On March 3-4th we tuned in to “Mobile Learning 2.0: The Next Phase of Innovation in Mobility,” the 2010 ELI Online Spring Focus Session. This was of especial interest, as we were about to give our poster session on Mobile Devices Access to Library Databases at NERCOMP! The discussion actually centered around slightly different topics, but were really interesting in ways that people were thinking about pedagogical uses for mobile devices, as well as ways to enhance campus life.
One of the ways smartphones are being used is what I would call an “advanced clicker”. students can text in a response to an immediate event happening in a classroom, or somewhere on campus. Other uses of smartphones in courses were for mapping, digital storytelling, data gathering (such as survey devices), and vlogging (video blogging). Even though these phones could be “disruptive devices”, or… as many teachers believe, “distractive devices”… currently about 1/3 of students own and use internet from a handheld device. This ownership is likely to keep growing.
The mobility goes beyond the campus where students are already hooking into the network via the wireless internet. Now students (with the data plans) for mobile devices can be on the internet anywhere cell phones work (which is ubiquitous in a city, and increasingly everywhere in the US). However on a campus, even those students not paying extra for data plans, can link into their campus internet and use their devices to access all kinds of things.
The speakers talk about mobile handhelds as a “convergence device”. This is to say, one piece of equipment contains those items that use to take several: a phone, a camera, a computer to the internet, typing etc. One should note, for example, that a Nokia N 900 is faster than a 1997 Thinkpad. However, smartphones will not replace laptops for the time being. Not all capabilities are there and navigation is still a bit clumsy for many people.
Other uses of the mobile smartphones are not only in class polling, but to use twitter (also can be used for polling!), lab reports, field data collecting, social networking within a class, creating e-portfolios, making a student newspaper available to students, and other university communications, such as alerts. Students and universities have created websites specifically for mobile devices, such that Stanford is having its bus schedule beamed to their mobile web pages, linked to a geospatial map of the campus, so students can tell where the bus is at any given time. Duke and University of Florida have special mobile web pages, and UT is working on applications to work with mobile devices, including course assessments.
There seem to be 2 big styles: the “business type” such as the Blackberry, and the “touchscreen” type, like the I-phone.
On one campus, they want students to receive a device for a semester and can be used with different phone plans. At the end of the semester it is wiped clean. On another campus an Environmental Studies class is using the phones to collect data on location using the physical coordinates of the phone in that place. Students are using the phones to tell a “digital story” –using the video features as well as other portions of the multifaceted device, especially coordinating with geospatial capabilities. Video materials can be stored in the cloud. Another use was to boost memory recall in a class. Some students were asked to produce a reflective piece about their encounter with an environment location. Some students created a panorama by taking a picture from the same spot at different seasons. They were able to pinpoint the spot to put the camera by using the GIS capabilities. The devices can also be used in a GIS course, as well as social science or humanities uses. The main thing is to get the students to do the learning by being active and use the phone as their reporting tool.
Video blogging (Vlogging) is an up-and-coming aspect of the use of these mobile devices. It can be used as a type of “webcam” to record activity in any spot and livestreamed to the internet. The mobile devices can be used for getting people together on campus, or for promoting student events.
Mobile devices now are getting the reputation as ways that students can contribute to discussions, collaborate with the faculty in building and amassing data, and in being creative in new and active ways.
Source: http://blogs.brandeis.edu/edtech/2010/03/11/mobile-learning-2-0-the-next-phase-of-innovation-in-mobility-the-2010-eli-online-spring-focus-session/
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