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.
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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
Thanks for an interesting post! Your discussion around the importance personalisation and having a sense of ownership over one’s device became very apparent to me two years ago when I first obtained my classroom set of laptops, which I use on a daily basis and love by the way. The first thing the kids figure out how to do each year on these devices is change the theme, background, and their login logo or, for a lot of kids, their profile picture 🙂 I’ve also seen this type of customization desire on Google Drive. A lot of my students take pride in how their files and folders are organized in their personal drives as well. Even file name formats are personalised and create a sense of ownership over typed work. In terms of portability, the laptops themselves feel like just the right size for my fifth graders. The students often carry them around with one hand (which I call them out for, but I do it myself so…), sit on the floor with them in their laps easily, and can keep them on the side of their desks and out of the way when we aren’t using them, so I’d say they were a pretty good choice for my students.
I can understand why you have issues with your district’s choice of technology, Lenovo ThinkPads. The fact that the word processing is made easier on laptops and that they can flip into tablets makes me think they’re a solid choice for eighth graders, at least better than a lot of options out there, but the large size and not being able to take them home is definitely a con.
You mentioned how you think “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.” I definitely agree with this statement. My district is kind of all over the place when it comes to technology availability and use, but what came to mind when I read your comment were tech carts we have in our building. There’s two carts of 30 Chromebook laptops and one cart of 25 ipads available and basically one teacher uses the ipads on a regular basis and the other two carts of laptops have been sitting down the hall from me all school year. Teachers just don’t want to try them out for various reasons I won’t go into, which I think is just crazy.
Hey Jeff-
I thought your advice to districts about device choice was really insightful. I have so many questions though! How old are your Lenovo ThinkPads? If they turn into tablets they must be relatively new. Aside from having to leave them IN the building, do these devices follow the learners throughout the day or are they cart-bound by classroom? How did your district pick these devices? Do you know if the decision was made with teacher input or based on the price of the device? If you had to pick a device, what device would be right for your students? Should districts consider multiple devices for each level of learner? Would you have three different devices for elementary, middle and high school?
A lot of the research we have been reading has suggested that lightweight, portable, and flexible devices are a must for mobile learning. I’ve never used a ThinkPad that turns into a tablet…which of these characteristics does the ThinkPad fail? From the looks of your picture, I might venture that lightweight could be a problem. However, seems like the portability (if it is allowed to leave the classroom) and flexibility of a laptop/tablet would be useful for field work. I’m curious about what inhibits taking these outside your classroom (hopefully it’s not someone telling you that you can’t!).
In my district, iPads are issued to a student at the beginning of the year and go to and from school. Students definitely become “intimate” with their iPads, from anything like personalizing their covers to changing settings like wallpaper, app placement, and lock code. However, we find that we have to remind our kids that these devices aren’t actually theirs. We try to approach the devices with a home and work device attitude, preparing students for the possibility that they may have a career/job where they are issued technology. We try to instill the idea that a work computer/iPad should be used for work only. This helps to remind students that filling up their 16GB school issued iPad with selfies is sort of inappropriate. What level of ‘intimacy’ do you think Kearney (2012) wants students to have with a device? Does it need to be a BYOD situation or can school issued devices cut it?
Sources:
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.