As we advance further into the course I continue to build a larger personal database of information and application I can use and incorporate in my own teaching. My first reading by Guo et al (2011) brought about some insight on how to further the idea of student centered learning through mobile devices. In their article they mention something called “smart objects” these objects are, “sensor-augmented everyday objects…smart objects can provide various assistance to people’s lives” (260). All though my idea for them is not game based as the article suggests, I think of the various pieces of lab equipment and safety devices in the science classroom that are foreign to many middle school students at the beginning of the school year. Linking objects such as: beakers, graduated cylinders, eye wash stations, etc to an app on a mobile device can allow students to direct their own learning as they interact and attempt to make meaning as to what these different tools could possibly be used for within a science classroom.

One of the major themes I have gotten out of this course to this point is the different types of learning (formal, informal, implicit) that can take place through the use of mobile devices. Bonk (2012) introduced me to another type of learning known as extreme learning. As defined by Bonk (2012), “extreme learning is the idea of developing activities that involve learning with technology in unusual or unique ways.” Of the many goals mentioned with extreme learning the one that had the most relevance to me was the idea of multi cultural and diversity awareness. Teaching in a school district that is home to the US Army War College, we are privileged enough each year to have several students join us from countries all around the world. These students often do not get a chance to share parts of their culture with their classmates. Using some of the ideas mentioned in the article, I see it possible for students to incorporate and teach their peers about their cultures to illustrate the many similarities and differences. Whether that be multimedia presentations, video chats with peers from their native country, anything at all to enhance student’s understanding and appreciation for diversity and different cultures.

Finally I would like to briefly reflect and compare my view on mobile learning from week 1 of the course up to now. In the first week I defined mobile learning as,

“mobile learning is the idea and practice of using available technology allow learning to take place anywhere at anytime. It also has the ability to enhance, and extend on existing learning by allowing the users to connect concepts in both formal and informal settings. It allows learners and educators access to material that would otherwise be difficult to express or visualize without the assistance of user friendly user devices.”

For the most part I strongly agree with my earlier definition.Mobile learning is something that extends learning outside the classroom to more informal settings and the idea of augmented reality allows a visual element to it that is otherwise difficult to illustrate without the assistance of mobile devices. If I were to add anything to my definition, I would include the idea of personalization and the building towards 21st century skills. Mobile learning creates a more student lead environment in which learners direct themselves based on their own interest and curiosity. It allows them to develop creativity and problem solving skills as they develop into lifelong and independent learners.

References:

Bonk, C. J. (2012). Technology enhanced teaching: From tinkering to tottering to totally extreme learning. Proceedings of the 1 st International Conference on Open and Distance Learning. (pp. 1-33). Manila, the Philippines.

Guo, B., Fujimura, R., Zhang, D., & Imai, M. (2011). Design-in-play: improving the variability of indoor pervasive games.Multimedia Tools and Applications. doi:10.1007/s11042-010-0711-z

When reading the two articles this week by both Kearney et al (2012) and Looi  et al(2010), I took time to reflect on what I felt was a very important theme among each reading. Something that stands out to me as an integral part of learning is the importance of the personalisation and a sense of ownership over one’s device. As Kearney et al (2012) mention when discussing personalisation as one of the three distinct features of mobile learning they claim, “Users enjoy a sense of intimacy and convenience with their personal devices and the flexible, autonomous, often individually tailored activities lead to a strong sense of ownership of one’s learning.” In other words, each device has a ” just enough, just-in-time, just-for-me” factor to it. Having access their own device is what helps make each learning experience more intimate to the users and therefore can have a greater impact. With a greater number of students possessing their own smartphones each year, the opportunities for more custom and intimate learning opportunities exist.

For school districts who have not yet adapted such policies where students are able to have their personal devices on them during the school day, the need for them to have devices for students to use and have the ability to feel a sense of ownership and intimacy toward that device becomes important. Among one of the technical issues found by Looi et al (2010) when reflecting on their research was the fact that school districts need to choose devices that are appropriate for certain age levels based on the functions that they perform. Keeping such information in mind they also mention the importance of purchasing devices that are relevant in an ever growing mobile device market. They mention, ” With the rapid obsolescence of personal digital assistants and cellphone models, a challenge for researchers is investing in research using that device for, eg, 2 years, but the device becomes no longer in vogue or popular use after the period of research”(163). This excerpt stood out to me due to the fact that it immediately brought up personal feelings about the devices that administrators in my school district choose to buy.

In my school district each eighth grade student receives a Lenovo ThinkPad..

