Mobile Learning in The Classroom
EDUC1049 – Blog Assignment
According
to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2009, 76% of
children aged 12 - 14 owned mobile phones, and likely an even greater
percentage in older students (ABS, 2009).
Mobile Learning is a potential additional to the
modern teacher’s educational repertoire. Mobile Learning is transforming
traditional beliefs about the use of mobiles in the classroom, they are
gradually becoming more widely accepted as valuable tools for teaching. My
initial belief is that this is due to new generations of teachers developing
digital pedagogies as technology becomes more present in people’s lives.
Enabling a new level of interactivity and connectivity, mobiles in the
classroom provide students access to previously untapped resources, such as the
ability to play videos, games and audio content to support their learning in
class. Although I have never truly had the opportunity to apply this technology
in a classroom scenario, I have experienced it within a lecture context. The
result was more interactive, engaging lectures, in addition to providing the
teacher with valuable statistics and information.
The use of mobile phones in the classroom doesn't have to be limited to under the table texts.
Photograph: www.alamy.com
“Today’s
student population has been referred to as digital natives who ‘think and
process information fundamentally differently’ (Prensky, 2001)
from their predecessors and have been influenced dramatically by the
technological shifts that have occurred within contemporary society” (Dale & Pymm, 2009).
I am also in agreement with Dale & Pymm’s view
that they can also prove disruptive for students, this is likely due to many
student’s conditioning towards technology for entertainment purposes, not
educational purposes. However, I believe students are likely to become more
engaged because they are receptive to technology . They continue on to describe
some of the chief affordances of mobile technology, namely flexible learning,
creative learning, sensory learning, personalized learning and collaborative
learning.
Flexible Learning primarily refers to learning outside of the class environment, mainly through the use of podcasts. Students with smart phones are able to freely download relevant educational podcasts, or podcasts of lessons, cementing their knowledge outside of class, in their own time.
Creative Learning with mobile technology is attributed to the innovative approaches that it enables as a teaching tool. Mobile technology is a relatively new addition to most classrooms and new types of educational activities are still being conceived.
Sensory Learning is utilising mobile technology to access varied forms of delivery, most notably, video, audio and gaming facilities. When accompanied with written and spoken components, students are able to experience complete engagement with the content, improving information acquisition.
Personalized Learning as the authors describes it in the quote “the personalized nature of being able to develop learning objects and performances for the iPod was perceived by students as a highly motivating experience and quickly developed into a social experience” (Dale & Pymm, 2009).
Collaborative Learning,
as the title suggests, alludes to group activities using mobile devices. This could include an activity such as a group research task in which all students involved would
be assigned an area to research for example.
Finally, these reading provided a great insight into the educational value of mobile technology, I’ve discovered more affordances than I had previously realised, and learnt the power of such tools for learning.
Finally, these reading provided a great insight into the educational value of mobile technology, I’ve discovered more affordances than I had previously realised, and learnt the power of such tools for learning.
Here are a number of example mobile applications designed for educational purposes found on 12 of The Best Educational Apps:
IBM Think
Languages
Wikiweb
ClassDojo
Reading Bear
References:
Fosnot, C. T. 1996. “Constructivism: A Psychological Theory of Learning”. In Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives and Practice, ed. C. T. Fosnot, 8–33. New York: Teachers College Press
Richardson,
V. (2003). “Constructivist Pedagogy”. Teachers College Record 105 (9):
1623–1640
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/12/27/12-of-the-best-educational-apps-of-2012/
Dale,
C., & Pymm, J. M. (2009). Podagogy The iPod as a learning technology. Active
Learning in Higher Education, 10(1), 84-96.
Prensky, M. (2001).
Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Sawers, P. (2012). 12 of the
Best Educational Apps for 2012. 1. http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/12/27/12-of-the-best-educational-apps-of-2012/
