ETEC 565M: Mobile Education
Learning in the Palms of Our Hands
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ETEC 565M: Mobile Education was a course that I had heard nothing but positive comments about from my peers that were participants in the prototype course. I was happy to hear that its success lead it being offered again. And that I was lucky enough to enroll in it during its second offering.
ETEC 565M was a course like none other I had taken. The design of the course encouraged students to explore the affordances mobile devices provide in an educational environment as a platform for delivering the course content. The course forced us to determine if mobile education was accessible, and was able to serve as a printer to share content, our photographs.
The course’s focal point was the use of mobile devices in education. Participants were prompted to research and to share theory and mobile technology applications. The exploratory nature of ETEC 565M contributed to a flexible learning environment that was constructed by the collaborative members of the course community. It was the collaboration process that shaped my learning practice. A practice transformed by the feeling of appreciation as a contributing author of the course content. This was a course in which participants truly received as much from it as they provided. With the instructor having a limited presence, it provided the opportunity those intrinsically motivated to design the course as they saw fit.
The perceived affordances of mobile devices as a learning platform grants the participants the ability to engage in learning wherever they happen to be. A variety of online applications were used and clearly reflected the interest of the individual participants. In an authentic learning environment, a constructivist approach was adopted. As a community of learners we participated in broad-based research generating Open Educational Resources (OER) to share our findings and our experiences with our peers.
The notion of taking education to the mobile platform, allowing students to create and to consume knowledge at any time with their peers is fascinating. The concept of mobile education poses a variety of questions based on digital autonomy and digital citizenship that need to be discussed. While there are a number of affordances offered with mobile education, such as content authorship and ongoing collaboration, there are potential limitations, such as the Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act (FIPPA) in British Columbia and student access. The conversations that transpired in ETEC 565M have supported many of my beliefs, to author content and to engage in discussions should not be limited to a classroom or a computer, connections to learning are often made in the real world and should be shared; and helped me connect my beliefs to mobile education and to further develop them.
ETEC 565M was a course like none other I had taken. The design of the course encouraged students to explore the affordances mobile devices provide in an educational environment as a platform for delivering the course content. The course forced us to determine if mobile education was accessible, and was able to serve as a printer to share content, our photographs.
The course’s focal point was the use of mobile devices in education. Participants were prompted to research and to share theory and mobile technology applications. The exploratory nature of ETEC 565M contributed to a flexible learning environment that was constructed by the collaborative members of the course community. It was the collaboration process that shaped my learning practice. A practice transformed by the feeling of appreciation as a contributing author of the course content. This was a course in which participants truly received as much from it as they provided. With the instructor having a limited presence, it provided the opportunity those intrinsically motivated to design the course as they saw fit.
The perceived affordances of mobile devices as a learning platform grants the participants the ability to engage in learning wherever they happen to be. A variety of online applications were used and clearly reflected the interest of the individual participants. In an authentic learning environment, a constructivist approach was adopted. As a community of learners we participated in broad-based research generating Open Educational Resources (OER) to share our findings and our experiences with our peers.
The notion of taking education to the mobile platform, allowing students to create and to consume knowledge at any time with their peers is fascinating. The concept of mobile education poses a variety of questions based on digital autonomy and digital citizenship that need to be discussed. While there are a number of affordances offered with mobile education, such as content authorship and ongoing collaboration, there are potential limitations, such as the Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act (FIPPA) in British Columbia and student access. The conversations that transpired in ETEC 565M have supported many of my beliefs, to author content and to engage in discussions should not be limited to a classroom or a computer, connections to learning are often made in the real world and should be shared; and helped me connect my beliefs to mobile education and to further develop them.
Open Educational Resource (OER): Virtual Field Trips in Education
As a community of learners we participated in broad-based research generating Open Educational Resources (OER) to share our findings and our experiences with our peers. It was during this assignment that I was inspired to develop an OER for Virtual Field Trips in Education. Technology has enabled the freedom for educators and students to break out of the brick-and-mortar walls. Technology has provided us with the freedom to embarked on the virtual field trips, taking learning to a new level.
As an educator there are a number of obstacles in taking your students on field trips; there are lengthy permission forms, funding for students in low socioeconomic families and budget cuts in schools, time required for organization, among others. It is no longer feasible to take as many field trips as in the past decades. As an educator that loves sharing personal travelling stories and making connections with my travels to the course content Virtual field trips (VTF) offer the chance for my students to share in my experiences.
As an educator there are a number of obstacles in taking your students on field trips; there are lengthy permission forms, funding for students in low socioeconomic families and budget cuts in schools, time required for organization, among others. It is no longer feasible to take as many field trips as in the past decades. As an educator that loves sharing personal travelling stories and making connections with my travels to the course content Virtual field trips (VTF) offer the chance for my students to share in my experiences.
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Virtual Field Trips are a “guided exploration through the world wide web that organizes a collection of pre-screened, thematically based web pages into a structured online learning experience” (Foley, 2003).
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Students are able to engage in a learning process that is supported by constructivist theories and the inquiry-based model. Furthermore, they are able to construct their own knowledge through exploring, researching, and designing. Vygotsky’s “proximal development, which he defined as ‘the distance between actual developmental level as determined through independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers’” (John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996, p. 198). Ultimately the educator is meant to be the tourist guide allowing the students to learn through inquiry and discovery, co-constructing their knowledge with their peers.
It is my hope to develop a component of VTFs within my Science & Technology 11 class this fall. Selecting the right platform for the creation of VTFs is a critical aspect, an incorrect platform would hinder the potential quality. Just as selecting the incorrect printer for photographs would limit the quality of the print. This is where I would encourage a blended-learning model; having students work together in a traditional classroom, exploring out in the city, as well as guiding them through the research process online. Allowing the students to use their mobile devices to create VTFs of their local environment to share with others globally, and in some circumstances share a new location with their peers in class. Students will be supported in the use of a mobile platform to capture and share the VTFs. While selecting a platform they are comfortable using to design it. In using mobile devices as a platform in creating the VTFs they are able to create their own content, capturing images of their environment as they experience it.
Though I love to share my travel experiences and the history I learned along the way, until this OER I did not realize there was such a thing as virtual field trips. I am looking forward to the travel adventures my students take me on.
It is my hope to develop a component of VTFs within my Science & Technology 11 class this fall. Selecting the right platform for the creation of VTFs is a critical aspect, an incorrect platform would hinder the potential quality. Just as selecting the incorrect printer for photographs would limit the quality of the print. This is where I would encourage a blended-learning model; having students work together in a traditional classroom, exploring out in the city, as well as guiding them through the research process online. Allowing the students to use their mobile devices to create VTFs of their local environment to share with others globally, and in some circumstances share a new location with their peers in class. Students will be supported in the use of a mobile platform to capture and share the VTFs. While selecting a platform they are comfortable using to design it. In using mobile devices as a platform in creating the VTFs they are able to create their own content, capturing images of their environment as they experience it.
Though I love to share my travel experiences and the history I learned along the way, until this OER I did not realize there was such a thing as virtual field trips. I am looking forward to the travel adventures my students take me on.
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Analytical Publishing Project: I Remind My Class. Do You?
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Communication is imperative between educators with students and parents. I wanted to focus on communicating with students and parents outside of the classroom using a platform the vast majority of society has readily available. “As a society that predominantly lives with our mobile devices in hand” many of us prefer communication to be quick and to the point (Marsh, 2015k). All too often emails are opened, skimmed, and soon forgotten about. And there aren’t always enough minutes in the day to phone parents to remind them of special events. This is where Remind comes into play. As a tool that I had been using with my classes for nearly two years I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce Remind to my peers during our analytical publishing project.
For the introduction to Remind I had created a YouTube video. During the creation of the video a variety of technological tools were used. The brainstorming and script writing took place in a Google Document. In the midst of writing the script, I had posed a question to my Twitter PLN, how they use Remind, what they like about it, as well as why they chose it over other methods of communication (@DAliceMarsh, 2015j). I wanted to ensure I included their testimonials in the video. After all of the preparation it was time to break down the various pieces of the video. VideoScribe was used to create the introductory scene, as well as highlights of the features Remind offers. Whereas, QuickTime was used to capture the screencast of the demonstration portion of the video. Unfortunately, QuickTime does not allow for screencasting video and audio recording to be completed simultaneously. This meant that the audio recording needed to be completed separately. Since, Remind is intended to be used on a mobile platform, I thought it was important to provide viewers with a demonstration of Remind on a mobile device. To accomplish this I had used Reflector, an application that generates an image of the mobile device that is paired with it. PowerPoint was used to create the rolling credits at the end of the video. Finally, iMovie was used to combine all of the individual components of the video.
With the use of mobile devices as a method of sharing moments in time, just as printing a photograph, it was paramount that I embrace the mobile devices as an educational platform and create a product that could be viewed on them.
For the introduction to Remind I had created a YouTube video. During the creation of the video a variety of technological tools were used. The brainstorming and script writing took place in a Google Document. In the midst of writing the script, I had posed a question to my Twitter PLN, how they use Remind, what they like about it, as well as why they chose it over other methods of communication (@DAliceMarsh, 2015j). I wanted to ensure I included their testimonials in the video. After all of the preparation it was time to break down the various pieces of the video. VideoScribe was used to create the introductory scene, as well as highlights of the features Remind offers. Whereas, QuickTime was used to capture the screencast of the demonstration portion of the video. Unfortunately, QuickTime does not allow for screencasting video and audio recording to be completed simultaneously. This meant that the audio recording needed to be completed separately. Since, Remind is intended to be used on a mobile platform, I thought it was important to provide viewers with a demonstration of Remind on a mobile device. To accomplish this I had used Reflector, an application that generates an image of the mobile device that is paired with it. PowerPoint was used to create the rolling credits at the end of the video. Finally, iMovie was used to combine all of the individual components of the video.
With the use of mobile devices as a method of sharing moments in time, just as printing a photograph, it was paramount that I embrace the mobile devices as an educational platform and create a product that could be viewed on them.
Moveable Feast OER: DIgital Autonomy
"Mobile Autonomy" homepage.
The interactive Wordpress environment for ETEC 565M offered the community the ability to discuss and to address concerns regarding the digital citizenship. Who is responsible for educating the 21st century learner in appropriate online behaviour? These discussions made me contemplate the practices within my own classes as they relate to social responsibility. As social responsibility and digital citizenship are concepts which I attempt to impart on my students, I had chosen this to be an area of focus for the Open Education Resource (OER).
Immediately upon forming the group we held a Google Hangout to solidify our ideas. The focus of our group’s OER was Mobile Autonomy. Each of us played to our strengths and our areas of particular interest. As previously mentioned, my interested laid in digital citizenship. A powerful resource for 21st century educators in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). They have developed a series of standards for students, teachers, and administrators to serve as a guideline in their use of technology (ISTE, 2008). The objective of these standards is to serve as a tool in the evaluation of the skills and knowledge students require to be contributing members of the global community. Each member is responsible to help prepare the students for the digital world in which they live. This includes the guiding students to become respectful members of the digital society (ISTE, 2008).
Throughout the OER our group wanted to ensure that our peers were able to participate in on-going discussion with one another. To allow for interactions among our peers we hosted dedicated discussion forums with specific questions relating to each section of the website. We began our discussion forum by asking a simple, yet loaded, question; “[w]hat is digital autonomy?” This question had set the tone for the in-depth questions that were to follow.
Not only was the intent with our OER to build a site that provoked meaningful conversations, it was to curate resources to help educators with digital autonomy. In previous courses I have created Pinterest boards to share resources with my peers and other educators. Based on the success of social bookmarking in past, this was an idea which I had suggested to the group. Throughout the week of our OER presentation I was responsible for taking the resources shared by our peers in the discussion forums and adding them to the Pinterest board I had created for everyone to access in the future.
The collaborative aspect of the discussions that ensued were filled with meaningful dialogue. Dialogue which allowed connections and transformations to be made, resulting in continuous reflections deepening the understanding of digital autonomy.
Immediately upon forming the group we held a Google Hangout to solidify our ideas. The focus of our group’s OER was Mobile Autonomy. Each of us played to our strengths and our areas of particular interest. As previously mentioned, my interested laid in digital citizenship. A powerful resource for 21st century educators in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). They have developed a series of standards for students, teachers, and administrators to serve as a guideline in their use of technology (ISTE, 2008). The objective of these standards is to serve as a tool in the evaluation of the skills and knowledge students require to be contributing members of the global community. Each member is responsible to help prepare the students for the digital world in which they live. This includes the guiding students to become respectful members of the digital society (ISTE, 2008).
Throughout the OER our group wanted to ensure that our peers were able to participate in on-going discussion with one another. To allow for interactions among our peers we hosted dedicated discussion forums with specific questions relating to each section of the website. We began our discussion forum by asking a simple, yet loaded, question; “[w]hat is digital autonomy?” This question had set the tone for the in-depth questions that were to follow.
Not only was the intent with our OER to build a site that provoked meaningful conversations, it was to curate resources to help educators with digital autonomy. In previous courses I have created Pinterest boards to share resources with my peers and other educators. Based on the success of social bookmarking in past, this was an idea which I had suggested to the group. Throughout the week of our OER presentation I was responsible for taking the resources shared by our peers in the discussion forums and adding them to the Pinterest board I had created for everyone to access in the future.
The collaborative aspect of the discussions that ensued were filled with meaningful dialogue. Dialogue which allowed connections and transformations to be made, resulting in continuous reflections deepening the understanding of digital autonomy.
