Welcome to Week 9 of Movable Feast!
Please enjoy our OER (Open Educational Resource) on Mobile Collaboration by your colleagues, Megan Ravenhill and Vera Xiong.
We focused on a couple of key aspects of Mobile Collaboration such as benefits and challenges, how to enhance student participation via mobile collaboration, and a variety of different available mobile collaborative platforms.
Our first thought on Mobile Collaboration was discovering that it is much more than just Zoom calls and Facetimes. We have explored the variety of different ways you can collaborate with students, colleagues, or other professionals through your mobile device.
Please use the following link to access our Google Site: https://sites.google.com/view/mobile-collaboration/mobile-collaboration
As you explore our OER, please complete the following activities:
- A survey asking you questions of your experience with Mobile Collaboration on our Homepage.
- A collaborative Padlet with your ideas/suggestions for enhancing engagement via Mobile Collaboration on our Engagement Page.
- Click through our Lesson Sample via Google Slides on our Engagement Page.
- Play our short but informative Kahoot game on the Activity Page.
After you have gone through our OER, we encourage you to engage in our class discussion on the following and suggested prompts: (Please use the space below this post to contribute to our discussion. Like, rate, and comment on posts by your classmates to stay involved!)
- Do you think that Mobile Collaboration could one day replace in-person collaboration in most workplaces/classrooms?
- What are your thoughts on the challenges of mobile collaboration and what are some solutions you can think of?
- What is your personal definition of mobile collaboration?
- How have you used mobile collaboration in your professional workplace?
- How often do you use mobile video conferencing tools such as Facetime or Facebook Messenger Video?
- Do you think the global pandemic, COVID-19, made a drastic change to the idea of mobile collaboration in the workplace? Was this a positive or negative impact?
Well done with your OER. I enjoyed the different tasks and felt like there was a lot of helpful information.
1. I truly believe that in-person collaboration is very important, especially in the younger years as I believe it offers some invaluable experiences. However, I do think that mobile collaboration will continue to evolve and take on a bigger role. With the continued development of technologies,
5. I use mobile video conferencing tools several times a week. I tutor students online on Zoom which I enjoy for its whiteboard feature. I like being able to play games with my students, share my screen, or have them share theirs. It allows us to peer into each other’s lives and learning even though we’re in different countries.
Megan and Vera,
Firstly, I apologize for being a little late in my responses. I looked at your website early this week but due to some personal issues, was unable to log on as often this week as I have in the past so I did not make it to a response. I have read through all of the previous responses and I echo so many thoughts that have already been eloquently stated. Your OER is fantastically done. I personally am really impressed with the depth of your presentation and much information you were able to include without it feeling overwhelming.
To answer your discussion questions. Mobile collaboration for me has been such an integral part of my life since COVID-19. Personally, in this program that is the bulk of our student experience. This semester I have used both, this blog and Slack which are both newer to me. During my work life I use Microsoft Teams. Teams is something my school district used prior to COVID but no one really logged on. At my school, we mainly used it to sign out technology (the laptop or iPad carts) for classroom use. During the 2020/21 school year, I taught both in person and online sessions and used that as my platform as well. I think for the most part, the impacts have been positive. Being able to still participate in professional development even from home and being able to stay connected and be immersed in activities and events from many parts of the world. I think more work needs to be done to make these places inclusive and accessible, especially for people with disabilities which is something I really started thinking about after taking an elective MET course on ableism last term.
Thank you for your informative presentation. The mobile collaboration results from the need for the geographically-dispersed team members to maintain communication to complete tasks. While the pandemic increased the decentralized workplace with more individuals working from home, the need to connect dispersed team members, especially in remote and rural areas, has been around for a while. So instead of the new mobile devices, cloud storage, video conferencing and collaboration systems, our workplace communicated through phone lines, faxes, emails, satellite connections, spyware and, on occasion, travelling to work onsite.
In my experience, the team members are the major challenge in collaboration. Unfortunately, there are occasions when not all the members are fully engaged. One solution is to break down the task into components, set expectations and deadlines for each element, and communicate regularly to brainstorm, support, and provide feedback.
I use mobile collaboration daily during the school year in the virtual classroom to build a learning community for quick tasks and long-term projects. There are many tools in the video conferencing programs like breakout rooms, chats, whiteboards, and screen share, as well as multiple functions in the learning management systems like video conferencing, forums and wikis that facilitate collaborative project-based learning.
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for sharing about your mobile collaboration experiences. You touched on “the team members are the major challenge in collaboration”. Do you mean challenges as of creating shared buy-in, keeping people motivated, or making meaningful contributions to the team project? Or do you mean challenges with understanding the mind map or cultural diversity they bring to the team while figuring out how to ensure harmony and progress simultaneously? I believe it could be a little bit of both in terms of social layered challenges and technological layered challenges. What does it look like when you find people collaborate and work well digitally? I feel like mobile collaboration has to fill the needs beyond just getting the work done. A better future for mobile collaboration is when people’s social needs are met. This is similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people have a natural desire for higher needs like cognitive needs and self-actualization needs. If mobile collaboration were able to help people achieve these needs, as a facilitator you would find it easier to keep people motivated.
Zheng, you have raised some interesting questions. Technically layered challenges rarely pose difficulties. I agree with you that it is about meeting social needs. Multicultural and perceptual contexts need attention in learning spaces with a plurality of cultures. Intense ethnocentrism leads to low motivation to interact with strangers of different cultures. Many students prefer intracultural interaction and avoid intercultural exchanges. Therefore, I believe the first task is to develop familiarity. Once a learning community is established, then satisfaction in collaborating is possible.
Excellent OER Megan and Vera! I loved how simple and informative it was to gain an understanding of mobile collaboration, I also loved the Kahoot quiz at the end, I got them all right! 1- Do you think that Mobile Collaboration could one day replace in-person collaboration in most workplaces/classrooms? I think mobile collaboration already replaced many in-person learning experiences (e.g., language learning, coding,…) even when we are in a physical classroom, we use mobile collaboration techniques because it offers so many effective affordances of collaboration that we simply cannot ignore. 2- What are your thoughts on the challenges of mobile collaboration and what are some solutions you can think of? The only challenge in a mobile collaboration that I experience with my students is feeling overwhelmed and lost in the resources and tools (e.g., whiteboard, PwerPoint, mini-games, YouTube,…), using small screens while sharing multiple resources can be really distracting. I think the solution here would be in the future when AR spaces become more accessible and popular to use in collaborative environments. We would be able to merge both worlds; feel our presence in the environment and have access to the digital tools in one place. 6- Do you think the global pandemic, COVID-19, made a drastic change to the idea of mobile collaboration in the workplace? Was this a positive or negative impact? Definitely! The pandemic shifted some of our physical spaces into digital ones. We wouldn’t know for sure if the impact was positive or negative, but there is the positive and the negative side to every situation. On the positive side, working from home was beneficial for people and the environment in so many ways, however, mobile and digital collaboration did not replace physical intimacy, and that affected people psychologically. The connections created by workplace intimacy make people look forward to going to work. This increases mental, emotional, and physical presence which improves productivity.
Thank you Maria for participating in this week’s activities. Circling back to your response to question #2 where you mentioned the biggest challenge for your students is feeling overwhelmed about tech. If I could say it this way, “it’s a first-world problem”. Because we are so blessed with what we have, as a matter of fact, sometimes turns out to be a little too much “blessing” that makes us feel overwhelmed. Not surprisingly, I am with you on the overwhelmingness. Something that helps me to ease off the anxiety is to designate flatforms for specific purposes of use, by that I mean, for example, using Microsoft Teams ONLY for official communication with students like course announcements, and using Kahoots or other interactive platforms for interactive activities. Assess the appropriate portion of in-person activities and virtual activities. By designating learning platforms and channels for specific purposes, students would feel less anxious about everything all happening at once which may trigger their fear of missing out.
2: What are your thoughts on the challenges of mobile collaboration and what are some solutions you can think of?. With the recent Rogers outage, I think it’s made us all aware of how reliant on the Internet we are as a society. Without proper service/infrastructure, our usual daily work processes suddenly becomes affected or even halted in some situations. As pretty much all mobile collaboration platforms require an active internet connection or mobile service, without it the entire concept wouldn’t even work due to technical barriers. In normal circumstances, some challenges which I could foresee include higher bandwidth/data required for live collaboration tools such as Zoom or Facetime. If users are collaborating without Wi-Fi, chances are these collaboration tools will eat up all their monthly data quite quickly. Some platforms might be more technically demanding than others which could leave some users behind due to outdated or slower devices which cannot fully support the increased technical requirements/demands of these tools.
Hi John, thank you for generously sharing your insights about mobile collaboration. Your answers are appreciated by our team. You brought up a timely incident Roger outage, many businesses and individuals have been affected by that. I imagine professors and students were frustrated about not being able to log onto Zoom Meeting or Learning Management Systems (LMS). If I could ask you to roam and reflect on one day in your life that you experienced a good learning moment or a good lesson, without the mediation of technology. What was that about? You don’t need to share it, but simply consider the question, what was the learning experience for you? I could think of moments in life when I learned from people, learned through role models, and through social interactions. That’s how people learn before schools take place and before technology comes into play. My point is education won’t necessarily thrive because of technological advancement, in return, education won’t necessarily disappear if one day we lost internet connections for good.
4: How have you used mobile collaboration in your professional workplace? Yes, even before the pandemic my work involved lots of collaboration platforms such as brainstorming on Miro (it’s a great platform for making flow charts and stickies), Zoom/Team meetings with other clients in other countries, Whatsapp/Slack for communication along with Dropbox/Google Drive for file sharing. In most cases, mobile collaboration is used to streamline our work process while increasing the level of transparency between colleagues in terms of finding information or following up on another person’s work. The use of these tools are definitely more effective compared to the traditional approach of sending email attachments and waiting for a response. As weekly meetings can take up lots of time, having the options to collaborate decreases the need for frequent face to face meetings as we can simply leave remarks, comments or memos onto the online platforms where concerned parties can see them. The best aspect is, these platforms can be accessed and used in both desktop and mobile environments, with barely any difference between the two. Work in this context becomes more flexible as colleagues have the options to work on several devices while being able to access the same documents/updates they would generally receive while sitting in the office. I’ve also noticed these collaboration tools increased the general level of communication as there were fewer instances of miscommunication, “lost” documents or general administrative issues. As for teaching, I use a similar suite of tools mentioned above though Zoom is probably the most commonly used one for online teaching environments as generally, I don’t need to collaborate with students in this situation.
Hi John, although my workplace didn’t really focus on mobile collaboration until after the pandemic hit, I find that, although accessibility definitely changed, our communication changed even more. This helps with clarifying any confusion, getting things organized, etc., which is so helpful and time-saving. Although, even though I say time-saving, I do also find myself connected more. So I can save time and complete more, but I also find myself using up time I’d have spent otherwise with it now.
Hi Megan and Vera, fantastic OER! You’ve both done a great job covering an important topic which is probably more impactful than we think. The website was easy to navigate with lots of insightful research included. ____________________________________1: Do you think that Mobile Collaboration could one day replace in-person collaboration in most workplaces/classrooms?: Replace is a strong word as I would believe a balance between mobile and in person is key for both workplaces and classrooms. While mobile collaboration has it’s merits, there are certain tasks and processes which are controlled more effectively if people work or learn in person. Adopting a hybrid approach seems to be the best solution as it provides flexibility and more important, provides options for people. For K-12 students, I think a degree of oversight/structure is required as the role of the in class teacher is more important than say, for University students where self studying is more common. Mobile collaboration in this situation could be introduced as a supplementary tool for learning where as for adults, it becomes a “culture” or commonly used practice. The most important aspect to keep in mind for Education is students have a fundamental need to belong, learn and share as relying purely on mobile culture might not be enough to create meaningful communities for collaboration and learning. The MET program is the first time which I’ve collaborated and worked with other student purely online, initially I thought it would be challenging but oddly enough, it’s probably because we’re all accustomed and familiar with technology which makes the process much smoother, perhaps even more so than in person collaboration at times! However, I do feel there is a decreased level of synergy and group dynamics when the entire team is collaborating purely online (though it ultimately depends on the individuals) The same applies for work as the daily interactions we have with our colleagues in the office is absent in mobile environments, in addition to other factors such as social engagement, professional development, mentoring, coaching and peer-mentoring, all of which are probably harder to gauge/effectively manage in an online environment.
Good point John. For my part, why did I decide to start a master’s degree, it was precisely because I had the possibility of doing everything online without having to physically travel at fixed times, but also to collaborate with a wider range of students around the world. If this option had not been possible, I would surely not have gone back to school. So for me, mobile collaboration has given me flexibility and the opportunity to study in a context where I have to keep working and I want to keep traveling. On the other hand, I also agree with you: I have the impression of not really knowing the other students. I recently collaborated with Aaron for our A2 and since we chatted often on video call, I feel like he’s the one I’ve developed a great friendship with. For the others, I remain on my hunger (can I say this expression in english?!?). I say to myself: “what an interesting person!” or “wow, I would like to discuss more about this topic with them”, but without being all together, I can’t really call a spontaneous gathering, like going for a coffee or a beer after a class. Mobile collaboration, online collaboration in general, is redefining the social aspect of education. I would like a hybrid form with, for example, a week all together for a seminar (but not mandatory haha). The online relationship would certainly be different afterwards.
Hi Sebastien, I think I can say the same thing to you “what an interesting person”! That’s how I genuinely feel when I first read your assignment 1 on gender study. I appreciate your openness to sharing your reasons for grad school and how you long for more real connections. I thought about registering for the in-person summer institute as I live in Vancouver so getting to campus isn’t a big challenge for me. However, being a working professional my availability is very limited hence I miss the classroom experience of actually sitting in a class with my peers for sessions. It would’ve been a more engaging experience for me personally. Despite the fact, that we can’t be physically together for classes, online learning still allows us to keep the learning momentum going, at least not wasting time scrolling on phones. So, I think it’s fair to say mobile technologies provide more learning opportunities to those that wish to advance learning.
Agree with you Seb, I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of online learning as it takes longer to click with others due to the lack of social activities. Sometimes chemistry or friendships happen spontaneously and missing out on a coffee or beer could influence how people collaborate or get to know each other in general. Funny enough I noticed that classmates tend to be more efficient in online environments. As a comparison, for in person meetings, we’re probably used to messing around or going off topic which drags the meeting longer than it needs to be whereas for a MET meeting, since everyone is busy with work and their own personal responsibilities, every minute counts which leads to better collaboration in general (not to say that we don’t joke around in meetings lol)
Going through this OER and discussion made me consider how mobile collaboration, from a device point of view, can potentially alter how we learn and communicate. Even taking these discussions as an example, I would imagine our posts would be shorter (and perhaps more prone to typos) if we were on mobile devices (I’m not sure how many of you are though)? Personally, I don’t usually engage with this course via mobile. It’s hard to explain, but somehow I feel like it’s easier to be engaged in deeper thought for a prolonged period of time with a larger screen and keyboard (perhaps it has to do with typing speed as well).
Aaron, I engage in this course with a phone. I start the engagement with each contribution enthusiastically. Yet, this enthusiasm is finite, waning with less than friendly encounters from unclear navigation, walls of tiny texts or indistinguishable links. These experiences, nevertheless, push me to understand the challenges for mobile users. Critical as 95%+ of my students participate in my bichronous learning environment via mobile devices. Moving away from just theorizing to learning through doing will hopefully help me create a user-friendly experience for my future students.
You are not alone Aaron. It’s hard to explain why I would prefer using laptops for course interaction than smartphones. My quick answer is laptop allows more screen space and is with easier typing accessibility. Through a smartphone screen, everything is at palm size, to be honest, it’s a little busy to keep scrolling back and forth to find the exact information we are looking for. For instance, if I’m reading an article and I want to make comments or notes about it, I’d still prefer using the laptop as it allows better accessibility. When it comes to mobility, for instance, if I’m on a bus and I need to check my course announcements immediately, I’d use smartphones other than laptops. See, both devices can offer convenience and value to learners in different ways. The baton passes onto the learners as they are the ones that make the final call of how they want to experience and use the devices. In the google site Megan and I created, we also listed social media platforms, shared virtual learning spaces, and learning platforms for learners to consider which would be the most convenient and effective way for them to learn.
I have similar thoughts, i think the small keyboard itself is a factor which influences me to view this course (and others) on a desktop/laptop instead (or even a tablet with a bigger screen). Even when I’m typing text messages, I constantly make typos which are annoying to correct, can’t imagine typing something comprehensive with the keyboard on my iPhone…though I suppose I could use voice commands and read out what I intend to type as a alternative method even if it sounds unintuitive. For browsing or quick research I think mobile is great where as if the task requires more time investment, I would stick with a larger device.
Hello all,
I agree with all of your sentiments. I knew someone who took this class last semester and spoke to me about how she really challenged herself to actually only use her mobile phone or iPad for this course to really immerse herself in the experience. I must admit that although I did try to do that at certain points, I too am very used to using my laptop for all coursework. I have also noticed that my productivity is higher when I use my work laptop for class work than when I use my personal laptop. I do think it might be because my work laptop is smaller (13 inches) whereas my personal laptop is 16 inches and I find typing more awkward as the keys are spaced apart more and it is not as intuitive for me to type and I actually have to look at the keyboard more often and delete mistakes as well.
Good work on producing an awesome OER on Mobile Collaboration, Vera and Megan! ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–How have you used mobile collaboration in your professional workplace? During my time as consultant on IT projects, our team often utilized Teams or Slack to collaborate via calls, group chats, or DMs. Since we were contractors, a feature we found particularly useful was the ability to invite external users to join their network – the ability to connect with people across multiple organizations is very useful. ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–
How often do you use mobile video conferencing tools such as Facetime or Facebook Messenger Video? I would say on a as-needed basis (e.g. interviews, catching up with old friends, show someone something, etc.). I personally feel self-conscious when on video, and it can sometimes be quite network-heavy when many people are on the call. Especially on mobile, I actually wish there was some UX feature that changed how the camera is toggled on/off (perhaps a press and hold instead of a simple click) – I’ve seen people accidentally turn on their cameras far too often haha.
Hi Aaron! Thank you for your kind words on our presentation. You bring up a valid point about being self conscious on video. I was recently having a conversation with my dad about how todays generations see themselves way more than they used to. What I mean by that is we are constantly opening up our phones with our faces, using apps such as Snapchat, and FaceTiming our friends. We created the ‘selfies’! I feel this leads to people over analyzing their perceived imperfections, therefore, contributing to the mass issue with body image and shame. I too have also seen people turn on cameras by accident, myself being one of them, or not trusting whether it is really on or off. Thanks Aaron!
Thanks for the great OER Megan and Vera. One of the main challenges I had with mobile collaboration is navigating student phone limitations. For example, when trying to use an app or access certain features, some students require a password or control from their parents. Not everyone can use their phone to its full effect (and rightfully so if it helps with their self regulation). I think COVID has transformed the perspective of mobile collaboration from an less-attractive alternative to in-person to something that can serve certain purposes. Overall, this was a positive impact. I think one thing I’ve noticed with mobile collaboration and youth is allowing time for disconnects. It’s hard to stay on task with a tool that is self-conditioned to serve as entertainment. Sometimes, I have to put in breaks so students can leave and come back to the work.
Hi Jackson!
That is a great point. I agree, parental controls/passwords can makes things tricky. Not to mention, ensuring students are actually on the right page while participating in mobile collaboration.
Yes, I agree. COVID made mobile collaboration, at peak pandemic times, one of the only way to communicate with our friends, family, and colleagues. I remember spending hours FaceTiming to get some type of socialization in.
Thanks for taking the time to review our OER!
Hi Jackson:
Your comment about disconnect struck a note with me as it reminds me of my son and students. As mobile games or videos can be something he spends hours watching, mobile collaboration it something he can disconnect from. It also differs from in-person collaboration, as I find that personally, I am more motivated to continue in-person for longer periods versus on mobile. I think screen fatigue and locking my body position up in a particular way for extended amounts of time plays into my dislike to long mobile collaboration. I feel like these can only work if done within a certain time frame.
Hi Jackson, thanks for responding to Megan and my project. To what degree do you feel like having parent control over digital devices is helpful or not helpful? I’m assuming you work with lower grades like grade 1 to grade 6 learners. If so, my initial thought is involving parents’ attention has more pros than cons. In consideration of grade 1-6 learners are ‘testing the water’ and learning their ways of how to navigate in this massive online community. Parents can help them avoid unnecessary and unpleasant encounterings with online information. Statistics have shown that 75% of surveyed kids have experienced some sort of online bullying, come across pornography or vulgar content, and such. Under parents’ supervision, things could be lessened considerably. That being said, it’s not a fun experience of using a digital device right under parents’ eyes. I wouldn’t want that when I was young. So I can relate to the desire to break free, “I want to use this on my own”. I think it comes down to the rooted question, parents and teachers need to equip kids and young teenagers with digital literacy and judgement to tell what to click and what not to click.
Do you think Mobile Collaboration could one day replace in-person collaboration in most workplaces/classrooms?
At the moment, Mobile Collaboration is being used to replace in-person collaboration in almost all online schools in Canada. However, it isn’t that it’s replacing, but rather embracing change. A student sits in an in-person class and doesn’t feel a lot of personal connection, but they get home, hop on their online gaming platform, and suddenly feel like they are part of a group and have found their people. Mobile Collaboration is not about us versus them but rather about re-thinking what learning is all about and helping students find what fits best for them. After 8 years of teaching online, I can tell you that it works very well for some students and not others, and that’s the beauty of it. We can differentiate and create more opportunities for blended and hybrid programming in education rather than you have to learn this way in a classroom or that way online.
There are challenges for sure. My elementary students LOVE seeing me and seeing goofy things on the board behind me while we learn. They love the interaction and give it right back. My high school students rarely turn on their cameras, so you never know if they are engaged until their little cursor starts typing on the collaborative document. But then, they often have some very profound things to say. I wonder if we give that enough credit. Are there students that just refuse to engage? Yes. Does this happen in a classroom with desks in front of you? Yes. Is it the same challenge to get parents on board with you? Also, yes.
I use mobile and video conferencing every day. I have morning messages that go out to my classrooms, classes, and students. I use TEAMS for video conferencing in my professional life and facetime to keep the grandparents involved in my personal life. Facebook messenger allows us to have a ‘group’ chat with all the family regardless of the device, and we use it about once a month to have a group family chat.
The pandemic certainly changed things for everyone, but in a way, it’s been such a good change. It’s allowed people to learn what is available, and there is more flexibility to work from home or collaborate without having to be in person. For example, on my last professional development day, my colleague lives a four-hour drive away from me, but we are in the same school and district. We presented to various teachers about the accessibility features of office 365 and how to support students online and in the classroom. We delivered via TEAMS messaging and used their presentation features to include videos, a PowerPoint presentation tool, and talk through the microphone and the IM chat feature.
Mobile collaboration is excellent. It’s not perfect, but it’s really opened some doors and opportunities for people.
Hi Jennifer,
I love your statement about how using mobile collaboration is ’embracing change’. You are absolutely right, it has provided people with new opportunities and affordances. It is a major benefit that online or hybrid programs are able to individualize learning for each student as it is hard to do in the classroom when most students are taught the same and given similar challenges.
I think you bring up a really good point about whether or not students are engaged. I think that online and hybrid programs bring those who are not engaged to the forefront because we are so worried as teachers on whether or not our material is being seen as valuable. Whereas a classroom, those less engaged students can sort of hide in the back and become forgotten. This almost highlights how we should be paying as much attention to those students like we do online.
Thank you for bringing up these important points!
Congratulations Megan and Vera, your OER is very interesting and will be very useful for my A3, because mobile collaboration is at the heart of my project. You gave me some good food for thought with your rich and well-organized Google Site. Good work! About the challenge of mobile collaboration, I like the section where you explain the limits related to language. The cross-cultural nature of mobile collaboration on a global scale is for me still very limited in the world of education. Here in Canada, at my public school, it’s easy to ask my students to collaborate on a Google Doc and stay in touch with different apps, but when mobile collaboration goes beyond the local context, it’s a challenge. How can we really encourage global mobile collaboration while keeping everyone’s cultural reality in mind? For example, I would like my students to collaborate with students from a French-speaking African country like Burkina Faso, but there are still too many inequalities with regard to mobile devices and connectivity in this part of the world. I would also like my students to collaborate with Asian students from China, for example, but I teach them French and I do not want them to use English in my class. In short, I think that the challenge of global mobile collaboration is linked to inequalities of accessibility and language barriers. On the topic of mobile vs in-person collaboration, as others have expressed, I’m sure it won’t be completely replaced. Already, we are witnessing a hybrid form of collaboration. Many people who worked online during the pandemic are back one or two days a week in their workplace. This hybrid collaboration is generally appreciated. However, I believe that it is still very much linked to the fixed computer more than to the various mobile devices. In a context of movement, for example in the car, it is possible to participate in a meeting, but this is clearly not ideal. In short, to conclude, I believe that mobile collaboration still offers more informal than formal learning opportunities, but there is still a little-known world of possibilities.
Hi Sebastien!
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad our OER has given you further insight for your final assignment, I am looking forward to seeing your final result! You are right, it is interesting to see where mobile platforms will take language barriers and reinvent opportunities for those who feel excluded in major events because of these barriers.
I agree, attending a meeting while on the move (in a car, on the train, etc..) is possible, it is not ideal due to possible privacy issues and the apparent need to multitask. We would find it rude if someone was doodling or preparing food while in a physical meeting, whereas driving a car while in a meeting requires a two-part attention system. One half of your brain is focused on the road and the other on the conversation. It is an interesting debate on whether or not mobile collaboration can truly happen while mobile.
Thanks again for your thoughts on our OER 🙂
Vera and Megan, excellent OER! This is a valuable resource, congratulations on your hard work. I do not think mobile collaboration will completely replace in-person collaboration in the classroom in the near future but has the potential to be infiltrated as a core standard within education. I do, however, think that students should be competent in mobile collaboration, and should be taught skills to be better mobile collaborators, i.e. participatory, direct and effective communication, knowledge of the tools they are using etc. I believe when students feel confident collaborating with their peers through mobile pathways, then they re more likely to select this method. For example, I recall a time checking in with a student if they were on task, and they had shared screens with another student on their Chromebooks and were in the same world on Minecraft on their cell phones (they were designing an interactive exhibit). They were not sitting next to each other, but across the room, and were efficiently collaborating. I remember thinking that their efficiency would be marked high on a scale for collaboration when compared to another group in mind. This other group, was using tools to collaborate using mobile but were not effective, and were off task. They did not have the stamina to remain focused and became distracted by other available features on their Chromebook, i.e. Youtube, and games. For those that are developing their skills in mobile collaboration, they have to rely on oral prompting from teachers and oral discussion, if they do not have the capacity for it yet. Building capacity in mobile collaboration in students would move towards a greater possibility for the majority of students to be effective mobile collaborators.
Hi Agnes,
Thank you for your kind words 🙂
You bring up a valid point in regard to your comment, “I do, however, think that students should be competent in mobile collaboration”, as one of the biggest lessons learned from world school closures (and work) is that so many people lacked the digital literacy required to connect. If we had initiated mobile collaborative lessons before the pandemic (how were we to know), it would have been a much more seamless transition. I remember my students, colleagues, and students parents panicking not knowing what to do and where to go online.
I love your observation on two different groups and how they used mobile collaboration opportunities. I agree, oral reminders from teachers are important, maybe we could do this virtually as well?
