Friday, December 9, 2011

Module 8: Assessment Methods for Mobile Learning

Module 8 focused on assessment methods for mobile learning.  We analyzed effectiveness of mobile learning tools for formative and summative assessment.  We also analyzed how to repurpose or complement instructional content and learning activities of various media types via mobile instruction and extend learning opportunities beyond traditional barriers.

Required Readings
  1. Challenges in Evaluating Mobile Learning
    by Giasemi N. Vavoula - University of Leicester, United Kingdom and Mike Sharples - LSRI, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
    Six challenges in evaluating mobile learning are proposed: capturing and analyzing learning in context and across contexts, measuring mobile learning processes and outcomes, respecting learner/participant privacy, assessing mobile technology utility and usability, considering the wider organizational and socio-cultural context of learning, and assessing in/formality.

  2. Mobile Learning Requires New Thinking in Measurement
    This key difference in the reason for putting learning content online in a mobile-accessible format should be a tip that the previous methods for measurement may need re-evaluation.
Optional Readings
  1. A guide to working with m-learning standards: A manual for teachers, trainers and developers
    Aims to provide a bridge between the technical requirements of mobile
    technologies and the teaching and learning strategies teachers, resource developers, and learners may wish to employ.

  2. The School of One mission is to provide students with personalized, effective, and dynamic classroom instruction customized to their particular academic needs, interests, and learning preferences.

  3. Smartphones give you wings: Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0
    Provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education.

  4. Mobile Phones for Data Collection
    Looks at choosing a mobile data collection solution, from defining the information requirements to choosing the most appropriate technology strategy for a specific organizational context and communication environment.

  5. Evaluation Rubric for iPad/iPod Apps Content and components of an application.

  6. gWhiz Mobile Learning Assessment
    Affordable mobile productivity and learning tools. 
 Video

gWhiz Mobile Learning Assessment (MLA)

Activities

Activity 1:  Assessing Effectiveness of Mobile Learning. Post to the class discussion board your description of how you would use a mobile device as an assessment tool.  For example, quizzes, blog entries, recording reflection. How would you determine if a mobile activity is successful?  I submitted the following:

Continuing the Theme:  A Faculty Development Flipped Classroom workshop:

In my 'flipped classroom" lesson plan, the workshop participants will be using their mobile devices and Twitter.  As the final step during the workshop, I've set up a hashtag (#IMTwrapup) and while everyone is still in the training room, I will display the TweetDeck screen and solicit feedback from the participants on the overall workshop:  the tools used in the workshop, the flipped classroom method, and the particpants' key take-aways.
Another way to solicit feedback would be to ask participants to tweet at a later time, after they have had some time to think about the workshop and what they have learned.
I would also ask the participants to dedicate one class meeting to using Twitter, as a follow-up to the workshop.  I could use a Google Form to assess their success with the exercise, or have them Tweet answers to the #IMTeval hashtag.

Activity 2 had us creating our own survey or quiz using Polleverywhere.com.  I created a poll for my family members containing 5 options for an annual family gathering.

Activity 3:  Create a Mobile Quiz using Google Forms  I created a quiz for ESL learners, with four questions containing multiple choice answers. I sent the link to the quiz to my classmates.  I have used Google Forms in my work here at UMM.  We also looked at the Flubaroo grading tool that works along with Google Forms to do self-graded quizzing.  http://www.flubaroo.com  (Flubaroo video).  We also looked at some Google Forms Templates.  I posted the following to the class discussion board:

Mobile Google Forms -- Use at My Institution:
At my University, we have been using Google Apps for about one year now. More and more people are reading their University email via their smartphones. This makes it really convenient for me to use Google Forms in Seminars and Workshops. Prior to the seminar or workshop, I send an email to the registered participants, that includes a link to the workshop or seminar evaluation form. At the end of the seminar or workshop, I display the form and ask them to check their email for the link. Some of them sit right there and complete the form, and others return to their own areas of campus and then complete the form.
I also use Google Forms for workshop and seminar registrations. I love the way that all responses are received within a Google Spreadsheet which allows flexibility for rearranging columns and creating subsidiary spreadsheets -- such as sign-in sheets and final attendance reporting.

