“Experiencing the Past through the Senses: An M-Learning Game at Archaeological Parks”
This case study caught my eye right away because it is in the field that my youngest daughter is in. I really like the way they have used mobile technology to make a hard to envision topic much more real and interactive. Making the learning experience fun by structuring it like a treasure hunt game was a very good strategy.
The target audience for this is middle school students ages 11-13.They have used what is called an excursion-game technique to transform a traditional visit to the park of ancient settlements and made it mobile and interactive using mobile phones equipped with GPS and the gaming software that runs on the cell phone.
The game in this study is called Explore and its objective is to help young students learn history while visiting an archaeological park in Egnathia (had to google this and it is in southern Italy http://www.museiostunifasano.it/Index.php?en/149/the-archaeological-area-of-egnathia). The students are able to move around the park solving a mystery and finding hidden secrets. The game provides the student with 3D reconstruction of historical buildings, objects and places and provides the sounds to help make the experience more immersive.The game has three main phases:
• Introduction- game master gives description of park and explains the game. Each group impersonates Gaius, a citizen of Egnathia.
• Game- students form into groups and explore the park, searching for key sites by following clues. Each group receives two mobile phones, a paper map of the park and a backpack carrying a pair of loud speakers. Loud speaker are connected to the first phone and provide contextual sounds. They follow the text and sounds to discover the given sites. If they need help finding the a place they can use the first mobile phone and ask the Oracle ( a software that provides game hints). At the end of the game the students receive God’s gifts which are 3D reconstructions of correctly identified places.
• Debriefing- students review and share what they learned.
The interactivity of moving through a real park and using their own constructivist discovery to put the clues together gives them the opportunity to collaborate, use their own imagination and emotions. The 3D visuals and contextual sounds also help to give the student an immersive learning experience. Of all the case studies this was my favorite use of mobile te
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Week 3 Case Study
“Mobile Learning Video “Nuggets” support Learning at Vodafone Ireland”
Communications giant Vodafone created mobile learning video nuggets to help improve staff communication skills in Ireland. Their goal was to improve staff skills with video clip for support and to help with retention. This company already worked hard to achieve high e-learning usage at their desktops so they also wanted to add mobility and time and place independence through 3 G compatible mobile phones.
They also wanted to deliver the content outside the normal class-room where it could be used where and when specific skills were being applied. They also wanted to prove that mobile learning could be effective.The technologies used in this project include: 3G compatible mobile phones, 3G network with a server capable of steaming video, video and audio equipment, and software to convert and format the video for delivery.They have used a mobile e-learning solution to delivery videos that can demonstrate content in a flexible mode of “anytime anywhere” They are not really using different types of learning but are specifically targeting staff with short demo videos focused on interpersonal communication skills such as meeting preparation, planning sales calls and dealing with customers and colleagues.
The video clips are mainly based on NLP techniques.NLP is a simple yet powerful approach to personal and professional development. It is based on the study of successful human performance in which the methods of very effective people are studied. The results are then distilled into easily learned ‘techniques’ and presented in workshops - making each workshop a valuable short-cut to more successful living. In a few hours you can learn what may have taken others years to discover in a trial and error manner. (http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/faq.htm)
Vodafone describes this as “PC-independent learning delivery model as part of their evolving e-learning strategy”. This type of instruction uses cognition because it is modeling and uses visual and auditory learning styles. The videos serve as a good review and reinforcement strategy that the learners can apply when needed most.
I like this type of instruction and learning. I still see problems with fully delivering a course on a mobile phone but I definitely see this as a very good additional method to the desktop and any face-to-face.
Communications giant Vodafone created mobile learning video nuggets to help improve staff communication skills in Ireland. Their goal was to improve staff skills with video clip for support and to help with retention. This company already worked hard to achieve high e-learning usage at their desktops so they also wanted to add mobility and time and place independence through 3 G compatible mobile phones.
They also wanted to deliver the content outside the normal class-room where it could be used where and when specific skills were being applied. They also wanted to prove that mobile learning could be effective.The technologies used in this project include: 3G compatible mobile phones, 3G network with a server capable of steaming video, video and audio equipment, and software to convert and format the video for delivery.They have used a mobile e-learning solution to delivery videos that can demonstrate content in a flexible mode of “anytime anywhere” They are not really using different types of learning but are specifically targeting staff with short demo videos focused on interpersonal communication skills such as meeting preparation, planning sales calls and dealing with customers and colleagues.
The video clips are mainly based on NLP techniques.NLP is a simple yet powerful approach to personal and professional development. It is based on the study of successful human performance in which the methods of very effective people are studied. The results are then distilled into easily learned ‘techniques’ and presented in workshops - making each workshop a valuable short-cut to more successful living. In a few hours you can learn what may have taken others years to discover in a trial and error manner. (http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/faq.htm)
Vodafone describes this as “PC-independent learning delivery model as part of their evolving e-learning strategy”. This type of instruction uses cognition because it is modeling and uses visual and auditory learning styles. The videos serve as a good review and reinforcement strategy that the learners can apply when needed most.
I like this type of instruction and learning. I still see problems with fully delivering a course on a mobile phone but I definitely see this as a very good additional method to the desktop and any face-to-face.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Week 2 Case Study
Two Case Study Comparisons
1. “Multimedia learning with mobile phones” City College Southhampton
City College is located in the center of an urban area and serves a diverse population. It appears this case study article was published in 2005 and that this college is located in the United Kingdom. The college has the large population of students who speak other languages in the region, so it provides a lot of English (ESOL) courses. With funding from National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy it has become a pioneer in the use of mobile learning.
The challenge for this project is to find an innovative way to teach and motivate a wide ethic group of adult students to learn English linguistic skills so they can integrate more easily with the larger college community and take an active role in society.
Their innovative solution was to use the camera and audio capabilities of a cell phone in conjunction with a web publishing software called mediaBoard that allowed the students to play an active and immersive part in their own education. MediaBoard is a multimedia web based message board that allows students and faculty to send SMS or MMS from mobile phones. For example instructors could post any type of media such as text, images, video or audio files so they students can prepare for a class activity. In turn the student can post back images or comments that are relevant to them on the topic. An added bonus here is that learners with limited mobility can gain from other students and participate by asking questions. The mediaBoard allows learners a two-way communication and can be offered via the web to others outside of the class. Additional uses for mediaBoard include: icebreaking activities, group collaboration, data sharing for things like field trips, virtual tours, and collaborating with other in the same disciple outside the college. It also has the potential for formative and summative evaluation.
2. “A digital key to productive learning” University of Sussex
This project is also done in the United Kingdom at the University of Sussex. In 2003 the Informatics Department in the School of Science and Technology received funding to undertake the Sussex Mobile Interactive Learning Environments (SMILE) project. The target group was a mix of postgraduates and third year undergraduates.
The challenge was to explore the educational use of a XDA (PDA with integrated mobile phone features). Students were given the device to use as their own for the duration of the project. They were to develop and evaluate their own collaborative and interactive learning experiences within a broadly constructivist framework.
Unfortunately the support and cost of the devices (1 device to 3 students) took away from its viability. The Sussex IDEAS Laboratory came up with a simple and inexpensive technology to allow students essential course resource in a mobile fashion with USB storage devices. Students then added new resources from their own research, which were then uploaded to a centrally shared resource bank. Because of the flexibility and convenience the students actually preferred the USB to the XDA.
Similarities and Differences
The target groups in the two projects were both adult learners; however I would say the Sussex group was made up of learners at a higher level of education. The Southhampton learners are dealing with the real challenge of learning the English language, while the Sussex learners are a mix of postgraduate and undergraduate learners who are trying an innovative way to make their research resources mobile.
In my opinion the Southhampton project addresses a real need with a specific performance objective to help the diverse student population with improving their linguistic skills. The Sussex project strikes me as more of a pilot project to see if they can find a better technology. I see the USB device as mobile storage but not as a mobile learning device. It is not a device that can be used to communicate or to provide interactivity between students or teachers.
I really like the solution from Southhampton and see this as an excellent application of mobile learning. They have taken a need and applied a range of good pedagological strategies to it. Including; active and immersive learning, group collaboration, flexibility, encouraging the learner to applied the knowledge to their own situation, using a variety of multimedia with the ability to do remote real time interaction. I think the Sussex project was probably not well planned as they did not have enough XPD’s and ran into cost and support problems. They found a good storage device but I think as a mobile learning project it failed.
1. “Multimedia learning with mobile phones” City College Southhampton
City College is located in the center of an urban area and serves a diverse population. It appears this case study article was published in 2005 and that this college is located in the United Kingdom. The college has the large population of students who speak other languages in the region, so it provides a lot of English (ESOL) courses. With funding from National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy it has become a pioneer in the use of mobile learning.
The challenge for this project is to find an innovative way to teach and motivate a wide ethic group of adult students to learn English linguistic skills so they can integrate more easily with the larger college community and take an active role in society.
Their innovative solution was to use the camera and audio capabilities of a cell phone in conjunction with a web publishing software called mediaBoard that allowed the students to play an active and immersive part in their own education. MediaBoard is a multimedia web based message board that allows students and faculty to send SMS or MMS from mobile phones. For example instructors could post any type of media such as text, images, video or audio files so they students can prepare for a class activity. In turn the student can post back images or comments that are relevant to them on the topic. An added bonus here is that learners with limited mobility can gain from other students and participate by asking questions. The mediaBoard allows learners a two-way communication and can be offered via the web to others outside of the class. Additional uses for mediaBoard include: icebreaking activities, group collaboration, data sharing for things like field trips, virtual tours, and collaborating with other in the same disciple outside the college. It also has the potential for formative and summative evaluation.
2. “A digital key to productive learning” University of Sussex
This project is also done in the United Kingdom at the University of Sussex. In 2003 the Informatics Department in the School of Science and Technology received funding to undertake the Sussex Mobile Interactive Learning Environments (SMILE) project. The target group was a mix of postgraduates and third year undergraduates.
The challenge was to explore the educational use of a XDA (PDA with integrated mobile phone features). Students were given the device to use as their own for the duration of the project. They were to develop and evaluate their own collaborative and interactive learning experiences within a broadly constructivist framework.
Unfortunately the support and cost of the devices (1 device to 3 students) took away from its viability. The Sussex IDEAS Laboratory came up with a simple and inexpensive technology to allow students essential course resource in a mobile fashion with USB storage devices. Students then added new resources from their own research, which were then uploaded to a centrally shared resource bank. Because of the flexibility and convenience the students actually preferred the USB to the XDA.
Similarities and Differences
The target groups in the two projects were both adult learners; however I would say the Sussex group was made up of learners at a higher level of education. The Southhampton learners are dealing with the real challenge of learning the English language, while the Sussex learners are a mix of postgraduate and undergraduate learners who are trying an innovative way to make their research resources mobile.
In my opinion the Southhampton project addresses a real need with a specific performance objective to help the diverse student population with improving their linguistic skills. The Sussex project strikes me as more of a pilot project to see if they can find a better technology. I see the USB device as mobile storage but not as a mobile learning device. It is not a device that can be used to communicate or to provide interactivity between students or teachers.
I really like the solution from Southhampton and see this as an excellent application of mobile learning. They have taken a need and applied a range of good pedagological strategies to it. Including; active and immersive learning, group collaboration, flexibility, encouraging the learner to applied the knowledge to their own situation, using a variety of multimedia with the ability to do remote real time interaction. I think the Sussex project was probably not well planned as they did not have enough XPD’s and ran into cost and support problems. They found a good storage device but I think as a mobile learning project it failed.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Week 1 Case Study
Title: Torrey Pines High School Case study
General information:
This case study was a computer pilot project that partnered high school students with Wolfram Research, Microsoft and Lenovo. Torrey Pines High School is located in San Diego, California and has a diverse student population with a reputation for high academics, especially in math and science. An instructor named Abby Brown wanted the students to be challenged with extra opportunities by “integrating technology into the curriculum to enrich the learning experience for these students”. (Microsoft) They deployed 30 Tablet PC’s to a group of students, with a Microsoft application package and Mathematica 6.0 for beta testing.
Analysis
General information:
This case study was a computer pilot project that partnered high school students with Wolfram Research, Microsoft and Lenovo. Torrey Pines High School is located in San Diego, California and has a diverse student population with a reputation for high academics, especially in math and science. An instructor named Abby Brown wanted the students to be challenged with extra opportunities by “integrating technology into the curriculum to enrich the learning experience for these students”. (Microsoft) They deployed 30 Tablet PC’s to a group of students, with a Microsoft application package and Mathematica 6.0 for beta testing.
Analysis
1. Technology -
Hardware: Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet PC with Multitouch screen, with Intel Low Voltage Core Duo processor, and 4 GB RAM, mobile docking station and CD-ROM drive.
Software: MS Office OneNote 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Office Professional 2007, Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Encarta and Wolfram Researches Mathematica 6.0
The article did not really go into the details of the high school’s infrastructure, but you can assume they have the bandwidth and wireless capabilities needed for the students and instructor to use the tablets in the classroom. The student’s were given the use of the tablet PC’s full-time, including taking them home and using them for other subjects.
2. Learning design-
With the Tablet PC’s student can write equations on screen, take notes, do coloring coding, draw graphics and post to and access her interactive website. The devices provide a lightweight mobile computing solution to improving and challenging the math skills of the students. The touch screen and the stylist allow the student to draw graphical representations and write equations and annotations of the concepts they are learning. The OneNote would allow the student to organize their project notes and drawings.
Abby Brown says, “I began using Mathematica in teaching during my AP Calculus class to create three-dimensional graphs to demonstrate concepts and illustrate examples,” she says. “I started writing instructions for the program for students to use in the computer lab for their own projects. In all my classes, each day I have students do presentations to review concepts. Soon they were following my model of teaching and using Mathematica to create graphs and illustrations and verify calculations they had done by hand.” (Microsoft)
In the paragraph above Abby describes how she uses hands-on activites that include visual graphics and demonstrations to teach concepts. She also has the students transfer their learning to their own projects. She has them do daily presentations to help them review concepts. An additional benefit with allowing the creativity and daily presentations may be motivating the student to produce a better quality product and learn important presentation skills that can transfer to other areas of their education. In the last sentence she describes again how students are transferring their knowledge and skill with the computer software to verify their hand written calculations, a form of self-evaluation/feedback.
“It has always been my dream to create a project-based math class where students would use software like Mathematica to do independent work on topics of their choice, but with a community-service component built in,” recalls Brown. “I thought of offering those students who were looking for an extra math class an opportunity to re-create the kind of work I had done for my Web sites, building and sharing their Mathematica projects over the Internet as resources for other teachers and students.” (Microsoft)
Here she describes her dream of a project-based independent style of learning. In my opinion a constructivist type of learning, allowing the students to pick their own topic, but adding a community-service component. I think this is a very unusual innovative 21st century type of teaching for most high schools in this country.
3. Pedagogy-
. The instructor’s comments in this article show her love and enthusiasm for the project which is a big advantage for her students right away. She appears to be a very motivational knowledgeable instructor.
· The activities use a very active type of learning and emphasize a transfer of what they learn to their own projects.
· The Tablet PC’s allows for a more immersive environment allowing the students to keep the Tablet’s with them at school and home.
· The use of an interactive web-site, daily presentations and working with a software company to beta test their math program gives the students a sense of community and collaboration.
· She appears to use my favorite type of lesson model: with well-formed objectives give the students the tools and information they need, then give them the activities that allow them to practice the concepts and apply them in a meaningful way, then allow for multiple feedback and evaluation avenues
· I can see the Activity Theory and Situation Learning Theory in this project. I can also see Keller’s ARCS Model for Motivation here.
Critique
My definition: “Untethered learning that can be personalized and delivered through mobile technology devices.” Yes this case meets my definition criteria. The students are able to be mobile but still access the information and do the activities they need in order to learn. She definitely added personalized components to her teaching and it uses a mobile technology device.
Problems from this case-
I think this may pose a cost problem if they want to expand it to more students. However, I think the Tablet PC’s are starting to drop in price and hopefully they will get closer to the price of the netbooks. The other problem they may encounter is the learning styles of some students. Some students just do not learn well with technology and independent student.
What could have made the mobile learning case better-
This project blows me away and I cannot think of anything that could make it better. Possibly some more collaborative group activities, but she does say that they do daily presentations.
Works Cited
Microsoft. Case Study Torrey Pines High School. 10 September 2007. 4 March 2009 http://www.microsoft.com/industry/publicsector/partnersolutionmarketplace/CaseStudyDetail.aspx?casestudyid=4000000666
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Welcome to my blog!
I am creating this blog for an assignment in my IU Mobile Learning course. I will graduate this May 2009 with a Masters degree in Instructional Systems Technology, so I hope to keep this blog going and make it a gold mine of "All Things Instructional Design".
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