Welcome to the 5G and Mobile Learning OER!
In 2021, there are many predictions about the impacts of 5G networks on education. Many predictions celebrate one glowing potential without considering associated concerns or limitations.
Painting a picture of 5G connectedness is not complete without including information on network security and unequal access to technology, networks, knowledge, and expertise, for instance.
So, in order to present a complete picture, we chose to imagine an educational app for school-age learners which could be valuable in a 5G-capable world. We then analyzed the app from a number of perspectives, grounding our predictions in current research and reputable discourse.
In our OER, you’ll explore Classroom Go, a challenge-based learning tool that utilizes 5G’s ability to host augmented reality and mobile technology’s ability to connect a learner from any place. You’ll not only see a prototype of the app in action, but also read imagined first-person narratives from students, teachers, and administrators as they consider 5G’s role in their lives and how this mobile app fits within it. Sections detailing the research in which these narratives are grounded are also included.
Please watch this short instructional video for tips on navigating our app:
You can access our OER here. It is designed to be accessed on a mobile device so we highly recommend using your smartphone to explore.
You can also explore the tabs below for a brief video explaining the basics of 5G networks, more information on the team, and a sample lesson plan that could be applied to Classroom Go, or an app like it.
5G Basics
5G is the fifth generation of wireless network technology and its ability to upload and download enormous amounts of data will generate transformative new technologies. Whereas one 4G cell tower supports about 2,000 devices with some traffic delays, a 5G tower will support over one million devices per square kilometer with essentially no delays (Nocchi, 2019). It’s this aspect of 5G connectivity that has the potential to transform mobile and open learning, as Nocchi (2019) explains, “This massive jump in bandwidth will be able to handle the more cumbersome traffic loads required for smart classrooms, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR), with ease” (para. 6).
This video gives a brief explanation of how the technology works.
Though we’re still predicting how 5G may affect the way we learn and teach, the technology is present in some of our communities now. You can check its availability in your location here: https://www.speedtest.net/ookla-5g-map
And if your workplace or community doesn’t seem ready, there’s always the chance they’ll catch up in time for 6G…
Classroom Go Unit Plan
The following Grade 10 Unit Plan is designed to embrace the mobile and cross-curricular advantages of a 5G-enabled mobile and open learning education app:
About Us
Brittany Hack is a current graduate student in the Masters of Educational Technology program at the University of British Columbia. She will also be starting her practicum in CERTESL at the University of Saskatchewan. Her previous degrees include an MPA in Public Administration (Technology and Innovation for Policy Alternatives) from Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, and a B.A. in Linguistics and BA Honours in Political Science from the University of Regina. She has taught for LINC programming, written policy for the non-profit sector, created guides to best practice for telecom and conducted research for synchronous and asynchronous learning during the Covid 19 pandemic. Brittany is very interested in how public and post-secondary schools in North America will transition to 5G networks, as well as to how vulnerable students will be able to acquire support to have access to this type of equipment through government and private sector funding. Brittany is also interested in how ESL students learn with mobile technology and applicable pedagogies used for online teaching.
Toby Beck has been a classroom teacher in the public system for 20 years. He completed the Sonoma State University Makerspace Teacher program and has a graduate diploma in Education Technology from Simon Fraser University. He is currently taking courses in the UBC Masters of Education Technology program. As a classroom teacher he consistently incorporates and facilitates technology and design thinking into his teaching. Currently Toby teaches in the Comox School District’s N.I.D.E.S Distributed Learning (DL) program, which uses Canvas as a Learning Management System (LMS).
For the past many years Toby has been interested in exploring the boundaries of where K-12 education is and where it could go in the future. His main interest is looking at how education platforms can leverage 5G and mobile devices to facilitate the movement of education out of the traditional classroom and onto students’ phones. This is what Toby envisions as the “School of One”.
Nini Mao has been working in the financial education field for over 20 years after she graduated with MBA in finance. Nini started her career as a finance lecturer in University of Macau, then an in-house trainer in HSBC, and ended her corporate life as the Head of UBS Business University China location. In 2015, Nini founded her second startup company, VeryFQ, an EdTech company teaching financial literacy to families, which made her a finalist of “2020 Cartier Women Initiative” (to learn more: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/nini-mao). VeryFQ develops financial education content with 5G supports, and also tries to employ other frontier learning technologies into this life long learning theme.
Wendy Mulligan is an elementary teacher with over 25 years of experience in New Zealand, as well as British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. She is currently studying Educational Technology in the University of British Columbia’s Master of Education program and working as a school Music specialist. She teaches rudimentary Music, including instrumental and vocal skills, to elementary school students in Canmore, Alberta. Wendy is passionate about keeping current with new developments in education that can improve student learning. To this end, the fast-growing world of educational technology has become an important focus for Wendy. She is dedicated to learning how to best utilize available technologies for the benefit of her students. Having experienced the challenges students face when their access to technology and the internet is limited, Wendy is hopeful that 5G will help to shrink the digital divide by enabling cheaper, more widespread access. She’s looking forward to the exciting possibilities that 5G will afford for technologically enhanced learning, everywhere.
