The MLC (Mobile Learning Center) is a joint venture between various departments at Miami University to support mobile learning and computing. It aims to unify efforts around mobile technologies, provide resources to faculty/students, and support software development. Mobile learning can provide personalized, authentic, and situated learning experiences. It allows learning anywhere and anytime through mobile devices. However, mobile learning pedagogies are not well defined and schools often adopt mobile technologies without understanding how to use them effectively. Research is exploring whether disengagement from inquiry-based learning impacts learning outcomes. The Research Buddy app aims to engage students more fully in the scientific process and experimentation step through a mobile platform. Recommendations for adopting mobile

1. http://mlearning.muohio.edu/mlc
Twitter: @miami_mlearning

2. What is the MLC?
• A joint venture between SEAS, AIMS, and
IT Services
– Unify efforts in mobile space on the campus
– Provide faculty, staff, and students a resource
for mobile learning and mobile computing
– Support faculty by providing software
development expertise
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3. “You Will” (1993)
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4. Ownership of Internet Enabled Handheld Device
Among US College Student Internet Users
11.3
Don't own but plan to
purchase in the next 12
mos
Don't own and don't plan
to purchase in next 12
24.6 mos
Don't know
62.7
Own
1.3
Source: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, ECAR Study of
Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010.
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5. Get out your phones!
http://bit.ly/mFodgm

6. How people feel about their
smartphones
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Smartphones/Summary.aspx
6 Pew Internet 2011

7. App Crazy (iear.org)
• Viewers and e-readers • Games
– iAnnotate, Kindle, Nook, GoodR • Reference
eader – Wikipanion, Newsy (news
• Notes aggregator)
– Notetaker HD, Dragon • Mapping
Dictation, Evernote – Map
• Office Suite • Storage
– iWork: – GoodReader
Numbers, Keynote, Pages
• Brainstorming
• Real-time communication
– Popplet, Adobe Ideas
– AIM, Skype, Airsketch
• Content Specific (education
• Social Networking
apps)
– Facebook, Twitter, Glympse
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8. Technology in the
• classroom? Report
New Media Consortium’s Horizon
calls for adoption of mobile technology in
the education for both K-12 and Higher Ed
• Abilene Christian, IIT, etc.
• iPad initiatives
– http://nyti.ms/eIN2Dp
– http://bit.ly/fOVW2J
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9. Mobile Devices in the
classroom
• St. Mary’s City Schools
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10. Is it Mobile Learning?
Does using a mobile device in the
classroom mean that you are
using mobile learning?
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11. What is M-Learning?
• M-Learning provides an • Trying to meet students
experience that is: where they are and in a
– Personalized context that allows us
– Authentic to engage them
– Situated anywhere and anytime
• 24/7 Learning • Facilitate active
– Anytime learning
– Anything • Leverages mobile
– Anywhere platform
• Creates new
opportunities
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12. What is M-Learning?
• Geo-Historian Project [13]
– Supports authentic and
situated learning
– Unite schools with community
resources
– Students can develop digital
resources for community
– Example: Cuyahoga River
Dam
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13. Do students learn?
How do we know whether
students learn with these tools?
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14. The Problem
• Mobile Learning pedagogies are not well
defined…
– Schools buy mobile technologies, but do not
know how to use them.
– Little research on the effectiveness of m-learning
solutions
• Ex. Citizen Science (Project Noah)
– Learners may be disengaged from core-aspects
of inquiry-based learning
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15. So…
• What we want to know:
– Does disengagement from some inquiry-based
learning process impact one’s ability to learn?
– Can mobile devices improve engagement and
learning without a full understanding of some
research problem?
• Research Thesis:
– Data collection through a mobile device can
improve learning when a researcher is fully
engaged in some method of inquiry-based
instruction.
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16. Inquiry-Based Learning
• Creation of a classroom environment where students are
engaged in open-ended, student-centered, and hands-on
activities. [14]
• Banchi et al. suggest there are 4 levels of inquiry [2]
[2] Heather Banchi and Randy Bell. The many levels of inquiry. Science
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and Children, October 2008.

17. Theoretical Foundations
• Traxler argues that mobile learning is able to
provide an experience that is
personalized, authentic, and situated. [12]
• Authentic and situated learning has the ability to
increase student engagement and information
retention. [11]
• Mobile devices can respond to varying needs of
learners. [11]
• Communication capabilities of mobile devices
make it easy for leaners to collaborate and
communicate. [11]
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18. Inquiry and Effect on Education
• Research project looking at 2 different groups
of people:
– Lead Researchers
• Have Full Participation in scientific process
– Volunteers
• Have Limited Participation in scientific process
• Focus on basic scientific method model
– Research Buddy most effective in the
“Experiment” step
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19. Research Buddy
• Aggregates several
research tools into
a single platform
• Demo
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20. Research
• External Grants
– Research Buddy: Revolutionizing
Undergraduate Student Research using
Mobile Technology. (PI: G. Gannod, co-PI: G.
Platt, Procter & Gamble, 2011, $10,000 total).
This project is funded by a Procter & Gamble
Higher Education Grant.
– Summer Support for K. Bachman, Nestle
Corporation, Summer 2011.
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21. Recommendations
Gannod, G.C., and Bachman, K.M., Integrating M-Learning in a
Broad Context: Issues and Recommendations, Proceedings of
the Conference on Mobile Learning, IADIS, 2011.
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22. Process
• Graduate Seminar in CSE • 3 classes of
formed to develop recommendations
recommendations – Adoption
• Developed rubric based on – Technology
existing m-learning – Cost
literature
• Analyzed existing m-
learning techniques
• Discussed issues with K-12
m-learning practitioner
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23. Adoption: M-learning should…
• Not be viewed as a replacement for existing
techniques but rather as a supplement
• Be used to facilitate different dimensions of
learning
• Be used to facilitate collaboration with instructors
and other learners
• Be adopted as an institutional or broad initiative
rather than a pilot by a small set of early adopters
• Be accompanied by protective measures to
prevent abuses
• Accompanied by training for major constituents
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24. Technology: M-learning
technologies…
• Should be extensible and programmable
to support creation of add-ons
• Should be selected according to its
intended use
• Should be accompanied with application
acquisition policies (to address content
abuse)
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25. Budget and Cost: Initiatives
should…
• Consider a number of cost attributes
including:
– Quality of alternatives, relative replacement
schedules, network
infrastructure, management software, IT
support
• Consider pairing digital learning and m-
learning with other cost savings (such as
facilities costs)
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26. Conclusions
• Mobile technology has the potential to disrupt
education
• Adoption of Mobile Learning should avoid
rush to acquire technology and instead focus
on pedagogy
– Take advantage of “mobile” with tools like
Research Buddy
• Mobile efforts at Miami provide opportunities
for students, faculty, and staff to get involved
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27. References
• [11] Carly Shuler. Pockets of potential: Using mobile
technologies to promote chil dren's learning. Technical
report, The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame
Workshop, January 2009.
• [12] J. Traxler. Mobile learning: the moving nger writes and
having writ. . . . The International Review of Research in Open
and Distance Learning, 8 (2), 2007.
• [13] M. van't Hooft and McNeal T. Mobile phones for mobile
learning: The geo-historian project. In Proc. of the 2010
American Educational Research Association
Conference, 2010.
• [14] Alan Colburn. An inquiry primer. Science Scope, pages
42-44, 2000.
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