Congratulations, Megan and Vera, on your open educational resource for mobile learning! I enjoyed the Kahoots game and, in the end, clued in on the scoring method. I received a message when I went to your activity page that the browser I was using was not compatible, and I should switch to Chrome. I use video conferencing daily in my work life as an accessibility advisor. I meet with students, colleagues, and partners on MS Teams and occasionally on Zoom. Issues arise when others do not have the bandwidth for the camera feature. I enjoy the screen sharing and chat features in Teams, and our work group will typically embellish our messages with funny Gifs, and we emoticon each other’s texts.
I also appreciate the ability to work on projects within Teams. When COVID-19 struck, there was a drastic move to online learning. The sudden change was negative for instructors unfamiliar with online course delivery in the short term. Students also had to adjust to the realities of changes in course delivery, missing their classmates, and losing the immediacy of being able to get help from their classmates and the instructor if needed. I see the long-term changes as primarily positive. The students I work with (not an exhaustive list) have anxiety and other mental health challenges, diseases, and other conditions which cause fatigue, cognitive processing weaknesses, and learning disabilities. Online synchronous courses allow students to meet with cameras off, significantly reducing anxiety for those with certain mental health conditions. Asynchronous course delivery enables students to take breaks when needed, attend to personal care, walk around while studying, and work at their own pace. I think the biggest challenge for online learning is student engagement and the student completion rate for MOOCs (massive open online courses). I believe one path to increased student engagement and completion rates is the application of UDL (universal design for learning).
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Tamaka! I guess the downfall of Google would be that it isn’t necessarily compatible without the right extensions. I would hope Google would work this out and see how it can make it more accessible for different users.
I love how you bring up the benefits of synchronous and asynchronous learning. I never thought of it this way. I love how you thought of inclusion for both methods.
Yes, I agree. I wish the MOOC completion rate was higher. I think they have to ensure that everybody can equally participate and understand or it is too difficult (hence why they leave early). I also believe that a lot of people sign up for it and because it is online, choose to do something else with short notice or not attend all together.
What is your personal definition of mobile collaboration?
My personal definition of mobile collaboration is the use of a mobile device that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, allowing learners to engage with others, participate and contribute in some way to the learning utilizing discussions and another modality (i.e, writing, drawing, etc). Discussions are inportant because the engagement piece isn’t quite there unless some interactions occurs.
How have you used mobile collaboration in your professional workplace?
Due to Covid, alike many others, I was forced online. I found that students lost interest if they weren’t called on or collaborating in the learning in some way. I mean, if there wasn’t a task that allowed them to participate and join in. If they had to be passive listeners, it was likely they would log off part way through class. So I found myself looking for ways students can demonstrate their learning and also do this as small groups. It started with simple slide decks that students worked together to find the answer to utilizing what we learned about in science and creating a story with illustrations that incorporated the different habitats discussed in class. Even as part of our morning message, I used jamboard to ask how each student was feeling today and express it in one word one day, in colour, in a picture, a drawing, etc. Rather than having myself write the lists or answers, my slide decks were usually open access, allowing students to fill in the answers to allow for some collaboration apart from the discussions. So many of the lists or activities were co-created knowledge.
I don’t think that mobile collaboration could replace the classroom but a sort of blend could facilitate different types of learning and demonstration of learning. I think what we forget is that social interactions is part of the curriculum such as being able to work in teams. Teamwork is very different in person and online, just like how learning and teaching differs as well. So it would be valuable to have experience with both, rather than an either or.
Hi Rika!
Thanks for taking the time to look through our OER. I appreciate your personal definition, I think it clearly highlights the opportunities and participates it provides.
I have to agree with you, at the time we were ‘forced’ online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of my students were extremely hesitant to get involved in our virtual classes. I struggled with encouraging my students to participate and get excited about learning again. However, over time and as I participated in the remote learning program for my district, I was able to recognize that using the tools and additional apps that come along with mobile collaborative platforms, it became much more successful.
I love that you added mindfulness to your classes, especially at a time where so many students were left feeling uneasy about the current worlds status.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Hello Megan and Vera, thanks for creating this resource and helping us learn and reflect on mobile collaboration. At the department where I work (ETS at UBC) we are always looking at new features in technologies that are used in the Faculty of Education. I believe about a month ago Zoom’s whiteboard was significantly improved and enhanced with new features for collaboration, as you also show in the video embedded on your OER. As we tried this tool, we found it very engaging and powerful for collaboration. My impression was that this facilitates applying some of the tips you listed on the OER, such as encouraging multimodality and participation. I think that one essential component of mobile collaboration is giving students many opportunities to act and interact, very much so as we see in social media and instant messaging. When these dynamics are taken to learning contexts through platforms that facilitate them, it sets the ground for collaborative learning, reaching the benefits of situated and sociocultural learning. Even though I am all in for mobile collaboration, I don’t think it will replace in-person collaboration completely. What I think will happen in many educational and work contexts is that, as we become more aware of the unique affordances of mobile technologies, we’ll move into more hybrid formats. Both modalities, online and face-to-face, have unique affordances and maximizing learning and work productivity will depend on how we combine these two. This also depends a lot on context, of course, so we have to consider learners, subject matter, activities, etc.
Hi Eduardo,
Thank you for taking the time to look through our post!
Yes, Zoom whiteboard has defiantly gotten better! I too remember using it at the beginning of the pandemic and finding the whole software fairly confusing. However, over time, things have gotten a lot easier and more hands on!
I agree, I am a fan of mobile collaboration but I too think it will not replace the importance of in-person socialization. Hybrid formats allows that happy medium and remote options for certain workers.
Thank you for your thoughts and considerations!
Thanks Eduardo, appreciate you highlighting the new features of the Zoom whiteboard. I second your thought on how technologies allow students extensive opportunities to interact. What do you feel about the balance for in-person interaction and virtual interaction? Sometimes, I feel like there’s way too much going on, and I don’t even know where to pick up the conversation. Likewise, Maria also says it’s hard to keep up with everything on multiple platforms. I am interested to know what has been helpful for you to discern the overwhelming amount of information? What helps you to stay organized and sharp?
I was actually inspired to try out the Zoom Whiteboard feature after reading your post Eduardo, my team (for another course) wasn’t aware that Zoom had this feature built in. After testing around for a few minutes, we found it a bit lacking and basic in comparison to Miro or Google Drive and didn’t really help with the collaboration factor. I think having options are good but in the case of mobile collaboration, usability and design factors a lot into how much output is created and the general usefulness of the tool. I guess my teammates are used to having 20+ tabs opened on their browsers (even if it looks disorganized) but funny enough it doesn’t lead to information overload or confusion, it actually helps us collaborate better since everything is just a click away
Hi Megan and Vera, thanks for sharing your OER. I spent an entire year teaching online to twenty-five Grade 6/7 students, so the topic of mobile collaboration was extremely easy to connect to. I think incorporating mobile collaboration tools would certainly alter what we think of traditional education in a physical space. In my experience, many students were successful because they could differentiate their learning environments to be exactly what they needed, allowing them to be more comfortable and focus on the new learning. Some collaborative tools that don’t require synchronous presence, such as Google Docs, also allowed students to still be valuable contributors during times that best worked for them. However, these are the same reasons that I remain reluctant to state that mobile collaboration technologies will render the physical classroom obsolete, as some learners rely on being scheduled and having a stable environment to work in. I found that students who were most disengaged were the ones that often relied on more subtle social cues, such as eye contact or gestures, to support their understanding, something that is limited by currently available software. Social isolation was another factor that many learners felt, as having an open discussion was challenging due to not being able to pick up all the relevant social cues that you could in person. I wonder if developing a mobile communication technology that utilized immersive VR to simulate a more authentic “in-person” virtual experience may assist with combatting these potential barriers. Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Braden:
In reading your post, it reminds me of the different themed breakout rooms I created for my students where I sent games for them to work together and play, or a drawing board they could draw together or storyboard. The social aspect is really important to these students as many of them had only had experience with others via online meetings and being spoken to. Though the eye contact was still lacking, it kind of worked in favor for younger students who usually don’t give eye contact due to excitement and focus on the item they are talking about. Even culturally, it removes this feeling of being forced to give eye contact even thought in some cultures no eye contact is actually a sign of respect. I think I’m teaching online, I am reminded of these practices and now that I am in person again, I don’t care (not that I ever was nippicky about it) about this as much. However, Turkle (2015) might argue that we are losing the ability to perspective take due to the overuse of technology. She argues this is because of our lack of eye contact or looking at others’ face and body expression that we no longer have this capacity (Talks at Google, 2015).
I’m curious to what anyone thinks about her idea that we are more and more being labeled as being on the spectrum due to this inability to read facial and body expressions?
Reference:
Talks at Google (Oct 30, 2015). Reclaiming Conversation | Sherry Turkle | Talks at Google [Video]. YouTube.
Hi Braden, thanks for sharing your experience with mobile collaboration in your class. You mentioned synchronous communication in virtual learning platforms and expressed your concerns about students with strong social desires or students who rely heavily on social context to learn. That’s a valid concern! When I read about Vogysky’s social learning theory, I am inclined to believe not all learning necessarily needs to happen in a classroom context. Learning could be self-directed if with proper facilitation, meaning learners are intelligent beings and they have the capacity to figure out puzzles and questions by themselves. That being said, learners are also social beings, meaning they need to learn how to communicate, collaborate, and thrive in social contexts. In your experience, how do you feel the difference between assessing F2F learning outcomes and virtual learning outcomes? Were F2F learning outcomes more noticeable and obvious? Or were virtual learning outcomes easier to prove with data collected from the site?