spend their time being very broad, superficial learners. In my own experiences, I see this in learning, professional practice, and even in relationships. It’s not something I accept as a necessary or desirable consequence of technology use. We all have our ways of handling anxiety… it’s just that the proliferation of gadgets provides a lot of easy ways of distracting ourselves with avoidance than we ever had in the past. To some extent, having fewer options can provide more focus.
I agree. I think that was one of the strengths of the original iPad as a learning device was that it didn’t multi-task.
Sometimes we have to teach topics that are not so motivating for students. One of these topics in Social Studies is EconomICS. We have to study this field on grade 9. Considering that all of my students of grade 9 have a cell phone, I was thinking on asking them to create a story where […]
Continue reading Sometimes we have to teach topics that a… Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Hi Angela,
I think your plan is wonderful.
Yesterday, I was showing the diagram I want to create. Someone gave me the hard copy last semester. I told the class that I still need to find a way to scan it (about 3-4 bond papers put together). The students smiled and brought out their iPhone… They borrowed the diagram and took a picture. I was amazed … the picture preserved the details with clarity.
I forgot … these students have the latest devices.
cheers
Stephen
Nice idea
One of the great things about economics is its relevance in the broader world… making money, borrowing money, profits, debits, businesses…
How might you use the same affordances you mention for mobiles to collect information about economics in the real world (during hours outside of class) and bring it back to share with the class?
I think that we could ask them for researching the relevance of economics in the broader world through the web browsers that their cell phones have, or the news apps. I could ask them to form groups and ask each group to be in charge of one of the following items: making money, profits, debits, businesses, etc.
Angela.
Do you have a good m-learning device? Apply Koole’s framework to your own mobile. Would you use your device for m-learning? Why or why not? Going off my first post, I do “have” an m-learning device, but do I “use” it? No! Would I like to? Yes! I am going to pretend that I have […]
Continue reading Day 2- Mobiles for M-Learning Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Data plans and small screens are a recurring issue for mobiles.
Consider however that download an app means you don’t have to have regular data streaming on your mobile. You can use the app whenever you like and it can be self contained (or you can have apps that are aware when you have WIFI and only transfer data over WIFI).
The screen size is an interesting affordance issue. What kind of information works best for that size of screen? What kind of pill-sized content and performance support could we implement with such devices to help us with more authentic learning… and reminding what and how to USE what we’ve learned… out in the field?
Day 1 I am not engaged in m-learning in any large way outside of the house. I have an ipad2, but use it basically at home. The only ‘mobile’ element to my use of it at home is using it while on the elliptical exercise machine. It fits nicely in the magazine-holder shelf. I’ve watched […]
Continue reading tap…tap…1,2,3,4 Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Very cool idea!
I love the concept of giving parents a way to monitor what’s happening. The BrainHoney LMS provides for parental accounts (http://www.muhsd.k12.ca.us/Page/7523) as does the JASON Project, a complete science learning curriculum with a classroom management/assessment/forum backend that supports student, teacher, and parent accounts, each with a different set of access restrictions (http://www.jason.org/public/WhatIs/JMC.aspx).
How could you take this a step further…. and use mobiles to leverage parents to contribute authentic learning experiences to your students? What you’re teaching will have authentic applications in parents’ workplaces, hobbies, vacations, etc. How can you use their mobiles to funnel in those experiences, collect data in photos, audio and video, and collaborate in real time with voice conferencing for guest speaking?
I’m researching anxiety management applied to learning and I’ve found there are two main thrusts (which reflect habits in the real world as well). One path is to remove as many anxiety-causing elements as possible from learning environments. Many teachers are afraid to frighten students with Socratic questioning, or to have them do more than one presentation. The other path is to scaffold students in managing their anxiety… have them do activities that cause small amounts of anxiety but provide the tools they need to learn to manage those experiences, and build on them with multiple experiences and continuous improvement.
I think the whole banning concept is analogical. We ban things (avoidance in psychology parlance) to make our fears go away instead of embracing our fears and looking for ways to turn our fears into opportunities for new ways of learning. What do you think?
What, when, where and how are you doing m-learning now? I have very long days and so I use my mobile phone to access sites (including our blog page, when possible) to use time in between classes and rehearsals to keep up with work involved in all areas. Right now I am using my mobile […]
Continue reading Day 1 – mobile learning, filling the gap Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Wow – it seems like you are very mobile and use your device to the best of its advantages – good for you. I have not quite got the hang of it yet – m learning is still a very young concept to me.
deb
Thanks for your post
It seems you rely heavily on your mobile for its convenience factor – you always have it with you, and it helps you take advantage of tiny pieces of time to do bite-sized tasks (reading short blog posts and commenting, videos, twitter, social networking).
How do you think you might take advantage of your mobile’s affordances to create a different kind of learning… where you collect authentic experiences in the world and share them with others and collaborate on interpreting, analyzing and evaluating? How might that be integrated into a learning venture?
Quite a challenging task for Day 3! But you did get me to think more about m-learning. -my problem? The need for practice. Everyone in secondary schools knows how tough it is to get kids to do their homework that provides the necessary practice. -solution? -Maybe a series of games apps that targets concept practice […]
Continue reading Day 3: My venture Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Ahh yes….the no cellphone policy! For me it is the privacy and security policy – very good information and control of data, however, makes it very difficult to be progressive in today’s mobile society.
