Games in India - ESL

W505 Mobile Learning
Stage 2 – 4: Mobile Technology Applied to Educational Games
 
 
Title:
Mobile Gaming with Children in Rural India:
Contextual Factors in the Use of Game Design Patterns
Matthew Kam*, Vijay Rudraraju*, Anuj Tewari† and John Canny*
 
General information

Main issues -
The main issue was how can design of mobile games engage rural children in India to play for fun.
The researchers believed that games that are consciously designed
using game design patterns as design tools are more fun and
engaging to play, in comparison with games whose design
process did not involve the patterns. Game play on cell phones is a fast growing technology platform in the developingworld. 
 
Analysis
 
 
1. Learners
Who were the learners?

ESL leasners in the poorest state of India

What characteristics did they have?
· Learning English in the poorest state of India is problematic for several reasons.
1. non-regular attendance in schools because of the need for
students to work for the family in the agricultural fields or
Homes

2. disinterest in schoolwork.
3. Learning English is important to power constructs within the economic social structure.

 
2. Technology
Explain technologies used in the mobile game.

ESL learning games were made available for the students to use on cell phones. Eight mobile games were used in this study. Three were created by the researchers with the aid of patterns, while the other five games were off-the-shelf and did not have
patterns as a conscious element in their designs.

The games included: (A) Toy Factory, (B) Crocodile Rescue, (C) Floored, (D) Beginner Land, (E) Jump Bot, (F) Dancer, (G) Train Tracks and (H) Critter Crossing.

Games were chosen on play complexity, age appropriateness, cognitive demand and the rural children’s ability to relate to the games culturally. Animation effects such that
participants were also important in what games were selected. Games which were "serious" games such as those with ESL learning content were not chosen so as not to dilute the study. 

The games piloted fell into the following three categories:
• consciously designed using the game design patterns
• obtained off-the-shelf that were designed by amateur
game developers
• obtained off-the-shelf that were designed by professional
game developers

 
3. Objectives
What were the objectives of the mobile learning?

1. Learners can improve their ESL skills by using mobile devices in out-of-school
Settings.

2. Games can improve enjoyment of the learning experience by children and foster spontaneous adoption of “serious games” for education

 
4. Games as Mobile Learning Components
How did the game play?

The top three games were: Floored, Critter Crossing and Jump Bot.

Floored. The goal is to flip the colors of each tile
until all the tiles share the same color. Rules become more
difficult as the player progresses through the game. The learners found the game to be easy and colorful.

Critter Crossing. The goal is to help the creatures at the bottom of the screen cross the road or river without getting hit by a vehicle. This game with a time limit was easy for the learners and many learners liked the appearance of the creatures.

Jump Bot. The goal is to go as high as possible by jumping from platform to platform. Learners liked the jump action but some also found it too difficult.



How did the mobile games work for achieving learning objectives?

While casual games are appropriate learning interaction methods and a good fit with children’s work commitment, the link from casual games to serious gaming, to me, is still only indirectly supported.

Of the two objectives I identified above, learners can improve their ESL skills by using mobile devices in out-of-school settings and games can improve enjoyment of the learning experience by children and foster spontaneous adoption of “serious games” for education, only the second objective was adequately covered. I did not see the learners improve their ESL skills by use of the device, except to increase target language exposure, but not use.

 
5. Pedagogical underpinnings

What pedagogical underpinnings can you find from the case?

The researchers identified 30 patterns of game design and classified them into 4
categories: core mechanics, story elements, goal states and reward mechanisms.

While findings showed that patterns were not as important as contextual and cultural elements, their approach has showed some insight in the success of games for learning in developing parts of India. Game design patterns, that are usually found in successful games, can act as basic building blocks for informing new game designs. What I found especially useful is the founding outline. "A design pattern, or template, is a description of a solution to a recurring problem that has been solved. A pattern also captures contextual information such as domain applicability and its rationale. A pattern may also capture tacit knowledge on the domain after having evolved through iterative design cycles."

I also appreciated their incorporation of references to Lazzaro and Gee to structure their pedagogic overview. Lazzaro's four “keys,” of Hard Fun,
Easy Fun, Altered States and The People Factor, and Gee's explanation that games are fun because of the connection between learning, growing and problem solving are important elements to understand the researcher's approach.

The two critical finds from this article are the cognitive and cultural elements of game selection. For example, cognitive connections in Floored such as " it was possible to work on different parts of the board as independent regions without incurring significant cognitive overhead for strategic reasoning or thinking ahead" are helpful to me to understand how the learner balances the cognitive load.

Additionally, cultural behaviors were also an important element in how game choice played out. In Floored the use of color connects to the its role in Indian festivals and the repugnance for the crocodiles in Crocodile Rescue because of the mythological status of the crocodiles, I found to be especially helpful to my context here in Korea.

The findings about motivation and reward and showing or asking adults for confirmation , assistance and encouragement were also an important result of this study. Gaming features can be used to re-enforce social relationships of the cultural as well. 

Case Study Discussion - Vodaphone-Ireland

Title:
Mobile Learning Video “Nuggets” support
Learning at Vodafone Ireland

Background to Case:
Vodaphone Ireland wanted to extend workshop lessons and improve knowledge transfer into their staff's real world work needs. They wanted to capitalize on the workshop enthusiasm
and optimism while supporting their staff to incorporate those lessons into practice.

Learners/trainees:
Learners were employees at Vodafone Ireland with
access to 3G compatible mobile phones and a 3G network.

Need Assessment:
Improve learner retention from traditional instructor led class learning and provide just in time access to lessons. Vodaphone also wanted to improve mobile learning effectiveness to bridge the gap between workshop and implementation of learnings.

Context - Conditions & Constraints:
Vodafone Ireland employees had mobility with their access to 3G compatible mobile phones and a 3G network. Constraints were to create a blended learning solution that made learning more immediate to a situation and more transferable by accessing the lessons in a self paced, self-spaced manner.

Learning Goal:
The main learning goal of this program was to support training and knowledge retention for staff.

They used some great language that really resonated for me. They created a flexible “anytime anywhere” Restless Learning Portal as part of
their strategy to support maximum learning transfer and delivery by easily enabling staff to
access the clips from 3G compatible mobile phones.

Result:
The approach has extending the reach,
relevance and application of the learning and increased retention, while it also subsequently influenced Vodafone Ireland to adopt a similar video –based blended learning approach to support sales and customer service training.


Technology:
The technology used were videos clips accessible over
mobile phones via the 3G network.

Clips were delivered in .3gp format for mobiles and in other file formats and configurations for
use on PCs, CD, DVD etc if required for flexibility of delivery.

Solution content:
By understanding the audience and paying careful attention to scripting subject matter perspective content focused on interpersonal communication skills (preparing a meeting, sales call and dealing with customers, colleagues or partners.

Solution activity:
Learners were able to watch mobile learning video
“nuggets” or clips along side in class learning workshops.

Solution intention:
The purpose, from a company standpoint, was to demonstrate that mobile phones could be used effectively to add an extra, PC-independent learning delivery model as part of their
evolving e-learning strategy.

From a learner perspective the solution was intended to give them just in time access to learn and review at their own pace and to their own needs.

Solution integration:
By providing reinforcement opportunities of key skills
through introductions, illustrations of concepts and demonstrations of practical application, the solution extended the reach of e-learning for all
Vodaphone employees from their office/desktop/laptop PCs, to their mobile phones as they moved geographically to fulfill their work. Solution integration provided extended JIT learning opportunities where users review content when needed, thereby providing a ‘performance support capability.'

Learning combinations:
The video clips were developed specifically as a key element of theirblended learning model.

The Solution Design:
A series of 25 video clips were delivered to learners’ mobile phones via the 3G network after they completed an instructor-led communication skills program. All videos were available
for stream or download. Links to videos were sent by a service message rather than text to access the URL conveniently. The project was designed and delivered in 6 weeks.

Learning Material Production:
Channel Content scripted, storyboarded and shot the video ‘nuggets’ using actors and realistic workplace scenarios. Voiceovers, addition of titles, backing track and graphics were added post production. Once again these clips were specifically made for mobile 3G delivery

Delivery & Management of Materials:
The workshops were a pre-existing learning delivery method. The videos via mobile phone were delivered after the workshop and managed by the learner. This delivery style can be descibed as just in time - JIT .

Pedagogical underpinnings:
NLP techniques are a systematic use of language to change behavior. The methodology of these techniques can be described as behavioral, cognitive as well as constructivist as these techniques encourage customization by the learner.

Additionally the blended learning component speaks to the instructional methodology integration. Blending face to face workshop learning with electronic, self-access review of demonstrations and concepts balances the cognitive load for the learner (at their pace) thus increasing retention of knowledge and transfer to authentic situations.

It does not assign "miracle" status to the mobile phone video method, but contextualizes into the overall importance of planning, people and design.

I liked this article especially because of the following information. "It should be emphasized that success depends on a clear understanding and analysis of the need, technology and audience, as well as the scripting, project management and having a good client relationship."

NLP techniques

Case Study Discussion - Comparison EHWL & Dewsbury, Danby, Burton

W505 Mobile Learning
Stage 2 – 2: Mobile Technology in Higher Education


Title: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College and Dewsbury College, Thomas Danby College and Bishop Burton College

General information
• Briefly describe any background information in both cases.

At HWLC it was important was to track students to provide support to maintain enrollment challenges such as staying in a class or program.

The target for Dewsbury College was to provide learners in outreach areas similar access to learning resources as their peers on the main college campus.

At Thomas Danby College a need to increase access to technology was identified

Both Dewsbury & Thomas Danby aimed to support a wider range of learners’ needs as part of developing personalized learning program.

At Bishop Burton College, challenges exist because learning activities take place in an outdoor environment as well as in the classroom.

Analysis


1. People
What were the characteristics of the target groups in each case? Can you see any difference or similarity between the two cases?
At HWLC the college offers over 500 courses to approximately 25,000 learners over four main campus sites. At Dewsbury, distance students at outreach centers were the target group. Learners of basic skills, especially ESOL were the target at Thomas Danby. At Bishop Burton College learners were advanced with the need to transfer and integrate classroom and field learning.

HWLC and Dewsbury have similar issues – connecting a geographically dispersed student body to the advantages of proximal learning (attendance support and resource access).

Thomas Danby and Bishop Burton seem to have two very different types of learners, yet their learning needs are similar – self-paced materials, irrespective of location of learning.



2. Needs or Objectives
What educational or administrative needs did the institutions have? Compare them.

HWLC wanted to improve enrollment and decrease drop out rates.
Dewsbury wanted to empower learners through improved resource (technology) access.
Thomas Danby wanted to free up the learning pace and for students to practice to their skill level independently.
Bishop Burton wanted a lightweight and portable system for use in fieldwork that would duplicate the power of a classroom desktop.

3. Solutions
What were the solutions? How did they combine different technologies to meet their needs? Can you see any difference or similarity between the two cases? Present your findings.
HWLC used a Tablet PC, Dewsbury & Thomas Dalby used iPAQ Pocket PCs, and Bishop Burton used HP Jornada 565s and Cassiopeia® EF 800s PDAs.

HWLC had staff use the tablet in class to take attendance and transmit it to administration who could contact students about their non-attendance and help support those students by giving attention to them.

Dewsbury, Thomas Dalby and Bishop Burton had specific Flash solutions for the mobile PDA which incorporated newly created materials as well as reworking existing materials into a mobilely accessible format.

All four colleges were able to use mobile technology to provide “just in time” information to staff and learners. Adminstrators, staff, faculty and learners were all connected to materials and information in a community of practice which provided support for educational objectives and also interpersonal support.



4. Pedagogical underpinnings
Describe any pedagogical underpinnings you can find from the cases. Can you find any difference or similarity between the two? Describe your findings and thought.
While much of adult learning expects the learner to be responsible to be “in class” and prepared for the learning goals, in fact, adult learners need a lot of side support in order to adjust to the prioritization of balancing life issues with academic issues. With HWLC they were able to show interest in the students who were missing out on in class activities, thus improving attendance overall, but also the rapport for a supporting a confident student regardless of mitigating life circumstances.
Additionally, equal access for learners at outreach centers provides more opportunity as less cost to the learner to educate themselves.
Self-paced learning is a key element with a negotiated learning pedagogy like constructivism and also helps cognitively to pace the learning to what the student can handle in their zone of proximity.
Fieldwork supplemented by calculations that can be run simultaneously on site is a collaboratively efficient and promotes a natural emergence of constructivist methodology.

