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12th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2013)
- Conference date: 22-24 Oct 2013
- Location: College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
- Volume number: 2013
- Published: 01 October 2013
40 results
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Exploring the impact of using tablet devices in enhancing students listening and speaking skills in tertiary education
Authors: Ismail Fayed, Amer Yacoub and Ali HusseinAbstractWith the massive increase in using mobile devices among individuals of all social backgrounds, the question of how these mobile devices may enhance learning arise. Smart smartphones and the most recent tablet computers have all sustained the vision and potentials of using mobile devices in education and learning. The unprecedented popularity of these devices among teenage learners both in high schools and university level encourages all researchers and educators to explore their influence on learning among individuals and groups. In this research project, students will explore the potentials of using mobile devices and new tablet technologies to sustain students' acquisition of listening and speaking skills in English as a second language (ESL). They will highlight the key features in these modern devices that support these language skills. This investigation process aims to identify possible educational mobile features such as mobile applications developed by other users, mobile collaboration applications over wireless connection, language games, synchronous and asynchronous technologies for optimum use of these devices particularly by tertiary level students in a positive and rather educational manner.
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Post Web 2.0 Media: Mobile Social Media
Authors: Thomas Cochrane and Laurent AntonczakAbstractIn this paper we explore the outcomes of a mobile community of practice (MOBCOP) reified in the development of a mobile social media framework that we have implemented in the creation of a new mobile social media minor within the faculty. The domain of the MOBCOP was a year-long investigation of the potential for mobile social media to act as a catalyst for new pedagogies. The context of MOBCOP was an invited group of Bachelor of Graphics Design lecturers interested in investigating the implications of mobile social media for collaborative curriculum design. MOBCOP comprised six lecturers and an academic advisor as a technology steward. We argue that the resultant mobile social media framework developed from the MOBCOP experience is potentially transferable to a range of educational contexts. We illustrate the implementation of our mobile social media framework within the development of a new media minor that explicitly integrates the unique technical and pedagogical affordances of mobile social media, with a focus upon student-generated content and student-directed learning (heutagogy).
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Integrating mLearning Language Application into University Course Content
Authors: Olga Viberg and Åke GrönlundAbstractThe idea that education can be considered as design science was brought up in the 1990s in order to bring the educational research from an experimental classroom into practice (Laurillard, 2012), at the time when the computers were introduced in educational settings. After that a number of theories focusing eLearning have arisen. Technologies are constantly changing, and new more pervasive mobile technologies increasingly influence individuals’ everyday lives. Among other things this influences humans’ social learning practices, and becomes an even more challenging task for educators. Design is critical to the successful development of any interactive learning environment (Mor & Winters, 2007). Mobile technology, as most other IT, is not primarily an educational phenomenon. It is a social phenomenon that happens in different parts of the world and in different ways. As emerging mobile technologies afford many advantages, such as flexibility and user-friendliness, researchers are exploring how to use them to support language learning (Huang et al., 2012). This paper presents a prototype for a cross-platform mobile language learning application developed for an online language course at Dalarna University in Sweden. The prototype is developed in order to support beginner second and foreign language learners in their vocabulary, listening and grammar learning. Considering mLearning to be a product of sociotechnical construction, the study applies a Design Science approach.
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An ecology of mobile screens: iPads meet XOs in a desert school
Authors: Mark Pegrum, Grace Oakley, Jan Clarke and Jim SligarAbstractWe increasingly operate in a multi-screen ecology, choosing the most appropriate devices for different purposes at different times. When educational institutions invest in mobile technologies, they often spend a great deal of time evaluating a range of devices. However, the devices themselves may matter less than their educational uses. This paper explores the case of an Aboriginal desert school in Western Australia which has adopted a mixture of XO laptops and, more recently, iPads. The background to the XO and iPad programmes is briefly outlined and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each device are indicated. It is demonstrated that, rather than the devices being in competition with each other, they are in many ways complementary. Teachers and students are able to work with both types of devices, as appropriate, to improve literacy, numeracy and other skills within a digital learning ecology.
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Mobilogue – A Tool for Creating and Conducting Mobile Supported Field Trips
Authors: Adam Giemza and H. Ulrich HoppeAbstractMobilogue is a tool to support educators and students in authoring and deploying learning support with location awareness and guidance to mobile devices. The application area of the framework covers informal learning settings like field trips, museum visits as well as formal classroom settings. The focus of the framework is on the simplicity and flexibility of the domain independent content authoring and content deployment. We present an authoring tool that uses a graph-based paradigm to model and author a path across different locations. Locations relate to physical places or artefacts through QR codes and provide supportive information. The guidance takes place by identifying the user’s location by scanning the QR codes and visualizing the appropriate information on the smartphone. Finally we describe possible scenarios for such informal learning settings and report on an evaluation of the framework in a museum setting.