Activity 4:  Write a memo to your principal, supervisor, department chair, or mentor describing what you now know about mLearning and why incorporating mobile learning will benefit your institution. I wrote a memo to the Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean, and also to my departmental supervisor. Here is the memo:

Date:     November 29, 2011
To:        Bart Finzel, Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean,
             Roger Boleman, Director of Instructional & Media Technologies
From:    Pamela Gades, Instructional Technology Specialist

Purpose of Memo

The purpose of this memo is to share with you my reflections on what I have learned about mLearning and why I think that incorporating mobile learning at UMM will enhance and strengthen our academic mission.

The Beginning

My primary interest in taking this course was to be able to explore how mobile technologies are being used in higher education. Along with that, I was hoping to learn whether student learning can be increased by the use of mobile technologies.

My Quest for Answers

During the course, I experienced first-hand what it was like to use a mobile device as the primary tool for interacting with course materials, students, and instructors in an online course. 

As I had hoped would be included in this course, the second module focused on comparing learning outcomes of mobile education with face to face education. One of the questions asked in this module was, “What might the educational process of curriculum delivery look like in your organization in five years?” Based on the assigned readings and some additional research, I predicted that we will see a paradigm shift in curriculum delivery. The future will be an explosion of learning. We will have instantaneous access to unlimited amounts of information, to a degree that we can’t even fathom now. We will achieve a level of global connectedness that will make learning from one another an integral and seamless part of the curriculum. We will be able to launch apps that have been specifically designed for whatever we need.  Mobile learning takes learning a few steps ahead - wherein learning is not just provided "just-in-time," but it is also "just-enough" and "just-for me.” Apps will trump browser-delivered content. This will have a great impact on curriculum. The phrase, "There's an app for that!" takes on a whole new meaning. So much development today is browser-based. Given that, we still see the number of mobile apps growing exponentially each week.  Have you looked at the iTunes App Store lately, or the Android Market?  We are seeing the tablet scene exploding and smartphone screen sizes are increasing. Manufacturers are realizing that we want a device that we can carry with us at all times, but that still affords a screen size large enough to fit most of our needs. We will leave our laptops at home, or get rid of them altogether.

In another module of the course, I studied the impact of eBooks in higher education. I interviewed our Bookstore manager, Wendy Evink, to find out how eTextbooks have impacted textbook sales at UMM.  She said that they had been selling more and more eTextbooks, but have recently begun a rental program for printed textbooks and because of that, sales are down on eTextbooks. According to Wendy:

•    About 1/3 of the textbooks being sold at the campus bookstore offer an eTextbook option,
•    eTextbook prices are about half the price of new textbooks, and
•    rental textbooks are about 1/4 the price of new textbooks.

While this may be the current trend at UMM, I think it is important that we consider that students are embracing mobile technologies. They will be expecting to download eTextbooks to their mobile devices and publishing companies are increasingly offering eTextbook options, as well as University-wide licensing agreements for eTextbooks.

I learned about instructional strategies and universal access in the sixth module of the course. Universal access is known as the concept of facilitating access to the desired data according to the varying capabilities and characteristics of users (and the devices that are being used to access the data or information). I discovered that it is quite easy to create mobile-friendly course materials.  Most of us know how to create PowerPoint slides, and we do that routinely. But if we now create the slides in a size that is universally friendly to mobile devices (7.3” x 11” or a 2:3 aspect ratio) and save the file as a PDF, we can instantly offer content in mobile format to our students.  Taking this one step further, apps, such as GoodReader, are available for most mobile devices (Android, iPhone, iPad, and Blackberry) and will open and display PDFs beautifully. The iPhone and iPad versions of GoodReader allow us to save the PDF to a special category within iBooks so that the course content would then be “sitting on the bookshelf” ready to read.

One instructional strategy that I would like to share with my colleagues, is the concept of a “flipped classroom.” As I learned in the seventh module of the course, The Flipped Classroom is a new model of teaching in which students watch vodcasts at home and class time is spent in engaging hands-on activities and directed problem solving. One of the greatest benefits of flipping is that overall interaction increases: instructor to student and student to student.  Since the role of the instructor has changed from presenter of content to learning coach, the instructor spends his/her time talking to students.  Instructors are answering questions, working with small groups, and guiding the learning of each student individually.  I have designed a faculty development workshop based on The Flipped Classroom approach.  The workshop topic is, “Using Twitter in the Classroom.”  Workshop attendees will not only be learning about the flipped classroom, but also will learn to use their mobile devices to:  view screencasts, contribute to the course discussion via Twitter, and complete the Google Docs surveys. I have attached the plan for this workshop, to give you further details. [NOTE:  The workshop plan can be found in the Module 7 posting of this blog.]

Finally, I would like to encourage UMM to launch an educational campaign with student groups, perhaps through the Student Activities Office and/or the Residential Life Office on the issue of CyberBullying. In the seventh module of the course, I learned that CyberBullying is a common problem amongst all institutions, K-20. Here is a link to an interview with Shayla Thiel-Stern, a University of Minnesota expert on the cyberbullying crisis:
http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/display/83724

Things I Still Want to Know

Is UMM ready to serve the needs of mobile learners?  Do our faculty members know enough about mobile technologies?  Are they making their course materials easily accessible and available in mobile-friendly formats?

Overall Impact on My Instruction/Training and UMM

The overall impact of what I have learned in this course on my instruction/training and the University of Minnesota, Morris is profoundly positive. I have already been sharing what I have learned with faculty who visited my office for consultation on their courses. Some instructors have modified their syllabi to include information for accessing their courses via mobile devices and I have had opportunities to demonstrate some of the mobile apps that I have discovered through this mLearning course.  I plan to integrate mobile learning concepts and examples throughout all of my upcoming seminars and workshops.  I am also continuing to blog about mLearning in my Instructional Technology Blog and include links to the apps and instructional strategies in the Technology Learning Resources Moodle site.

Thank you for encouraging me to take this course, and for providing the funds and departmental support to make it possible.

Module 7: Mobile Learning in the Real World to Promote Active, Authentic Learning

In this seventh module, we applied best practices of mobile learning for research, communication, collaboration and productivity. We designed and developed instructional activities for mobile learning that guided learners in exploring and utilizing interactive, collaborative tools to develop their higher-order thinking skills and creativity. We also demonstrated ethical use of digital information resources and our understanding of adaptations needed to keep acceptable use policies up to date with mobile learning environments.

Readings

Authentic Learning with Mobile Devices (Activity 2)
  1. Building a Participation Simulation Mobile Learning Environment through Scaffolding Technique

  2. Authentic Mobile Learning in Higher Education

  3. Mobile Learning Innovation: Lookup To Healthcare For Inspiration
Acceptable Use Policies in a Web 2.0 World (Activity 3)
  1. 6 Steps for Rethinking Mobile Learning Devices in Schools

  2. Developing an Acceptable Use Policy for Mobile Phones in Your SchoolTemplate from Australia

  3. Dalbeattie High School Acceptable Use Policy for Mobile Phones

  4. 10 Proven Strategies to Break the Ban and Build Opportunities for Student Learning with Cell Phones
    a collection of ideas each teacher implemented to successfully break and/or work within the ban where they teach in an effort to empower students with the freedom to use their cell phones as personal learning devices.

  5. The Role of Social Media Policies in Business

  6. List of open social media policies by the Social Media Governance.

  7. Framework Crafted for Student Use of Mobile Devices: Education policy center addresses issues around proper and improper use
  8. CoSN: http://www.cosn.org/Default.aspx?TabId=8139

  9. Exploring Mobile Device Security Policies in Higher Education

  10. Social Networking Policies for School employees: http://www.martindale.com/internet-law/article_Fisher-Phillips-LLP_1309406.htm

  11. EdWeek: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2010/08/back-to-school_social-networki.html
    http://communications.leeschools.net/press/2010/August/New%20Social%20Networking%20Guidelines.pdf

  12. Indiana: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28249178/detail.html
     
  13. K12 Online Social Networking Acceptable Use: http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use 

  14. Hudson schools: Facebook and cell phones:  http://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/event/article/id/41986/

  15. UW-M Social Media Policy: http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/socialmediapolicy.cfm

  16. Social Media Governance and Online Database : http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

  17.  Pewaukee School District appropriate use of implementing mobile learning in curriculum.

  18. SUGGESTED STUDENT DISCIPLINE RULES:
    Student Misuse of Electronic Communication Devices in Junior High and High Schools
    Center for Education Policy and Law • University of San Diego
    Short Version
    Long Version

  19. SUGGESTED STUDENT DISCIPLINE RULES:
    Student Misuse of Electronic Communication Devices in Junior High and High Schools
    Center for Education Policy and Law • University of San Diego
    Short Version
    Long Version

Managing Multiple Mobile Devices
  1. Classroom iPod touches: Dos and Don'ts

  2. The iPod Touch: Managing a Classroom Set

  3. Charging, Syncing, and Securing Multiple iPads

  4. www.ipadcart.info, Sync & Charge Unit

  5. Charge Unit w/Case.

Activities

Activity 1:  Select from one of the three options and plan an authentic learning activity that could be used in your educational environment.

Option A - Mobile Learning Tools
  1. Explore Mobile Learning Tools Director. These mobile tools are for working and learning purposes. Note: they are NOT mobile optimized sites but tools to
    m-optimize sites and to run on mobile devices.

  2. Select an application from this list and describe how you would use it to promote active, authentic learning.

Option B – Use of GPS Navigation in an educational environment.
  1. Explore the different possibilities of GPS systems on handheld devices.

  2. If possible, download a GPS navigation system onto your cell phone. For example, Google maps navigation
    1. Windows Mobile GPS and Navigation

    2. PathAway 5 GPS Software for Windows Mobile Devices

    3. GPS Tracker By InstaMapper through Apple iTunes

Option C – Use of Geocaching in an educational environment
  1. Peruse the The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site.  Organize a geocaching activity that could be used in your educational environment.
I chose Option C and created this Geocaching activity:
 
Two problems that could be resolved in a fun way using geocaching:
1) Four new resources have been created by my department at the University of Minnesota campus. There are very few people who know about these new resources. A geocaching exercise would introduce the campus to these new resources:
  1. We recently installed Camtasia Studio on a computer that is located in a research carrel in our campus library. 
  2. We remodeled a storage room in my building so that it could be used as a recording studio for Camtasia Studio and so that Skype or Google Talk users would have a private area to use for job interviews, interviews with experts, and so on.
  3. We created a sound-proof audio recording booth inside one of our large broadcasting studios.
  4. We created a “Telepresence Room in a room that used to be our Interactive Television room (see attached photo).
2) As the technology integration specialist for my campus, this would be a fun way for me to introduce the concept of geocaching. I would offer a hands-on workshop to students, faculty, and staff.  Participants would be separated into groups of 3 or 4 people and sent out to hunt for these new campus resources. Each group would be given a portable GPS (or they could bring their own smartphones, if they had them). At each of the four locations, each group would pick up one token to bring back to me.

For Activity 2, we were assigned to create a participation simulation mobile learning environment and describe the simulation using SPMLE (Scaffolding Participation Simulation Mobile Learning).

Here is my submission:


As an instructional technology/media specialist, I have worked with a professor of History, and her students, for the past two years on group-assigned multimedia video projects. The following is an extension of this project toward a participation simulation mobile learning environment.

SPMLE Lesson Plan – Group Projects and Individual Essasys on Youth in History

1-Initial Process
              Before the Lesson:  Students have been examining youth primarily from the perspective of U.S. history, with occasional comparative examples to help them understand how our own experiences are both similar and different from those of youth in other cultures and at other points in time. The instructor will group the students into groups of four and explain that each group will choose a topic for research and develop a presentation on that topic to be presented to be shared with the class. Via the course Moodle site, the instructor has provided the students with a list of themes (for example, youth and work, or youth and sexuality, or youth and coming of age).  A video review of possible themes is also linked on the Moodle site. Sample projects from previous semesters are made available for viewing via the course site as well. The instructor will also provide information about primary versus secondary research sources.
            The instructor will also explain to the students that they will be working on an individual project (one aspect of the overall group topic that their group focuses on), and each prepare an essay on that topic that is explicitly comparative – they will make a comparison (identify similarities and differences, analyze their possible sources) between their non-US example and the U.S.  For example, if their group focused on the topic of youth and sexuality in a West African society, they might consider an individual project on how sexual coming-of-age is marked in that society and in the U.S.  The individual essays must use evidence from both primary and secondary sources to support a thesis about their individual projects.
            The instructor will provide instructions on downloading and using the Evernote app and the Explain Everything iPad app (and suggest alternatives for other types of mobile devices).

2-Scaffolding Mode
            This takes place after the groups have met and each group has selected their presentation topic and each of the students has selected his/her focused individual topic.  Students begin researching their individual topics and make their notes and resources using Evernote. As their individual topics develop, students share their progress with their group via weekly postings to the Moodle discussion forum. As the group project will result in a video containing narration, photos, images, and text, students will upload these resources to their group’s project folder on the Moodle site.

3-Fading Mode
            Each group will meet online via the Moodle “chat” tool at specified meeting times to begin assembling the multimedia project. This is where each student will be an expert in the topic he/she researched and the group will assemble, write, and narrate the video. The videos will be uploaded to YouTube and the links will be made available on the course Moodle site.  Each student will complete his/her individual essay and submit it via the Moodle Assignment tool.

4-Reflection
            Students will participate in an all-class discussion forum to share their thoughts about the project and discuss problems they encountered and how those problems were resolved.

5-Review
            The instructor and students will view all of the group videos and provide feedback to each group via the Moodle discussion forums.

For Activity 3,  I developed a lesson plan using the Flipped Classroom model. I was instructed to incorporate the podcast, vodcast, or screencast that I developed in Module 5. (My topic screencast was named, "Twitter in the Classroom").  Following is my lesson plan:

Faculty Development Workshop:  A Flipped Classroom Approach
Workshop Topic:  Using Twitter in the Classroom
This is a two-part hands-on workshop for faculty.
Part 1:
In advance of the meeting date for Part 1, faculty participants are instructed to view the following videos:
1)      “Twitter in Plain English” (commoncraft.com)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ddO9idmax0o
2)       “Twitter in the Classroom” Screencast:
http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/html5/135307
Note: This is the Screencast that I created in Module 5 for this course.
3)      “Twitter and TweetDeck 102” by John Stumpenhorst (@stumpteacher)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P8nCl_Db-QI
Along with viewing these three videos, participants will complete a short Google Docs survey about each of the videos. This activity will help them focus on the key concepts in each of the videos.
The Hands-On Workshop – Part 1:
1)      Discussion:  We will discuss the participants’ experiences with viewing the videos, and share results and comments received from each of the Google Docs surveys.
2)      Activity 1:  The facilitator will demonstrate step-by-step, the setting up of an individual Twitter account.  Particpants will follow along at their own workstations to set up their own individual Twitter accounts.
3)      Activity 2:  Participants will practice using Twitter:  a) Tweet about the workshop they are attending; b) Follow one or more of their fellow workshop participants; c) Follow the facilitator; d) Re-Tweet a fellow participant's tweet; e) Search for tweets about a topic of his/her choice
4)      Activity 3:  The facilitator will demonstrate step-by-step, the setting up of a course Twitter account. Participants will follow along at their own workstations to set up their own course Twitter accounts.
Part 2:
In advance of the meeting date for Part 2 of the workshop, faculty participants are instructed to view the following videos:
1)      Paul Anderson’s “Educational Screencasts006:  Twitter in the Classroom”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTZMODNeKyc&feature=player_embedded
2)      “Twitter in the classroom” by Christine Morris. This is a very helpful discussion about one teacher’s experience in setting up and introducing Twitter to her students.
http://vimeo.com/3369021
3)       “Backchanneling with TodaysMeet” (in the classroom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Na_rg6Ok7LM
Along with viewing these three videos, participants will complete a short Google Docs survey about each of the videos. This activity will help them focus on key concepts in each video and prompt them to think about how they might apply the concepts in their own courses.
The Hands-On Workshop – Part 2:
1)      Discussion:  We will discuss the participants’ experiences with viewing the videos, and share results and comments received from each of the Google Docs surveys.
2)      Activity 1:  The facilitator will demonstrate step-by-step, the set-up and use of TweetDeck as a backchannel for in-class discussion by opening a new Twitter discussion (#IMTtwitter) and configuring the TweetDeck screen for optimal use in the classroom. Participants will each use their own mobile device (iPod Touch, iPad, smartphone, or other tablet), or use the training room workstation computers, to participate in a discussion using Twitter.
3)      Activity 2:  The facilitator will demonstrate step-by-step, the use of TodaysMeet as a backchannel for in-class discussion (#IMTtoday). Participants will each use their own mobile device (iPod Touch, iPad, smartphone, or other tablet), or use the training room workstation computers, to participate in a discussion using TodaysMeet.
4)      Activity 3:  Participants will use TweetDeck to access the course they set up in Part 1 and practice configuring the view/layout for optimal display in the classroom.
Assessment:
1)      Observe and interact with participants for instructional and observational purposes throughout both parts of the workshop.
2)      At the end of Part 2, wrap up the workshop by opening a new Twitter discussion topic (#IMTwrapup). Using TweetDeck, solicit feedback on the overall workshop -- the tools used in the workshop, the flipped classroom method, and the participants’ key take-aways (displaying the participants’ tweets as they are responding to these wrap-up questions).

Activity 4 involved reviewing our own organization's acceptable use policy for mobile devices and search for a news article describing how an organization is modernizing its policy to support Web 2.0 and mobile learning technologies.  We posted our findings to the class discussion board.  Here is my posting:

I found this journal article online: “Exploring Mobile Device Security Policies in Higher Education.” (Issues in Information Systems, Volume XI, No. 1, 2010, http://www.iacis.org/iis/2010_iis/Table%20of%20Contents%20No1_files/204-210_LV2010_1470.pdf).

The authors did a study and discovered that, “There does not appear to be a “typical” policy at the present time. In their sample, half of the ten universities’ policies had what the authors considered to be comprehensive policies covering such elements as passwords, anti-virus, encrypting data at rest and in flight, lost device policies and other best practices. They also found that many universities have acceptable use policies for the campus network and Internet, but they do not have a published mobile device security policy in place at the present time.

The article includes a useful table (Table 3) that summarizes various universities’ security policies content.  For example, the table shows that Purdue University’s October 2008 policy includes a fairly thorough list of best practices for mobile devices. “Use of passwords, encryption (both at rest and in flight), what to do if device is lost, wireless access disabled if not in use, confirm before connecting to a network. No mention of remote wipe or virus protection.”
The Acceptable Use Policy for the University of Minnesota does not appear to include a clause regarding remote wiping of a lost mobile device. I think this should be added. When faculty are using their mobile devices to store student data, email messages from students, and student assignments and grades, the capability (and an enforcable policy) seem imperative.

Activity 5 focused on teaching cell phone safety, security, privacy and etiquette. We were to specifically look at policies and strategies that could be implemented in our own organizations to reduce cyber bullying, encourage cell phone etiquette, or enhance security and privacy.

I submitted "A Social Disclaimer for UMM":

I would like to see the following statement (modeled after the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Social Media Disclaimer) added to the policy page for posting to the University of Minnesota, Morris’s social media pages (currently: YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and Twitter):

“While UMM does not regularly review content posted to social media sites, it shall have the right to remove any content for any reason, including but not limited to, content that it deems threatening, profane, obscene, a violation of intellectual property or privacy rights, off-topic, commercial or promotion of organizations or programs not related to or affiliated with the university, or otherwise illegal. We expect participation to maintain a basic level of civility; disagreements are fine, but mutual respect is a must, and profanity or abusive language is out-of-bounds. Users are fully responsible for the content they load on any of UMM’s social media pages.”

In addition to adding a Social Media Disclaimer, the University of Minnesota Morris should begin educating our students about cyberbullying and its effects, perhaps through programs in the dorms.  An interview with Shayla Thiel-Stern, a University of Minnesota expert on the cyberbullying crisis:
http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/display/83724



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Module 6: Instructional Strategies and Accessibility Features for Mobile Learning

In this sixth module, I researched and compared mobile applications that integrate resources for various curriculum and target audiences. I analyzed how to repurpose or complement instructional content and learning activities of various media types via mobile instruction and extend learning opportunities beyond traditional barriers. We applied research-based understanding of learner differences:  culture/race, ability/disability, gender, age, socioeconomic status in delivery of mobile learning instruction for blended learning and self-learning. We also evaluated accessibility features of mobile resources.

Readings


Instructional Strategies & Research
Producing mLearning Content
  • Quick and Simple mLearning Content for the iPhone
    Provides a basic vehicle for creating simple mLearning content, so that you can get started quickly, see what’s possible, understand the pitfalls, and begin to figure out how you might blend mLearning into your existing training or learning strategy. 
Accessibility of Mobile Learning
Mobile Blogging
Videos

How to post to your blog from your mobile phone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSa3a56G3-g&feature=player_embedded#!

