Scenarios for Mobile Learning

Scenarios for mobile Learning

Mobile learning is beginning to deliver on its long-promised potential for enhancing learning. Smart phones and notepad devices now offer more functionality than a standard PC, and yet are portable enough to be always to hand. Also, improved mobile networks and wi-fi coverage now provide cheap and reliable connectivity on campus, at home, and even when travelling.

Smart mobile devices have become more affordable, and an increasing proportion of our learners are now using smart phones - e.g. over 80 % of students who responded to a survey in shuspace reported that they owned a smart device. As with many new technologies, ensuring inclusivity of participation requires careful management, but educators have already started to try out techniques, and demonstrated that a range of benefits such as the following can be achieved:

o Extended functionality: enhancing face-to-face learning activities

o Flexible access: supporting contextual learning for students as mobile learners

o Improving study: supporting note taking and personal reflection in informal contexts.

o Enhancing communication with and between students.

This document contains five scenarios for mobile learning:

Scenario 1. Creating feedback for students
Mobile phones can be used to record audio feedback files, and these are made available to students for playback via the Blackboard Grade centre.

Scenario 2. Information searching during class
Students can use their mobile devices to search for information during taught sessions. Their findings can impact on the direction of the session, and can be collated for use in future teaching.

Scenario 3. Capturing experiences outside the classroom
Students can use mobile devices to capture experiences outside of the classroom, either for later review by themselves and the tutor (e.g. reflection whilst on placement), or for shared group purposes (such as data collection on field trips).

Scenario 4. Immediate in-classroom feedback from students
Smart phones can be used with on-campus wireless networks to act as Personal Response Systems (PRS) or 'clickers'. The approach can increase interactivity in lectures and provide immediate feedback about student learning and comprehension.

Scenario 5. Back Channel Chat: live sharing of student opinion
Students engage in 'back-channel' discussion during a taught session by posting short text-based messages from their devices. Comments can be made available on participants' devices or a large screen in real time, or revealed at a specific moment to summarise key points or answer questions.

Each scenario has a brief summary, lists potential benefits, describes how it could work, outlines potential issues, and has links to further information. Read on to find out more.

Creating feedback for students

What is it?

Mobile phones can be used to record audio feedback files, and these are made available to students for playback via the Blackboard Grade centre.

Benefits

· Hearing and replaying feedback helps students to understand the lecturer's thinking, and audio feedback is particularly useful for encouragement and additional information.

· Some staff find audio feedback quicker and easier to create than traditional formats.

· There is no need for additional gadgets, as most modern mobile phones have built-in microphones and audio recorders, and are almost always close to hand.

How it can work

The mobile's audio recorder can be used to record the feedback files, and recording the files doesn't require access to Wi-Fi or 3G networks. It may be possible to directly upload the files to the Grade Centre in Blackboard via the mobile's web browser, or easier and cheaper to transfer files to a computer first. Students then access the files through the My Grades tool, listening to it on the device of their choice, and/or via headphones.

Audio files can be used to provide feedback on individual work or to provide whole class feedback on an assignment. Audio feedback could also be created by students as part of peer feedback processes.

Potential issues

· Creating useful feedback is a skill in itself, and audio feedback can be demotivating if not created well.

· Students may not be used to this type of feedback and might need guidance around how to understand and use it effectively.

· Audio feedback should be designed so that students can understand which parts of their work are being referred to. If the original work is also marked up and returned to students with the audio feedback, this helps considerably.

· Some staff report that audio feedback takes longer to create than traditional written feedback. This may be the case when student work/script is marked up as well.

· At the moment, not all staff members have mobile phones with the ability to create audio files; they may need to consider other approaches

· A quiet environment is needed: audio files recorded in noisy environments have lots of background sounds.

· Students need headsets to listen to audio feedback in a university computer lab.

Information searching during class

What is it?

Students can use their mobile devices to search for information during taught sessions. Their findings can impact on the direction of the session, and can be collated for use in future teaching.

Benefits

· The activity develops students' collaboration and information skills.

· Students feel that their opinions are valued by tutors and in their subject discipline.

· The resources collected can be of use to this cohort and to future cohorts.

How it can work

Students are encouraged to use mobile devices or other technologies to find information relevant to the topic of the session. Many will have smart phones and laptops, with access to search engines, websites, and social bookmarking and social networking tools.

After a time-limit, participants are encouraged to share their findings, via a web-based aggregation service. The resources found could be tagged with the use of social bookmarking or social networking technology, or collected with the use of a Google Form.

If different groups are asked to work on different questions, each group can present their findings to the other groups. Different groups could also research opposing views of an issue, and use the resources they find to construct an argument as a basis for discussion.

Students could be required to play different roles during this exercise, e.g. researcher and presenter.

Potential issues

· Students need guidance on where to store their findings, and how to 'tag' them.

· Students may need to set up accounts on social bookmarking sites and familiarise themselves with how they work - it saves time if they do this before the session instead.

· Students could use devices to check e-mail and or interact with personal social networking sites rather than focusing on set tasks.

· Connectivity speeds may reduce due to the volume of people trying to use wi-fi, or mobile phone connections.

· The activity shifts the role balance between teachers and learners. The teacher must be prepared to adopt a facilitation role, and encourage the learner to engage in the session.

· Students may fail to engage or come up with contributions - teachers should prepare alternative activities, or have strategies for promoting and encouraging engagement.

Capturing experiences outside of the classroom

What is it?

