The value of mobile technology in teaching and learning

Source - www.teachthought.com

In recent years, mobile technology has become ubiquitous in modern society in a way no-one could have imagined. Rheingold (2003) described this emergence of the “connected society” as the beginning of the next social revolution. The ability to communicate and share with anyone, anywhere, and at any time is one which we take for granted, and is something which can have an immense impact on the way we learn. The challenge for educators is how to harness this valuable resource and to explore the rich potential it offers.

As well as becoming more prevalent, mobile technology is becoming more affordable, allowing more learners to access digital information and increase their learning potential. Add to this the undeniable fact that the vast majority of learners already use mobile technology in their personal lives, and it is not difficult to see that the next logical step is to employ the same devices to personalise and improve the learning process.

Research has shown that mobile technology is well placed to support situated learning. Nyiri (2002) describes knowledge as information in context, and the portability of modern devices certainly facilitates the delivery of such information. Learners can individualise their own learning experiences on their own devices in any number of settings, leading to an increased feeling of ownership and responsibility for their own output.

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Activities which utilise technology have been found to facilitate increased peer collaboration, higher levels of learner engagement and retention of information (Naismith et al., 2004). Mobile technology allows the educator to intersperse theory delivery with short research activities, supporting recommendations that lessons should be broken down, with different activities and regular recaps to maximise learner engagement (Reece & Walker, 2007, p. 311). Learners can create presentations and collaborative documents, or contribute to blogs and wikis in real time as the lesson progresses. Learner comprehension can be enhanced with access to video and image sharing sites such as YouTube and Pinterest.

Learner feedback is crucial to the reflective practitioner – it helps to focus evaluation of the success of teaching strategies, and informs the future direction of the learning experience (Crawley, 2011, pp. 184-185). Mobile technology can be used in a variety of ways to support this. Information can be gathered via classroom response applications such as Qwizdom, TodaysMeet and Socrative, which allow the educator to assess learners’ progress, as well as providing an overview of ideas and opinions on particular subjects. Questions can be differentiated, with multiple choice answers to challenge learners of varying degrees of ability. The anonymity of the responses allows learners to be bolder in their answers with no fear of being identified as being wrong or different to their peers.

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Integrating mobile technology into the learning paradigm is not optional – it is imperative. The move towards a truly collaborative and seamless learning experience, one in which learners play an active role in their own education is one which cannot be stopped. The sooner the role of mobile technology is acknowledged and embraced, the sooner we can begin to use it to its full potential. However, there is a  major stumbling block to successfully introducing mobile technology into the classroom - and that is the widespread implementation of a "no mobiles" policy in the classrooms of schools and colleges. In my own placement college, even the HE slideshow presentations from USW begin with the "no mobiles" icon on the first slide.

I can see how this policy has evolved, particularly with the BTEC and A Level classes, where the expectation would be for students to be distracted by their devices and disengage with the lesson. My own experience with this particular student group, although brief, has shown me that I would need to be far more confident in both my delivery and planning to incorporate mobile technology into my lessons. It is a challenge I am willing to address, as I think that this student group already have the skills - they just need to be redirected into a learning capacity. It remains to be seen whether this challenge will be picked up by other lecturers around the country.

The HE classes have been easier to experiment with. They have been able to undertake research, retweet and comment on posts from the HE group that I and another lecturer administer, and access links relevant to the lectures with great success. We are planning to use the social media channels to relay more information in real time during lessons.

This post has extolled the value of mobile technology in teaching and learning, but it is important to remember the role of the educator in this new paradigm. Their importance cannot be forgotten, and technology should be seen as a tool to be integrated into current teaching practice not as a replacement. .

You can read my earlier post about mobile technology here.

Bibliography

Crawley, J., 2011. In at the Deep End. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Petty, G., 2009. Teaching Today - A Practical Guide. 4th ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Naismith, L.; Lonsdale, P.; Vavoula, G.; Sharples, M. (2004). "Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning". FutureLab Series (11).

Nyiri, K (2002). Towards a philosophy of m-learning. Proceedings of IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE 2002), Vaxjo, Sweden

Reece, I. & Walker, S., 2007. Teaching, Training and Learning - A Practical Guide. 6th ed. Tyne and Wear: Business Education Publishers Limited.

Rheingold, H. (2003). Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus