Learning

at the

Speed

of Mobile

Michael CoghlanVET Development CentreDigital Learning Program

12/11/14

SUB-TOPICS

mobile learning

the mobility of knowledge

multitasking

horizontal and vertical learning

changing role of the educator

OUTCOMES FOR

PARTICIPANTS:

an appreciation of how Internet and mobile

technology has changed the nature of

learning

an appreciation of why lifelong learning is

even more important

ideas on the changing role of institutions

some ideas on how to be an effective

educator in a mobile world

WHAT

IS

THE

SPEED

OF

MOBILE?

What are you thinking of when

you think mobile?

CC image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uscpsc/13104103473/sizes/q/

What are you thinking of when

you think mobile?

Smart Phones

Tablets (ipads, etc)

Apps

Netbooks

Wearable computing? (Google Glass,

POV, Fitbit....)

Drones

???CC image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uscpsc/13104103473/sizes/q/

SOME MIND-NUMBING AND

ALMOST MEANINGLESS NUMBERS

Mobile Learning is more than

Mobile Technology

Stephen Downes on Leonard Low (Uni of Canberra):

“Low clarifies his thoughts on the definition of 'mobile learning', concentrating more on social factors (ubiquity, ease of use, appropriateness of use in public places, cost) rather than on the device itself.”

Low wrote:

“Mobile learning is, after all, about the mobility of learning, and not merely the mobility of technology…but how we achieve that mobility of learning must consider the context of the learning, and not just the use of mobile technology, if it is to achieve its full potential.” (7/3/07)

Trigger Point

Dr Norbert Pachler (Mlearn Conference,

2007): Title: Thinking about the ‘m-’ in

mobile learning (co-authored with Gunther

Kress)

THE WORLD THAT WAS/IS?

Agency has shifted from teacher to

learner; from teaching to learning

Mobility Non-Linearity

“non-linearity is damaging narrative”

The Bugbear of Literacy (Ananda K. Coomaraswamy; 1949) resented the impact of the written word on the oral tradition (and memory)

RELATED TRENDS

The rise of the rock video and the prevalence of rhizomicthinking

The revolution of hyperlinking

Multitasking (‘transmedia navigation’)

RHIZOMIC NATURE OF THE INTERNET

HORIZONTAL

V

VERTICAL

LEARNING

Horizontal Learning (multitasking)

Assignment

SMS

iPhone

Surfing

Watching

video/TV

Vertical Learning (single focus)

Assignment:

What were the

principal

factors that led

to the Indonesian

coup in 1965

and the eventual

downfall of

President Sukarno?

(5000 words)

Horizontal v Vertical Learning

The discerning eteacher:

Acknowledges the nature and influence of

horizontal learning (multitasking)

Knows when to encourage vertical

learning (single focus activity)

Fragmentation lack of shared cultural

experience

IMPACT:

The goal of schools to deliver a standard curriculum with common core values is being subverted > ethical challenge

“…we don’t have a common frame of reference anymore as to what constitutes truth or beauty or logic or anything” (Sessums quoting Kelley, Leyden)

Subcultures (communities of practice, networks); individualised social and cultural experiences; a ‘distributed’ culture that is often transglobal

*‘diversification of cultural expression’; ‘channels’ (subcultures) provided by YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc

Technology ideology (technology has become a social marker)

Skills for success now achievable beyond the walls of education rise in importance of informal learning

*Jenkins et al

New Learning? No - different

conditions and environments

a new habitus of learning (Learning 2.0?)

Despite Prensky’s mantra that Gen Y brains are wired differently, the physiology of learning has not changed

But learning no longer confined to the classroom or working with immediate peers

Teacher no longer the sole source of content

We now have a “decentralisation of resource provision”

the blurring of social and academic spheres of activity

“The whole world has

become curricularised.” (Pachler)

Image courtesy of Nancy White

Shift from broadcast model to student

content creation (user generated content)

IMPLICATIONS:

Not an entirely new idea - Jonassen: Technology as Cognitive Tools: Learners as Designers (circa 1994)

Assumed: students have phones, mp3 players, other media capturing devices; and the skills to use them effectively (see English and Advertising class blog)

These media capturing devices can be used anywhere anytime

Where is the quality control? Who decides what constitutes quality? Is something other than quality now more important? eg engagement, motivation, increased levels of participation?

To what degree should this be allowed? What % of course content should be user-created? Are we talking about (core) units? Electives? Or just for assessment purposes?

Where does user-generated content go? Should it be public? Should schools/colleges have to allow/sanction publishing of course content to public sites? (Media on the Move project)

Emphasis shifts from what you learn to how you learn

Agency is on the learner to turn

information into knowledge

The new model supplies ‘stuff’; not

knowledge, which an individual assembles

according to their own interests

Text WAS knowledge pushed; NOW text

is a resource that learner must make

sense of > self-knowledge

The Nature of Text

Formally, text arrived as a settled, final, coherent body of work from acknowledged expert who was an authoritative source

Contemporary text: contingent, multiple authors (no authoritative source with attendant power); provisional; [wikis, blogs, podcasts]

We are moving from a world of stability > a world of fluidity; from a world of canonicity > a world of provisionality

Mobility =

Mobility = fluidity = negotiation (of meaning) > creation of knowledge

Mobility implies a sense of incompletion

Mobility in the sense that : The individual is always ready to be a ‘learner’ and to

turn the environment into a site for learning. Continually in a state of incompletion and moving towards completion (dynamic); mobile not only physically but conceptually. The whole world has become ‘curricularised.’

Non-linear

narrative

Students

Creating

content

Networks

creating

knowledge

Rhizomic thinking/

multitasking

Knowledge has no endpoint

Informal

learning

Lack of

shared

culture

Decentralised

resources

Agency has shifted from teacher to

learner; from teaching to learning

Please add your thoughts to the wiki page

at http://whereisthem.wikispaces.com/mobilizethis

2012: A Mark Pesce Tale

WHO’S LEARNING ON

MOBILE DEVICES?

laptop

mobile

WHO’S LEARNING ON

MOBILE DEVICES?

IS JIT (Just in Time) the

Answer?

‘PULL’ Technology

CC image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/265279980/sizes/n/

WHAT ARE PEOPLE

LEARNING ON MOBILE

DEVICES?

WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE BE

LEARNING ON MOBILE

DEVICES?

http://flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/1345266896/

WHAT IS THE IMPACT

OF ALL OF THIS?

Courtesy of Greg Whitby

Learning in the 21st Century

“ I have seen predictions that a student doing a 3 year course by 2012 will experience the situation where most of the knowledge they have gained in year one will be completely out of date by the time they finish year 3.”

“…the only sustainable approach…will be to find the learning and teaching strategies which will ensure that people embrace attitudes and behavioursanchored in lifelong learning.”

“It is becoming …an imperative for industry to have staff who are lifelong learners and highly ICT literate.”

Greg Black, CEO, education.au (Campus Review 16/10/07)

**

THE DECLINE OF THE

ORGANISATION

THE RISE OF THE

INDIVIDUAL

Original graphic from Travis Kemp – Uni SA

http://flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/1345266896/

Organisations will need to adapt to the fact that web 2.0 citizens

will enter places of work and learning highly connected to a

network of peers that they rely on for entertainment, mutual

learning, and collaboration. They may expect to be able to make

use of these personal learning and social networks, and the

technologies that make these networks possible, in their places of

work or study. These web 2.0 citizens operate in a world that is

open and mobile, and they are unlikely to accept authority that is

automatically assigned to a position. Their world is flat and devoid

of hierarchy. In a world where information about their areas of

interest or expertise is increasing exponentially they will place

greater store on connected networks, which may extend beyond

classroom or workplace boundaries, and knowing where to get the

knowledge and information they need, is more important than

having that knowledge and information themselves.

How and where do teachers

and students acquire the skills

to operate effectively in this

type of mobile world?

FIRST - HAVE THE

CONVERSATION ABOUT

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT….

Acquiring the Skills

Join an online community or email list

Follow/ask questions/initiate discussions about your interests and needs

Start publishing or tracking blogs, podcasts, online discussions (LinkedIn)

Do an online course in multiliteracy

Create social bookmarking and photosharing accounts

Create media – start simple:

Upload photos to Flickr or Instagram; comment on others’ photos

create Digital Stories (Moviemaker) and upload to YouTube

Use your phone or ipad to make short movies and publish > web

Acquiring the Skills

Search YouTube and other video repositories for educational content and start using it in your teaching

Give in and sign up with Facebook Start communicating with your learners there. And Twitter!

Publish content to the cloud and enjoy accessing it from multiple devices

Throw away your credit cards and use CardStar

Check in to flights using your phone

Place yourself in the new habitus of learning – you need to do it to understand and internalise the power of networks; reading and observing will not achieve this philosophical seachange

And then there’s:

QR Codes

NFC (Near Field Communications)

Location Based Services

IOT (Internet of Things)

AR (Augmented Reality)

But still.....

Adelaide

Advertiser,

Nov 8th, 2014

Whither reflection time?

Resources:

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century; Jenkins et al, 2006

Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0; John Seely Brown, Richard Adler, 2008

Media on the Move; New Practices Project, 2006

URGENT: 21st Century Skills for Educators (and Others) First; George Siemens

Read, Write, Mix, Rip, and… Burn, Baby, Burn: Notes on How Social Media Affects Conventional Teaching and Learning Practices; Christopher Sessums, 2007

Increasing Access Through Mobile Learning, Commonwealth of Learning (various authors; 2014)

Resources:

Ten Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes To Be a More

Successful e-learning Professional – Lisa Neal

Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a

More Successful E-learning Professional – Stephen

Downes

Michael Coghlan

NewLearning

michaelc@chariot.net.au

THANK YOU

This presentation on the web via

http://www.slideshare.net/michaelc/

Add your thoughts to the wiki at

http://whereisthem.wikispaces.com/mobilizethis