Students can use mobile devices to capture experiences outside of the classroom, either for later review by themselves and the tutor (e.g. reflection whilst on placement), or for shared group purposes (such as data collection on field trips).

Benefits

· Students can capture information in digital formats rather than writing information in paper format and then having to type it online later.

· Real-time capture of student experiences should lead to better recall and more authenticity.

· If students share such experiences with teachers more easily, then teachers can better monitor their progress and provide more regular short feedback to their students.

How it can work

Students are now increasingly likely to have mobile capture devices with them. Also many places where students are on placements (such as schools and hospitals) have limited wireless access, but are increasingly likely to have mobile connectivity. Depending on the purpose and type of experience captured, there are many options for sharing the data or information back:

· A Blackboard survey or test can be used for students to submit answers to a series of questions (such as how a particular lesson went for trainee teachers).

· Google Forms can be created by students themselves, and used to collect individual and private reflections, or set up to collect shared data sets.

· Blackboard blogs can be accessed and posted to via the mobile Blackboard app in SHUgo on selected phones.

Potential issues

· The interfaces for Blackboard and Google Forms are still developing. Formal mobile app interfaces are easier to use but are not yet available for all smart phones.

· Reflective learning involves thinking about something over a period of time. So where reflection is the aim, guidance should encourage revisiting initial recorded information for a deeper reflection cycle.

Further info

A Case Study of Mobile Learning in Teacher Training – MENTOR ME (Mobile Enhanced Mentoring)
http://www.medienpaed.com/19/cushing1106.pdf

Immediate in-classroom feedback from students

What is it?

Smart phones can be used with on-campus wireless networks to act as Personal Response Systems (PRS) or 'clickers'. The approach can increase interactivity in lectures and provide immediate feedback about student learning and comprehension.

Benefits

· Quizzes and polls can be used as a warm-up activity, to review content from the previous week, identify areas of poor understanding, or break up long periods of content delivery.

· Students can test their comprehension, and if problem areas are picked up by lecturers, students are more likely to leave the class having understood the content.

· Use of mobiles would be cheaper than PRS systems which involve installing expensive hardware, such as specific routers and clicker devices in lecturer theatres.

· Lecturers don't have to distribute and gather back clicker devices, and the approach can be used in any teaching context with a networked computer.

How it can work

· It is possible to set up short one or two question surveys or tests in Blackboard. Students can use their browser or the mobile app to access and take those surveys, and participation of individual students can be tracked. However the surveys are not in a format designed for the mobile, so require use of the browser. The staff member can display results to the whole class by accessing the Grade Centre's tools for displaying survey results - but care is needed not to show student marks.

· External tools such as Google Forms and Poll Everywhere may be quicker and easier to use.

Potential issues

· Staff need to set up the surveys ahead of the teaching or have tools where they can quickly set one up.

· Lecturers may need to change lesson plans during the class in response to poll feedback from students.

· There can be delays while the students browse to take the survey, depending on which application is used.

· There is a risk of accidental exposure of student grades when viewing survey results through the Grade Centre.

· Connectivity issues: If wi-fi capacity cannot support enough simultaneous connections, some student responses may be delayed or blocked. (If a mobile signal is available this may be a workaround)

· Use of the mobile platform may lead students to attempt to respond to critical tests e.g. phase tests on their mobile phone. This is not recommended.

Any links/further info/examples from other institutions?

ASSET project: Educause's 7 things you should know about clickers

Back Channel Chat: Live sharing of student opinion

What is it?

Students engage in 'back-channel' discussion during a taught session by posting short text-based messages from their devices. Comments can be made available on participants' devices or a large screen in real time, or revealed at a specific moment to summarise key points or answer questions.

Benefits

· The invitation to provide comments or questions indicates that student participation is of value, and encourages student engagement and participation in the session.

· Back channelling can be a mechanism for collaboration, knowledge sharing and network building, and helps students to develop critical thinking and communication skills.

· It contributes to the development of a relationship between teacher and learner, promotes inclusivity, and engages the teacher in the role of facilitator.

· Wi-fi based applications can be used to minimise texting costs to students.

· An archive of the back-channel comments of the session can be produced and used as the basis for further learning or activities.

How it can work

· Students may need to have accounts on relevant websites, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Yammer etc., or to download and install an appropriate mobile app. Ideally this would happen before the session. In these technologies, a hash (#) tag (for Twitter) or a group (for Facebook) are set up to collect comments in one place.

· Virtual classroom technology, e.g. Adobe Connect can also be used. (Contact Phil Vincent (T: 2138 | E: ) for more information.

· Students can be given guidance about when to post contributions and the type of contribution expected e.g. questions, feedback, or open discussion.

· Back channel comments can be used to start and develop discussion,

· The archive of the session can be saved alongside the presented materials, and used to weave summaries, summarise Blackboard discussions, aggregate the main themes of the session, and provide feedback.

· The technique can be used in combination with learning scenarios, e.g. by adopting different roles and posting from different perspectives.

· It is possible to invite external contributors, e.g. employers, experts, mentors etc, to contribute in real-time alongside the students.

Potential issues

· Students could be tempted to use their devices for other distracting activities.

· Students may make negative or inappropriate postings - if individuals can be identified, this may provide a deterrent. Guidance can help.

· There may be a lack of connectivity or slow connectivity due to the volume of people trying to use wi-fi, or mobile phone connections.

Scenarios for Mobile Learning