The CoMo project used mobile phones to support collaborative group work for distance learning students at the Royal Veterinary College. Students used their phones to capture photos of clinical cases, share them with peers and tutors, and document case progression over time. This helped support knowledge construction and provided tutors insight into what students were focusing on. Future research could explore more effective pedagogical designs for mobile learning and how multiple contexts can be supported through location-based tools and lightweight social interactions.

1. CoMo: Supporting collaborative group work using mobile phones in distance education Niall Winters London Knowledge Lab CDE Conference, 9 th February 2009 Brunei Gallery, London

2. Taken from: Magdalena Jara and Fitri Mohamad (2007) Pedagogical templates for e-learning, WLE Occasional Paper: http://is.gd/iwcu ‘ Modes’ of learning Audience for this research

3. Audience for this research Those designing a course With a ‘hands-on’ element That uses a combination of distance and f2f engagement with students Where collaborative work around boundary objects occurs

4. The CoMo project 1-year, CDE funded Yishay Mor and Natasha Lackovic Context 4 th and 5 th year students @ Royal Veterinary College Rotations Use of mobile phones to support groupwork Experience from the RVC’s myPad project

8. Research in Distance Education: from present findings to future agendas

9. Critique Mobile learning has failed to adequately exploit “the social practices by which [the] new affordances [of mobile devices] become powerful educational interventions” (Roschelle, 2003) Roschelle, J. (2003) Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices, JCAL, 19(3), 260-272 Argue: applies even more so today

10. Social media + Mobile technologies

11. Fifth generation distance education, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government, http://is.gd/iuip

12. 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th

13. 5 th Gen Web 2.0 + The Mobile Phone (caveat: only a slice of the distance learning spectrum)

15. Web 2.0 short-hand definition “ [T]he design of systems that get better the more people use them.” – Tim O’Reilly For more see: A quick guide to web 2.0

18. Techno-pedagogic design for 5 th generation learners Knowledge construction though content creation

19. 7 steps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Review : techno-pedagogic understanding Observe : an ethnographic study of the context of learning Identify gaps that can be addressed with the technology Blend : consider how the new technology, and any new practices derived from it, would fit in with the existing context Develop scenarios, addressing concerns Deploy and enhance Challenge with new possibilities

20. P1 is a practical problem: “When is tieback surgery in dogs appropriate?” TT/EE represents a critique of tentative solutions to the problem. It is often the case that further problems will emerge from this critique and discussion of the solution; these are denoted by P2 and the process beings again (Chiptin, 2006) Capture – Visualise – Discuss and Reflect p1 tt/ee p2

21. Student use Social: social relationships between student are an important support framework Memory jog: snapshots of key incidents facilitated group reflection Clinical subjects and procedures were documented for discussion Temporal analysis: students documented case progression over time, evening days

22. Outcomes Mobile learning as an intervention supported knowledge construction by the learner Embedded in an existing infrastructure and learning ecosystem : the mobile phone is both an additional tool for the student and part of a ‘family’ of technologies used by the RVC Learning activities need to be designed for embedding in this ecosystem Types of representation provided by the devices Images collected by students supported tutors’ approaches to problem-based learning. They were a bridge between the abstract nature of what was in the students’ textbooks and they way cases presented when they arrived at the hospital. A window for the tutors on what student were focusing on

23. Future research agenda Effective pedagogic design of learning experiences for mobile web 2.0 CoMo as an exemplar Challenge to the notion of distance learning How can multiple contexts be designed for? Potential for larger-scale learning than before Location-based information (e.g. Google Latitude) Support lightweight interaction between students (e.g. twitter, presence)

24. Acknowledgements Kim Whittlestone, Senior Lecturer in Independent Learning, Dr. Matthew Pead, Senior Lecturer in Orthopaedic Surgery and Head of the Small Animal Medicine and Surgery Group, Arthur House, European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery and Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery Richard Coe, European Veterinary Specialist in Surgery and Temporary Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery All our student participants

25. Contact details Email: [email_address] Twitter: @nwin Blog: http://niallw.wordpress.com Thank you.