Badge #20: Mobile Learning

Higher Education settings are predominantly Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), at OSU we are seeing that approximately 85-90% of our students have smartphones. Describe a way for students to use their mobile devices that reach various levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

 

Group Project with Susan Strayer and Josh Gillespie, you can see each of our contributions throughout the post by looking for our initials. Susan and I met in person to discuss the assignment and decide what direction to take. After we were done meeting I created a google doc with all of my thoughts on the question and shared it with Susan and Josh, who eventually added their thoughts.

Carmen Discussion Post:

Instructors on any college/university campus can utilize the technology students have on them 24/7.  Below we have provided several ways that mobile devices can be used in the class across all levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.  As we were creating this list we started to recognize that some apps can be used at multiple levels of Bloom’s depending on how you ask the students to use their device/app.  One obvious issue that instructors/students might face with BYOD is an instance when a student doesn’t have a mobile device of any kind; as we learned from the Katy ISD case study the teachers there simply paired students up when students did not have their own device.  I loved how in the one EdTech video, ‘Why Mobile Learning Matters?’ they mention the concept of how instructors can start to facilitate learning in the classroom instead of teaching at the students.  This reminds me of a more inquiry based teaching approach to the classroom which I tend to like and can be beneficial for creating lifelong learners.  It is important to note that mobile devices should be a support for learning not the entire focus (Abilene Christian University, 2011). (CJ) (SS edits)

Utilizing a BYOD activity in the classroom can be really beneficial, but it can also backfire very easily if the technology being used is unfamiliar or inaccessible to the students.  For instance, if a teacher who owns an iPhone wants students to access a certain app, but only a small percentage of students can access it because the majority have a different kind of device that does not have the app available.  With large classes, trying to have everyone participate in an activity through BYOD can be really cumbersome–I took a course where we were all supposed to type reactions to videos into a Google document, but with 30+ people typing at the same time, there was trouble finding a free line in which to type.  Given the prevalence of smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers amongst students, I think the issue with BYOD is less with access to the technology and more with having an effective means of implementing an activity and monitoring it.  One activity that I would love to implement in my classes is a wiki page created by the students.  The reason I haven’t done it yet is because I was asked to do this for one of my classes, and it was tedious because instead of a community wiki, we were all building practically identical pages with the same information (more of a blog or personal wiki).  It would be challenging to divide up the work in such a way that all students were engaging with all of the material, and yet individuals or small groups were creating different content on the website that linked back to the concepts covered in class. (SS)

One way both educators and students might avoid conflicts mentioned above would be to pre-assign the installation and testing of an app or website before planned class time using the resource to ensure everyone was familiar with it and did not need technological assistance.  While being able to provide students with excellent new ways to address learning through their mobile devices is a good thing, we must keep in mind that the 2012 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology found areas of special concern in relation to student technology use, like the fact that students do not like to use social media for academic-related things.  In addition, much like educators, students need to be trained in the use of apps (perhaps not so much the general use of their mobile device).  If an educator wants to utilize an app on mobile devices as part of their class, there have to a) be an alternative to the app that anyone can use (otherwise as alluded to above you’re risking the alienation of someone in your class), and b) be prepared to teach everyone proper usage of the app. Not to put the onus entirely on the schools, the individual student has to be prepared for class and if knowing how to use a required or recommended app on their mobile device (should they have one) would be paramount to their success.  The main thing it seems as a student to keep in mind when addressing the various levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy is that there are numerous options out there for you to improve your educational life through digital assistance — the key is finding app and resources that work best for you personally and keeping a good regiment of using those apps or online resources on a regular basis. (JG)

Remembering:

  • Poll Everywhere- Ask review questions at the beginning of class related to the material covered from previous sessions. (CJ)
  • Evernote- Students can create notecards during class to help review for quizzes, exams, etc. (CJ)
  • Apps for review- Depending on the kind of review needed, there might be an app that contains the information students are trying to remember, such as the characters used in Japanese or Korean alphabets, the elements in the periodic table, or the capitals and names of U.S. states or countries worldwide. (SS)
  • Calendar – While a simple app that is free on every phone might seem just that, simple, a well maintained calendar is extremely beneficial to a student preparing for classes.  Events such as quizzes, tests, etc. can be shared by an educator with their students with relative ease. (JG)

Understanding:

  • Lucidchart- Comparing/classifying information from the class using charts such as venn diagrams, mind maps, etc. (CJ)
  • Pinterest- Create a board with slides of class content for students to add in their own thoughts about each idea/content bullet. (CJ)
  • Wordle- Create a thought-map of keywords students associate with a topic.  The more times a word is listed by students, the bigger it appears in the thought-map.  Useful to check where student understanding might be lacking. (SS)
  • Wolfram-Alpha: Introduce wolfram-alpha as a new search engine for students to use.  Extremely academic and intelligent, it is beneficial to both educator and students looking to understand new topics. (JG)

Applying:

  • Video Production- Create a video to highlight a process or material learned (CJ)
  • PowerPoint- Have students create individual slides in small groups to divide up a topic into smaller, more easily applicable pieces. (SS)
  • Infographic- Put together a graphic explaining the content in lay terms (CJ)

Analyzing:

  • Lucidchart- Organize course concepts, create dichotomous keys, mind-mapping etc. (CJ)
  • Wordle- Check to see which key concepts or words are sticking in student’s memories, and what new associations they may be making with the content. (SS)

Evaluating:

  • Discussion Boards- review material and collaborate, hypothesize, etc. on the content delivered (CJ)
  • Twitter- Limited to 140 characters, so an easy, quick, non-intimidating way of facilitating discussion around a topic and between students. (SS)
  • Reddit – A private subreddit for a class would allow for the posting of any format of material (youtube, images, documents, etc) and provide a place for evaluation (up or down-voting). (JG)

Creating:

  • Google Drive/Buckeye Box- have students collaborate together to create presentations, videos, etc. to present content learned in class and teach to the rest of the students (CJ & SS)
  • Wiki- Have students create a course wiki that arranges the content learned in a logical manner and provides a place for them to look back and review what they have learned, or teach a concept to a fellow classmate. (SS)
  • Google Docs – As mentioned above it can be very tricky trying to use in a large classroom setting.  However, in a small group like ours, it works extremely well for collaborating with colleagues on projects.  Use it in concert with Google Drive/BuckeyeBox for student projects. (JG)

As you can see we highlighted who thought of each idea as we were brainstorming.  I come from a very science and application based curriculum where most of my ideas can be utilized flawlessly in most settings.  I could easily see how I could use Susan’s ideas in any of my classes too but my mind didn’t always go in that direction.  I think all of these Apps or Online based sites can be utilized in every classroom and should be.  I know I need to work harder at addressing vocabulary and reading skills in my courses so students are working across disciplines in my course, just like they will be required to address Common Core standards in their high school teaching. (CJ)

As Carla said, our different backgrounds gave us both a unique perspective, but working together allowed us to see how all of these ideas can be utilized in any classroom.  Although I’m more literature based, I still frequently use charts and mapping exercises (among many of Carla’s great ideas) to help students make connections with concepts they might already know.  Now that I know the blog website exists, I’m really hoping to utilize that with my students in the near future. (SS)

As a student I find that I very much agreed with what the ECAR study on undergraduates showed: I was keen on having instructors who utilized course management systems and didn’t shy from the digital world.  I am very much in favor of using apps and online resources in class, as I do not believe you can say you’re truly educating or learning to your full potential without using one or the other.  (JG)

by-nc

 

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0   International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *