Alright, in case you didn’t get to read my introduction I’ll just to bring everyone to the same page. I am not a classroom teacher anymore and the majority of my work deals with the development of self-directed learning for the produce industry. The work is led by industry groups that inform and guide the development of any projects or programs that I undertake. In addition, the work of the organization itself is guided by volunteer leadership.
The reason why the SECTIONS model works so well in my instance is that I have to take in account a lot of difference circumstance and points of view (Bates, 21014). Yes, the students are important, but for the most part, they aren’t the only client needs that I have to take into account. I need to ensure that member organizations that may purchase learning for employees also are comfortable with how the product is offered. So in a sense, like a classroom teacher, I have several hoops to jump through when it comes to implementing mobile learning. However, in another sense, I also need to take into account any circumstances that may exist in a workplace environment. This includes, among other things: creating accessible content, device access issues, and the possible employer/employee dynamic.
Another instance of particular note is that I have to take into account the wide variety of digital literacy skills that exist within the possible group of learners. There could be new university graduates who are very adept at anything technical, and I could have a learner who has taken no formal learning in years and may or may not know how to use a computer. I have to design for both and try to engage them with the material and with each other.
In terms of mobile, that adds and entirely new dimension. For the most part, the learning material has been developed to be delivered on a desktop, as it’s the most likely form of delivery for our current offering if purchased by an employer. Really, I need to design for the type of device that an employer would offer. However, because of the rise of tablets, and the fact that individuals can also purchase courses there still need to be responsive elements built into the courses as they could still be accessed from a mobile device. Fortunately, Moodle and quick authoring programs seem to make this easy. So, although they can be accessed, I wouldn’t really call them mobile learning friendly courses. They can be long, and there are interactions built in that are just easier to accomplish on a desktop.
However, I’ve been thinking more and more of developing smaller “snack sized” pieces aimed as a just in time learning as a way for our members to encourage their staff. I feel like these pieces would be suitable to a mobile learning environment and a library could be developed to act as small easily accessible bits of learning on product knowledge, handling of fresh fruit and vegetables, and even food safety. I would say there is even potential for industry to develop consumer education pieces on these topics including different methods of growing produce, how it’s harvested, and even how some products make it to the retail and food service operations.
References:
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a Digital Age (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework). Retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage