THE FUTURE OF MOBILE LEARNING: EMPOWERING HUMAN MEMORY AND LITERACYDANIELLE M. VILLEGASTECHCOMMGEEKMOM.COM

WHO AM I?

DANIELLE M. VILLEGAS

CONTENT STRATEGIST/ BLOGGER

TECHCOMMGEEKMOM

• Understand the evolution of early efforts to create and promote literacy, and how it’s tied to m-learning

WHAT WILL I UNDERSTAND WHEN I LEAVE HERE?

MOBILE MINDSET.

• Explain basic concepts behind m-learning practices and instructional design

• Provide current thoughts on foundational curriculum practices• Why “mobile first” needs to be adopted as your first method of course design now

ORALITY AND EARLY LITERACY• Humans started out

with an oral culture to understand how to retain verbalized information

• But especially difficult for recalling the solution for a complex problem.

• To fix this problem, the technology of writing was created

ORALITY AND EARLY LITERACY

• Important because it allowed human thought to be retained and trigger memory

Socrates:

• Writing destroyed memory and weakened the mind

• Writing was passive because it didn’t allow for the give-and-take of natural speech

ORALITY AND EARLY LITERACY

Hieronmimo Squarciafino (1477)• With the invention

of the printing press and the proliferation of literacy was quoted as saying,

“The abundance of books makes men less studious.”

ORALITY AND EARLY LITERACY

HOW DOES THIS ALL RELATE TO LITERACY?3 Types of Learning Systems

1. s-Learning – Speech

2. p-Learning – Paper

3. e-Learning – Electronic Technology

• Each supplement or support each other rather than replace each other.

• Differ in how knowledge is presented, preserved, and/or delivered.

E-LEARNING EMERGES• E-LEARNING= ~30+

YEARS OLD

• COMPUTERS HOLD VAST AMOUNTS OF INFO IN ONE PLACE--THE AMOUNT OF DATA IS OVERWHELMING, BUT…

• YOU ONLY NEED TO SEE ONE SMALL PORTION OF THAT LIBRARY AT A TIME

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN NEEDED A SOLUTION!

LEARNING OBJECTS

•SMALL CHUNKS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

•CATALOGUED BY METADATA

•REUSABLE BY DESIGN

•DIGITAL IN FORMAT

WHICH MEANS…1. LARGE AMOUNTS OF INFO NEED TO BE

BROKEN INTO REUSABLE CHUNKS THAT ALLOW MORE FLEXIBILITY

2. LMS NEEDED TO BE DEVELOPED TO ACCOMODATE BUILDING COURSES AND CURRICULUMS

3. LEARNING OBJECTS COULD BE ANYTHING - VIDEO, AUDIO PODCAST, IMAGE, AND USED IN MANY DIFFERENT CONTEXTS

WHAT CHANGED?

• MOBILE TECHNOLOGY - NO LONGER STUCK TO A DESK

• WEB 2.0 - SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIVITY

WHAT IS M-LEARNING?

MISCONCEPTIONS OF M-LEARNING• IT'S JUST THE TRANSFERENCE OF E-LEARNING ON

A SMALLER DEVICE

• SMALL SCREENS, LIKE ON SMARTPHONES, IS TOO LIMITING

• PROGRAMMING FOR MOBILE DEVICES IS COSTLY

• EVERYTHING IS SOLELY CENTERED AROUND THE CONTENT

• ONLY WORKS WHEN CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET

• ALWAYS HAS TO BE INTERACTIVE

• LIMITED TO SMARTPHONES

MOBILE INCLUDES:• SMARTPHONES• TABLETS• AUDIO DEVICES • PORTABLE GAME

DEVICES• OLD-STYLE CELL

PHONES (CAN RECEIVE TEXT/SMS MESSAGES)

• E-BOOK DEVICES

MOBILE LEARNING IS:• SHORTER IN DURATION

• DESIGNED FOR INSTANT USE

• CAN BE PERSONALIZED

• CAN INCLUDE DATA COLLECTION OR USER-GENERATED CONTENT

• ALL ABOUT CAPABILITIES - EXPERIENCE OVER TECHNOLOGY

• RIGHT PERSON, RIGHT TIME, AND RIGHT PLACE

• M-LEARNING IS NOT THE TECHNOLOGY ITSELF, BUT IT'S THE TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS M-LEARNING TO HAPPEN, AND WE NEED TO ADAPT

TOOLS AVAILABLE THROUGH MOBILE:• PUSH TECHNOLOGY

• CAMERA

• GPS

• AUDIO FILES & WORD-PROCESSING APPS

• CONNECTIVITY

WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF MOBILE?DEVICES CAN BE WHEREVER THAT USER/LEARNER IS.

