This week we were left to our own devices and were allowed to select all three articles that we either stuck our interest or were in some way shape or form relevant to our final project.  I am still a little up in the air about my project, but I do know that it will tablet based and related to some aspect of social studies. Therefore, two of the readings this week pertain largely to learning outcomes and student achievement.  While the third (which I didn’t particularly care for) dealt with game-based learning and its effect on learning achievement and motivation. They all in one way or another left me with things to consider when integrating mobile technologies into educational settings, which is great, but what I did find interesting is that two of the articles in some ways contradicted each other. Which I found interesting, although one article was a more targeted study while the other far broader.  So, let me jump on in.

The first article that I was interested in this week and actually found the most informative was “Young students using iPads: App design and content influences on their learning pathways”.  I am always wary of any study that essentially only indicates the benefits of something, but doesn’t really talk about the drawbacks or issues.  I felt that in this case study you got a good mix of both and ways to possibly prevent the negatives going forward. So, if you have been in education long enough, you have seen countless programs, curriculums, technologies, etc. come and go.  “Education has a history of “lurching from one fad to the next”(Falloon, 2013, p.506)”. This is incredibly true and certainly applies to technology. The main issue with this approach is that we throw that hot new piece of technology into a class setting but there may have been little research or thought put into how to effectively implement that piece of technology.  This article addresses that idea specifically in regards to iPads and selecting app’s that actually will enhance student learning, not simply student motivation. I don’t use a lot of tablets in my teaching as truthfully I just don’t have much access to them, but I do know that just like it is essential to vet a new website that I am going to send my students to, it is equally important to do that when selecting app’s.  This particular study loaded 45 apps on to iPads and then essentially tested then for effectiveness and if not effective what were the design flaws that made them ineffective.

So, there were multiple findings/conclusions that came out of the study, but what I found to be most interesting is that that data showed that app’s that “stepped them through learning concepts in a systematic and organized manner, generated more evidence of responses indicating learning than those that were primarily learning game or game/practice-based” (Falloon, 2013, p.511).  Essentially the most effective apps were the ones that were reflective of a traditional teaching model (Falloon, 2013). It also was found that clear objectives explained in age-appropriate language with important as well as providing examples, and promoting reflection via questions (Falloon, 2013). One area that the study addressed were design features that impeded student learning.  As we all know, nothing is really free, and anytime students are interacting with free websites, free app’s etc. there is going to be a price in one format or another. I find that the price is usually in the form of advertisements, links to external web sites, pop up’s, etc. I can’t tell you the countless number of times that I need to redirect my littles back to the appropriate website after they have accidentally clicked on something.  Not only does this interrupt the learning process but may require the students to start all over. The study found very similar results with the free apps that they were using also. Overall, it was determined that to ensure positive student learning outcomes app designers, as well as educators, must focus on six factors when selecting apps:

1. Communicating learning objectives in ways young students can access and understand;
2. Providing smooth and distraction-free pathways towards achieving goals;
3. Including accessible and understandable instructions and teaching elements;
4. Incorporating formative, corrective feedback;
5. Combining an appropriate blend of game, practice, and learning components;
6. Providing interaction parameters matched to the learning characteristics of the target student group; (Falloon, 2013, p. 519)

Overall, there needs to be a greater focus on learning theory driving new technologies in school otherwise these new technologies will be nothing more than a flash in the pan that is soon after discarded due to ineffectiveness.

The second article that I was interested in was “Tablet use in schools: A critical review of the evidence for learning outcome”.  Now, although this was on the approved list of articles, it seemed more like a study of studies, so not sure if that counts as an empirical study, but it still garnered some interesting points.  I found it interesting that in this study of studies, a large majority of the studies showed that there were positive learning outcomes and very few negative outcomes. I was a bit shocked by that as the last study didn’t seem to be quite as in favor of the success of app and tablet-based learning.  It did highlight a few factors though that seemed to be instrumental in successful tablet use:

• Affordances of tablet hardware perceived to contribute to improving learning outcomes
  • built-in cameras
  • accelerometers
  • Microphones
  • Easy access to tools such as dictionaries and screen readers
• Easy customization and supporting inclusion
  • Devices can be modified to meet individual student needs
• Touchscreen
  • Manipulative screens promote the use of multiple modalities allowing students to engage in ways not typical to a classroom
• Availability and portability
  • Tablets can create immersive learning experiences
• Implementation of tablet-based learning environments in schools
  • Effective technology management of the tablets is essential to success
• Tablet content and instructional design
  • Appropriate apps must be selected that will enhance learning not distract learners
• Interaction of pedagogy and technology: collaborative learning, one-to-one vs. shared use of tablets
  • What teaching approaches combined with the tablets will elicit the best learning outcome?

(Habler et. al, 2016)

Although the studies overall did find that tablets can support positive learning outcomes there are clearly certain factors that are necessary to ensure that happens.  One of the key factors that I can speak to personally is that poor management of technology can sink a program before it even gets started. Before launching any new tech initiative it is essential that appropriate infrastructure is in place as well as offering adequate opportunities for professional development (Habler et. al, 2016).  Without these two pieces in place, it doesn’t matter how amazing the technology is, how the pedagogy aligns, or how engaging the applications are, the program will fail.

The final article that I looked into was “A contextual game-based learning approach to improving students’ inquiry-based learning performance in social studies courses”.  I chose this article simply because it involved social studies which is what my undergrad degree was in, well, history. The article focused on a group of students interacting in a role-playing game that was designed to teach financial literacy through inquiry based learning. Inquiry-based learning “is an excellent teaching approach to engage students in self-directed learning and to make learning more meaningful” (Hwang et. al, 2015, p. 13).  Students self-directed themselves in this immersive learning game and in general it found that this approach as opposed to the traditional approach significantly improved the students learning(Hwang et. al, 2015).  Even though the students were “playing a game”, that game was able to make the learning meaningful and more authentic.  As we know, whenever you can offer students real-world scenarios, they chances of a positive outcome are far greater as they can connect with the learning more.  Although I didn’t love this particular study and it wasn’t as vested as I had hoped in regards to the social studies piece, it did show me (a true non-gamer) that in the proper circumstances and with the right type of game, role playing games can be very beneficial to learning.

We are currently seven weeks into this course about mobile learning and I can say that in some ways, yes, I have had a shift in a positive way towards mobile learning.  The one area that I am still struggling with is that I just want to be clear that a tablet and an app doesn’t exactly mean that mobile learning is occurring. From my perspective, a student that is sitting on an iPad in a classroom on an app that could similarly be found on a computer does not constitute what I believe mobile learning is.  From my perspective, which by the way is often wrong, true mobile learning should bring something to the table that can’t be done on a dedicated computer. My favorite example of this so far all season was that of the e-book that Professor Zimmerman developed that is being used out in the field and is providing on the spot information that I can connect to that exact place and moment as I move through the environment.  That is how I want to envision mobile learning and if that is what everyone else envisions, then we are on the same page.

 

RESOURCES:

 

• Falloon, G. (2013). Young students using iPads: App design and content influences on their learning pathways. Computers & Education, 68, 505–521.

• Haßler, B., Major, L., & Hennessy, S. (2016). Tablet use in schools: A critical review of the evidence for learning outcomes. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(2), 139–156.

 

Hwang, G. J., Chiu, L. Y., & Chen, C. H. (2015). A contextual game-based learning approach to improving students’ inquiry-based learning performance in social studies courses. Computers & Education, 81, 13–25.