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.