Mobile-assisted language learning [Revised and updated version]

Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is the use of smartphones and other mobile technologies in language learning, especially in situations where portability and situated learning offer specific advantages. A key attraction of mobile learning is the ubiquity of mobile phones. Typical applications can support learners in reading, listening, speaking and writing in the target language, either individually or in collaboration with one another. Increasingly, MALL applications relate language learning to a person’s physical context when mobile, primarily to provide access to location-specific language material or to enable learners to capture aspects of language use in situ and share it with others. Mobile learning can be formal or informal, and mobile devices may form a bridge connecting in-class and out-of-class learning. When learning takes place outside the classroom, it is often beyond the reach and control of the teacher. This can be perceived as a threat, but it is also an opportunity to revitalize and rethink current approaches to teaching and learning. Mobile learning appeals to a wide range of people for a variety of reasons. It may exclude some learners but it is often a mechanism for inclusion. It is likely that the next generation of mobile learning will be more ubiquitous, which means that there will be smart systems everywhere for digital learning. Mobile learning is proving its potential to address authentic learner needs at the point at which they arise, and to deliver more flexible models of language learning

Multi-synchronous collaboration between desktop and mobile users: A case study of report writing for emergency management

The development of multi-synchronous decision support systems to facilitate collaboration between diverse users is an emerging field in emergency management. Traditionally, information management for emergency response has been a centralised effort. However, modern devices such as smartphones provide new methods for gaining real-time information about a disaster from users in the field. In this paper, we present a framework for multi-synchronous collaborative report writing in the scope of emergency management. This framework supports desktop-based users as information providers and consumers, alongside mobile users as information providers to facilitate multi-synchronous collaboration. We consider the benefits of our framework for writing collaborative Situation Reports and discuss future directions for research

MP-Collaborator: a mobile collaboration tool in pervasive environment

“Copyright © [2009] IEEE. Reprinted from 5th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications. WIMOB 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7695-3841-9 . This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”In modern organizations, the communication between collaborators is essential to improve productivity. There is a need for mobile collaboration tools that allow efficient collaboration among staff in organization which may be located in different geographical areas and time zones. Mobile and pervasive computing provides easy and convenient access to information, enabling effective collaboration. This paper describes a context and location-aware mobile application, called MP-Collaborator, created to improve and optimize the communication between collaborators in any organization. MP- Collaborator draws information from location, user status and Pocket Outlook Calendar to create a user availability profile, which is published to any other user in the network. Based on availability status, the user can be reached using a simple phone call or a message. Through the opportunistic use of available mobile technologies MP-Collaborator provides a simple but critical service - user presence service. The proposed solution is validated both in terms of features and communication through a series of experiments on real devices through Wi-Fi network

Launching the Learning Commons: Digital Learning and Leadership Initiative

Media Center no more! Clearwater Middle School in Waconia has transformed its library into a vibrant and flexible learning commons that fosters creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and independence. This session will cover the basics of seeking grant funding for libraries and will walk participants step-by-step through the grant process, from writing a needs assessment, to purchasing and using technology, as well as curriculum writing and assessment tools. Participants will leave with a toolkit full of ready-to-use ideas and templates to jumpstart innovation in their own library spaces. The Digital Learning & Leadership Initiative in Waconia is in its second year, having moved from an elementary grant award in 2015 to a middle school grant in 2016. Both grants have leveraged new mobile technology including Chromebooks, MacBooks, iPads and collaboration stations to support digital literacy, personalized learning, and media creation initiatives. Program development to be discussed includes the creation of student leadership groups including Tech Squad and Library Squad, as well as media groups including coding club, book club and Minecraft EDU club. Staff training and community collaboration initiatives will also be shared

Investigating Mobile Device-Based Interaction Techniques for Collocated Merging

In mixed-focus collaboration, group members create content both individually as a kind of groundwork for discussion and further processing as well as directly together in group work sessions. In case of individual creation, separate documents and contents need to be merged to receive an overall solution. In our work, we focus on mixed-focus collaboration using mobile devices, especially smartphones, to create and merge content. Instead of using emails or messenger services to share content within a group, we describe three different mobile device-based interaction techniques for merging that use built-in sensors to enable ad-hoc collaboration and that are easy and eyes-free to perform. We conducted a user study to investigate these merging interactions. Overall, 21 participants tested the interactions and evaluated task load and User Experience (UX) of the proposed device-based interactions. Furthermore, they compared the interactions with a common way to share content, namely writing an email to send attached content. Participants gave valuable user feedback and stated that our merging interaction techniques were much easier to perform. Furthermore, we found that they were much faster, less demanding, and had a greater UX than email

