UNE+Colloquium

UNE Colloquium Notes
=NOTES= Definition : Action Learning (Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt): is learning from concrete experience and critical reflection on that experience, through group discussion, trial and error, discovery and learning from one another.


 * MYLEARNING ** - mobile elearning

8??? years ago - soccer/training - remote use of CD/laptop
 * limited battery life
 * weight
 * Weren't pedagogical reasons for the shift to CD but $$$$s

Now can use the iPad for pedagogical reasons
 * Discreet
 * personal
 * battery life (enable work whole day)
 * range of apps
 * cost of apps
 * wide range of apps at limited $
 * subject orientated apps

Students used to put up with the CD eBook - best of both worlds
 * you have the impression that you are really reading a book
 * fonts are larger
 * can easily bookmark a page
 * there is a light so don't have to have the bedside lamps turned on (waking up other people in room)

Study Materials
 * don't have to open
 * physically dealing with ebook is easier
 * doesn't make students feel like have to print it all out (can annotate materials and have just like book format)
 * can easily annotate - just like paper based product

What is the problem you want to solve?
The introduction of the iPad has brought a new dimension to mLearning. Within the first 59 days of its release, 2 million iPads were sold. With this volume of sales, plus the increasing sophistication and affordability of mobile devices like the iPad, means their use in education is becoming more financially and technically viable. While a burgeoning research base is developing around the application of mobile devices to support student learning, less work has been done on how educators might use mobile devices to support their teaching. This is reflected in the paucity of research in this area of the literature.

Who else has looked at the problem?
There is much research examining factors affecting educators uptake of technology in general. However, what is lacking is the experience of educators using specific types of technology. Mobile learning is a relatively new field and research to date has mainly focused on aspects of the technology itself or student use of the technology. Typically, research is this area has become reductionist in nature - looking at a particular piece of technology performing a particular task with a particular cohort of students. However, a more holistic approach is required with practitioners researching and reporting upon their own practice.

What are your ideas for solving the problem?
Acknowledging the need for a more authentic and realistic approach, the proposed research will use a methodology known as "action learning". In this process, participants study their own actions and experiences as a means of improving their own performance. To this end, the three researchers involved in the study will explore the use of iPads in the management of their own teaching for one semester. The utility of the iPad in activities such as production and distribution of teaching materials; marking and provision of feedback will be explored and reported upon.

How will you explore whether your idea solves the problem in part or in full?
By examining the use of the iPads throughout an entire semester the full cycle of activities associated with the management of teaching will be able to explored and reported upon. The researchers have considerable experience in the application of education technology in general and so reasonably reliable comparisons and assessments will be able to be made between the iPad and the more standard desktop and laptop computers.

Who would you want to know about your solution?
Technology in education has often been referred to as a 'solution in search of a problem'. If the iPad, and related mobile technologies, can be shown to offer positive benefits in the management of teaching then this would be of interest to the entire education sector.