Dr. Kevin Burden fromt he University of Hull presents at the launch of the Digital and Mobile Learning Network, established to support lecturers and learners maximise the use of mobile technologies in learning
University of Hull Federation of colleges presentation 2014
1. Learning in a mobile age: what
does it look like?
Dr. Kevin Burden:
Reader in Educational Technologies,
The University of Hull
Hull University Federation Colleges Collaborative Conference,
October 20th 2014
2. Treasure Hunt Tasks
How should educational institutions such as the
Federation of Colleges and the University of Hull
harness mobile and augmented technologies
(e.g. tablets and Smartphones) to make
learning more authentic and related to the
world of work for their learners?
7. “If we teach today’s
students as we taught
yesterday’s we rob them
of tomorrow”
(John Dewey)
8. 180
135
90
45
0
Ownership of technologies
(Hull University pre-service teachers, 2013 and
2014)
Fixed PC Laptop Tablet Smartphone
2013 2014
9.
10. Critical thinking
Threshold concepts
Assimilation Adaptation
‘Wickedness’ - application
Creating 6
Evaluating 5
Analysing 4
Applying 3
Understanding 2
Remembering 1
1
Acquire
knowledge
in one discipline
2
Apply
knowledge
in one discipline
3
Apply
knowledge
across disciplines
Collaboration
4
Apply
Problem solving
knowledge
to real-world
predictable
situations
5
Apply
knowledge
in real-world
unpredictable
situations
S
A
M
R
Acquisition Application
‘Wicked Problems’
11. How are you using technology: to
transform learning or simply to
replicate old ways of doing things?
11
12. What do ‘real world predictable
situations’ look like?
12
13. What do ‘real world unpredictable
situations’ look like?
13
14. How can mobile and augmented
technologies making learning more
authentic?
• by making the tasks learners undertake more
realistic
• by making the tools learners use more like real-world
tools
• by extending the boundaries of the learning space
(both physically and virtually)
19. Aims & purposes of the network
• To work together to provide a collaborative mobile and mixed
realities technologies network to develop the use of the
technologies in learning, teaching and assessment;
• To jointly develop and share learning resources, pedagogical
developments, experience, expertise and good practice
• To explore opportunities for the further development and
validation of higher education programmes;
20. Aims & purposes of the network
• To explore student employability and the needs of employers
regarding the use of mobile and mixed realities technologies in the
local region, in particular focussing on education, skills and
training;
• To explore opportunities to build capacity for international
initiatives
• To develop collaborative research and impact studies opportunities
from the initiative across the network and to generate and publish
reports and articles both collaboratively and individually.
Slide 4: Why Learning in a Mobile Age?
We are in the midst of a new information revolution, every bit as powerful and dramatic as the previous information revolution (the book) which radically altered how knowledge was produced, how it was shared and how it was valued.
Mobile technologies are central to this phenomenon in a manner which is not yet fully played out or understood but likely to be pervasive across all aspects of social life, including education
Press to second picture: We take our mobile devices for granted today, like an extension or augmentation of our own bodies (the new prosthetics) -
Press to third and fourth pictures: see this in pictures of the Pope's election (2005 .v. 2013)
Press to picture five: This has led to many unexpected and unanticipated impacts including the phenomenon of always being connected; new forms of collaboration and social discourse (pictures of 1950s commuters and the same today on the Tube)
Certainly across the developed world we have passed the tipping point where these devices are virtually ubiquitous and although most users do not consider these to be primarily learning technologies, considerable volumes of learning now occurs with and through the device, both intentional (e.g. a visit to a museum on a school trip) but much of it informal or emergent in what might be termed the Third Space (my personal site of interest) - stealth learning
We have therefore moved from what the pioneers of research in this field called Mobile Learning (m-learning) to a broader consideration and understanding of mobile learning as part of a wider ecosystem or landscape and hence why this presentation is referred to as Learning in a Mobile Age, where mobile technologies are in the process of coming of age.
Notion of a Post-PC world – what does this mean and look like in practice?
Slide 4: Why Learning in a Mobile Age?
