Image source: Kurious, CC0 Public Domain
Crafting meaningful reflections
Evidence No. 13: M-learning Infographic
The initial activity for OLTD 508 was to create an infographic highlighting some of the challenges and enduring issues of mobile technology in the classroom or workplace. The purpose of the project was to investigate how mobile technology could be utilised in these environments. The infographic created integrates numerous statistics and facts to create a comprehensive investigation into mobile technology and its relationship to the educational setting. An infographic allows the creator to combine various pertinent facts, both graphically and textually in a visual manner. This creates a presentation of knowledge that is easily consumable. This assignment was completed with Kym Toporowski and allowed both of us to review numerous resources. This review built up a ‘picture’ of how powerful mobile technology has become, its role in our society and its application, or lack therefore of, in our schools. Course outcome(s): This project addresses many of the course outcomes, the most obvious being;
|
Having this opportunity to investigate m-learning focused my attention and interest on the potential application of mobile technology in education. Understanding the terminology and elements related to mobile learning along with critically reviewing and accessing resources and practices currently in place regarding m-learning and the subsequent creation of this infographic has positively altered the way that I view mobile technology in the classroom.
What became immediately obvious to me was just how misunderstood mobile technology is and therefore how underutilized it is in the learning environment, both traditional and augmented. Beginning with the simple fact that 81% of students have smartphones capable of readily accessing, capturing and processing information with the power of a personal computers, it would seem logical to move away from the belief that mobile technology is simply a communication device and therefore a distraction to the student. Rather, with correct application in the classroom it could prove beneficial to educators, students and school systems, harnessing the processing power of what is a legitimate teaching tool.
What became immediately obvious to me was just how misunderstood mobile technology is and therefore how underutilized it is in the learning environment, both traditional and augmented. Beginning with the simple fact that 81% of students have smartphones capable of readily accessing, capturing and processing information with the power of a personal computers, it would seem logical to move away from the belief that mobile technology is simply a communication device and therefore a distraction to the student. Rather, with correct application in the classroom it could prove beneficial to educators, students and school systems, harnessing the processing power of what is a legitimate teaching tool.
Evidence No.14: Within These Four Walls: Putting Clark Quinn’s Four C’s Into Practice.
Following the initial assignment, 'Part B’ was designed to provide an opportunity to redesign a traditional lesson using mobile technology. The goal of the redesign was to investigate and review mobile technology that could be employed in the classroom, therefore engaging students and utilizing mobile technology to access content, capture data, compute or process that data and communicate learning. |
I chose to incorporate mobile technology that would capture and process knowledge through images. Students would be able to process those images into a sharable animated GIF, a process that stitches a series of images together to make an animated movie.
Course outcome(s):This project addresses many of the course outcomes, the most obvious being;
The major alteration to the original activity was to employ the GIF generator GifMe!. This was a free downloadable app that could be utilized in conjunction with a smartphone's camera. With this new technology, students could create a series of images, be they in clay, hand drawn or downloaded, and load them into GifMe!. The app would then stitch them together allowing them to be shared electronically with the teacher.
Completing this activity provided me the opportunity design a lesson that employs mobile technology in a manner that is engaging and usable within my existing classroom. In doing so, I have developed a better appreciation for mobile technology and how it can be harnessed to provide appropriate learning opportunities. These opportunities allow personalization for students, whist harnessing students existing knowledge of technology.
With the move toward greater technology integration within my district and the promotion of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), I believe that utilizing mobile technology in the classroom will become more commonplace. This is not only due to the fact that a large portion of students already have mobile devices, but because mobile devices are becoming progressively more powerful. Harnessing mobile technology correctly within the classroom can create better learning opportunities for students.
Course outcome(s):This project addresses many of the course outcomes, the most obvious being;
- Demonstrate basic competency with design and implementation within a variety of online learning environments and tools
- Plan learning opportunities most suitable to the strengths and challenges of a variety of environments
- Develop and design intentional learning activities suitable for the appropriate environment and the learner
- Understand, design and commit to student success in online learning environments
- Critically assess and evaluate resources for best practice in online learning
- Create assessment and evaluation methods/tools most suitable to the strengths and challenges of online environments
- Develop practical and technical skills in all phases of concept, development, design, implementation, etc.
- Develop skills to optimize learning experiences through personalization
- Based on characteristics, needs, stages of development, current 21st Century personalized learning mandates, etc..
The major alteration to the original activity was to employ the GIF generator GifMe!. This was a free downloadable app that could be utilized in conjunction with a smartphone's camera. With this new technology, students could create a series of images, be they in clay, hand drawn or downloaded, and load them into GifMe!. The app would then stitch them together allowing them to be shared electronically with the teacher.
Completing this activity provided me the opportunity design a lesson that employs mobile technology in a manner that is engaging and usable within my existing classroom. In doing so, I have developed a better appreciation for mobile technology and how it can be harnessed to provide appropriate learning opportunities. These opportunities allow personalization for students, whist harnessing students existing knowledge of technology.
With the move toward greater technology integration within my district and the promotion of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), I believe that utilizing mobile technology in the classroom will become more commonplace. This is not only due to the fact that a large portion of students already have mobile devices, but because mobile devices are becoming progressively more powerful. Harnessing mobile technology correctly within the classroom can create better learning opportunities for students.