Amazing Uses of Mobile Devices for Learning

242 Pages·2012·6.8 MB·English

mobile media learning
amazing uses of mobile devices for learning
edited by:
Seann Dikkers
John Martin
Bob Coulter
mobile media learning:
amazing uses of mobile devices for learning
Copyright © by
by Seann Dikkers, John Martin, Bob Coulter et al.
& ETC Press 2011
ISBN: 978–1–105–79363–9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012940558
TEXT: The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution–NonCommercial–NonDerivative 2.5 License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by–nc–nd/2.5/)

IMAGES: All images appearing in this work are used and reproduced
with the permission of the respective copyright owners,
and are not released into the Creative Commons.
The respective owners reserve all rights.
Design & composition by Szu Yuan Scott Chen
(www.scottchendesign.com)

foreword/preface
6
by Eric Klopfer
I was sitting in a meeting recently listening to a presenter from a major
media company talk about mobile device usage by kids. The crowd quickly
reacted to the “dated” data on apps and devices, hankering for more up to
date information. The data was only a year old, but in the rapidly moving
space of mobile media, that data is already stale. While some may lament
the rapid pace of change that seems to leave devices themselves to become
quickly dated, I see the vast opportunities that this rapid change has
created for both developers and users of mobile applications. We’ve come a
long way in the last ten years, creating a norm that requires justification for
developing applications for anything other than mobile platforms. That is a
dramatic shift from the questions we faced a decade ago, which forced us
to justify our pursuit of learning applications on what we now recognize as
primitive mobile devices.

Just what is “mobile” in this context? I recently passed by a wheeled
cart with half a dozen desktop computers complete with giant CRT
monitors. The cart had a big sign labeling it as a “Mobile Computer
Lab”. This is not mobile. Laptops aren’t mobile in this context
either. Mobility requires the ability to casually use a device on
the go — without sitting down. While this may seem arbitrary it
is important in that it influences the way we use these devices.
They aren’t only for long focused sessions, but can also be used
for bite–sized interactions taking place for mere seconds in the
context of some other related (or unrelated) activity. This is the
first of several defining factors that Kurt Squire and I (Klopfer
7
c
o
n
t
e
x
t
& Squire 2007) outlined as being unique affordances of mobile devices for
learning. The relevance of these five affordances has only increased over time.

• portability — can take the computer to different sites and move
around within a location
s
e
• social interactivity — can exchange data and collaborate with other a
n
people face to face n d
• context sensitivity — can gather data unique to the current location, ik
k
e
environment, and time, including both real and simulated data rs
• connectivity — can connect handhelds to data collection devices,
other handhelds, and to a common network that creates a true shared
environment
• individuality — can provide unique scaffolding that is customized to
the individual’s path of investigation.

The devices we had at hand at the time were stylus driven Palms and brand new
color Pocket PCs that allowed us to use wireless connectivity or GPS (but not
both simultaneously). We were convinced that these devices would some day be
ubiquitous enough where the benefits of these devices could be realized inside
the classroom and out. Teachers liked the simplicity and students liked the
personalized experience. Surely the day would come when every kid would have
a Palm or Pocket PC in their hand.

While we may not have bet on the exact right horse, that day of ubiquitous
access to mobile devices is almost upon us — if only schools wouldn’t ban them.
Yet, the scale of success of mobile platforms, as well as the kinds of applica-
8
tions and modes of interaction, are well beyond what I could have expected.
This came from both developers and users embracing mobile for its affor-
dances, rather than trying to scale down full sized apps to a smaller screen. I
remember when satirical newspaper, The Onion, released their Palm app with
the slogan “The Onion just got smaller and harder to read.” But that is indeed
what happened, and still continued to happen to some degree.

Early developers of games on mobile platforms struggled to figure out how
they would get their games to work on these devices without a D– Pad (four
or eight way controller found on many mobile and fixed gaming consoles).
Even many of the early iPhone games tried to figure out ways to make use of
an onscreen D– Pad. But then games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, which
were uniquely suited to the touch screen started to emerge. These were games
that used the mobile interface to their advantage and helped developers and
users realize that we should design for these devices, not around them. Now
the tables have been turned and makers of gaming consoles are trying to
figure out how to incorporate some of the mobile interaction style into their
own platforms. It turns out that in many ways mobile devices are easier to use
for many tasks that take into account personal information, location, and more
natural interactions like touch and voice. This allows the user/learner to focus
on what they are doing instead of how they are doing it.

The experiences and activities in this book are not ones that have been
designed to work around the shortcomings of mobile devices, but rather are
9
c
o
n
t
e
x
t
designed to take advantage of what
is special and unique about them. They
are also leading the field into new direc-
tions that show what is powerful, interesting
and unique about mobile learning. They also start to
s
e
tackle what is perhaps the biggest challenge posed by mobile devices in the a
n
space of learning — turning consumers into producers. n d
ik
k
e
Mobile devices have many affordances, they have come at a cost to date. rs
Limited methods of input, storage and many so– called “walled gardens”
(heavily restricted methods of software distribution) have made smart-
phones and tablets ideal media consumption devices, but often less suited
to production. Empowering the next “creative class” necessitates breaking
that barrier and insuring that young people have opportunities to consume
great media, but also have the opportunity to produce it.

Again, the authors in this volume start to tackle that problem, both in the
ways that extend the experience beyond the software on the screen and
allowing students to create that software themselves.

The best days of mobile learning are still ahead. I fully expect this modality
to move closer to the center in the coming years, and the authors in this
volume will lead the way.
preface/foreword
10
by Kurt Squire
Ten years ago, Roy Pea and Jeremy Roschelle predicted that the story of
mobile media (called handheld computers at the time) would ultimately
come down to this: Will educators confront scenarios of radical decentral-
izing– where learners might pursue passions and interests in an entirely
uncoordinated way (and somehow coordinate them) or will the availability
of these massive data exhausts that emanate from our lives– captured
through portable devices– create Orwellian scenarios in which administra-
tors know everything about students’ lives?

This story is still unfolding, but clearly these are themes that educators
wrestle with. What excites me about the work in this volume is the
innovative ways that educators are wrestling with these challenges.
Place and story can hold together groups of learners and be
the springboard for coordinated activity. Learners can take
control of their own data, and become more empowered
participants in their own learning. Although we still
are working on these issues, as a field, we’ve come
a long way since those early forays with handheld
computers.

The story of how this book comes about reflects
these same tensions. Over the past decade,
groups at MIT, Wisconsin, and Harvard have
been discovering new ideas, trying out radical