1. Aaron Cobarrubia
910368594
ITEC 299
Mobile Technology
· Describe your personal learning preferences
At the beginning of the class, I scored: Active(3), Sensing(7),
Visual(11), and Sequential(5). Before taking this survey, I had
already expected my sensing, visual and active side to heavily be
favored. Processing and retaining information/knowledge has
always been efficient using my favored learning preferences. I
believe it’s partially the muscle memory, from using active
exercises, applying concepts to images/charts/etc., for visual and
using facts to process data, which is fairly easy to memorize, helps
me learn the most efficiently. As a result of taking this class, I’d
say that my learning preferences have not changed much, but I’ve
become more aware and versatile in learning preferences.
· Learning Pathway
For my learning pathway, I chose Learning Warrior. I chose
this pathway because I wanted to delve into ways to connect my
learning preferences with technology that I have readily available
to me. I also wanted to apply these concepts within mobile learning
to other Spring 2012 class I had to help me study. I used Delicious
to only search for resources to help study with other courses, but I
was able to save bookmarked sites for future use. Using my iPhone
to study became more prevalent in my study habits now after the
discovery of helpful study apps in the App Store. I also use my
iPhone to record lectures in class and refer back to them when
studying. Overall, this learning pathway helped my study habits
and I look forward to succeeding in future classes with the material
I learned in this pathway.
2. Describe how the activities you completed contributed or did
not contribute to your learning pathway
Throughout the course, we used activities to become exposed
to strategies to help or develop new or current learning
preferences. One of those activities that helped the most was the
forum. Reading a lot of the posts in the forum help me think of
questions to ask myself. Not only that, but it was a way to interact
with fellow students in the class as well. It was comforting to read
these posts cause they pondered the same things I did. Another one
of the activities that helped was using Delicious. Google-ing
resources for the site helped me research different ideas and how
institutions are incorporating social media to learning. As stated
earlier, I used Delicious to bookmark articles relating to
Economics. I had to use reputable resources to find current articles
relating to fiscal policies.
Mobile technologies
The iPods/mp3 quest exposed various ways we can learn
rather than using traditional written way of writing. We now have
the ability to download apps that can teach us languages, learn
from students across the globe and virtual flashcards that can we
can use to study – how cool is that? Everyone can agree that these
apps display rather great visuals. It addition, these apps allows us
to be interactive with technology itself. Thus, it can contribute to
the active aspect of learning. iPods/mp3’s offer a new, exciting,
innovative way that helps learning and can contribute greatly to
our learning preferences.
The iPads/tablets quest reveals effective ways students can
use these tools for learning. Using these for your studies can
eliminate the the use of laptops and even some desktops. It’s
lightweight, sleek, and compact. It has the features of an
iPod/iTouch, but has the hardware of a laptop, without the physical
keyboard of course. Having the ability to read PDF’s helps because
3. it gives the iPad user the ability to read them on slates/tablets. It
basically has the same functions of an iPod/mp3, but on a bigger
scale. A very special feature of an iPad is that you can connect via
3G using a mobile service.
I enjoy microblogs and have one myself; a tumblr blog.
Microblogs are great to blog information and share it at the same
time. With microblogs, you can attach photos that are relative to a
subject. Microblogs are also accessible on iPads and iPods. Tumblr
is useful because of the tag finder function. You’re able to find
blogs relating to subjects you search in the search bar. Because
Microblogs allow for captions and photos, it’s essential for
sequential learning. Twitter is used to be updated regarding current
news. CNN, sports networks and even newspaper agencies have
twitter accounts that update users about trending/current news.
Synthesis
The mobile technology that interested me the most is iPods. I
use my phone as an iPod and basically use it for all things relating
to schooling to social media. I believe that iPods certainly
integrates technology and social media tools together. I believe that
the apps relating to studying and interacting with others (via
internet) to study becomes the most efficient way to study. I feel
that microblogs seem to help the least. The reason being is that I
experience that people often get sidetracked using microblogs.
This happens using tumblr, I confess and get sidetracked using
Tumblr.
I’m a Active and Visual learner. Using mobile iPods (in my
case, iPhone) helped me the best. I had no knowledge that there
were apps to help study. While exploring these, it deemed
extremely helpful because of the new interface. This completely
wiped out using physical pen and paper for flashcards. The
stunning interface’s physical looks gave my sight some new Visual
for my eyes. The combination of stunning visuals plus the newly
4. integrated interface on my phone allowed me to grasps concepts
and terms for my Econ and Accounting class more efficiently. I
suggest that kids should be exposed to using technology for
learning.
Post ITEC299
I will continue to use my iPhone (iPods and mp3) for my
future classes. As an accounting major, I can view PDF’s relating
to financial statements of businesses. Being able to view clients’
business documents is essential because feedback to clients must
be made as soon as possible. I already work at an accounting firm
and being able to communicate with clients and respond to emails
on the go is part of what I see most of the CPA’s do.