“Act becomes artifact” (Pea & Moldonado, 2006, p. 433)
As I reflect upon what I have learned in this course the past 10 ½ weeks through my blogs and notes, I can honestly say that I am more aware and more excited to implement mobile devices into my curriculum. In the beginning of the course, I was aware of how technology is being integrated into the classroom but I was not aware of how technology is used around the world in different cultures. It truly is WILD to know just how powerful technology is in our learning and teaching environment (no matter where, what or who the learning is taking place with). This course has inspired me to grow with technology and to continue to be involved as it evolves.
This course has also made me more conscious of my surroundings. I am now very observant with the media, especially in online advertisements and television commercials. I found this YouTube video that parallels my thoughts on technology in the classroom with what I have learned in this course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbVKPhVCRFI.
The first empirical article I read was by Barron (2009). It stressed the importance of socio-economic status (SOS) and gender as being factors to consider when gathering data on the use of mobile devices. What I found interesting is the fact that “the study suggests that parents and children know different things and in this realm each can be learner as well as teachers” (Barron, 2009, p.58). In our life, we are either the educator or student; things to teach or things to learn. Articles by Pierce (2009) about social interactive technologies and Hew’s (2011) use of Facebook contributed to what I already presumed. Little is done in these facets to enhance learning opportunities with certain social platforms. The youth use mobile devices primarily for social networking and “messing around”. The challenge still exists to create more learning situations within a social networking platform.
Technology has the ability to engage, create personal interest which in turn will drive the user to be intrinsically motivated to learn. I realized this as I ventured into a session on the Future of Museums conference on Thursday afternoon. I stepped into the session of Infinite Art which was lead by Amy Brinkley and Kyle Parker. I wanted to see what was being illustrated through this virtual art museum. What I saw impressed and inspired me. Their goal is to use apps and group them by themes rather than the traditional art history categories. A Samsung tablet will be used by the viewer to draw, make connections, interact with and learn about the artwork that is in front of them. This isn’t the only mobile device they are investigating. They are already looking into the future of Smart Watch and Google Glass to engage and enhance learning within the museum. The museum is also looking to include all areas of content not just the art history element which everyone thinks that is what an art museum is about. The feature of play is also being investigated through apps installed on the mobile devices. As we discovered in a prior lesson from John Seely Brown, play makes it personal and creates an ownership with the learning. With the advancing forms of technology, the possibilities are endless for teaching and learning…providing we have the means to access this rich (no pun intended) form of learning and sharing.
Sources:
Barron, B., Martin, C. K., Takeuchi, L., & Fithian, R. (2009). Parents as Learning Partners in the Development of Technological Fluency. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1(2), 55-77. doi:10.1162/ijlm.2009.0021
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
Pea, R. D., & Moldonado, H. (2006). WILD for learning: Interacting through new computing devices anytime, anywhere. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge University Handbook of the Learning Sciences (Chapter 25). New York: Cambridge University Press.
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