Mobile Learning

A Case for using mobile devices in the classroom.

Technology has finally reached the point where students can have their own devices. Smartphones can sometimes be as powerful as a simple laptop. The price range for tablets can range from a little over one thousand dollars to several thousand HK dollars. Most students do have the opportunity to come into contact with a device either theirs or a friends throughout the day. So why should we “give in” and use devices in class? Or should we “hold firm” and say no to devices?

Devices can give students access to GPS, Calculators, Cameras, Voice recording, Heart Rate monitors in some of the newer devices, Books, design software, voice recognition software, most can connect to wifi and transmit to devices that could project the screen to the whiteboard. All of this is on one small device, together, in one location, so the question now is… seeing that one device has this many tools and then more why not use it? I can’t think of a reason not to use it, if the lesson fits into it. If I was told to paint a mural, or solve difficult math equations, or grapple down the side of a mountain, I would like to have the right tools for the job. For example if I had to teach a unit where students were expected to develop skills in oral language and all expressive mechanisms ( voice and body expression) as well as meet and interact with students from other schools in the context of social or intellectual activity, having a tool like video camera to record how students communicate, then a screen to watch the video, to then spend hours analysing the voice, giving feedback the next class might be a bit difficult and time consuming, where if we had students team up with each other and use a device to record and analyse their speech while they critique the body language with each other might be a bit easier and more practical. Then students could use the devices to collaborate with other schools with school video conferences instead of getting all the approval letters and forms needed to take students to another school.

When it comes down to it, devices are a tool that have the potential of giving students and teachers a chance to explore the content matter more deeply and meet the objectives in creative methods.

Coming up with a  list of guiding principles

After going over the Mobile Device Lesson this week I have thought long and hard about what I should do before unrolling a new tool for my students. Just because something is cool doesn’t mean it fits.

1. Standards, Benchmarks and Objectives?

This is a question I ask myself no matter what the lesson is...Where do the standards, benchmarks, and objectives fit? Am I creating this lesson for a “just because” reason, or am I doing this so I can teach what the students are expected to learn based on the standards. What is the objective of the lesson? Does the tec fit in with the objectives, standards and benchmarks. Just because I might have found a fun app that does cool things, doesn’t mean it fits in with what the students are expected to learn. And I shouldn’t try to force it through to try and fit the objectives either.

2. Tool or Toy?

Which leads me to the next question to ask yourself before you teach the lesson. Are you using it more as a toy? Or more as a tool? Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it has to be boring, believe me tools can be fun. You can have fun using power tools, but it doesn’t suddenly make them a toy, they have a purpose and a place. That’s why you should ask yourself as you’re designing your lesson is it a tool or is it a toy? For example I have seen a lot of very fun apps out there that I would love to use with students in art class, but it just doesn’t fit into the lesson.

3. Know thy device

Next one seems pretty common knowledge, but know your devices, know your apps you’re trying to use them. Become an “expert” in what you are trying to teach before you actually teach it. I have been in classes where the teacher doesn’t quite know how to use the equipment and nothing makes a teacher look incompetent to the student as a teacher not knowing the material. Just as I would need to know my art before teaching it, I should also know how to access the device, use the device, and then use the technology on the device in order for students to be excited to learn about the technology on the device

4. Keep it Simple

Keep it simple. I am not a fan of huge complex technology that seems to be very over the top with the Wow factor but then hard to use. While I was planning the technology project i was going to teach to my students, this is one thing that I kept on asking myself. Am I keeping it simple enough? I tried one project out that I had originally thought was a good idea, 3D Scanning with a mobile phone, the capturing process wasn’t hard, but then the setting up an account, the processing the image time, and then the transferring of the files took so long and kept hitting road bumps, that I thought that maybe it wasn’t simple enough to teach yet, and that I would introduce it at a different time, when the technology was a little more user friendly.

I think that after using these four guiding principles and knowing that mobile devices are just another tool one can use, I am ready to see what the future holds in my classroom.

Cognitive Flow and Learning

While I was watching Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Ted Talk I was really struck with what he said about  Cognitive flow. While he was talking about cognitive flow and how different people experience it, that the passing of time seems unnoticeable. In my life two things I do let me experience cognitive flow. The first being the creating of art. I could produce art every day of the week for hours on end and not even notice time has passed. I call it my time machine. At the beginning I’m looking at something blank, empty, formless, and the next thing I know I see something creative, developed, formed. It doesn’t matter what medium I choose, metal work, drawing, painting, photography, the absence of time, the joy that it brings, it’s a natural high where after I am done with the project I can’t wait to get my hands on the next project or dream up something new for me to do. I remember one time I was alone in the studio, I had gone in at around 10 am, what felt like 10 minutes later my classmate at the time came in and was asking me how long I’ve been down in the room, I asked her what time it was and she said it was 6pm and wanted to know if I wanted to go to dinner with her. Now the room had no windows, no clocks, and I had been working on a metal jewelry artwork that I had wanted to do, I had no idea that 8 hours had just flown by.

(some of my artwork)

Another way that I have experienced cognitive flow in my life is through a few forms of Physical activities, such as dancing, swimming, and hiking, and in that order too. My whole life I have felt the need to dance, to move in a structured way to music that may be playing out loud or music in my head. I don’t always get a chance to go to events that allow me to dance, as much as I would like but when I do it’s magical. I love the way things around me fade out where all that is left is the action of moving by body to the music that is playing. I can easily dance non stop for hours at a time, unaware of how tired I am getting, if I am getting hungry, or again what the time is. The same goes for swimming and hiking. Though for hiking the weather or monkeys can distract me from the hike, for example if it starts to get too hot or rain, or if monkeys are chasing me by the dozen, we have monkeys in our mountains in Hong Kong.

One of the videos I watched this week was Jim Gee’s Principles on Gaming, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQAgAjTozk, there are a 13 things that help people really connect to learning and aid with cognitive flow. Out of the 13 principles, Empowering learners, identity principle, problem solving, and pleasantly frustrating were 4 aspects that caught my attention. I think to help make time fly, and to help me with cognitive flow these four are the ones that I connect with the most. After listening to Csikszentmihalyi’s Ted Talk and Jim Gee’s Principles on Gaming I realised that 1. I was experiencing cognitive flow when I do either art, dancing, swimming or hiking. And 2 that I found that I enjoyed things because I felt it empowered me, that I had ownership over what I did, that it mattered to me and I was able to create the outcome I wanted. That there is a problem that needs solving, for example with art, turning a blank space to an artwork, to master the footwork, to speed up my lap time. And to be pleasantly frustrating, I never thought about a challenge could be called pleasantly frustrating, to find the right balance in effort level. Only increasing the effort level at the pace of the learner so that they are able to continually excel.