Thanks for your post
Drill-and-kill is highly popular on mobile for test prep. I suspect it’s for the same reason drill-and-kill was highly popular with the beginning of e-learning. It’s cheap and easy to create and it’s easy to sell the benefits. When people are anxious, they tend to procrastinate and rely on rehearsal strategies to learn.
However, ask yourself how introducing authentic problems in the real world would affect understanding of the underlying concepts you’re teaching. What would happen if they had to go out and collect data (audio, video, photo) about authentic uses of the information you’re teaching… and collaborate with each other (texts, maps, calendars) to find the authentic examples and make use of them in some way.
Rather than forcing traditional learning into a tiny device… how do we use the tiny device to enable a different kind of learning?
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 […]
Continue reading Day 2 – #1. Is my device any good? Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
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
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
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?
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
I think it some ways, I do a lot of m-learning. I’m a teacher in secondary school, public education, and here are some of the things I use m-learning for. 1. I have my students use their cell phones in class in order to do polls in Poll Everywhere. This is based on Eric Mazur’s […]
Continue reading Day 1: my m-learning Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
hi Doug,
What sort of questions do you ask in your poll? Besides doing poll, what other fun stuff do you ask your students to do with their mobile devices?
Can I assume that there are no computers in your class that is why you are using mobile devices?
cheers,
Stephen
Thanks for your post!
#1, 2 & 3 fit into the concept “m-learning is using a mobile device”
#4 fits into the concept “m-learning is learning while being mobile”
What are the possibilities of expanding #4 for your own students for your own classes? How might they take their learning into the world and collect photo/audio/video artifacts, collaborate and coordinate digitally, and use their learning with their mobiles providing performance support guidance… and then report it back to class either synchronously or later on?
Yes, this is an important question David, both from a point of expanding a market and from a social-political point of view.
I have had students create videos on revealing misconceptions in science, by using mobile devices to record interviews. That is just one small example. There is also the idea that we are pushing our students (knowingly or unknowingly) to have expensive mobile devices. It’s sort of creating a public/private divide in public education. In BC right now there is a push from the Minister of Education to encourage students and teachers to use and implement personal computing devices in school. It sounds great and has a lot of upsides. Unfortunately, it is easy to go to a school and see 85% of the students with mobile devices, and then travel 20min to another school and see only 10% of the students with mobile devices.
cheers
Doug
Great idea with recording interviews… and a great point about the digital divide.
One of the amazing things even about the simplest mobile phones over the last few years is their ability to record audio, video and take pictures. I suspect that there are crates full of these old phones taken in by service providers that you may be able to appropriate for use in schools… perhaps you could sell the idea to providers by saying these are entry level devices.
Another point is that these device have affordances (such as recording audio) but those affordances are also available by other means (tape recorders you could pick up at the local Salvation Army). To me, the affordances are the key aspect rather than the tech itself. If kids have mobiles, we can take advantage of those affordances… but if not, they can find older tech that offers the same affordances.
For instance… I did my journalism degree using a tape recorder. These days, people use iPhones! Both ways still work.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 5:38 am on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Many school managers and administrators today have come to the realization that cell phones have great potential for teaching and learning and thus have been making attempts to remove the ban on cell phones in schools. There should however be policies in place to regulate the use by students to ensure that it will be used for teaching and learning activities mainly.
David William Price 6:33 am on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Data plans certainly are an issue. One way to get around that is to focus on using apps that you download once, perhaps over WIFI.
With respect to distraction, based on my recent lit review of anxiety management, there are two ways of dealing with anxiety issues (distraction being a person’s tendency to avoid anxious feelings by doing other tasks). One is to remove distractions. The other is to scaffold learners into confronting their anxious feelings directly and managing them instead of turning to distraction.
A very simple way of teach distraction management is something called “implementation intentions”. These are plans learners develop beforehand. The plan is an “if-then” plan. “If this distraction happens, then I will do X.” Apparently they work well. Why? When people are anxious, they use up working memory. They don’t have extra resources to do deep thinking about how to handle problems. By working out the plans ahead of time, they don’t have to think about what to do with a distraction. They already have their plan ready. Apparently it works well for managing test anxiety and handling distractions. Worth checking out.
I think it’s worthwhile to scaffold anxiety management (distractions, avoidance, etc.) through graduate exposure. The literature shows performance increases… and it will help learners in the future. How many adults do you know who can’t stay on task?
bcourey 1:48 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Interesting take on the reasons for allowing distractions to take place – I think in many of our cases in secondary schools, it is more a case of boredom…they would rather text with friends than tackle the tasks in the classroom – maybe boredom, maybe avoidance of a task they don’t understand. I accept that some may be anxiety….but in my case, if I am in a meeting and I am suddenly finding myself checking my emails on my BB instead of listening to the speaker, it is often because I am bored silly or disengaged from the topic at the moment.
Brenda
David William Price 1:53 pm on November 18, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Boredom is part of a spectrum of arousal. I tend to see boredom as an example of anxiety (I am too anxious to find the value in what I am hearing, and I feel I should be doing something else right away) whereas when I am in the right state of arousal, something that should be incredibly boring (such as staring at a sunset) feels very fulfilling.
That being said, even if you reject my own way of thinking, it’s not the device itself that is the problem, it’s (a) pedagogy that doesn’t engage; and (b) an inability of the learner to manage their impulse to do something else instead of look for or create meaning in the current activity.
For instance, one way I create meaning in activities that seem boring is to interrupt them and ask annoying questions. Or ask for examples. Or use some other technique to make the situation meaningful. Those are skills that can be taught… they could even be scaffolded through mobiles as performance supports to make meetings/talks meaningful!