Thursday, March 7, 2013
Mobile Learning
In todays day and age handheld mobile communication devices have become very commonplace. I just spoke with one of my neighbors yesterday and she mentioned to me that she had just purchased an iPad for her 3 year old daughter. Even as I walk around my high school's campus I see students constantly talking, texting and surfing the web on their cell phones, iPads and other mobile tablet devices. Many schools now prohibit or ban the use of these mobile devices during class times. Instead of trying to ban the use of mobile technology, we as educators need to embrace and leverage these powerful tools. These mobile devices can be used for note taking, research, communication, collaboration, creation and a plethora of other applications. Now is the time for teachers to receive training and professional development to be better equipped to utilize these powerful mobile computing devices to enhance student learning and increase student achievement.
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Aloha Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think you raised an extremely valid criticism of school policy on the use of mobile devices. Let me preface my comment by saying that I am not a teacher and will not pretend to understand the obstacles they face with the integration of these devices. However, I also believe that the popularity and increasing commonplace of the items cannot be ignored. Mobile devices represent a great deal of potential to education. Although I do not feel they are the end-all be-all but they are valuable tools. Student assignments could be structured to allow collaboration and correspondence digitally (benefits you raised). Many kinds of evaluation could even take place on mobile devices. The real key is figuring out how to utilize them in an educational setting, maximizing their potential while cutting out the distraction factor. Not an easy task, but one to be considered. We are entering a digital age. Let me end with an analogy. Although I cannot confirm the story, I have heard numerous times, and fact or embellished fact, it is still a good story. When Netflix (a mail order DVD rental service now offering streaming content) was starting up, they proposed a partnership with Blockbuster (the dying storefront video rental company). Blockbuster was convinced that their tried and true service could never be replaced by something more modern, less tangible. The CEO of Blockbuster literally laughed Netflix out of the building. From the outside, and seeing how the two businesses have evolved, one can see how this partnership with a more modern business model would have been beneficial to Blockbuster. Will schools take this lesson to heart or will they become empty and bankrupt institutions regretting their poor decision not to embrace change?
Hello, Sam
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the mobile communication devices have become very commonplace. It is very interesting to see the increase use of the mobile devices. As you realized in your high schools’ campus, the students constantly using the mobile devices to talk, text and surf the Internet for different purposes. I like your idea of embracing the mobile technologies in education since students use them in daily bases. Training teachers to utilize the mobile technologies in schools is very important. Teachers need to know how to use these technologies in the classrooms effectively in order to enhance and increase the students’ achievements. Well done!
RE: Mobile Learning
ReplyDeleteSam,
I enjoyed reading your blog entry for two reasons. First, I agree with your conclusion. As educators we need to get in front of the wave of educational technology and learn how to use these potentially powerful mobile learning tools to help our students learn. Second, reading your blog entry reminded me that my own classroom policy on the use of mobile devices is somewhat counter to mobile learning. For the most part I do not allow their use. However, I do encourage their use for accessing the course material I create. Honestly, I am having a difficult time with the issue. The students who blatantly play games on their iPad during class are easy to spot and stop. The students who are not so blatant are a little more challenging to discover. The dishonest and sneaky ones, even more so. Besides learning how to use mobile devices to help our students become better learners, we also need to figure out how to keep them "honest" and we need to learn how to keep them focused on only using the technology for legitimate purposes while in class. I believe that that will be the harder lesson for us educators to learn. Be that as it may, your entry, while short, was very to the point and on the mark. It was very well done.
Don