Group items tagged

Defining mobile learning

The start of a conversation about teaching and learning with mobile tools.

I do think of my phone as more of an output device than the tablet or pc. Now It is becoming a bit more of an "input also" device!

"As new, more mobile technologies have entered the classroom, often in the backpacks of students, teachers become orchestrators of projects and seek the best emerging digital environments for improving motivation, relevance and depth of learning."

This is a 360 degree viewpoint of The Maker Movement inspiring a reemergence and metamorphosis of art and STEM in the classroom. The focus of learning can be on inventiveness and creativity rather than being so heavily on standardized testing that is devoid of engagement. Mobile learning is a part of this movement. This is of high interest to me because I think it will give our culture a positive new energy that will uplift our economy and increase production. This will be production not focused on consumerism but production grounded in meaning. The future needs people that can create solutions to world problems.

I would post this news article on a must-read list for transforming learning with mobile devices because it is not only a real-life example, it is a success story of young students learning and teaching with mobile devices. When I read it, I felt inspired by their creativity and ability to share their learning with over 400 people. I think many teachers would love to see their students producing material not only for the classroom, but available to anyone in the world.

This article was of interest because most predictions are conjecture - the mobile market is growing no doubt, but how and what consumers are going to do with these devices is of real interest. As the mobile market grows, the personal computer market is shrinking

I feel that these 5 videos directly and indirectly touch upon some of the key themes of trans-formative mobile learning. I especially liked Sugatra Mitra's comment that "it's not about making learning happen, it's about letting it happen" through educational self-organizing. Mobile learning is an arena where teachers have to play the role of facilitator and simply "set a process in motion" and let learning unfold with the use of new tech tools that produce unpredictable outcomes. When learning happens on-the-go, the dividing line between education and everyday life becomes blurred and frequently dissolves away to spark relevant learning.

A quote from the Op Ed, "This platform of instruction has established an environment where students are stimulated through exciting, interactive lessons that motivate creativity and hands-on learning. Within this environment, the iPad has become each student's personal learning device. This personal learning device has made learning more accessible with apps that help students with visual and hearing challenges and different learning styles connect with the world in new ways."

"Generation C will push education to new levels as its learners focus on the how and why of learning and not necessarily the who and what."

Special features of interest to me recently included Teaching with Teenagers in the Times, a Learning Network Reading Club (good news journalism, a recent read was Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek), Common Core

The difficulty I have with writing on an iPod is one of the things that consistently has me preferring the computer for producing text content. While this article did not really sway me from that opinion, it did give me a new perspective on writing itself and how students are learning it with mobile devices.

Crossword buff? Check out NY Times Learning Network where you can play puzzles on-line or print a hard copy to play with paper & pencil. Topics cover American History to Fine Arts and Technology to Science. Lesson plans, news quizzes, teacher resources and more included.

Divided as researchers sort out whether readers of tablets or textbooks perform better. As well as hidden costs of mobile devices.

I tried sharing comments using Evernote as an experiment. I don't think it worked, so here is what I had posted there: The Future of Education: Tablets vs. Textbooks BY MARGARET ROCK "Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt tested an interactive, digital version of an Algebra 1 textbook for Apple's iPad in California's Riverside Unified School District. Students who used the iPad version scored 20 percent higher on standardized tests versus students who learned with traditional textbooks." * This is interesting. It's noted later in the article that students who read a more traditional textbook in digital format, without the benefit of the bells and whistles of a book designed to play on the strengths of digital media, did no better than those reading paper books. My thinking on this is that the books that moved beyond just the traditional text and images were more intriguing because they allowed students to interact in more diverse ways with the information. One of the reasons I enjoy reading on my Nook is that it more closely resembles the experience of reading on paper. The advantage over paper is that I can annotate and highlight without damaging the book, plus I like the dictionary feature. Reading a book on a computer is not as rewarding as reading on a good quality reader. The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt folks add much more to the experience through videos, audio links, animations, and links to ancillary information while maintaining the options I mentioned in my Nook experience. It's more engaging because there's more to do and more of the senses are being addressed. "A small but growing number of researchers are uncovering evidence that readers are better able to remember what they read in printed books long-term when compared to materials read via an electronic screen, raising questions about tablets in the classroom." "For example, Kate Garland, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester in England, conducted a study on the effects of e-books

The Future of Education: Tablets vs. Textbooks

New Media Consortium report

I am a proponent of pushing the envelop in education and the idea of MOOCs as conceived of by George Seimens and Stephen Downs. And still we need to talk about the disasters and learn from them. Whenever we try a new recipe, there is always a chance that we won't be eating in that night.

This article argues that mobile computing is making learning personal and informal. Sure beats impersonal and formal.

Women and girls constitute the majority of the 775 million illiterates in the world. The main goal of the project is the empowerment of women and/or girls through education via innovative mobile technology-based learning and information programs.

"insights on Inclusive Learning Technology from a blind techie." Well, that's how he puts it on his page. But an interesting read as well.