This is a longer one so if you decide to wade through it, I’ve broken it up with some sub-titles.
K-12 Context
The schools I have worked in recently have had various policies regarding the use of personal mobile devices in the classroom. As for mobile devices in general, I am seeing them increasingly use of laptops, tablets and, on occasion smart phones, being used by both teachers and students (the former often being provided by the school, and the latter being personal devices (BYOD) and more often at the secondary level. I have permitted students to use their personal smart phones, but see this as rarer as many teachers are concerned that the phones might be being used for purposes (I.e. social networking and texting for non-educational purposes). Where I see less use of mobile devices, it is usually as the result of teachers not yet comfortable with their own level of knowledge about how to use them for educational purposes, or teachers being in schools with limited tech resources or support
Generally, the use of tablets has been seen as supporting educational purposes for some of the very reasons cited in the Ciampa (2013) article; they support some individualized learning in the form of students being able to access information at their own rate, they are used for educational games, or for providing teachers with targeted feedback in large group discussions (i.e. students answering multiple choice questions or indicating levels of understanding about a concept. In addition, I have also seen more mobile technology used to support students who need to access written information differently (i.e. audio).
In some case, I have had colleagues suggest that if just information is needed, it is more helpful to let students use mobile technology. The teacher can then spend more time helping students apply their learning, make connections to other learning, and develop deeper understandings. I think that this is one way that the increased use of tech is changing the way we teach.
However, I have also seen teachers who are resistant to the increased use of tech for a variety of pedagogical reasons. One of these is the fear that students do not know how to think critically about the information they are so easily able to access. This has led to an increased focus on helping students develop their critical thinking skills by teaching them ask critical questions about information they access on-line.
In addition, I have had colleagues who resist the integration of mobile devices because they do not feel comfortable with their use, or just do not see their use as enhancing the learning environment. In some of these cases, I hope the these teachers think about the opportunity for reciprocal teaching to occur in their classrooms (such as is also mentioned in Ciampa (2013), but in other situations, what is being done in the classroom already achieves the same benefits that Ciampa indicates were possible with the tablet use in the study such as differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, timely and effective feedback, encouraging students to measure their progress against their themselves (and not against peers).
Adult Learning
In adult courses I have taught, the use of mobile devices was widespread, but usually limited to students using their laptops or tablets to access readings, makes notes, or create written assignments.
In the workshops and sessions I facilitate, there is regular use of mobile technology. Participants frequently use tablets of laptops to takes notes, or use tablets of smart phones to take pictures of parts of presentations to save for future reference. In addition, these devices are frequently used to tweet out information or idea they want to share with their on-line communities.
Re Ciampa’s “Learning in a mobile age: an investigation of student motivation” (2013)
On another note, I think it important to share some thinking about this week’s reading. I have some concerns with some elements of Malone and Lepper’s (1987) taxonomy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for leaning (as outlined in the article) and I think linking these couple of elements to the use of mobile devise actually detracts from any argument that mobile devices might be helpful in some learning environments. Supporting the element of “recognition” as a motivator for learning speaks to an understanding of learning that detracts from supporting students to become self-motivated, life-long learners. Yes, there is a desire that many people have for others recognize their achievements (and for some people it is a prime motivator). However, to include this as a positive motivator for students in K-12 can be significantly problematic. We run the very real risk of endorsing recognition as a reason for learning, and if that I internalized, then when the recognition is absent, the learning desire is diminished.
I have seen the use of competition in games situations be beneficial for some students; however, emphasizing competition as a positive motivator seems to be a product of a highly individualistic perspective that does not foster cooperative or collaborative learning. I do need to clarify that my issue is with an emphasis on direct competition – not with indirect competition. It was a relief to see that anecdotally, the students seemed to value indirect completion with themselves, rather than direct competition with each other.
We need to be careful about some motivators, even ones that some people see as effective at changing student behaviours. At one time, corporal punishment was used in Canadian schools because it was seen as an effective motivator for student behaviour . But of course, we have learned since then that there are better ways to help students learn how to manage their behaviours.
Our Class Blog
I am wondering if it is the emphasis on “recognition” that spurred the inclusion on the class blog of the “leaderboard”. When I saw that element on the blog, I was surprised. It seems to run counter to a constructivist, collaborative learning environment. Yes, I know that there are no nefarious intentions with rating people’s posts, but if the goal is to learn with and from each other, then I wonder if that that should be our focus – not providing ratings. To me it is akin to a classroom teacher putting a summative mark (“A”, “B”, etc.) on a student’s paper without providing any real substantive feedback. Unfortunately, when things like this are included in learning environments, they resonate (to me) of an emphasis on individuality and competition – not cooperative learning.
Now, having said all this, I also understand that other people will have different perspectives, and will be able to articulate benefits to such interactions. Yes, there are benefits; I do not argue this. But with every decision we make for our learning environment, there are also potential disadvantages. I can imagine that as we create on-line learning environments for our students we will have weigh these decisions carefully.
Jo