Case Study Discussion - Torrey Pines

What mobile technology was utilized in the case? Describe infrastructure, mobile device, program, and content.
ThinkPad X60 Tablet PCs were used by the students and teacher in the classroom and in the home setting. Wireless internet connections were available in the classroom. Part of the tablet PC's devices include, touch screen and digitizer pen/stylus, docking stations, additional USB, projector, monitor ports & a CD-ROM drive. Programs used were snipping tool in Windows Vista, ScreenFlash, Microsoft Office Professional 2007, Microsoft Encarta® 2007 Academic online encyclopedia, and the latest build of Mathematica 6.0. Instant messaging and a collective e-whiteboard were also used. Content included advanced mathematics studies using drawings and diagrams as well as other practice activities.

Describe how the technology was integrated into the learning context. What learning activities can you find from the case? What functions are offered by mobile technology for those activities?

Integrating technology into the classroom was intended to foster creative thinking and create a rich learning environment with real-world relevance. This was done by activities which create three-dimensional graphs to demonstrate concepts and illustrate examples, encourage students do presentations to review concepts and verify calculations done by hand with the Mathematic program.

The teacher prepared all lessons using the programs. Class lectures were interactive allowing the students to get involved in practicing the math sequences. These lectures were then available for further study and practice on a class website.
Project based learning was used with community action awareness for students to choose their own topics to explore using the programs.
Mobile technology seems to facilitate student communications outside of class the most.

The teacher also had assigned office hours where she was available through instant messaging as well as using an interactive white board to help students with homework questions.

Can you see any pedagogical underpinnings in the case? Present your findings.

Constructivism is the teacher’s preferred teaching methodology. Project learning and community interaction are scaffolded and encouraged. I think the best example of her teaching method is this communitypProject activity. The California State Standards for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II were put in a box and had each student draw a standard for which they would build a Mathematica demonstration. Working alone or in pairs, students were to upload these demos to a new website, www.MathematiClub.com, so other teachers could download and use them in the classroom or for other students to use at home.

Additionally, when the teacher was observed by colleagues, she was described as a guide on the side – an important element of a constructivist class.


Critique

What was your definition of mobile learning?
Mobile learning is that which is available through a portable device which pulls information "just in time" and connects the learner to a community of practice (shared learning environment).

Does the case meet your criteria of mobile learning?
Yes it does in that the students can check answers and pull lecture notes as they need them. Additonally in the classroom and at home hours connect the students and teacher to a community of practice with elements to practice and teacher to a wider community through posting their findings and resources online.

We have discussed the limitations of mobile learning. Can you think out any problems from this case?
This particular case deals with the limitations I mentioned in my previous forum posting. The touchscreen and stylus really make the kinesthetic elements of drawing diagrams more electronically mobile and transferable. While the article was very upbeat about the technology, implicitly the contract that was signed in order to access the latest version of Mathematica draws in the corporate world into an academic environment for minors. I find this ethically untenable for fair education practices.

What could have made the mobile learning case better?
That this was more viral for mainstream students. Better would be more students would have access to such great tools for learning. Better would be more teachers would be willing to let the students have more control over their learning.

The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper

The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper: "The educational districts of Gangnam (Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu) in Seoul and Imshil in North Jeolla Province showed the highest academic achievements, while Goksung in South Jeolla Province marked the lowest.
None of the sixth graders in Imshil scored below the basic standards in English. The Education Ministry attributed Imshil's high performance to the three-day English immersion camps sponsored by the county and after-school classes run until 6 p.m. in each school.
Goksung had 8.5 percent of its sixth graders below the basic standard and 50 percent in the 'proficient' level.
In Gangnam, 95.1 percent and 93.6 percent of the sixth graders scored 'proficient' in English and math, respectively."

Korea Herald does a little bit more with the standardization testing stats. Perhaps they are from Gangnam and Korea Times is from Goksung.

donga.com[English donga]

donga.com[English donga]: "Yangyang and Muan airports are considered the least profitable."

No duh. Build it and they will come doesn't work, Korea. That was a movie called, Field of Dreams

Fresh Competition Looms at Schools

Fresh Competition Looms at Schools: "Among Seoul and other major cities, Seoul showed the largest number of students who failed the tests, while Busan, Daejeon and Gwangju had relatively smaller numbers of students falling behind basic levels."

Of course the largest number is in Seoul; the overall number taking the test is larger there than anywhere else. And how come Gangnam in Seoul is targeted with a special number when they are already an enfranchised section of the population? Where are the contrasts of stats, Korea Times?

What I want to know is how many students per capita (by city or province) are failing the standardized tests. Why is Gwangju mentioned when is it more economically marginalized (and problably has a higher per capita percentage of failing students than Busan or Daejeon) than they other cities mentioned?

Jeollabukdo is the province that is most struggling with limited education dollars to meet the needs of this rural population. What are their results?

And I want to meet one of the 12 KTU members who have been fired from not implementing the state wide test to their primary or secondary students. Who are they, why did they resist, what are they doing now?

This article and the issue of standardized testing scores is confounded further with the amount of educational training students are receiving from cram schools. The economic, digital, English and participatory divides are significant in South Korea.

IU W55 Mobile Learning Week 3

My emerging lexical definition
My view as an instructor
My lexical definition of mobile learning. Learning that the learner receives, interacts and broadcasts for community building, communication, and cultivation of richer or more learning opportunities.

My view as an instructional designer
Learning available through a portable device which pulls information "just in time" and connects the learner to a community of practice (shared learning environment).

My Devices

Mylo
Mylo or my life online is a mobile device I purchased this past summer, but am really only using as a MP3 player. It is a wireless device with a mini key board and touch screen. It has rss, podcast, skype, facebook, web, photo, video and camera. It is an integrated device with several widgets.

http://reviews.cnet.com/pdas/sony-mylo-2-black/4505-3127_7-32815250.html?tag=also

I thought it had camera with video (thus also recording audio) but it does not and I'm a wee bit irritated about that. The camera doesn't take good quality photos. The wifi is unpredictable and slow.

For educational purposes, I think it can be used to download instructional videos and podcasts. It can receive RSS feeds for classes. The communication tools (Skype, Facebook, chats in general) help connect learners to others. The wifi web access can (in theory) pull any online content (from self initiated to checking in on Oncourse).

Tablet PC
Lightweight laptop, notebook, touchscreen pc, keyboard, wifi, webcam, microphone in, finger print id, dvd, pen, swivel screen, you name it you can connect it.

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1064

I introduce my laptop to everyone as my new boyfriend. I love the power and flexibility it gives me. But I think most important to me is OneNote. I can capture stuff from all over the web and my computer and it documents where and when it came from. I can organize in a manner that is convenient to me; it lets me easily cross reference and connect even when copy and pasting. I can take screen shots of anything and turn it into a jpg. I can audio and video record. It takes my hand writing with my pen device and can convert it automatically to text.

For educational purposes, this is a wonderful tool to push or pull info, create and communicate.

Cellphones in Korea
My students almost all have cellphones. They average 10-150 text messages daily. They also use the Korean to English (and vice versa) dictionary regularly. The students don’t necessarily have internet access as it is deemed too expensive especially when internet is ubiquitous here - labs, own computers, computer labs. Students also use their cameras frequently.

Top ways to connect learners to learning in my EFL environment:
SMS, electronic dictionary, photos, video, audio, voicemail.

Activities or Tasks through cellphones
1. Sms "telephone" game or scavenger hunt
2. Would love to find a phone dictionary which keeps a history of daily words looked up, which could then be uploaded to the instructor and I could incorporate these into online activities (puzzles, crosswords). Or better yet, they could be made into personalized practice materials by the learner to supplement their particular learning style(flash cards with photos, quizzes, stories, videos, mnemonic songs, riddles, word/pic journal).
3. Photos. Discovery events, capture pics, upload with written work to our www.Ning.com forum.
4. Video. Can be mixed with movie maker to make a story, an explanation, etc.
5. Audio. Can record me in class, or record authentic use for further review, questioning of content
6. Voicemail. Opportunity to practice speaking, but with a "do over" component until they get it right.



PDA - Ogato et al
Ogata, H., Saito, N. A., Paredes J. R. G., San Martin, G. A., & Yano, Y. (2008). Supporting Classroom Activities with the BSUL System. Educational Technology & Society, 11 (1), 1–16.

My first response is that pda's are obsolete. This past summer I was laughed at when I tried to purchase one in Best Buy.

I am interested in applications more than the technology. I think learners whether they use cell phones or laptops could download an application specifically for the course. The application could be detailed to what learning methodologies and instructional strategies that the course designer, instructor and learner wants it to accomplish.

For example, going back to week 1's HP Mobile Computing In Higher Education about science lectures. This could all be an app that the learners use. Capturing, researching, confirming, expressing are all important elements in the learner's process that could be customized for the course and even further customized by the learner to their learning styles or preferences.

Podcasting - Preuss
Preuss, M. (2008). Instructional Podcasting in Higher Education: Rockingham Community College Pilot Study, Rockingham Community College.April 7, 2008.

I really enjoyed that this was a tracked element of learning.

PACE is so important in the learning process. Going at one’s own pace.

I also think that learners can watch and rewatch according to their learning pace.
Additionally this is a learning method which incorporates lecture style with radio style.
A mix of traditional classroom and traditional media.


SMS - Lu
Lu, M. (2008). Effectiveness of vocabulary learning via mobile phone. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24, 515–525. Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2008).

This is nice, but I think underutilizes the cognitive participation enormously. Instead of focusing on memorization, it could be put into richer activities for better retention. Scavenger hunts, puzzles. Additionally, learners could appropriate the sms into other activities - photo dictionaries, sentence activities, videos and audios of authentic use of the vocab.

I think of "Made to Stick" the vocab in the sms has to be a shorter clearer message due to practicality. What is not realized is that the process of shorten actually follows a marketing method of easy recall for rich messages.

In language learning, more words doesn't mean it is better or clearer to the learner. Word choice is more important. Special attention to connecting to what the learner already recognizes and connecting repeatable, iterative new learning is very important when we have limited "room" or "time."

The same thing happens when learners do a speed speaking activity (Paul Nation, Keynote speaker, KOTESOL National Conference, May 2006)). Having pairs of learners talk about a personal topic for a number of minutes (5 for example). Then new partners, decrease same topic to 3 min, then with another partner to 1 min. His research shows that language use improves (grammatically) as well as the robustness of the vocab (either scaling up or scaling down to help their partner understand their message quickly.)

Jan 19th - Prof Club

From here to everywhere.
Starting with Civil Engineering Lee’s weekend and ending with a decision to talk about social capital again on Wednesday, my professors’ class was around the world, through history and the future and back within two hours.

I mentioned that we would watch a 20 minute lecture on fora.tv about a topic of their choice, we instead chatted about Obama, the inauguration, hope, President Lee Myung-Bak, the green economy, the creation of the Israeli state, and who Jesus is in Judaic, Christian and Islamic religious traditions before transferring to the English Lounge to watch the Entertainment Group’s video of Amory Lovins.

After watching the video we talked about energy, the environment, alternatives, education and the intelligence of our students who have very different literacies than we do.

Prof Lee Hee Jae kept piquing my interest with small tidbits of info. “Transport” a movie from Ukraine. People dying around Gangjin from the solar energy complex. And how feng shui can help create the new learning spaces of the future.

The objective of a classroom is to gather people to learn together because it is an efflicient and fast way to learn from experts.

The objective of having a teacher is to manage and lead a group within the learning process.

On demand learning with expert access in a personal style that is sticky with a cross section of community members that synergize the learning process.

I think classrooms and teachers may not survive the future since we have finally tipped with Obama being elected. His election, the economic crisis, the fact that the US government has the auto industry by the balls, the mainstreaming and dissemination of scientific and economic realities and inventions, all stack up for a bumpy, but inevitable ride into the next decade.

In five years, I forsee (ok - hope):
North and South Korea reunite peacefully.
China set trends for environmental conservation.
Elimination of nuclear power and warfare.
My earrings being my headset, my bracelet being my wireless, amy necklace being my capture tools, my glasses being my display screen, rings on my fingers being my input tools, and I will add a tiara for my mix with a webcam in it.
Depowering of transnationals.
Emergence of global small business laws.
Transparency required for all public access of spaces and materials.
Freedoms and privileges will have inseparable responsibilities and costs.

IU W505 Mobile Learning Wk 1

STIPULATIVE DEFINITION: All learning is mobile.

I’d like to start with stipulative. In reading Traxler’s article, I found myself making notes about how his definition was too confining for my idea of mobile learning. Mobile – movement. I think our brain and bodies are our ultimate mobile learning devices and we (as a historic and world culture) just want to extend our learning by adding MacGyver-like extensions to our brains and bodies to increase learning to fulfill our needs and interests.

I think all humankind technology has endeavored to be mobile technology. I think books are a type of mobile technology assisting our mobile brains. I think ships and airplanes are mobile technology, extending the mobility of our bodies.

I feel that Traxler’s definition tries to co-opt the emergence of new mobile technology learning devices to support learning institutions which have become obsolete. Traxler’s article presupposes that mobile learning should be incorporated into higher learning institutions and that higher learning institutions are a foundation of learning. In his article he implicitly positions the institution/teacher/class before the learner.

Do schools exist for learners? Or do learners exist for schools? I think these are important questions that need to be asked because I see schools as, in fact, a type of technology. Schools and higher ed are solutions for education (not necessarily learning) in an industrial society. I would venture that schools and learning institutions of the past 100 years or so are aberrations in overall history, just as Todd Rundgren states that our modern music industry is an aberration in the history of music.

Rundgren, T. (2008). Time for the Music Industry to Evolve. The Entertainment Gathering 2008 Monterey, CA, Dec 13th, 2008. Video 26 minutes on Fora.tv. Retrieved on January 18, 2009 http://fora.tv/2008/12/13/Todd_Rundgren_Time_for_the_Music_Industry_to_Evolve .

OSTENSIVE DEFINITION: Mobility learning requires particular critical literacies and creates particular information and social challenges.

For an ostensive definition, I turn to Henry Jenkins’ white paper on “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.” Instead of focusing on the technology, he focuses on the societal elements of learning and the requisite skills to be literate within a world of volatile technological learning apparatuses. As a businesswoman and an IST grad student, I find his categorization more helpful (and hopeful) than the Traxler theoretical discussion on the dissemination of mobile learning within the preexisting higher learning order. Jenkins categorizes problems that learners , educations, families, citizens and leaders are having with the accelerated adoption of participatory culture. His categorizations speak strongly to me as an educator and reflect the problems I witness in my classes, as well as personally in my professional development and graduate student roles.

In short I would emphasize Jenkin’s categorizations as a starting point for my mobile learning definition.

Mobile learning’s legacy to learning and learning theory could be to set discourse limitations to develop a political and pedagogical framework to address three problems within participatory culture:

The Participation Gap - the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.

The Transparency Problem - The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world.

The Ethics Challenge- The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers and community participants.
From Jenkins 2006.

Additionally, mobile learning can start obsoleting itself into a regular definition of “learning” by encouraging additional literacies (beside textual) to be included in the definition of what it means to be a critically literate person in today’s world. This definition would always be redefining itself as certain literacies have limited lives.

Henry Jenkins has identified and categorizes the following skills as important for successful practice within a participatory culture. I think these are important literacies to develop, extend and co-opt when designing mobile learning solutions.

Play
Performance
Simulation
Appropriation
Multitasking
Distributed Cognition
Collective Intelligence
Judgment
Transmedia Navigation
Networking
Negotiation

Jenkins, H. (2006) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Retrieved on January 18, 2009 http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2108773/apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id=%7bCD911571-0240-4714-A93B-1D0C07C7B6C1%7d&notoc=1 )

Lexical Definition: Under Construction
To bridge the gap between my stipulative and ostensive definitional wandering, I focus now on the lexical. What is mobile learning compared to online distance learning, e-learning, correspondence learning, classroom learning, on the job training, or internships. Using Traxler’s definition that mobile learning is personal, contextual, and situated, I offer a matrix to share my perspective on these types of learning based on Traxler’s definition.


Personal, Contextual, Situated of

Mobile learning
Distance learning
e-learning
Correspondence learning
Classroom learning
On the job training
Internships

I hope to finish this during the semester.


The Cases

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3278625.stm
Testing students by mobile phone (BBC)shows that the methodology of mass assessment of information memorization can be taken to a new level of de-personalization instead of making the information more personal and memorable for the learner to apply in real life. One thing that this case did evoke for me is that we (all people) really are very trusting. We really think that there are testable “right” answers, when in fact we are accepting and supporting a particular way perspective of problem solving and analysis. This is true for everything, even “scientifically proven facts.”

http://www.cer.jhu.edu/index.cfm?pageID=328
HP Mobile Computing In Higher Education (CER – support from HP) disgusts me in two ways. The first is that mobile technology is being used only to support preexisting, prehistoric classroom control and moderately cognitively challenging practice instead of practicing physics to solve problems that the students currently face in their lives or that they are particularly interested in. Too much teacher and assessment focus for mobile learning maximization. The other thing that disgusts me is that this money is being spent to widen the gap between those who can afford/qualify for John Hopkins prestige education and those who cannot. I feel that the curriculum as laid out here is applicable and achievable for junior high and high school students. It should not be spefically the domain of “special” or higher education students.

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/TextMessagingtoImproveSoc/44833
Text Messaging to Improve Social Presence in Online Learning (EQ)
I question this statement: One problem with trying to gauge the quality of courses by measuring the amount of cutting-edge technology used is that instructors can never keep up, and students can't afford to buy all the latest technology required for their own learning.
How prevalent is this problem? What studies support? What segments of the population are struggling like this?

I teach language so the interaction element and the affective and cognitive perceived by the learner is a familiar correlate. I find the text message info from the New Mexico study quaint; my students send and receive 10-150 text messages every day. I find that this year is down compared to my previous years (2003-2008). But then the cost is significantly different between South Korea and the USA for text messaging.

I especially liked the narrative about useage. “Prior to the implementation of text messaging during the summer session, students enrolled in the online courses were surveyed to determine their cell phone carriers and if they had text messaging capabilities. Of the students surveyed, 72 percent had text messaging and used it on a regular basis. Of the students enrolled in the courses, 28 percent received text messages for free, whereas the remainder had to purchase a text message bundle or pay up to 10 cents per message. Those students who did not own a cell phone could receive the identical information via e-mail.
I find that the lagger/leader numbers are more important than the study itself. What happens to the 28% who don’t use text messaging regularly? How can only 28% have free text messaging? I think the social system implicit in this study is more important to me as an educator than providing learning to those already enfranchised by mobile learning.

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2004/07/64282
Duke Gives IPods to Freshmen (Wired) Ick, another article that makes me feel dirty. I assume that all the faculty also received Ipods. And what’s with the upperclassmen being neglected in this marketing ploy. Truly, this is money over learning in applying technology. Don’t studies show that the younger (and more men than women) already have a strong technological literacy? Why give the Ipods to freshman before upperclassmen? Wouldn’t it have been better to give Ipods to everyone, or the laggers & leaders, or just do a study of those who have and those who have not?

http://www97.intel.com/odyssey/Story.aspx?storyid=264
Analyzing the Aquifer (Intel)
Like the jigsaw approach to sharing knowledge. Like that the students had to take ownership and have boundaries about software.

How were things recorded? Why would those interviewed be impressed?
“When it was time to conduct the interviews, students took along their handhelds and recorded the information. "The people being interviewed were quite impressed with the students and their knowledge of technology," says Poage.

What does this really mean?
The projects became the basis for science fair entries. "Our students did quite well," Poage reports.

Yuck. The article implies that the device is what created the learning. I think it was the proper scaffolding of the learning event, positioning the device within a rich inquiry based learning project.
The teacher was especially impressed by the level of interest the handhelds generated. "It was complete concentration when the students were in the classroom working on a specific assignment. Several times I had students journal for me about how their project was going. This was a sight to behold for a teacher," she says. "It was pure concentration and on-task behavior. You could have heard a pin drop." She even called in a colleague to share in the moment. "I had never had that much participation before."
Inspired by that success, Poage also introduced handheld computers to a class of junior high students. "I have a rather challenging group of students, and they just fell in love with the handhelds. The discipline problems seemed to melt away. Wow, was that nice," she adds.