mLearning Journeys: Redesigning Teaching for mLearning

Abstract: The excitement surrounding the potential of web2.0 tools within education has continued to grow. While almost everyone has now heard of PODCasting and YouTube, there are many more examples of social networking and content sharing tools that can be harnessed for education. Recently Twitter (microblogging) has been popularised by the media, with a reported explosive growth rate (uptake by new users) of 1500% during early 2009. While this illustrates that there is undoubtedly phenomenal interest in web2.0, there are still few concrete examples illustrating how to integrate these tools using an explicitly social constructivist pedagogical model within contemporary tertiary education environments. This paper describes the purposeful integration of web2.0 and mobile web2.0 tools within a first year Bachelor of Product Design programme, based upon an under-pinning social constructivist pedagogy. Examples of the use of several web2.0 tools that support the development of collaborative student-centred learning environments are given. Initial feedback from lecturers and students are also reported

Reflections on 3 years of mlearning implementation (2007-2009)

This paper discusses the implications of 3 years of action research mlearning projects investigating the potential of mobile web 2.0 tools to facilitate social constructivist learning environments across multiple learning contexts. Highlighted are the design framework, identified critical success factors, and implementation strategy developed from the thirteen mlearning projects undertaken between 2007 and 2009. The projects encompassed five different courses, forming five case studies spanning from one to three years of implementation and refinement. KEYWORDS Mlearning, web 2.0, social constructivism

Strategies for mlearning integration : evaluating a case study of staging and scaffolding mlearning integration across a three-year bachelor’s degree

This paper outlines the third iteration of integrating mobile web 2.0 within a Bachelors level course. An analysis and comparison of the impact of mobile web 2.0 across all three years of the 2009 course enables the development of implementation strategies that can be used to integrate mlearning into other tertiary courses, and inform the design of further Product Design mlearning integration iterations

Using Mobile Devices for Improving Learning Outcomes and Teachers’ Professionalization

Teaching in higher education is changing due to the influence of technology. More and more technological tools are replacing old teaching methods and strategies. Thus, mobile devices are being positioned as a key tool for new ways of understanding educational practices. The present paper responds to a systematic review about the benefits that mobile devices have for university students’ learning. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria in theWeb of Science and Scopus databases, 16 articles were selected to argue why Mobile learning (Mlearning) has become a modern innovative approach. The results point to an improvement in students’ learning through Mlearning, factors that encourage the use of mobile devices in universities have been identified, and e ective mobile applications in improving teaching and learning processes have been presented. The inclusion of this methodology requires a new role for teachers, whose characterization is also specified

Does Going Mobile Always Make Learning Better?

In order to understand what mobile learning (mLearning) can contribute to the educational experience and learning outcomes of university students, an examination is made of three mLearning applications - lecture podcasting, interactive classroom systems, and studentgenerated mLearning. These are analyzed in the light of pedagogic theory and compared to the traditional, didactic lecture and to typical implementations of eLearning. The application of concepts such as student-centred learning, active experiential learning, situated learning, learning conversations and the affordances offered by mobile devices reveal that mLearning can be fundamentally different from the forms of learning that preceded it. However, it is also noted that not all mLearning leads to better educational outcomes and that more emphasis needs to be placed on learner engagement and student-centred learning as fundamental concepts of any mLearning adoption

Mobilizing learning: mobile Web 2.0 scenarios in tertiary education

Based upon three years of mobile learning (mlearning) projects, a major implementation project has been developed for integrating the use of mobile web 2.0 tools across a variety of departments and courses in a tertiary education environment. A participatory action research methodology guides and informs the project. The project is based upon an explicit social constuctivist pedagogy, focusing on student collaboration, and the sharing and critique of student-generated content using freely available web 2.0 services. These include blogs, social networks, location aware (geotagged) image and video sharing, instant messaging, microblogging etc… Students and lecturers are provided with either an appropriate smartphone and/or a 3G capable netbook to use as their own for the duration of the project. Keys to the projects success are the level of pedagogical and technical support, and the level of integration of the tools into the courses – including assessment and lecturer modelling of the use of the tools. The projects are supported by an intentional community of practice model, with the researcher taking on the role of the “technology steward”. The paper outlines three different scenarios illustrating how this course integration is being achieved, establishing a transferable model of mobile web 2.0 integration and implementation. The goal is to facilitate a student-centred, collaborative, flexible, context-bridging learning environment that empowers students as content producers and learning context generators, guided by lecturers who effectively model th

Mobile learning for delivering health professional education (protocol)

© 2015 The Cochrane Collaboration.This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: The objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of mLearning educational interventions for delivering pre-registration and post-registration healthcare professional education. We will primarily assess the impact of these interventions on students knowledge, skills, professional attitudes and satisfaction

mLearning: the classroom in your pocket?

This paper reports the findings of a 1 year project which focussed solely on the potential of handheld computers for teacher professional development. The paper considers the fit between theory and practice, viewing the developing literature on mLearning as it might apply to teacher professional development, in the light of research evidence from project teachers using handheld computers. The teachers themselves used the analytical framework for teacher professional knowledge developed by Banks, Leach and Moon to consider their own experiences with the handheld computers. The study finds that handheld digital tools hold a number of pedagogic and pragmatic advantages over laptop or desktop computers for teachers, especially in rural communities; however, further technical development is required to fully orient the devices to classroom rather than office practices