The laptops are great for word processing and performing standard computer functions. They can be flipped and turned into tablets as well. Despite all of the features they have, it is my opinion that these devices are a poor choice when it comes to promoting seamless learning. Besides the fact that these devices are not allowed to be taken home by students, they are simply too big to be taken into outdoor settings, museums, ect. This takes away from an important part of seamless learning. As Looi et al (2010) mention, ” The learning space is no longer defined by the ‘class’ but by ‘learning’ unconstrained by scheduled class hours or specific locations” (156). In my opinion many school districts are still under the traditional assumption that simply having access to a computer is enough to promote learning while using the technology as a tool. School Districts need to put more emphasis on letting students have access to their own devices in classrooms to allow students a more personalized learning experience or purchase devices that are handheld and allow the opportunity to be used out of school settings in order to create more informal learning and bridge the gap to more seamless learning environments.

References:

Kearney, M., Schuck, S., Burden, K., & Aubusson, P. (2012). Viewing mobile learning from a pedagogical perspective. Research In Learning Technology, 20:1, 1-17. doi:10.3402/rlt.v20i0/14406.

Looi, C.-K., Seow, P., Zhang, B., So, H.-J., Chen, W., & Wong, L.-H. (2010). Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning: A research agenda. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 154-169. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00912.x

For my blog post this week I choose a wider variety of articles to read in relation to mobile technology. As a Science teacher, my interest was immediately directed on the article by Ahmed et al (2012) in which they introduced a new mobile app named “ThinknLearn” to high school science students. The goal of the app was to develop students critical thinking skills and scaffold them into generating a hypothesis while conducting an experiment in a similar fashion to an actual scientist. As a teacher myself I see first hand on a daily basis the difficulty students have with generating a hypothesis for an experiment. The app itself provided visual cues and  helped scaffold students through multiple choice problems and questionnaires in order to assist them with their experiment. In this example the mobile app serves not to conduct the experiment for them, but to help make it more interactive and engaging while using their devices to help students think more critically about the experiment.

When doing research on my own I stumbled across a STEM based lesson plan in which the teacher used IPADs to measure thermal energy levels from model homes. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/stem-lesson-ideas-heat-loss-project the Heat Loss Project involved students using their IPADS as both thermometers and thermal energy readers to determine which parts of their household were losing the most heat. Unlike ” “ThinknLearn” in which the device was used as an extension to the learning , the IPADS in the heat loss experiment were essential in order to even perform the experiment itself. The technology available on the device allowed students to see a visual representation of what is otherwise a very abstract and difficult concept to visualize in terms of energy. When connecting both of these Science related mobile apps, its clear that there is not one way to use mobile technologies to impact learning but instead the avenues are essentially endless. As mentioned in previous weeks readings, mobile devices have the ability to be used in formal, informal, and even implicit learning settings.  The challenge as an educator is to try to utilize mobile device in as many different contexts as possible to reach the many different needs and learning styles of students.

For my two empirical articles of choice, I went with a similar theme of social media and in one article specifically Facebook. Both Hew (2011) and Pierce (2009) study the effects social media has on daily social interactions for students. Something that is often not mentioned in social media contexts is the effect a teachers social media use can have on students. Although it is considered a taboo for students and teachers to interact on social media sites, Hew (2011) made the following findings, ” Results showed that students tend to attribute higher perceived levels of teacher trustworthiness and teacher caring qualities to a teacher who willingly disclosed more information about herself than one who did not.” To me this is an example of using social media to build rapport with students and make connections. Sharing similar interests with students and understanding how they use and view social media is an important way to build deeper connections with students. This doesn’t mean that teachers should go around and friend request students (if your experience is similar to me, I have had students look me up on Facebook and try to request me) but teachers needs to be aware of how sharing information about themselves on social media can impact students. In Pierce’s study (2009) research is done between social media and social anxiety. As mentioned in previous week’s reading, multitasking with devices and prolonged exposure to them can have impacts on social development of students. Individuals who have social anxiety often see social media as a preferred way to communicate with others which for them seems to be a more comfortable environment. Something that  I can take away from this reading is potentially using social media sites as a way to get students to open up more and express themselves. Each year I have several students who appear to be shy and hardly say anything throughout the school year. Using social media could serve as means to get these students to open up more not only academically but reveal more about their own lives and out of school problems they may have. The school I work at has a SAP (Students Assistance Program) in which one of the features allows students to report problems electronically instead of face to face communication.

References:

Ahmed, S., & Parsons, D. (2012). Abductive science inquiry using mobile devices in the classroom.Computers & Education. 63: 62–72 Doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.11.017.

The Heat Loss Project: A STEM Exploration. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2016, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/stem-lesson-ideas-heat-loss-project

Hew, K. F. (2011). Students’ and teachers’ use of Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 662-676. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.11.020

Pierce, T. (2009). Social anxiety and technology: Face-to-face communication versus technological communication among teens.Computers in Human Behavior, 25(6), 1367-1372. Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.06.003