WHEN IS M-LEARNING APPROPRIATE?

• WHEN LEARNING FOR THE FIRST TIME?

• WHEN WANTING TO LEARN MORE?

• WHEN TRYING TO REMEMBER?

• WHEN THINGS CHANGE?

• WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG?

UNDERSTANDING M-LEARNING• We need to look not only at how learners need

to learn, but how they are going to learn it.

• Usefulness = solving the problem through a right set of functionality at the right time

• Usability = user-friendly interface where learner can learn smoothly and naturally, and meaning relates to a functionally-sound use of visuals so as to allow for an effective usability.

M-LEARNING THEORYBEST WAY TO DELIVER CONTENT THAT ALLOWS LEARNERS TO ACTUALLY LEARN AND RETAIN INFORMATION USING MOBILE DEVICES?

• UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT OF WHERE, WHEN AND HOW THE INFORMATION IS USED

• BRING BACK IDEAS OF CHUNKING - USING LEARNING OBJECTS

• USE MULTIMEDIA

• USE REUSABLE INFO THAT CAN BE CHANGED WITHOUT AFFECTING OTHER LEARNING OBJECTS, AND STORED FOR ANYTIME REMOTE ACCESS.

HOW TO PROMOTE & ENHANCE LEARNER INTERACTION? 1. SEND A MULTIMEDIA MESSAGE TO MOBILE PHONES TO

TRIGGER AND MOTIVATE LEARNERS

2. SEARCH THE WEB FOR RELATING INFORMATION BY USING EMBEDDED HYPERLINKS (URLS)IN THE MESSAGE RECEIVED IN THE PHONE

3. DISCUSS WITH LEARNING PEERS BY TEXT, VOICE, PICTURE OR VIDEO MESSAGING

4. PRODUCE A DIGITAL STORY TELLING OF WHAT THEY LEARN BY AUDIO OR VIDEO DIARY (MOB BLOGGING JOURNAL)

5. APPLY WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING IN A SIMULATED ENVIRONMENT, SUCH AS ONLINE EDUCATIONAL GAMING

M-LEARNING CHALLENGES• DEVICE VARIABILITY

• SLOW DOWNLOAD SPEEDS AND LIMITED INTERNET ACCESS

• SMALL SCREEN SIZES WITH POOR RESOLUTION, COLOR AND CONTRAST

• AWKWARD TEXT INPUT

• LIMITED MEMORY

• STARTING TO OVERCOME THESE THROUGH RESPONSIVE DESIGN TOOLS

MOBILE STATS YOU SHOULD KNOW!PER PEW RESEARCH PROJECT:• 90% OF ALL AMERICAN ADULTS HAVE A CELL PHONE (1/14)

• 58% OWN A SMARTPHONE (1/14)

• 32% OWN AN E-READER (1/14)

• 42% OWN A TABLET (1/14)

• 70% OF ALL CELL PHONE USERS AND 86% OF SMARTPHONE USERS HAVE USED PHONES TO OBTAIN "JUST-IN-TIME" INFORMATION - ONLINE INFORMATION (4/12)

• 43% OF RESPONDENTS SPEND MORE TIME ON TABLETS THAN DESKTOP/LAPTOPS (THINK MOBILE WITH GOOGLE, 2011)

MOBILE IMPLEMENTATION• NOT MANY STUDIES YET, BUT LOTS OF

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

• THE MOBILE PROPOSITION FOR EDUCATION REPORT (GSMA MOBILE EDUCATION, 2012).

REAL TIME INTERACTION ALLOWED STUDENTS TO FEEL LESS ISOLATED & SUPPORTED, AND IMPROVED LITERACY RATES

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

MOBILE LEARNING IS UNIQUELY SUITED TO SUPPORT CONTEXT-SPECIFIC AND IMMEDIATE

LEARNING, AND THIS IS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY FOR DISTANCE LEARNERS SINCE MOBILE

TECHNOLOGIES CAN SITUATE LEARNERS AND CONNECT LEARNERS.

JOHN TRAXLER

SUMMARY:• Early practices of using speech, learning segments,

and print can be applied to m-learning

• M-Learning is an opportunity to provide learning anytime, anywhere for anyone with access to a mobile device.

• The main adjustment for m-Learning is adjusting one’s mindset on how to design—mobile first! Use the tools available on the device!

• This shift can actually help promote greater opportunity for memory and literacy by teaching information in smaller, more personalized “chunks” for retention.

QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION?

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