Blog 4: New Forms of Learning Supported by Mobile Tools

ROB PEELER

June 1, 2019

For many of us, we were introduced to mobile devices in our late teen / early twenties. We went through grade school using pencil and paper and potentially our version of a mobile device (aka a graphing calculator). 

For the most part, we had no choice but to create things from what we learned. Fast forward to today, kids are growing up with a device in their hands. 

A few years ago I went to dinner on a beautiful night. We ate outside and the table next to us had a family of four. As soon as they sat down, the mother pulled out an iPad for each of the two children (who looked to be about four or five). Both her and her husband pulled out their phones and they all sat there on their devices not speaking a word to one another. In order to mitigate this dependence on consuming information without doing anything with it, Dr. Klopher discussed in his video presentation about how mobile devices can help kids be productive if they are empowered to create something with the device. This empowerment can help learners push themselves and not only learn more deeply about the topic at hand, but also construct something new. This internalization of learning can help the concepts stay with the learner longterm. 

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I developed a training last semester for our college web managers. One challenge I had was figuring out a way to motivate the learners to complete the training. We don’t have any supervisory oversight, so the training is technically optional, even though I know it will help the users. When I saw a few of the readings for this lesson dealt with digital badging I thought that might be something to consider in future revisions of this web training. On page 1137 of “Personalized workplace learning: An exploratory study on digital badging within a teacher professional development program,” the authors described that digital badging can incentivize learning, capture credentialed learning experiences, and if this learning mechanism is personalized, the specific needs of the worker can be met. These basic tenets of badging could certainly help with the web training. Since each user has a different role (i.e., some users can utilize certain components like video and images while other users can only add text), I could foresee the badges tailored to various milestones of achievement. This could incentivize their learning, especially if as they progress they can have their access upgraded to do more on the website. 

Rather than only read articles badging this week, I decided to explore a variety of topics to help me make a better decision on what I would like focus on for the project. The AR articles caught my eye, particularly “Augmented Reality Teaching and Learning,” since I recently downloaded the Statue of Liberty AR app (which is great) that teaches anyone, from the comfort of any location, about the history of Lady Liberty. In using this app, among other AR apps, I found that many of them use AR simply for fun or because it’s trendy. There are few that I tried (not saying I tried them all, just a bunch) that actually teach something. Thinking back, those apps did have a constructivist learning theory approach, as Dunleavy and Dede describe on page 737. The apps that appealed to me did “embed the learning within my environment, provide multiple perspectives, provide self-directed learning opportunities,” and supported my learning (Dunleavy and Dede, 737). They took me into the environment and guided my learning successfully and in a fun way.

Finally, I read a bit about wearables in “Wearing, Thinking, and Moving: Testing the Feasibility of Fitness Tracking with Urban Youth.” What I found most interesting is the conflict between behavior change and motivation to use the device. Early in the article on page 8 the authors discuss how wearables have the ability to track something about us and then help us change our ways for the better. What the researchers found, as described on page 14, is that motivating students to use wearables was much more difficult than initially thought. The authors did note a variety of reasons why students didn’t use the wearable consistently, but I think there is more to it. This paper took the wearable and introduced to the students and it could have been perceived as trendy, which is why the students participated. I imagine the researchers would have seen different results if the students already were active and wearables were introduced to aid in what they were already doing. The authors sort of went against recommendations of mobile technology in general. Instead of using the technology as an aid, they used it as the main focus. I do think this idea is true as I experience this on a daily basis. I have an Apple Watch and I purchased it to aid in what I already do (exercise, use Siri, listen to music, travel, etc.). It just makes things easier. However, I have family members and friends who also purchased similar wearables to help them get into better shape or do more of something. Instead of it doing what they had initially thought, it’s become more of a novelty as they aren’t reaching fitness goals or using other features of the wearable. Essentially, wearables, like any technology, should be there to aid us, not replace us.

Dunleavy, M., & Dede, C. (2014). Augmented reality teaching and learning. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M. J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 735-745). New York, NY: Springer. 

Gamrat, C., Zimmerman, H. T., Dudek, J., & Peck, K. (2014). Personalized workplace learning: An exploratory study on digital badging within a teacher professional development programBritish Journal of Educational Technology, 1136–1148.   

Klopfer, E. (2012). Video. Mobile as a Creative Medium. Digital Media & Learning Research Hub. 

Schaefer, S. E., Ching, C. C., Breen, H., & German, J. B. (2016). Wearing, thinking, and moving: Testing the feasibility of fitness tracking with urban youthAmerican Journal of Health Education47(1), 8–16.