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Large Scale Deployment of Tablet Computers in High Schools in Brazil
More LessAbstractRecently different sectors of society of many countries have been demanding significant improvements in their education systems, and teaching and learning practices (Keller, 2008; Latchem & Hanna, 2001). The need for keeping up or developing competitiveness has been the main reason for these improvements. These countries has been faced with challenges in terms of lack of skilled workers, capacity of resilience from the labor market to deal with dramatic economic changes, and the pursuit for more productivity based on the use of technology. Brazil is a good example of one of these countries. It has been struggling to improve its public basic education in order to develop the workforce. One of the initiatives to improve the education system is by changing the education paradigm in high schools with the use of tablet computers in a large scale deployment. This paper describes the social scenario that led to this initiative and how it has been made in a large country, as well as the research that is being carried out to investigate the impact of such initiative in the learning outcomes in public high schools in Brazil.
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Mobile Technology, Maths Education & 21C Learning
Authors: Brendan Tangney and Aibhín BrayAbstractTechnology in general, and mobile technology in particular, remains under-exploited in secondary school education systems. This paper argues that systemic reform is needed to make the use of mobile technology really meaningful in the classroom. The type of change envisaged falls under what is broadly termed 21st Century Learning which espouses a generally social constructivist pedagogical approach with an emphasis on skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, problem solving etc. In such a milieu the affordances of mobile technology align seamlessly with classroom practice rather than, as at present, being circumscribed and restricted to use for content consumption, field exercises or one-off customised interventions.
To illustrate the way in which mobile technology could integrate into a 21C classroom a number of lesson plans from the area of math education are described. These are situated in a national second level education system which is undergoing systemic reform and in which teachers, and schools, are looking for exemplars of pragmatic models of 21C Learning which can be used to deliver both 21C skills and traditional curriculum content.
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An Analysis of Socio-Technical Factors in Implementing Mobile Learning Solution at an Educational Institution: A Case Study of Mid-Tier MBA College in India
More LessAbstractThe exponential rise in the adoption of mobile devices around the world opened up unthinkable possibilities in many traditional lines of businesses. Mobile devices have become corner stones to publishing, news media, social media, ecommerce, navigation, location based services, travel companions, tour guides and much more. The consumerization of mobile technology enabled by factors like endless choice of devices, low entry barrier, high usability and disruptive innovations, has also presented mobile learning to the education industry.
Given the rise in the number of educational institutions across India, mobile learning is seen as more of a branding tool and less of a pedagogy or learning innovation tool. Owing to this perspective, the institutions focus on rolling-out an mLearning implementation at the earliest, rather than laying out a long-term strategy towards real innovation.
In this paper, we present some socio-technical issues faced in one such mLearning roll-out in a mid-tier Management Institute in South India. We relate our experiences to existing research, and attempt to provide a direction towards developing an mLearning implementation framework, that could provide a strategic approach to mLearning adoption.
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An Outlook on Future Mobile Learning in Saudi Arabia
More LessAbstractSaudi Arabia is witnessing a unique and rapid economic growth as well as beyond-oil comprehensive investments relatively at most sectors including education and ICT. As part of the global pedagogical shift from teacher-centred approaches to more learner-centred approaches, Saudi educational system already started to adopt distance and mobile learning practices to support this shift. Saudi higher education sector, in particular, is investing heavily to promote teaching and learning practices that can cope with students’ needs in the digital age. Moreover, the rapid advancement as well as the enormous penetration of mobile technologies among Saudi youths have increased the interest in mobile learning. In addition, young population in Saudi Arabia are the biggest users of mobile social media in the Arab World. There are several challenges that accompanied this rapid development of economic and educational systems in Saudi Arabia. Special and unique ‘version’ of mobile learning was formed as a response to these challenges. This paper will review some of the challenges found in previous studies, and will highlight other challenges that are believed to have a major impact on mobile learning in Saudi Arabia. A picture of the future of mobile learning in Saudi Arabia will then be drawn.
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Supporting Practitioners in Implementing Mobile Learning and Overcoming Ethical Concerns: A Scenario-Based Approach
Authors: Trish Andrews, Laurel Evelyn Dyson and Jocelyn WishartAbstractEthical concerns about mobile learning have been raised across all sectors of the educational system, sometimes resulting in the banning of mobile phones in schools and retarding the adoption of mobile learning as rapidly as might have initially been envisaged. A way of dealing with this problem is to empower mobile learning practitioners and researchers to deal effectively with ethical dilemmas through the development of their ethical reasoning. A commonly accepted approach to ethical development is by means of scenarios, to which ethical principles are applied in order to produce solutions. In this paper four scenarios are presented which were developed at two mobile learning and ethics workshops conducted in 2012. An ethics framework for the analysis of the scenarios is described and finally a strategy is outlined for conducting professional development of teachers and academics as well as training for student teachers. The authors propose that ethical scenarios provide not only a means of developing the competence of teachers and academics in dealing with ethical issues in their mobile learning practice and research, but may well lead to the greater adoption of mobile learning as fears of ethical issues diminish once a way to providing solutions is demonstrated. Finally, scenarios are seen as a tool to foster conversations with educational managers and administrators in order to promote policy development and practical responses to ethical issues in mobile learning.
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About the Contextualization of Learning Objects in Mobile Learning Settings
Authors: Alisa Sotsenko, Marc Jansen and Marcelo MilradAbstractIn recent years, many efforts have been undertaken in order to design and deploy learning activities that make use of modern mobile devices, like smartphones and tablet PC's. Hence, new possibilities for supporting these so-called mobile learning scenarios have risen. One of the major benefits of these kinds of learning scenarios is the possibility of a learner to have access to learning content independent of time and place and therefore, enabling learners to learn in very different situations. In order to support learning across different settings, this paper discusses an approach that allows identifying a best fitting format of a Learning Object (LO) with respect to the current situation of the learner. This approach allows to delivering learning content in a format that may suit the current context of the learner and therefore, it enables seamless learning.
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AnswerPro: Designing to Motivate Interaction
Authors: Balsam AlSugair, Gail Hopkins, Elizabeth FitzGerald and Tim BrailsfordAbstractThis paper describes the design and initial testing of AnswerPro, a mobile academic peer support system for UK KeyStage 3 and 4 pupils (11-16 year olds). AnswerPro is a web application that enables pupils to seek support from theirknowledgeable peers on various subjects. This paper correlates the findings from a previous requirements-gatheringexercise (Anonymous), and from research into academic motivation, to propose design elements embedded withinAnswerPro. A pilot study was conducted with 7 school pupils over 3 weeks. Participants then engaged in a focus groupwhich discussed their experience using AnswerPro and the motivational elements embedded within it. Findings fromtheir use of AnswerPro, and from the subsequent discussion, highlighted some problems with the embedded motivationalfeatures. As a result, suggestions for potential solutions and their merits are proposed for the next version of AnswerPro.
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Creating coherent incidental learning journeys on mobile devices through feedback and progress indicators
Authors: Mark Gaved, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Ann Jones, Eileen Scanlon, Ian Dunwell, Petros Lameras and Oula AkikiAbstractTimely and appropriate feedback and indicators of progress can motivate learners. Mobile learning poses a challenge to established instructional strategies with respect to delivering feedback and monitoring learner progress, particularly in informal and incidental learning occurring outside of formal structured learning environments. We argue that well-designed and managed feedback and progress indicators can offer guidance and a sense of structure to learners in the absence of a formal curriculum, accreditation or set outcomes. Furthermore, they can encourage casual users of mobile applications to move from fragmented learning episodes towards a more long term and reflective learning journey. In this paper we describe how we are developing feedback and progress indicators for the EU-funded MASELTOV project, which explores how smartphones can support language learning and social inclusion for recent immigrants to Europe. Presenting educational services and materials on mobile devices allows learning episodes to be incorporated into daily activities and schedules, to be accessed at times and in places that suit learners best. Feedback and progress indicators embedded into these services may motivate such an audience to reconceptualise fragmentary, ephemeral educational experiences into a more coherent, sustained learning journey. We describe how feedback and progress indicators have been used successfully in web-based and games-based learning, and our assessment of which types may best support incidental mobile learning and the challenges we face.
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Mobile learning through indigenous languages: learning through a constructivist approach
Authors: Mmaki Jantjies and Mike JoyAbstractAn increase in accessible electronic pedagogy available in African languages is vital in extending learning resources to resource constrained schools and multilingual communities. The lack of appropriate mobile and electronic resources in these contexts often limits learners from participating in the digital age and discovering knowledge through technology. South Africa, used as the context for this study, has eleven official languages and promotes their use for education in schools. There are however limited bilingual resources that support bilingual education. The different challenges, such as the limited resources that enable an effective learning environment, often make it difficult for teachers to create new learning environments that embrace technology in classrooms. This paper presents a case study that evaluates the potential use of mobile learning to support the current informal learning process for resource constrained multilingual high school learners. In the study learners created their own audio based bilingual learning material on mobile phones using a constructivist learning approach, in the subject area of physical science. A total of 32 high school learners and their teacher from a South African school participated in the study, and though semi–structured interviews and questionnaires learners reported on their experiences. Infrastructure challenges, including limited access to free electronic resources, and slow and expensive Internet access, became the main hurdles in supporting a constructivist learning environment. The mobile learning process however gave learners an opportunity to create their learning content in their own languages at any location at any time, and use the content later for revision.
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Academic Achievement in BYOD Classrooms
Authors: Dean Cristol and Belinda GimbertAbstractA product of the new STEM democracy is the development of indigenous high-technology capabilities.We maintain when effective mobile learning is incorporated into a receptive learning environment studentachievement will increase. Also, the ubiquitousness of mobile devices prepares students for the STEM focusedglobalized economy because the devices are consistently used for the communication and informational needs ofstudents and teachers inside and outside of learning environments. Mobile learning devices (MLDs) are relativelyaffordable and accessible, and often reinforce difficult learning concepts and a mechanism for collaboration outsideregular school hours. Mobile learning technology levels the learning field, due to the relatively low cost,accessibility in most households, including those that lack laptop or desktop computers and connection to theinternet. Under Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, this study centers on assessing the effectiveness of MLDson the academic achievement of students in 8th and 10th grades. We were interested to understand the effectivenessof BYOD integration in the classroom based on student achievement and student response to determine the extent ofvariance, if any, between those classrooms that use BYOD technology extensively in comparison to those that donot. The study uses previously collected school system data (removing all individual identifiers by the schoolsystem’s curriculum coordinator). This research is significant, since there is a paucity of large scale research toassess the level of student achievement, as expressed through standardized assessments, related to the BYOD policy.
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Key Challenges Associated with Bringing Personal Mobile Devices to the Higher Education Classroom
More LessAbstractThe use of students’ personal mobile devices in education seems an attractive option to higher education institutions as these devices may help reduce costs as well as support teaching and learning. However, the concept of “bring your own device” or BYOD, presents challenges to institutions used to control which technology students and faculty would adopt in teaching and learning practices. This paper aims to review key challenges associated with the BYOD initiative often discussed in the relevant literature. These challenges include network infrastructure, network security, IT support, equity issues, and BYOD disruptions. The paper also reviews a case study recently conducted at a higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates to illustrate in practice how these key challenges may affect the adoption of personal mobile devices in the classroom. Based on the review, this paper proposes potential strategies to help minimize these challenges
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Integrating Interactive Videos in Mobile Learning Scenarios
Authors: Dan Kohen-Vacs, Marc Jansen and Marcelo MilradAbstractNowadays, there is a growing variety of mobile devices and online video content that could be used to support a variety ofpedagogical strategies used for different cross-context learning scenarios. In order to take advantage of these developments,this paper presents an approach that allows to integrate learning material represented as videos in mobile learning scenarios,mainly by the implementation of a mobile client that allows to consume learning material represented as small chunks of videocontent. The application of these ideas potentially provides new educational opportunities to support learning across differentcontexts. Additionally, the videos consumed by the mobile client allow the integration of interactive elements like questionsthat could be answered by the learner while consuming the video or additional comments that could be provided to the learner.The rationale for the integration of the interactive parts in the video iss to increase learners´ engagement and therefore also toincrease their involvement and participation in order to generate an active learning experience.
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Ubiquitous Computing in Education: A SWOT Analysis by Students and Teachers
Authors: Edgar Napoleon Asiimwe and Sana Zubair KhanAbstractLearning from anywhere anytime is a contemporary phenomenon in the field of education that is thought to be flexible, time and cost saving. The phenomenon is evident in the way computer technology mediates knowledge processes among learners. Computer technology is however, in some instances, faulted. There are studies that highlight drawbacks of computer technology use in learning. In this study we aimed at conducting a SWOT analysis on ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction and their affect on education. Students and teachers were interviewed on the mentioned concepts using focus group interviews. Our contribution in this study is, identifying what teachers and students perceive to be the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction in education. We also relate the findings with literature and present a common understanding on the SWOT of these concepts.
Results show positive perceptions. Respondents revealed that ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction are important in their education due to advantages such as flexibility, efficiency in terms of cost and time, ability to acquire computer skills. Nevertheless disadvantages where also mentioned for example health effects, privacy and security issues, noise in the learning environment, to mention but a few. This paper gives suggestions on how to overcome threats mentioned.
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Usability issues in mobile learning: Students’ perceptions in Pakistani universities
Authors: Umera Imtinan, Vanessa Chang and Tomayess IssaAbstractUsability in mobile devices, for learning, has drawn researchers’ attention since the term mobile learning has been coined in teaching and learning arenas. Current mobile devices in the market have ignored the design and styles for learning purposes. Although mobile devices have some features for games purposes, there are other important usability characteristics that ought to be considered to support learning. Therefore, mobile learning researchers need to investigate the learning options with the available capabilities of mobile devices. Students in developing countries reported more problems related to usability based on their individual experiences dealing with mobile devices for learning purposes. This paper aims to identify the implications of usability in mobile devices for learning based on research conducted in Pakistan.
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Improving student literacy in adult education through an immediate feedback tool
Authors: Martie Geertsema and Chris CampbellAbstractIntelligibility is what every English language learner strives for. To have the correct pronunciation and to be understood is a big part of the challenge to learning a new language. A contributing factor that makes correcting learner pronunciation difficult is the fact that many learners are unable to hear their own pronunciation mistakes, so speech to audio programs have limited value. A potential benefit of speech to text programs is that learners will be able to see their mistakes and thereby correct their own pronunciation with a technology they always have with them, is familiar with and is non-threatening. In addition, the fact that in remote areas 3G is more available than the Internet and mobile phones are cheaper than other digital literacy tools like iPads or laptops makes mobile phones as a teaching tool an appealing prospect. This project explores the possibilities DragonDictation, a free mobile phone app for voice recognition, brings to the adult ESL classroom, not only for the learners but also for the teachers. The extent to which it could be useful as an immediate feedback tool on pronunciation accuracy is explored, as are improvements to students speaking in English. The extent to which continued and supervised exposure to this digital literacy changes adult learners’ beliefs on the place of using mobile phones as a teaching and learning tool is also explored.
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A HTML5 Based English Learning System for Learning English on Mobile Devices
More LessAbstractThis research paper explains the development of a mobile based system for learning English as second language for iPhone, iPad, Android Phones, Android tablets, and other smart mobile devices. This is a multi-disciplinary type of research consisting of 3 distinct components or phases. First, HTML5 and jQuery Javascript library was used to develop this multimedia based learning system that delivers a lesson in text, pictures, and audio format. The multimedia based lessons were placed on a server that could be accessed by any PC or smart mobile phones and tablets that support JavaScript library with access to WiFi or 3G networks. Second, thirty English lessons were developed for this system, the English lessons were developed with the assistant of some English lecturers. Finally, university students at Assumption University tried out this system using their mobile devices for a period of 6 weeks. A survey questionnaire was used to evaluate the effectiveness, usability, and students’ satisfaction of this system. This paper explains development process of the mobile based mobile learning system and its outcomes.
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Using mobile technologies to promote learning and youth employment: a partnership approach
More LessAbstractInformation and communications technologies (ICTs), including mobile technologies, are having a dramatic impact upon societies in the Arab region. With the rapid upsurge in use of mobile technologies throughout the region, patterns of usage have shifted from making phone calls and surfing the internet to using social media tools for societal change. The Najjahni mobile platform in Tunisia represents a multi-level partnership to develop mobile education applications that has now reached over half a million young Tunisians. This paper provides an overview of the success of Najjahni, and the critical partnerships that have made such a project possible.
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Challenges against the successes of mLearn in Bangladesh
More LessAbstractMobile learning is a recent phenomenon in the Bangladeshi education system. The ongoing English in Action project has been at the forefront of promoting the use of mobile technologies for English language training in Bangladesh, and has been one of the primary examples to demonstrate the potential of mobile devices in the classroom, and teacher professional support. This paper will discuss the challenges that have arisen in the promotion of mobile learning in Bangladesh, as well as the successes as highlighted by the English in Action project. Moreover, it will offer a brief glimpse into the work of the project and its mechanism for spreading mobile learning in typical Bangladeshi context.
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M-learn lessons learnt: Bangladesh perspective
By Zaki ImamAbstractM-learning is a form of distance learning in that it provides a communication tool( the mobile phone) to bridge the distance between the providing institution and the learners and facilitates 2-way (synchronous and asynchronous) interactivity between teacher and the learner (McWilliams et al, 2007). M-learning allows the remote teachers to stay in frequent contact with teacher educators, to ask questions and discuss issues as they adapt new teaching practices. This programme has been initiated by Ministry of Education upon requested by ADB, Manila to implement technology based training programme for reaching remote and disadvantaged areas. M - learning has been piloted by teacher educators of Government Teachers’ Training College in one district (Barisal, located in the southern part of Bangladesh) and later extended to four districts to train teachers of remote schools of Patuakhali, Sandwip, Hatya and Thakurgaon districts. Regular 14 day and 5 day follow-up face-to-face inservice Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training was adapted as a two day face-to-face orientation, followed by a 6 week programme with regular conference calls to support classroom practices. Findings of the programme are very promising for adapting new practices. The CPD training by using mobile phone became very successful for increasing teachers and student’s competence level. Government of Bangladesh and Development Partners are very keen to maximize the use of technology in CPD for teachers especially for addressing female teachers and reaching training facilities to remote areas.
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Jam Today – Embedding BYOD into Classroom Practice
More LessAbstractAn underlying assumption of the BYOD (bring your own device) approach to classroom learning is that technology is naturally embedded into the wider life of the learner. By not only allowing, but requiring, school students to bring their own devices into the classroom, teachers in BYOD schools are acknowledging that 21st century education must reflect 21st century society. However, bringing learners? devices over the threshold of the classroom is just the beginning of the story. The challenge for educators is to find ways to successfully embed personal technologies into the teaching and learning process. This is not simply a case of substituting one tool for another, or even enhancing current practice with digital tools. Rather, it requires a fundamental modification and redefinition of practice. Such radical changes to classroom practice cannot happen overnight. They require appropriate policies, preparation, infrastructure, motivation and reflective exploration. This paper reflects on the experience of a New Zealand school which is at the forefront of the BYOD movement. Based primarily on the public voices of the classroom teachers, this paper seeks to examine how BYOD has been tailored to suit disparate subjects, different teaching styles and the choices made by teachers in how they feel technology enhanced learning can work best for them and their students. This paper explores how the school has been moving through the pathway of substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition, and shares experiences that may be informative to others embarking on similar projects.
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An Interactive Mobile Learning Method to Measure Students performance
Authors: Khaed Hamdan and Yazid Ben-ChabanAbstractThis work focuses on miscellaneous means to measure students� performance which requires hard work, commitment, collaborative and organizational skills, true communication and engagement. Using Mobile Learning and other technology is often challenging to students� capabilities and sometimes intimidating, especially for those who have never used it before. In this study, we will discuss how students� classroom use of the Mobile Learning can make a significant improvement when it is well integrated and adopted in students personal skills such as; using organization, communication , assuming responsibilities, critical reading and writing, , problem solving, class engagement, increasing learning interest, emphasizing communities contribution and self evaluation. We will also discuss students� struggle which is not academic, but rather a lack of individual and personal skills. We will discuss students� environment, delivery mode and the associated learning process that show a significant improvement in students� way of learning. This study is a sample of U.G.R.U. IT students selected in Fall Semester 2012 by U.A.E.U. Instructors.
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The Dawn of Creation with Mobile Learning Technologies and Language Learning Pedagogy
More LessAbstractThe learning design with mobile learning technologies, particularly the iPad, affords the creation of learning products. Combined with task-based language learning and project-based learning pedagogy, mobile learning technology can be utilized with great effect. This short paper will describe the nature of creating learning products with pedagogy including task-based language learning and project-based learning. Student examples from an English as a Second Language classroom setting and self-reported teacher journal entries will be used to illustrate. Stemming from the teacher observations noted in the journal entries, there are two fresh perspectives on the creation of learning products. The pedagogy of task-based language learning and project-based learning afforded the creation of learning products throughout the learning process culminating in a final learning product.
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Augmented Reality, Multimodal Literacy and Mobile Technology: An Experiment in Teacher Engagement
By Jan ClarkeAbstractThe use of AR in education has already been found to be valuable although its use presents technical and management difficulties. The reality is that teachers often need to be enticed by a tempting range of potential benefits before investing precious time and effort in new technology. Challenges can cloud vision of greater potential. This ongoing project, essentially an experiment in encouraging professional learning, is proving successful in engaging educators with leading edge AR technology. Such an activity can provide a multi-dimensional catalyst for addressing a host of demands that face typical Australian teachers, particularly integrating mobile devices and multimodal texts in teaching and learning. The project – incorporating the location-aware FreshAiR app, Quick Response codes and image-triggered Aurasma – has been undertaken voluntarily by some Independent Schools in Western Australia. It includes developing teacher skills with AR (and other apps) and the development of a “model” AR tour (excursion/field trip). The experiment has generated trans-national collaborative conversations, positively impacting on both professional practice and app design. Participating schools have already provided valuable feedback that supports and expands existing research and perhaps generates some new ideas. The AISWA project has been funded by the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program.
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Device Neutral Assignments for Mobile Learning in an English Language Classroom
More LessAbstractThe cloud of skepticism around mobile devices and their use in education is rapidly dispersing. Educators have come to embrace mobile devices as powerful tools that enable continuous, lifelong learning. The type of mobile device makes little difference to the educational process since all types have capabilities that enhance learning. Hence, adopting a BYOD/BYOT (Bring Your Own Device/Technology) policy in the classroom can shift the focus from the device to the learning outcomes. Device neutral assignments are assignments and lesson plans that can be completed on any device. It comes as a solution for the multi platform challenge in a BYOD policy. This action research is intended to examine how Device Neutral Assignments can be used to integrate mobile learning into English Language classes where students are using their own mobile devices. Some language assignments were redesigned according to DNA guidelines. Description the assignments is provided along with the results and observations of the completed assignments.
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Quality of sms-learning as a rapidly growing m-learning mode for foreign language learning
Authors: Majid Fatahipour and Mahnaz Ghasemi NajmAbstractm-learning breaks away with the traditional education by focusing not just on developing mobile applications but also sms-learning (using regulated text messages) which is useful and engaging for learning English. Yet there is little research on the quality of sms-learning. In this paper, we view m-learning as an ever-present opportunity for learning in what Stead (2012) describes as today's blurred boundary between work and play. A service platform provider, the National Mobile Company of Iran, has enabled several private service providers (SPs) to use text messages for educational purposes. A contribution to the field is integrating theories of linguistics and m-learning. While learners benefit from extensive reading practice at their own pace (Day and Bamford, 1998), the four elements of m-learning proposed by Ray (2004) is a basis for measuring quality. The data comes from semi-structured interviews with three important SPs with 268 active subscribers to their English learning services. An survey was also conducted on the views of over 120 users on pros and cons of these services which found that although sms-learning is very engaging with informal tasks that impact learning (as theorized by Cross, 2007), it has to meet several challenges (e.g. meeting various requirements of learners and learning context, administrative hurdles/costs) to respond better to the users' expectations and learning needs. The quality is concluded as average because the services provided by the SPs were not strong in terms of personal sphere and context sensitivity although they were satisfactory in terms of efficiency and providing interaction.
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Integrating Multimedia in ODL materials and Enhanced Access through Mobile Phones
More LessAbstractThe aim of integrating multimedia in ODL materials and enhance access through mobile phones at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), is to enable students who are scattered throughout Tanzania and outside the country overcome the challenges of accessing course materials. Currently OUT has a Learning Management System customized from MOODLE, known as Open University of Tanzania Learning Management System (OUTLeMS) which can be accessed through http://elms.out.ac.tz.
Implementation of the project to deal with this challenge involved customization of mTouch U software now called Open University of Tanzania mobile Learning (OUTmLearning - mlearning.out.ac.tz) that enabled activities of all 150 ODL courses including forum, assignment, glossary, resource details and charts available in OUTLeMS be accessed through mobile phones. In one complete ODL course (Multimedia Technology and Applications - OIT 208) in addition a video of a sign language interpreter has been added in one module within the course.
In situations with problems of internet and electricity power supply, these developments enable students in both urban and rural areas especially in remote parts including those with visual, hearing and physical impairment use mobile phones to access course materials while pursuing their studies. Females students faced with social constraints like taking care of the family are empowered to deal with difficulties of studying by being able to view study materials anywhere and anytime on their mobile phones.
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Preparing Mobile Learning Strategy for Your Institution
More LessAbstractThis paper offers a practical guide to the creation of an m-learning strategy for an educational institution. It provides steps and recommendations for a successful and sustainable m-strategy. This summary of lessons learned includes a brief account of successes, failures, and barriers experienced by a mobile learning practitioner.
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System Architecture for Device and Content Independent Communication Including 3D Imaging
Authors: Razia Sultana, Andreas Christ and Patrick MeyrueisAbstractNetwork landscape of recent time contains many different network technologies, a wide range of end-devices with a large scale of capabilities and power, and an immense quantity of information and data represented in different formats. Research on 3D imaging, virtual reality and holographic techniques will result in new user interfaces (UI) for mobile devices, will increase their diversity and variety. In this paper software architecture has been proposed to establish device and content format independent communication including 3D imaging and virtual reality data as content. As experimental validation the concept is implemented in collaborative Language Learning Game (LLG), which is a learning tool for language acquisition.
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Targeting FRAME: A new tool for mLearning design
By Robert PowerAbstractVarious attempts have been made to offer advice and guidance to mobile learning (mLearning) instructional designers. However, there is still a distinct need for guidance that is concise, theoretically grounded, and applicable across a wide variety of instructional design types and purposes. The Framework for the Rational Assessment of Mobile Education (FRAME) model developed by Koole (2009) meets these requirements. This paper proposes the development of an interactive online tool based upon the FRAME model that will allow educators to effectively reflect upon their mLearning instructional design decisions and target areas for design improvement.
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Supporting Interaction in Learning Activities Using Mobile Devices in Higher Education
Authors: Wesam Shishah, Gail Hopkins, Elizabeth FitzGerald and Colin HigginsAbstractMobile devices are personal, portable and being increasingly used to assist students’ learning that creates new educational opportunities for students at university. Adopting mobile technologies to various educational activities that students are practicing in Higher Education (HE) is a key challenge yet one that could create powerful opportunities to support academic learning. This research will investigate how students at university use mobile devices with respect to engagement and interaction in various learning activities. It will study how students in HE engage with learning tasks and what social interactions occur when they are trying to achieve their academic goals. Also, the tools/software that support their academic goals in different learning settings or activities will be considered. This paper shows the background of the research to promote students’ interaction in various learning settings (including both different physical environments and different activities) using mobile learning support system.
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iPads for Innovative Knowledge Creation
Authors: Rana Tamim and Linda ColburnAbstractAcademicians, researchers, and practitioners agree that computer technology has an important role to play in the classroom, with the main ingredient for successful technology integration being pedagogy. The more recent trend receiving attention is mobile learning, particularly with the hype that the iPad is getting and its strong push to access educational systems as the 21st century tool for learning. The current poster will report preliminary results assessing the success of two project-based interdisciplinary collaborative activities that were implemented with 41 undergraduate education students at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. The design made use of various theoretical frameworks including constructivist learning theories, student-centered principles (APA, 1997; Laurillard, 2002; McCombs & Vakili, 2005), motivational theories (Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Hickey & Zuiker, 2005), project-based learning (Blumenfeld et al., 1991), and cooperative and collaborative learning theories (Bruffee, 1993; Johnson & Johnson, 2008). The project was employed in two courses, namely Early Childhood Mathematics and Science and Literature for Children and Adolescents. In addition to course specific assignments, students completed the following two collaborative iPad-based assignments across both courses:
- Arabic Scientist/Mathematician Biography: students had to make use of the basic principals of writing biographies to design and develop a media product to teach young children about an Arab scientist/mathematician. For this assignment, the students were given full freedom to decide on what form of media product they want to present their biography with.
- E-book fairy/folk tale: students had to create e-book for a fairy/folk tale for young children that teaches or addresses mathematical concepts such as numeracy, shapes, patterns, and measurement.
The poster presentation will offer preliminary findings based on the data collected from interviews conducted with the students after the completion of the courses. Interviews probed students� perceptions about lessons learned, successes, challenges, and suggestions for future iterations of the courses. Moreover, a number of the projects will be actually showcased during the poster presentation by some of the students. In their presentation, students will discuss their own experience with the iPads, the applications they used, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.
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Why ethical issues in researching mobile learning are a concern and ways forward
More LessAbstractThis poster paper presents the scenarios produced by members of the International Association for Mobile Learning to support researchers in considering how to address ethical issues that may well arise during mobile learning projects. Ethical issues in researching mobile learning are a concern as: - handheld devices provide multiple opportunities for access to personal information including images and location; - their portability creates issues with boundaries such as those between college or school time and home time; - they link to both real and virtual contexts and - the full range of their capabilities are often poorly understood. In addition, the classic approach of adhering to a fixed code of ethical conduct such as those published by the American or British educational research associations or having your proposed methods first evaluated by an ethics committee does not deal well with the ever changing contexts that so often arise in mobile learning research. Ways forward centre on professional development for researchers to ensure they are fully aware of their responsibilities for the protection of participants data, their privacy and personal information even when the participants themselves share such information widely through social networking and other online tools. To this end six scenarios for use in researcher training or with interested students were generated by a group of experts at Mlearn 2012 in Helsinki and have been made freely available on the International Association for Mobile Learning's website at http://www.iamlearn.org/ethical-issues-mobile-learning/research-planning for wide dissemination. Each scenario addresses specific issues that may become a concern as outlined below. Scenario: Where do you stop? Issues addressed: Boundaries between formal and informal learning situations, public or private spaces, home and school or college environments, real and virtual contexts etc. Scenario: Whose story is it? Issues addressed: Maintaining the need for anonymity versus respecting participants' desire to self-publish and their need for a digital identity. Scenario: Who Pays? Issues addressed: People who are differently able / less educated /come from different cultures etc. and what this means regarding costs e.g. for devices to access internet and cultural pressures. Scenario: Who does it belong to? Issues addressed: Ownership and author rights - whose data is on the mobile or on the server, who owns it, what about any images it contains? Is the owner the person taking the picture or is it the person in the picture? Scenario: Whoops-a-daisy! Issues addressed: Risk analysis - the unexpected consequences of complexity caused by following up people using mobile devices in a wide range of contexts and the need to proceed iteratively and flexibly. Scenario: What does 'informed consent' really mean? Issues addressed: Participants' awareness (or lack thereof) of their own device's capabilities, what data is being logged etc., informed consent and opportunities to listen to participant voice. More details on ways forward for using scenarios such as these with students and/or practitioners will be reported here at MLearn 2013 with Trish Andrews and Laurel Dyson (Andrews, Dyson and Wishart, 2013). Lastly, in addition to specific training, these scenarios can also be used to promote conversations with senior management around the ethical issues that are of concern to lecturers, teachers and researchers in order to support the development of any appropriate local policy and practical responses.
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Action Research for Sustainable Mobile Learning: Perspectives from the Field in Dharavi, Mumbai
By Laura HakimiAbstractThis research seeks to understand how a widely available and relatively affordable technology - the mobile phone - can be used to help disadvantaged young people in the urban slum of Dharavi, Mumbai, to improve their English language skills. In partnership with a technical organisation and a local NGO, and employing the principles of action research, this study is researching the extent to which a piece of learning software for mobile phones can sustainably enhance the learning of participants enrolled on a local NGO's educational initiative. With fieldwork currently underway, this poster presentation will seek to present the study's aims and preliminary findings, and discuss some of the methodological challenges associated with action research.
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Mapping Mobile Learning in Space and Time
Authors: David Parsons, Jae Lim Ahn, Ahreum Lee, Kiburm Song and Miyoung YoonAbstractMobile learning has been a topic of research and development for 20 years. Over that time it has encompassed a wide range of concepts, theories, designs, experiments and evaluations. With increasing interest in the subject from researchers and practitioners, a comprehensive, yet accessible, overview of mobile learning that encompasses its many facets and features can provide a useful snapshot of the field. Although there have been many reviews of the mobile learning literature, these have tended to focus mostly on the nature of the work from a research perspective. Further, they have focused on a specific subset of the overall literature. Some review articles have, for example, confined themselves to a particular type of mobile learning, such as mobile language learning (e.g. Viberg & Gronlund, 2012). Others have focused on a specific conference series (e.g. Wingkvist & Ericsson, 2011) or subset of journals (e.g. Pollara &Broussard, 2011). In contrast, we have attempted to provide a more generic overview, and analyzed a large number of articles on mobile learning according to their main themes, concepts and concerns. These articles have come from a representative range of journals, books and conference proceedings. This poster provides a full-landscape view of the field of mobile learning in the form of a mind map. Whilst this approach to visualization is relatively subjective, it is a qualitative approach that allows us to find creative associations between ideas, as opposed to some other approaches that simply present quantitative data (Davies, 2011). It also potentially supports additional services such as certain types of information search (Beel &Gipp, 2010). Through an iterative process of refinement, we have applied the main analysis categories of research, learner, learning, content, design and technology, with a range of subcategories and representative exemplars. In addition, we contextualize the key developments in mobile learning in a timeline, in order to trace its evolution as a field of research.
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Media Synchronicity Theory: Towards a Rigorous Evaluation Framework for M-Learning Artifacts Learning Artifacts
More LessAbstractDigital learning occurs through communication where learners and teachers exchange information and share knowledge. From the pedagogy point of view, the most important characteristic of the information exchange is the human aspect; a factor that e-learning scholars conceive in regard to usability and accessibility of e-learning technology (Michelinakis, 2004). Evaluation tools are needed to promote and rise quality of artefacts and smooth-en the information exchange ways when learning takes place. There are no rigorous evaluation frameworks for mobile e-learning platforms (Georgieva, 2006). In this study we envision Media Synchronicity Theory (MST) as a potential framework for evaluating mobile learning artifacts i.e., mobile devices and learning content management systems.
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