Lyndsay Barrett has worked in communications and journalism for over 10 years. Fascinated with the way people learn and communities share knowledge, Lyndsay decided in 2015 to pursue a certificate in Early Childhood Education from Lethbridge College and subsequently managed programs for children and their families in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Her eclectic career has taken her all over Canada, including Yellowknife, Yorkton, and Vancouver, providing insight into the varied and dramatic differences between provinces, territories, and communities. Lyndsay is most excited about the potential for 5G networks to connect specialized knowledge with people and places that need it through mobile and open learning technologies and hopes rural communities in need of this kind of connection are able to benefit.
Once you’ve explored our 5G OER and become familiar with the Classroom GO prototype, consider how 5G capabilities paired with mobile might impact your professional practice. Use the questions below to inspire your reflection and let us know in the comments.
1. How could you use Classroom Go or something similar that combines 5G and mobile in your work and take learning out of a brick-and-mortar facility?
2. From your unique professional perspective, what would be the greatest benefit of a mobile app like this one?
3. Using your unique perspective again, what would be your number one concern or anticipated hurdle?
Thanks for participating and we look forward to reading your insights!
Great work team 5G! I really like how you used scenarios to show the multiple perspectives and uses of 5G mobile technology. It was very useful to see the steps of 5G implementation and how older technologies may become obsolete if schools adopted 5G technologies. Here is my response to your questions, I apologize for the lateness.
I think that 5G technology has great potential for field schools in post-secondary studies, or to showcase real world applications of knowledge in disciplines such as archaeology. During workplace learning, procedures can be scaffolded by overlaying a projection on top of equipment to highlight how components operate. If I was teaching grade 4, our class could use augmented reality to see how the neighborhood would look if everyone stopped recycling. If teaching grade two we could use mixed reality to show how animals camouflage themselves in the landscape and even viewing their predators from above.
I think the greatest potential for this technology is how it supports students with diverse needs. The biggest stress for teachers is making sure that everyone is being met where they are at, and this is very difficult in a class of 25+. The potential to scaffold students at lower language benchmarks is huge, and this can be the difference between students feeling alienated or supported amongst their peers. Students would be able to progress through the benchmarks more quickly, as they could have regular opportunities to practice situated language use. Mobile assistive technologies could also be enhanced with 5G, and if teachers were all onboarded at the same time, it would increase their comfortability with assistive technology. Currently, many teachers struggle with this, and it changes whether or not these type of technologies can be successfully used as tools. Overall, I think the potential for personalization and accessibility is the greatest benefit from 5G mobile integration in schools!
I will say that my number one concern with this technology was something that I saw in your presentation. When you showed the model school that was already fully 5G integrated, a school without paper books raised some concerns. I think this is because I have recently been learning about the preservation of knowledge in ETEC 540 and how difficult this can be when transferring knowledge from paper to digital. When we archive information, there is always the question about what to keep, but we don’t really know what is important in history until time has already passed (Rumsey, 2017). I also feel like students should be given the opportunity to learn tactically, and not only through screens. If students are reading on screens, learning on screens and then spending their spare time on screens, when do they interact with the real world? I also question if instant accessibility is a good thing. Will students still have something to desire if they can emulate any experience or read the book of their dreams instantly? These are just some questions that spring to mind.
Brown University. (2017, July 11). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose?” [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/FBrahqg9ZMc
Wow, great job, 5G Group! I really appreciate you focusing on the influence of 5G on education. I like the persona’s narratives give me intuitive impressions of 5G.
To review my experience from 2G to 4G, I see that gradually increased speed and capacity of network really have brought a lot of changes for education. The most prominent change, I think, is the richness of learning resources. It’s amazing that we can find almost everything we want to learn on the internet. Considering this aspect, I think education will continue the trend in the time of 5G. Online education resources will become more open and rich, and education will develop in diverse directions. Just as you depict in your Classroom GO, self-directed learning and collective learning coexist, and online education and classroom teaching coexist.
When 5G network provides faster and better data transmission, I think the teaching material/courseware and teaching mode will gradually change in the future. Take the example of courseware, as the 5G network allows VR/AR/MR to be applied into teaching on a large scale, compiling the courseware will become very popular and numerous. Perhaps there will be a lot of software or platforms specifically for compiling/editing VR/AR/MR courseware in the future, just like text and video editing software we are using today. Moreover, when teaching and learning mode shift to high fidelity simulation of learners’ sighting, touching and body feeling, will it influence our cognitive construction during learning, and how will it influence, especially for children’s? This is probably a big topic for education.
Insightful observations, Shirley!
It will be interesting to see if the what we know about screens extends to how learners (especially young learners) interact with AR/VR/MR technology.
Hi 5G team!
Very cool OER! Your prototype was fun and engaging to play around with. I see a lot of connections between 5G along with other areas of mobile technology such as AR and mobile gaming!
My understanding of 5G is that it allows for stronger bandwidth and access to internet. I’m wondering if there are any tech around that allows you to use the internet instead of your phone’s memory to do things. For instance, such as instead of having inhouse technology for memory or CPUs, it relies on the 5G network in order to operate? I would imagine that would be able to save up space for more interesting pieces of mobile technology.
I would say that I would be concerned with the amount of privacy and the accessibility of 5G. My school district is pro-devices, but not cellphones. I think that our views as a society would have to shift in order for students and teachers to be comfortable enough with using mobile devices as educational tools to make use of the 5G technology.
Hi Wynn,
Great comments and I wanted to speak directly to your question about how future devices may work on 5G because it hasn’t been touched on in this thread yet.
I’m not an expert on how devices will work exactly but, from what I understand, apps will rely on the 5G network more than the phone to operate. Cloud technology will be a huge part of making that possible. I’ve linked an article by Antonio Villas-Boas for Business Insider here with more information on what will make that possible. Interestingly, it also suggests that, because our phones will essentially become “glass slabs with batteries” we may not be motivated to upgrade as often, potentially improving the sustainability of worldwide tech use (Evelyne Tsang raises some great questions regarding environmental impacts in this thread).
https://www.businessinsider.com/5g-streaming-apps-smartphone-upgrades-qualcomm-2019-12
Hi Group! Very nice OER, and very topical! Let me say right off the bat that I’m grateful that you chose to focus on the potential educational benefits of 5G rather than the technology specifically, and — more importantly — not on the controversy surrounding it. It’s never inappropriate to ask important questions about new technologies, but in the case of 5G these seem to range from the impossibly politicized to the downright silly.
In my own teaching, it’s unclear what benefits 5G could bring (I teach a photographic technology course that is, for practical purposes, anchored to desktop computers) but with just a tiny bit of imagination, I can also easily picture how it could benefit other courses in my field. A colleague, for example, teaches a photography course that involves regular “field trips” to go out and about in the city, explore local landmarks, make photographs and then edit and discuss them later in the classroom. To be able to edit, review and share on the spot, immediately, would seem not unlike Polaroid “instant” photography!
As far as Classroom Go! goes, I get the sense that it might find its best uses in elementary or secondary education, however it’s easy enough to imagine it being adapted for adult training, or for specifically “out in the world” subjects like geography, architecture or urban planning. What’s more, it occurs to me when considering the app, and 5G in general, to remember that none of the fascinating mobile technologies that have been featured in our OEMs will exist in a vacuum — quite the opposite, really. 5G connectivity will promote the use of video, or AR/VR, which in turn will improve gamification, which will promote uptake of 5G and so on. Technology has an interesting way of expanding to fill its container and when bandwidth for mobile devices makes a quantum leap, all of the other mobile technologies are likely to leap a little too.
As noted, the primary concern for educators should be access. Students in rural areas are already the digital poor cousins even with wired technology, so failing an extraordinary commitment on the part of ISPs or government, we should probably expect 5G to remain an urban thing for a while. If I’m not mistaken, there’s already talk of 6G technology, and surely that can’t be much incentive for anyone to sink billions into 5G infrastructure for everyone.
Hi Sean,
I appreciate the way you have considered the possibilities that 5G will bring to your teaching, and that of others. If we start thinking about these opportunities now, we will be much more ready to take advantage of 5G rollouts when they happen. You are quite right about 5G connectivity being directly linked to most, if not all, of the other OER topics our class has presented, and our group was very conscious of that throughout our research. All of these technologies are bound to take, as you say, “a quantum leap” with 5G connectivity.
You make an interesting point about 6G technology. I agree that rural areas are likely to continue to be the last to get 5G access, but I think 6G is still too far off to distract from establishing 5G well. I posted an article about 6G which you may find interesting; you can find it here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-08/forget-5g-the-u-s-and-china-are-already-fighting-for-6g-dominance. It states that 6G is still at least a decade off. China already has well-established 5G networks in major centres, and their research focus has shifted to 6G. Interestingly, in spite of this, 5G coverage in rural areas of China is minimal. If their situation is any indication of what we are to experience, things do not look good for rural areas. Personally, I hope that the Canadian government will place a higher priority on equal 5G access for all, but of course that remains to be seen.
Hi Team! Thanks for a jam packed OER. I’ve found I’ve had to revisit it a few times to make sure I’ve read each section — you’ve included so much to digest!
Unfortunately I am one of those who has extremely unreliable internet now, so I am not overly hopeful for 5G access any time soon! I just switched to a new satellite provider that seems to be better, but it’s still slow. Living in a rural area we have a wide range of perspectives when it comes to 5G – Some in our area have already signed up for Starlink and are impatiently waiting for it to be available, while others are holding public forums (pre-COVID) and putting up posters around town warning of the health and environmental implications of 5G … I know I am ready for 5G, as even when I’m at my school in a larger centre (Vernon, BC), the internet connection is spotty in my classroom – I can’t even speak during our Teams staff meetings!
Like others have mentioned, I do wonder what the lag time will be for uptake between urban and rural centres. Will the schools and families have the resources (tech-wise and financially) that are necessary to maximize 5G benefits?
An app like Classroom GO would be amazing to better connect students to their surrounding area. I would love to have students connected with traditional Syilx stories through an interactive app like this – it could be a great way to bridge local and global content!
Hi Meg,
Thanks so much for your comments. I empathize with your situation – wondering whether 5G will become a reality in your community. I teach students who live on a reserve, and many of them cannot access the internet at home. To me it seems doubtful that they’ll have 5G access anywhere near as soon as larger centres. From the reading I’ve been doing, it sounds like the larger centres are likely to get 5G first, and it will gradually spread to rural communities. But then, as you say, how long will it take for everyone to have the resources to take advantage of it? There seem to be more questions than answers at the moment!
I love your idea of connecting your students with Syilx stories using Classroom GO! Place-based features in an app like this are one of the great opportunities of 5G. I hope it becomes a reality sooner than we think!
Hey 5G, thanks for the OER!
I appreciate the format which really lends itself to browsing your OER in mobile, though on my Samsung Galaxy 10s the bottom button was mostly clipped out of the screen (but it was still clickable!). I learned quite a bit about 5G here, and reading through your content makes me finally see a way that organic (human) teachers may be phased out of the profession and replaced by AI and technology. I hope this doesn’t happen, but I can see the ways in which it can now (as you point out, having an AI teacher that can build lesson plans based on location and interests is so next level that I don’t even care if I lose my job and become homeless as a result – I will be too busy learning with my AI teacher!).
As someone who grew up in northern rural Alberta and now teaches in northern rural BC, I was happy to see the rural perspective touched on a few times in the OER. I don’t expect to ever teach or live in a city so 5G hasn’t been a topic I have spent too much researching since it just seems unattainable in the near future for me. I appreciated Chaz’s story, but I find it optimistic they would have 5G by 2022 (this story does not mention a date, but the other stories in the OER seemed to point to 2022 as the implementation date). This OER has created more of a desire within me to learn more about 5G, but I also feel like I will be missing out on the tech for some time after it’s rolled out in the big cities. With that in mind, I hope the have’s and have-nots of 5G does not become too big of a division in the quality of education one can expect to receive.
Hi Johannes,
I was so interested to read your takeaway regarding the AI teacher! In our early conversations as a group we often discussed the likelihood of teachers increasingly becoming more like knowledge facilitators, supporting learners as they follow their curiosity into meaningful learning moments. We think that’s a major advantage to the mobile and open learning affordances made possible by 5G networks. I do think educators’ roles will shift, particularly K-12 teachers, but I don’t know they’ll disappear entirely. Certainly not anytime soon. Interstingly, there is a lot of research done in recent years on the impact human teachers have in online learning environments (attrition, achievement, satisfaction, etc.). I’ll link a couple below. Do you think there will be a day when not a human educator is to be seen?
Thank you for mentioning the rural perspective! Our group members hail from urban, suburban, and rural locations so representing all perspectives was important to us. I think you’re right to suggest rural areas, particularly in Canada, won’t be accessing 5G in 2022. This is particularly true if their access to 5G is terrestrial. I wrote a post earlier in the semester on satellite internet and think it’s an interesting option to watch. It’s not reliable or affordable enough to be a mainstream option yet (anyone I know who has it is an extreme tech hobbyist) but I do think it might eventually give terrestrial 5G a run for it’s money. Take a look at the energetic video in the post for, what I found to be, a helpful analysis of both:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2021/02/11/extraterrestrial-internet-vs-5g-networks/
^The link referred to in my comment above.
Hello team 5G and Mobile Learning!
Thank you for the amazing resource! I appreciate how you used testimonials to give perspective to the various aspects of 5G and mobile learning. These “user experiences” coupled with the research helped me thoroughly understand the 5G network. It is really cool, and there are so many opportunities to insert a mobile-assist into our world. I can imagine how using mobile devices across the globe will become as expected as running water and electricity. The question is, do all places in the world expect running water and electricity as freely as the majority of us in this course do?
I work with many schools in lower income areas, and I keep thinking about the necessity to maintain a constant upgrade of devices to “keep up” with the new technology. In the classroom, VR and AR field trips have already expanded the horizons of these children, but bringing enough tablets and ensuring internet accessibility in a low-tech neighbourhood has me worried that we are contributing to the digital divide. There have been many posts already discussing this issue, so I would like to bring up another one.
You had listed the problems with 5G, from accessibility to high maintenance, and its ubiquitous nature, and I would add the question of ecology to this list. Have there been studies done to determine the impact of installing 5G on existing infrastructure, and what costs would be incurred – to the environment – in its implementation? How will the increased digital load affect our world’s need for energy?
Thank you for your thoughts, and bravo on an engaging OER!
Hi Evelyne,
We’re so glad to hear the narrative/research combination was impactful for you! That was our hope. I think you’ve touched on something important when you ask how widespread interest in mobile learning and living may be. This may be why pre-planning for 5G’s challenges and impacts isn’t happening everywhere it should, in my opinion. I think it should be a greater part of professional development in all sectors now so that we’re ready for it in the approximately 1-3 years (depending on location and world events) it arrives wherever we work. Because people aren’t hearing about it, and it’s a bit of a lofty picture when they do, many won’t be demanding that type of “running water and electricity.” But the fact is, it’s rolling out whether we’re ready or not.
This drives us to your excellent question about its effect(s) on the environment. It’s a question we could have built a whole other OER around and will be really important as we use our votes to influence a positive rollout of 5G and IoT. The downside of the fact that government and private sector stakeholders are driving the conversation is that these questions may not be getting the attention they desrve. A great example is this video put forward by Nokia (within a great post by our own, Britt Hack), which talks a lot about the positive potential of 5G networks but completely avoids important concerns, such as the environment:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2021/01/25/5g-networks-and-industry-x/
I’ve listed two resources below that look at this topic. One leans into the concerns and one offers, in my opinon, a more balanced discussion. However, both ultimately indicate that 5G’s impact on the environment is almost impossible to judge because it has the potential to impact everything. Yes, the network will take more energy to run, but newly possible-IoT affordances may help us reduce energy use in many other ways. Yes, more towers and greater tech use might affect ecosystems in ways we haven’t predicted, but new ways of tracking environmental changes, such as weather, algea growth, and temperature, may help us to pivot and intervene more quickly and effectively. Yes, more devices produced the same way we do now isn’t sustainable, but neither is consumer culture overall. We need to change what we demand from our governments, businesses, and personal choices to take care of our planet.
Interestingly, both articles point to the same two studies (one on birds and one on bees), which suggests to me there’s just a lot we don’t know yet. But I’m admittedly not very knowledgeable in this area.
Renee Cho offers a balanced look at the potential impacts and suggestions solutions for how we can carefully move forward in this new generation of networks and devices:
Cho, R. (2020, August 13). The coming 5G revolution: How will it affect the environment? Earth Institute, Columbia University. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/08/13/coming-5g-revolution-will-affect-environment/
Clair Curran’s survey of the potential negative impacts is important to keep in mind as we’re using our votes and dollars to influence the way our communities do or do not embrace 5G networks and devices:
Curran, C. (2020, January 30). What will 5G mean for the environment? The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. https://jsis.washington.edu/news/what-will-5g-mean-for-the-environment/
Thanks again for your thought-provoking questions!
Hi 5G team. What a great OER – I liked the app format very much when I tried it both on my iPhone and laptop; it was user-friendly in both formats. I didn’t know very much about 5G except the odd story in the news before taking this course and your OER’s information cleared up a lot of my questions. I would have liked to see more examples of what the app can do, but I understand that creating each screen of an app like this is a great deal of time and work, so your proof of concept was clear and was tied in to your other resources. The example lesson plan provided a great place to start with how one can imagine applying this kind of technology to various learning scenarios.
If I were to use Classroom Go in my classes, I would definitely try to plan opportunities for student led inquiry-type situations or problem-based learning where the outdoor location plays a fundamental role in the problem students are trying to solve or relates directly to their inquiry question. Others have posted about equity and access as being concerns with implementing 5G in schools, and I agree. I also teach in a very conservative, rural school district where I can envision the main implementation hurdles being grounded in what I’m going to refer to as ‘5G paranoia’. Your OER showed chipped bracelets being used in the prototype sites in China, as well as recommended healthy meals based on student data, and I can see our school staff fielding questions about 5G tracking students’ every move and acting like ‘big brother’ in their lives. There will definitely need to be some education around the types of radiation that cause harm to people and where 5G fits in the scheme of other types of radiation.
Hi Lori,
Thank you for the thoughtful response. I’m glad the prototype worked well for you and that you found it informative. I’m glad you picked up on the location based problem solving opportunity from 5G enabled tools. Also glad to see that you thought our “Classroom GO” prototype gave you some ideas on where this type of tool could go in education or how educators/students could benefit from it. I like your point about concerns from educators. As always, education will slowly but surely change. I wonder how the pandemic may increase change in the adoption of learning outside the traditional classroom?
Thanks
Toby
Hi,
What a beautifully designed OER. I really appreciate the clever ways in which you communicate advantages/disadvantages, limitations and solutions by using fictional stories. I also greatly appreciated the explicit definitions for what exactly is mobile learning. It has been odd for me in this course, which is all about mobile learning, to only really understand what mobile learning is this close to the end of the term. I mean, I have put together bits and pieces over the term, but there is just something powerful about an explicit definition, “the ability to casually use a device on the go – without sitting down”, and “learning across multiple contexts using electronic devices”. I really like the map showing if there is 5G where we live.
From a design perspective, I am wondering why you chose to put some of your OER into the mobile app, and some of it here on this forum. Just curious!
At the end of your OER, I find myself just wondering about the infrastructure. I do not know much about the physical installation of 5G and was wondering if you could give me a brief overview. Is 5G coming from the installation of multiple cables/towers/something else? I hear a lot about it in the news, but never really looked into it. What are the controversies surrounding 5G? What was that big kerfuffle with Huawei?
In response to your discussion prompts:
Hurdles: I definitely relate to that bit in your app where you had a fictional teacher complain that they are not paid to run IT support for all their colleagues! It is so frustrating to use up my prep time to teach someone how to use Excel and PowerPoint, and these are old technologies! I can’t imagine how many educators are going to struggle with 5G applications and how many will just decide not to bother. There really is only one different between those who are able to keep up and those who can’t, and it’s less about age and more about the willingness to take initiative to learn how to use something independently. Just click around, Youtube some videos, etc, right?
How I would use 5G: I am most excited to get started by bringing in AR/VR in my classrooms. I really think it’s time we move away from studying physiology from 2D diagrams and start exploring organs and body systems in 3D. Research shows that when it comes to learning, plastic models reign supreme, over preserved specimens. I would like to explore combining the AR/VR modality with the hands-on one. I would like to see students being able to overlay animated models on top of tissues because it’s often difficult to figure out what it is you’re looking at in a real organ. Also, I have this BIG DREAM that one day, microscopes will have smart lenses fitted onto them. I mean, when you’re a student and you’re looking at a cell for the first time, you really have no clue what all the structures are.
Hi Ying,
Thank you for your thoughtful response to our OER. I’m glad you found it useful. To answer your question about how it works, it is explained very well here: http://www.emfexplained.info/?ID=25916#:~:text=5G%20will%20use%20'massive'%20MIMO,network%20and%20maintain%20high%20throughput.
In a nutshell, it uses towers that connect to the core network which manages all the connections. This core network has been reworked and greatly improved to enable the much faster speeds of 5G. To begin with, 5G will operate with existing 4G infrastructure.
There was a bit of a controversy awhile back regarding health hazards, which turned out to be unfounded. You can read about it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/science/5g-cellphones-wireless-cancer.html
I agree with you that a big hurdle will be upskilling teachers to use the technology. Those of us who are eager to use it will learn for ourselves, but many will lean on the tech savvy teachers, just as they do now.
Your big dream of smart microscopes sounds completely plausible with 5G. This technology will be fantastic for science education!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for these additional resources! I think I may add that nytimes one to my collection of examples for bad science, alongside that infamous paper on the dangers of vaccines.
Hi Ying,
Wendy already spoke to your 5G-focused questions but I wanted to jump in on your question about our choice for which information went where.
We spent a LOT of time talking about what to include and exclude from the app! We ultimately decided we wanted the app to showcase Classroom GO (kind of an app-within-an-app) and then look at its use from a number of perspectives. Our OER is essentially a future-focused daydream of what education might be grappling with when 5G networks roll out. We included research in the app because we wanted to show our predictions were grounded in current knowledge, not simply flights of fancy.
We also knew that many in education don’t know a lot about 5G. Coverage in the media doesn’t answer a number of education-specific questions and professional associations don’t seem to be talking about it a lot. Tangential research exists but can be hard to find, even if you’re motivated to look for it. So we opted to include some background knowledge and a lesson plan to add context for those who needed more to visualize what 5G practically means for education. Those who knew a lot about 5G already could skip ahead to the OER and hit the ground running.
Thanks for your thought-provoking questions!
Great OER! I enjoyed navigating your app, however I have to say it was a lot of content to be reading in an app. Despite that, the information was interesting and brought a new level of perspective for the use of 5G. At the BC tech summit three years ago, I attended a few panels on the development of 5G networks. What surprised me most back then was that they would need to have a signal booster every 1000 ft to sustain delivery of the networks. This is only 2% of 4G’s current network. How will this work for rural communities? When we look at Canada’s geography, we have population spread in many rural places, however the development of 5G has been focused on the cities due to this physical constraint. Ultimately, will 5G really be made available everywhere? Or will this force developments of new technologies and processing to be migrated into urban environments? What does this say for extending communities? Will 5G ultimately force people to make a decision to live in urban settings?
After running numerous programs like Classroom Go in the classroom, the biggest hurdle right now is the available technology. This is a conversation that has been broached many times throughout the course. Teachers would have to expect that all students have their own functioning mobile device or an iPad cart they can rent that has the capacity to run these applications. In our school district, any time we want to use a new app on the iPads, we have to let our technology advisor know 1 month in advance so they can install it on all of the iPads.
I strongly believe that kids need more real life experiences to connect their learning. So much of what we teach in the classroom is lost because it didn’t apply to something that was relevant in their lives. For this reason, I would take my students on a field trip every week or two to ensure I was finding real life connections for them to engage with. An app like Classroom Go would be beneficial for teachers to bring the real world into their classrooms without having to plan extensive fieldtrips, but then we also deal with students who are off task, on their mobile device, probably playing some game like Among Us, rather than focusing on the task. How do we monitor what they are doing on their mobile devices? With 5G networks, the kids can do more on their phones quickly, so it shortens the attention span as well, allowing students to shift quickly between programs and applications.
After developing VR games for education and doing workshops on integrating technologies in the classroom, there is an immediate spike in engagement and retention for the kids. They get incredibly excited when they get to use technology to explore new concepts. 5G will help educators bring more experiences into the classroom to ultimately build more global minded citizens.
Hi Exlia:
You have brought up some very good points with concerns pertaining to 5G networks. Equality and equity issues have been a continual issues with tech, and it will not disappear with the emergence of 5G networks. In fact, some articles I read online expressed concerns that 5G will make the situation even worse. If anything, I think the best thing any school division can do is plan, as well as consider options such as P3’s and collaborating with the tech industry for grants to narrow the digital divide. I also you your point on students getting off task. One of our group members works in the industry, and said students surfing online outside the parameters of school tasks is a big problem. Not only is it troublesome for IT departments to block but it also causes security issues for 5G infrastructure. The best approach from my previous experience is for IT departments to develop clear policies and procedures to quickly mitigate the attempts for users to wonder outside the parameters of appropriate programs. It may mean making the sandbox smaller, but it is designed to keep everyone safe.
Hi Elixa,
Thank you for your thoughtful response to our OER. Just to clarify, the intent of the Classroom Go app is for it to be used out in the field to augment the learning experience while on a field trip, or in a distance-learning situation. The idea is to provide that real-life experience along with additional information and tasks that are meant to be completed while in that environment, targeting the learning opportunities provided by the environment.
I think with the increasing prevalence of technology use in education, we need focus on teaching good digital citizenship. Rather than blocking students from doing certain things with their devices, we need to help them learn about appropriate use. Yes, there will still be off-task use during learning times, just as there is off-task behaviour during non-technology learning times. We can work with our students so that they develop the habits they need to use their devices effectively. Ideally, using the Classroom Go app on a field trip would add value to the outing.
It will be interesting to see how mobile technology use in schools evolves with the proliferation of 5G networks.
While your ideas are clearly focused on educational uses, I couldn’t help thinking about a similar use cases in a professional environment. Assuming that companies will eventually replace and upgrade remote employee devices, a ‘field-trip’ for a sales rep to a university campus could be more rewarding if opportunities recorded in Salesforce One CRM are tracked with geolocation. Why do so many conversations with faculty and academic coordinators happen outside of office hours, outside of the office, and more often in student common spaces and cafeterias? In part, that’s where the better wi-fi hot spots are for technology demonstration purposes, but advanced mobile networks could make that walk-and-learn experience much better for showing an instructor what a realistic student experience will be.
Great observation, Ben! And thank you for steering our attention in this direction.
Our team was a combination of teachers and non-teachers so we talked a lot about the direction we’d take our OER in the beginning. Noticing our own uneven understanding of what 5G practically means for everyone (not only education) we knew we wanted to hone in on something that looked at the pros and cons from a multitude of viewpoints. As you point out, those possibilities and challenges are often the same in educational and professional environments.
You’re entirely right to notice that advanced mobile networks would allow sales reps to demonstrate products or services in the users acutal context (their office, the classroom, or in the virtual non-classroom), improving their ability to visualize how it will imapct their practice. I didn’t know so many sales conversations happen in common areas, but now that you mention it, it seems so obvious!
This line of thought inspires me to consider how embedded tech will be in our lives once 5G is widespread, and possibly more meaningfully embedded than it is now.
Thanks again for offering up your unique perspective!
Hi team,
Thanks for a great OER on 5G. Throughout this course, I am finding these UX design applications very interesting and I am intrigued to try it out myself!
I was also looking at your Classroom Go lesson plan closely and I liked the wide range of activities you have incorporated with opportunities for student reflection.
As I was reading through your OER, the first thing I thought of was creating a scavenger hunt: space exploration edition (a combination of 5G, AR/VR, and gamification). Students can explore our solar system or even different galaxies as they explore around the school or even around the city/town (of course, with teachers or supervisors present). They will collect information about stars, planets, galaxies and collate their information on some sort of a collaborative online platform. Giving out live hints, getting updates on how other teams are doing, researching information, and communicating with team members would be so much easier to organize and deliver with 5G networks.
The idea of students creating their own learning content resonated with me. Sometimes, educators need to take a step back from focusing on delivering and let students be leaders and owners of their own learning process. As students create their own content, I can see a positive effect on collaboration, communication, and engagement with using 5G, as students will have the same data or responsive speed on their mobile devices (increased interaction, connectivity, portability, etc.). I have students from all over the province doing our online programs and some of the students don’t have proper internet services or electronic devices to do school work. These factors can affect student motivation quite significantly and impact how successful students are in their learning. I think 5G would be able to prevent these issues and provide “fair” educational opportunities for students.
I personally love fast, efficient technology and I can’t stand slow internet speed and lagging electronic devices so I am all for 5G networks! However, I feel that this is going to make it harder for us to disconnect. The whole idea of “disconnect is to reconnect” is going to be more challenging.
I agree Seo.
The ability to disconnect will become harder. As well, those that live in remote areas will find connecting challenging especially if their community does not have sufficient mobile networks. Considering your other comment about educators need to step back an let people explore, you are not the only one who feels that way. I actually found a 4 week old youtube podcast with Elon Musk, presenting a similar argument in what is wrong with the current educational system. I’ll post the link below, just for you 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io3TiuJsfLc&t=221s
Hi Seo-Whi
These are great thoughts! With 5G or 6G in the near future, people are getting more connected and virtually closer, with lesser patience of waiting. That might impact students in various ways of learnings, such as, listen to their teachers for reasoning rather than for results, pay more attention to observe than to fast speed videos. That would be a huge challenge to education and ways of learning.
In our OER, we try to present a forthcoming world with fast-growing technology and to inspire people re-think about mobile and open learning. 5G as an infrastructure supports mobility in various ways. However, it may also be carnival as for people time management, energy management or even attention management. There are a lot for us to unfold further.
I believe that the value of 5G is the capability for users to access online resources at a much faster speed with higher quality content. This would be very advantageous as many classrooms (including my own) have run into the hurdles of a slow network (this would certainly be advantageous for mobile technology as many schools use tablets now). Early last year 5G was tested in Japanese schools with the support of the technology company, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International which allowed students to test out using 5G to successfully share 4K quality video at very fast speeds (The kids are alright…thanks to Samsung and KDDI’s 5G kit https://www.telecomtv.com/content/5g/samsung-and-kddi-showcase-5g-powered-education-in-japanese-elementary-school-33754/)
My major concern with 5G is actual accessibility for students and schools to this upgraded technology. Korea has been the first country to launch 5G networks but has found that Korean schools have very low levels of computer usage (Online learning using 5G, digital tools could improve education for children everywhere beyond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vAQ1B5Zj4&t=213s).
The process of public schools having access to 5G will be very gradual as the hardware must be upgraded or the speed will not be improved despite being able to connect to a faster network. I believe this will create a divide between students and school as did before when the first touchscreen phones arrived and many students/teachers had access before the schools did.
An interesting discovery I made while researching this topic further was the concern that 5G usage may actually have negative impacts on weather satellites being able to take accurate measurements of water vapour in our atmosphere (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0StENbvaPI)
Hi Neill:
Thanks for the links with further information about 5G. Technology hurdles are indeed a concern. Currently with the situation pertaining to emergency online teaching, many educational institutions were faced with this digital learning curve for both their instructors and students. What was identified relatively quickly in the post- secondary arena what that Centres of Teaching and Learning (CTL) departments were used to pick up this slack, which brings into question what exactly will their role be. What I think will happen is that CTLs will be the education tech hubs for instructional design, training, and pedagogical experimentation. If anything, 5G will make CTLs diversify quickly to transform the traditional organizational culture (pedagogy, assessment methods, forms of educational delivery) of educational institutions. This is why it is very important for schools to identify needs. 5G is indeed expensive and cannot be established independently. Different countries have different strategies to use for funding. Private Public Partnerships may be a consideration. In Saskatchewan a P3 must be at a minimum of $100 million. When you include a public school division upgrade to 5G, this may indeed fit the bill. Lastly, if 5G usage does have negative impacts on weather satellites, it gives great incentives for physicists to build awesome new tech for the future. With the Juno probe and the wild data being collected from Jupiter, I don’t think anything can stop these group of experts from building. With the amount of radiation spewed on that probe (50, 000 rems), I am shocked that it’s still functional. Comparing Jupiter to Earth, Earth’s climate is relatively tame.
https://www.popsci.com/how-juno-spacecraft-will-survive-jupiters-devastating-radiation/
Hi, 5G Group!
I really enjoyed exploring your OER and appreciated the provided instructional video! Viewing everything was pretty easy on my (5G enabled) iPhone 12, though I did have points where I had to hold the screen to prevent scrolling that would block the last lines of text. That might just be a weird setting on my phone though…
It was fun to go through your OER and see how 5G related to some of the other A2s from this term, like mobile games and AR/VR. Any of the apps or sample lessons from my group’s A2 on Mobile Games would have been improved by the use AR/VR technologies and the use of 5G.
My academic background is primarily in environmental science, so I can see the use of Classroom Go being an excellent way to teach students about the world around them either through educational AR experiences like those describe by Avery’s student experience. I think the best use of 5G and the Classroom Go app would be in supporting student learning experiences that they genuinely can’t receive inside a classroom, like a field trip to a creek to learn about riparian ecosystems as in the field sciences having in-the-field experience is the more direct path to learning the information. Especially when it comes to environmental science, learning about temperate rainforests, chaparral ecosystems, or the various marine zones from a classroom can certainly be interesting, but being able to witness and interact with the very things you are learning about provides a much more well-rounded, engaging, and holistic learning experience.
My number one concern regarding 5G is how the roll out process will be completed and how schools can provide fair access to the learning opportunities supported by 5G in an equitable manner. You guys already discussed this quite a bit in your OER, so I won’t ramble on about it. As an educational research assistant the greatest benefit of 5G for me now is its role in supporting my team’s communication efforts as we conduct experiments, organize and analyze data, and write up papers. I actually bought my 5G enabled Apple 12 since I live in a remote area that doesn’t have fibre internet capability, yet ironically somehow has 5G, so that I could better communicate with my team. So, in my case the rural area 5G roll out was actually further along than I expected!
Hi Dana,
I really enjoyed reading your feedback. Equity with 5G is a big concern, in fact it is a global concern. For the most part, technology development has been motivated by profit. With digital economies, lack of access means individuals would actually be excluded from the workforce. Though not everyone can afford laptops, a common theme has been access to mobile devices, particularly smartphones. These devices have been a game changer with the most vulnerable people having access. I think as educators we really need to consider how we present lesson plans on electronic devices, particularly if we have students that have limited access. Covid 19 really made the digital divide more visible though it was always there even before emergency online teaching existed. Now the question is what to do about it. 5G will not resolve this problem, but how we use devices to reach out to everyone might.
I have one question to as you Dana. What area are you from? All 5G devices will run on 4G networks. They just do not run as well on them. If I know your location and telco provider, I can check their map to determine what type of networks they are running in your area.
Brittany,
Thanks for the response! I agree that mobile devices are a more accessible method to get underprivileged students connected to mobile lesson, and that Covid 19 has highlighted the existing divide. I am excited to see how this divide will be bridged, and I am sure 5G will be one of the many connectors.
I am from the US, I split my time living between California and Washington state. I have T-mobile as my telecom provider. Where I live in Washington is pretty remote (town population of 19,000 people or so), but is directly across the Strait of Juan de Luca from Victoria, BC. My 5G connection is pretty solid up there, which is ideal since fiber internet (which I have in CA) is not an option. Funnily enough, often times when I am in my house in WA my phone will get a notification saying “Welcome to Canada!” so I’m guessing my phone signal bounces between the towers in Victoria and those on the Olympic Peninsula in the USA. Regardless, I have been loving having 5G capability in general, and especially when in WA.
Check this out Dana.
This might explain why you are getting T-mobile notifications from Canada. It is likely that their 5G grids are connected to their 4G legacy equipment. It is possible that T-mobile is using 5G light in some areas for their services. This map shows coverage for both 4G and 5G.
https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map
Ladies and Gentleman welcome to our Group 12 Movable Feast. Toby, Lyndsay, Wendy, Nini, and myself are all pleased that you are taking the time to review our project. We have selected days for blog moderation. This way your questions and comments can be responded to quickly. If you have any questions or concerns with the project, please let us know. To ensure mobile integrity, we have each played our part in testing our Moveable Feast with smartphones using Apple and Android OS systems. Our Moveable Feast showed great results on Samsung, iphone, and Huawei devices. The original prototype was designed for Google Pixel Mobile Phones using a browser-based UX design application called Figma. If you have any questions about Figma, please let us know.