“Google Mobile App for iPhone”
Makes searching the web and your contacts faster and easier with features like Google Suggest, My Location, and search history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0YZ4dVpmq1M

Activities

For the first activity in this module, we were assigned to select a mobile application that could be incorporated into our educational/training environment, then evaluate that application using the Evaluation Rubric for iPod Apps.  We also answered the question, "How could this application support differentiating instruction to meet every learner's needs?  The app that I reviewed was ScreenChomp on the iPad. ScreenChomp is a recordable whiteboard.  It allows you to jot your ideas down and share them. It was designed for teachers and students. ScreenChomp records your touchscreen interactions and audio.
Users can write and draw with their finger, draw using twelve different pen colors, and all activity can be easily recorded.  For more advanced users, the recordings can be edited in Camtasia for Mac or Camtasia Studio. The videos produced in ScreenChomp can be downloaded as MP4 files, making them easy to share on ScreenChomp.com, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, Moodle, Blackboard and other video hosting platforms. As the following video states, “ScreenChomp bridges the gap between the problem and getting help.”  Teachers can send tutoring videos home with students.  Students can create videos to present their work or to help another classmate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5__7UMtHyS8
I’d like to demonstrate ScreenChomp for faculty at my University.  It is easy to use, free, and they can encourage their students to use it also. ScreenChomp can be used in a very basic way, such as a simple recording of a drawing.  Intermediate use would include adding audio to the video, and more advanced use would include inserting a background image, rotating the image, and including audio and video.  Users may find it easiest to share the video via email, and others may embed the videos in a Moodle course site or on their blog.

Activity 2 required us to research the topic of a training topic or lesson plan using our mobile devices using Google Mobile.  Then, record audible notes with Google Voice for Mobile.  Then, save the URL to a bookmarking site such as del.icio.us or diigo. Then, post a reflection on the class discussion board describing our experience in conducting research using our mobile devices. 
I used the new Google Voice Search for Android.  My Samsung Epic 4G Galaxy S phone just updated that morning to a newer version of the Android OS.  So, I tried the new voice search that is built-in now.  It is amazing how well the app recognizes my voice! I opened the app and said, "using Twitter in the classroom" and instantly received a list of some recent and relevant links.  I had also downloaded DiigoDroid for Android and all I had to do was hold my finger on the URL and click "Share" and choose Diigo in the list of choices.  I added a brief description and tagged it with "mobile learning."   I agree with others about how difficult it is to read web articles using a small android screen, but on the other hand, it was very easy to "share" the URL to Diigo.  Then, at a later time, when I am sitting at my desktop or laptap, I can read the articles in more detail. While I was in the Diigo screen to bookmark the URLs, I used the voice feature in the description field to add information and tips to myself about the resource being bookmarked.  VERY NICE!  This saved a bunch of typing.

For Activity 3, we all participated by posting to the UW-Stout Mobile Learning Blog
using the BlogPress App from the iTunes Store for iPad or iPhone.  

Activity 4 focused on revamping a face-to-face lesson or online activity for mobile learning. I wrote an action plan describing how the use of mobile learning will strengthen the training activity and help meet the goals and objectives. I described how I would adapt the format of the activity to meet accessibility standards for mobile learning. I lead a 90-minute technology hands-on workshop on screencasting.  The title of this workshop is “YouToo” Can Do Video. In the workshop, participants use Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac to narrate a PowerPoint about the life cycle of a frog. They use a prepared PowerPoint and read from a prepared script.  When the screencast is finished, they upload the MP4 file to the University’s media server and they also learn how to publish to YouTube and Screencast.com, and add a link to the video in Moodle.
I would like to offer an alternative mobile technology project to participants. iPads are gaining in popularity on my campus. Participants will gain hands-on experience using the iPad to create a screencast. They will be able to compare and contrast to the standard (Camtasia/PowerPoint on Mac and PC) projects going on in the workshop. This will allow them to discover the power and capabilities of mobile devices.
For the Mobile Technology Project:  Participants use iPads and the Explain Everything app. The iPads are preloaded with the PowerPoint frog lifecycle slides (which have been imported to Explain Everything). The participants record narration, reading from a prepared script. They then upload the MP4 to YouTube or email the file, and then use the PC or Mac to upload to the University’s media server. Participants also learn how to add a link to the video in Moodle. In both methods described (standard and mobile), workshop participants learn to include the script of the video either as a text file for the University’s media server for linking in Moodle,  or text or formatted closed captions file for YouTube.

Instructions for closed captioning in YouTube can be found here:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=100077
Note:  In YouTube, videos with captions display the small “cc” logo at the bottom of the player.

In Activity 5, we applied QR Codes to our educational environments. I used an Adroid QR reader (Barcode Scanner) and scanned the QR Code provided in the course activity.  I created my own QR Code using the ZXing Project.  My code included my contact information and a link to my Instructional Technology Blog. Here it is: