Mobile Learning: Ready to Move On?

1. Mobile Learning: Ready to Move On? John Traxler University of Wolverhampton

2. the topic: strategic aspects of mobile learning whether mobile learning, however innovative, technically feasible and pedagogically sound, has a chance of sustained, wide-scale deployment in UK HE in the foreseeable future

3. based on: • JISC Landscape Study on the use of mobile and wireless technologies for learning and teaching in the post-16 sector • Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers • Both with Agnes Kukulska-Hulme of IET, OU Shock of the Old 2005

4. first setting the scene with some examples

5. PSPs Project started April 2003 Roger Kneebone & Harry Brenton Shock of the Old 2005

6. the issues • A new role, the Perioperative Specialist Practitioner (PSP), will expand the surgical team, providing preoperative/ postoperative care through the patient’s journey. • PSPs will become key surgical team members, providing continuity of care. Work will include: • Preoperative assessment • Communication with patients and their relatives • Performing procedures • Recognising and managing routine postoperative problems • Managing discharge process • Teaching members of the surgical team Shock of the Old 2005

7. technologies • Compaq iPAQ 3970 • Foldable keyboard • Docking cradle • PPC • ABCDB Database for activity logging • Pocket Word Shock of the Old 2005

8. student evaluation • The majority of PSPs had not used a PDA before the project • Participants like using PDAs, but only if they save time • Foldable keyboards are essential for written reflections • Current technical problems in activity logging are a significant obstacle to everyday use • Ready access to medical reference material would be valued • From observation and interview studies Shock of the Old 2005

9. Using Personal Digital Assistants to Support Students Shock of the Old 2005

10. the issues • non-traditional students • parents, mature, no formal qualifications • unused to higher education • substantial part-time work • attendance and performance “at-risk” • personal information management skills • complexity of mass HE • rooming • modularity • timetabling Shock of the Old 2005

11. student evaluation General • enthusiasm, interest • street/leisure image • links to cameras, mp3 etc Specific • revision, convenience, access, portability But • Mugging • Extra box • Data Protection • Short-term “buy-in” • Entry-level PDA model • No WiFi, no email, no web but students found games Shock of the Old 2005

12. smartphones at Sussex • SMILE Project • Sussex Mobile Interactive Learning Environment • Sussex University COGS • course: Interactive Learning Environments • students: • 19 third-yr u/g, 9 p/g students • Rose Luckin et al Shock of the Old 2005

13. technologies • O2 XDA with full Internet access • MS Office, email, browser, logging, GPRS, yahoo group, QuickTime, media player • based on “conversational” theory Shock of the Old 2005

14. student evaluation • Students logged onto course web-site at normal lecture time and followed PowerPoint presentation • used interactive polls • joined online discussion • Issues (from feedback) • “ownership” • reliability • ergonomic • functionality Shock of the Old 2005

15. second possible definitions and abstractions

16. mobile learning “any educational provision where the sole or dominant technologies are handheld or palmtop devices” “including mobile ‘phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and their peripherals” not stable, no consensus, too technocentric Shock of the Old 2005

17. mobile learning mobile learning is technology supported learning spontaneous, personal, portable, lightweight, situated, bite-sized, unobtrusive, disruptive, ubiquitous, informal, pervasive constrained, minimal, primitive costs differently Shock of the Old 2005

18. mobile learning e-learning PC m-learning MMS Tablet PC laptop SMS PDA smartphone Shock of the Old 2005

19. mobile learning a new paradigm??? e-learning intelligent personalised interactive media-rich m-learning institutional structured spontaneous multimedia ? usable situated portable massive hyper-linked context-aware lightweight accessible informal personal connected Shock of the Old 2005

20. mobile learning modes usability PC laptop PDA latency connectivity SMS Shock of the Old 2005

21. mobile learning - pedagogies • supports a range of • conceptions of teaching • styles of learning • has a range of affordances • depending on institution, curriculum, devices, costs etc • deserving a place in the blend • uniquely enables situated learning • exploits dead time Shock of the Old 2005

22. lastly the strategic question

23. strategic issues • those issues that the mobile learning community must address if mobile learning is to become viable on a large-scale sustainable basis • issues governed by • Resources • ie finance • Culture • ie organisation, its practices, values and procedures Shock of the Old 2005

24. strategic issues • implies parity with other forms of provision and delivery in terms of: • costs, funding, resourcing • quality, validation • reliability • scaling and sustaining • monitoring and evaluation • legal expectations Shock of the Old 2005

25. strategic issues - resourcing • projects • fixed-term/small-scale access to funds • perhaps refine or answer research questions • part of institutional ‘project economy’ • niches • small-scale but sustainable • specific subjects • eg nursing, teaching practice • specific pedagogies • fieldwork • particular constituencies • eg EO, assistivity, WP, full-cost added-value Shock of the Old 2005

26. strategic issues – possible trends • Popular, retail and commercial markets driving mobile device design and pricing • Education appropriating/adapting mobile devices • intended for commercial, business, leisure markets • Slowly increasing urban and campus connectivity • favouring laptops over PDAs and phones Shock of the Old 2005

27. strategic overview – possible trends • Institutional caution on mobile learning with PDAs • SENDA, usability; • network security; • diversity/fluidity of devices, platforms and systems; • lack of staff expertise; • interoperability with VLEs, portals, e-Portfolios, learning objects; • procurement, maintenance, ownership issues Shock of the Old 2005

28. strategic overview – possible trends • PDAs in education squeezed by • smarter phones (PIM functions, universal ownership), • USB sticks (content delivery, cheap), • laptops (wireless connectivity, reformist technology) Shock of the Old 2005

29. strategic overview – possible trends • SMS breaking through to institutional/large-scale use, • assuming tariffs stable; • operators trying to develop GPRS, MMS and 3G markets (and recoup licence fees) • increasing but unsupported PDA use by academic staff but possibly even greater laptop usage (and home-working); • continued concern about cost issues, working day, stress Shock of the Old 2005

30. strategic overview – possible trends • continued difficulties funding ‘second-generation’ pilots or large-scale trials with PDAs in FE/HE • eg across institutions, across subjects • inclusion arguments for funding mobile technologies gaining some ground in HE/FE • WP, EO, SENDA etc • retention Shock of the Old 2005

31. Thanks for your attention Questions and Reactions? John Traxler