We are in the midst of a new information revolution, every bit as powerful and dramatic as the previous information revolution (the book) which radically altered how knowledge was produced, how it was shared and how it was valued.
Mobile technologies are central to this phenomenon in a manner which is not yet fully played out or understood but likely to be pervasive across all aspects of social life, including education
Press to second picture: We take our mobile devices for granted today, like an extension or augmentation of our own bodies (the new prosthetics) -
Press to third and fourth pictures: see this in pictures of the Pope's election (2005 .v. 2013)
Press to picture five: This has led to many unexpected and unanticipated impacts including the phenomenon of always being connected; new forms of collaboration and social discourse (pictures of 1950s commuters and the same today on the Tube)
Certainly across the developed world we have passed the tipping point where these devices are virtually ubiquitous and although most users do not consider these to be primarily learning technologies, considerable volumes of learning now occurs with and through the device, both intentional (e.g. a visit to a museum on a school trip) but much of it informal or emergent in what might be termed the Third Space (my personal site of interest) - stealth learning
We have therefore moved from what the pioneers of research in this field called Mobile Learning (m-learning) to a broader consideration and understanding of mobile learning as part of a wider ecosystem or landscape and hence why this presentation is referred to as Learning in a Mobile Age, where mobile technologies are in the process of coming of age.
Notion of a Post-PC world – what does this mean and look like in practice?
Slide 4: Why Learning in a Mobile Age?
We are in the midst of a new information revolution, every bit as powerful and dramatic as the previous information revolution (the book) which radically altered how knowledge was produced, how it was shared and how it was valued.
Mobile technologies are central to this phenomenon in a manner which is not yet fully played out or understood but likely to be pervasive across all aspects of social life, including education
Press to second picture: We take our mobile devices for granted today, like an extension or augmentation of our own bodies (the new prosthetics) -
Press to third and fourth pictures: see this in pictures of the Pope's election (2005 .v. 2013)
Press to picture five: This has led to many unexpected and unanticipated impacts including the phenomenon of always being connected; new forms of collaboration and social discourse (pictures of 1950s commuters and the same today on the Tube)
Certainly across the developed world we have passed the tipping point where these devices are virtually ubiquitous and although most users do not consider these to be primarily learning technologies, considerable volumes of learning now occurs with and through the device, both intentional (e.g. a visit to a museum on a school trip) but much of it informal or emergent in what might be termed the Third Space (my personal site of interest) - stealth learning
We have therefore moved from what the pioneers of research in this field called Mobile Learning (m-learning) to a broader consideration and understanding of mobile learning as part of a wider ecosystem or landscape and hence why this presentation is referred to as Learning in a Mobile Age, where mobile technologies are in the process of coming of age.
Notion of a Post-PC world – what does this mean and look like in practice?
Slide 4: Why Learning in a Mobile Age?
We are in the midst of a new information revolution, every bit as powerful and dramatic as the previous information revolution (the book) which radically altered how knowledge was produced, how it was shared and how it was valued.
Mobile technologies are central to this phenomenon in a manner which is not yet fully played out or understood but likely to be pervasive across all aspects of social life, including education
Press to second picture: We take our mobile devices for granted today, like an extension or augmentation of our own bodies (the new prosthetics) -
Press to third and fourth pictures: see this in pictures of the Pope's election (2005 .v. 2013)
Press to picture five: This has led to many unexpected and unanticipated impacts including the phenomenon of always being connected; new forms of collaboration and social discourse (pictures of 1950s commuters and the same today on the Tube)
Certainly across the developed world we have passed the tipping point where these devices are virtually ubiquitous and although most users do not consider these to be primarily learning technologies, considerable volumes of learning now occurs with and through the device, both intentional (e.g. a visit to a museum on a school trip) but much of it informal or emergent in what might be termed the Third Space (my personal site of interest) - stealth learning
We have therefore moved from what the pioneers of research in this field called Mobile Learning (m-learning) to a broader consideration and understanding of mobile learning as part of a wider ecosystem or landscape and hence why this presentation is referred to as Learning in a Mobile Age, where mobile technologies are in the process of coming of age.
Notion of a Post-PC world – what does this mean and look like in practice?
If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s we rob them of tomorrow
Just to provide more evidence for the impact and shift to mobile and flexible technologies - away from tethered technologies towards ‘Post PC’ technologies - data from our own PGCE students ownership habits over two years
Slide 17:
So what does this mean in terms of understanding the phenomenon?
(using the SAMR model as a frame)
1. the SAMR model explained briefly offers a model of thinking about the impact of technologies in education in terms of change - i.e do technologies support the existing ways of learning/teaching (under the dotted line) or do they challenge and replace them with new approaches (above the line) - this is, of course, somewhat subjective but in broad terms it offers a useful way of thinking about the educational impact of a new technology from a pedagogical perspective (illustrate simple example: interactive whiteboards have not significantly challenge existing approaches to teaching or learning ( in deed some would argue they have reinforced more traditional didactic approaches); books on the other hand (often not considered a technology) have revolutionised approaches to learning, making it more personal, individual, democratic, etc
many examples of how iPads are used to enhance and support existing patterns or approaches to learning - fewer examples of where they challenge and transform it
Note: vertical dotted line designates shift from artificial to more authentic learning (i.e. in terms of the contexts, setting, place, tasks)
Real interest is to use technologies to support learners in applying their knowledge to real world predictable and unpredictable problems
Slide 25:
Use of professional tools
Wind tunnel Pro
Oscilliscope
Ligh Meters (Solmetrics)
Blood monitor
Slide 26:
Use of live and dynamic data in the classroom
Slide 27:
Ability to augment the learning which occurs outside formal spaces - e.g. field trips (instant/cross contexts/allows students to apply learning from one context to another, seamlessly
1. Pupil misconceptions/threshold concepts/cognitive awareness – e.g. apps like Explain Everything used for formative, diagnostic feedback/feed-forward
1. Pupil misconceptions/threshold concepts/cognitive awareness – e.g. apps like Explain Everything used for formative, diagnostic feedback/feed-forward
Last year we provided half of our pre-service trainee teachers with iPads (this year the other half). If we are to achieve any of this we need to consider carefully the CPD opportunities we provide for existing teachers and, critically, how we inculcate and educate the next generation of teachers into this mobile learning culture so they are in the vanguard of change.
At my own university we have done this over the past two years by providing students with an iPad for their 1 year course (over 300 now)
interesting that when we surveyed them at the start of the course how few already used a PC device compared to a portable one
this European funded project is an attempt to build a network and set of resources to help teacher educators introduce and support their students in the use of mobile technology
increasingly in the UK this is a function of schools and universities since ITE is increasingly a shared responsibility
therefore we are looking at schools and other partners involved in the process of ITE or CPD in joining the network, acting as pilots to test the resources and attend the workshops/training events
Toolkit =
evaluation tool or app to help you gauge the extent to which teachers and students are using the affordances of mobile devices (based on the CAP survey)
a tool for teachers to identify and share pedagogical value of apps
a series of video case studies and vignettes explain how to support teacher educators
One of our ambitions is to demonstrate how students and teachers can make their own ‘textbooks’ and how this alters the dynamics and relationships between students and teachers as students become co-constructors and authors of knowledge
This is one of the main ideas we want to explore since we have already found this to be a significant lever for pedagogical change (e.g. the science and english department project with students in Norway)
Conclusion
We are not yet at the stage where learning with the iPad is ‘invisible’ in the sense that users do not even consider themselves to be using a technology, but we have already passed this phase in non-formal contexts outside of school. Young people do not even consider their mobile devices to be technologies and in one sense this is the goal we have to seek in schools to the extent that learners don’t even see the technology, they just see the learning. We are still some way from this and over the next five years or so it will be important for researchers like myself and educators like you to work more closely together not only to identify what works (we know a lot of the answers for that already) but why it works (i.e. the mechanisms) and under what circumstances it works most effectively. This will enable us scale and sustain these wonderful case studies we have seen today in sun a way that we promote genuine and meaningful transformation of pedagogies rather than simply replicating and sustaining what is increasingly look like an outdated and out of tune model of education .