Activities Based on Wiki Platform for Engineering Higher Education: Students' Point of View

The fast evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) introduced a new generation of learners that have been adopted mobile devices and Web 2.0 technologies to get information and communicate. The Web 2.0-based tools, such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, Instagram, etc, offer huge possibilities for collaboration. In this way, the main purpose of this research was plan an activity on wiki platform for Reinforced Concrete discipline in Civil Engineering course and answer the questions: (1) How should collaboration be effectively measured on wiki platform? (2) What is the students' point of view about using wiki platform for a collaboration activity? Wikispaces Classroom platform was chosen for the project because it is a free social writing platform, suitable for collaborative learning. Furthermore it works on modern browsers, tablets, and smart phone. A total of 167 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces® platform. All students’ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium or high level of collaboration. At the end of the project 111 students answered a questionnaire and 10 students participated of an informal interview where they expressed their opinion about the platform, the activities and the relationship with online peers. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data collected from the platform and the questionnaires answered by the students was performed. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of to improve skills of engineering students such as: writing communication, organization, collaboration and critical thinking

Senyum (Special Need Children Library Program)

There are still many discrimination treatment aimed at Special Need Children, either in terms of social and educational, so it takes a special media which can facilitate the communities in accessing any information about Special Need Children. Special Need Children Library Program (SENYUM) is a library which can simplify communities in accessing any information about Special Need. This Program in collaboration with Autism Care Indonesia subdivisions Solo. SENYUM also conducts several activities, discussion forums, book mobile library, printing of journals and handbook, as well as writing and publishing a book entitled PELANGI. SENYUM has 950 copies of books and 265 members

Who Learns from Collaborative Digital Projects? Cultivating Critical Consciousness and Metacognition to Democratize Digital Literacy Learning

Collaborative group work is common in writing classrooms, especially ones assigning digital projects. While a wealth of scholarship theorizes collaboration and advocates for specific collaborative pedagogies, writing studies has yet to address the ways in which privilege tied to race, gender, class, and other identity characteristics replicates itself within student groups by shaping the responsibilities individual group members assume, thereby affecting students\u27 opportunities for learning. Such concerns about equity are especially pressing where civically and professionally valuable twenty-first century digital literacies are concerned. This article uses theories of cultural capital and the participation gap to (1) analyze role uptake in case studies of diverse student groups and (2) suggest ways to expand writing studies\u27 current use of metacognition to address such inequities

Mobile learning scenarios in language teaching: perceptions of vocational and professional education students

Mobile devices play a significant role in society, in general, and a very limited one at the different levels of education. Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices allows learning to occur anywhere, (and at) anytime. These powerful technological devices can enhance the teaching and learning processes by helping to promote collaborative and individual learning and broadening the boundaries of the classroom to different contexts of learning. Many students have mobile devices and their applications can provide access to learning outside the classroom, for greater flexibility and more dynamic learning. In this sense, the articulation of technological and methodological efforts allowed us to create learning scenarios supported by the devices that students take to the classroom (BYOD), and use them to motivate and involve students in meaningful learning. These devices offer the advantage of integrating various technologies in the curricular contents, such as in foreign and mother language courses, representing a set of possibilities of ubiquity that can have great impact on the learning process. Thus, we developed strategies with vocational and educational students’ methodologies, such as augmented reality, project-based learning, game-based learning, collaborative learning and gamification. In this text, we present the results of two mobile learning studies in teaching French as a foreign language (to 18-23 year-old-students) and Portuguese language, as a mother tongue (to 15-19 year-old-students), in vocational education, implemented as a mediation tool in education to promote the construction of learning and development of significant skills of collaborative work. From the data collection, through a questionnaire, with open and closed questions, we highlight the favorable perception of the students to the integration of mobile devices in learning, and the recognition of the benefits of the teaching strategies used throughout the year, in the increase of curricular learning.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio