What Future Mobile Learning Holds for the Foreign Service Officers?

Limin ZhengForeign Service Institute

zhengl@state.gov

Overview

• Mlearning/MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning)

• Current Practice/Types of Content

• The Most Appropriate and Effective Use for Onsite Training Students

• Modes of Production and Delivery

M-Learning/MALL

“Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies. ”

-Wikipedia

Hardware Devices• Cell phone

• Smart Phones/IPod touches/Ipads/Epad

• MP3 Players

• Laptops/Tablet PCs/Netbooks

• Other Portable Media devices

Wide Range of Applications-1

• Vocabulary study – (Pilot program 2004 Japan) Email 100-word English vocabulary

lessons at timed intervals to students to encourage regular study using mobile device. Students who did so learned more than those using same materials delivered on paper.

– Carleton College, USA lending out IPod touches to students in Chinese and French programs to help with their language study. In the Chinese program, the IPod touches were pre-loaded with a popular electronic dictionary In the French program, the students downloaded an electronic flashcard system from the Apple App Store.

Wide Range of Applications-2

• Full foreign language courses– New Oriental Education & Technology Group, teamed up with Nokia,

offers English lessons and test-prep training for the mobile devices. People can purchase a cell phone with educational programs preloaded and also download course materials from websites.

Wide Range of Applications-3

• Collaborative learning -- acquisition of language skills as a result of group interaction – Duke Univ. issued IPods to every student (2004)-language students

hence were able to communicate and learn together: record oral assignments and get feedback from peers, record conversation in target language and share, listen to podcasts and other listening exercises.

– Taiwan’s National Central University—with the help of Student Partner System, students with mobile devices can share information, do reading, and hold discussion without restriction of time and place. Added features such as Campus GPS, camera, and recorder allow students to record the daily life events and share with fellow students.

Wide Range of Applications-4

• Course Management + Cell Phone (mobile) Learning– Large scale project by the Australian government in the teaching and

assessment of spoken language skills using mobile phones Developed a website where students could call in any time to do listening practice, speaking practice, and quizzes. They were also paired up regularly to do role plays together. They could later log on to the website to view instructors’ comments. The students made 15,374 calls, did 882 hours of practice, and did better in their language study than those who did not participate in the project.

What to Offer for Onsite Training Students

• Three Rs—review, refresh, reinforce-without introducing new language materials

• Synchronized and Complimentary to the formal, face-to-face language training

• Short-2/3-minute units so it can be used at the bus stop, waiting room, metro, etc. (Re: Slavin, R. E.: distributed/spaced practice)

• Wide range of content – not limited to listening and flashcards but also reading and grammar reinforcement

• Content-driven Formats—use texts, images, audios, videos, animation-- only when necessary

Modes of Production and Delivery

• Online customer service providing a platform for creating, managing and delivering content.

• Instructor-driven development using Adobe Flash or Apple apps for direct or indirect download

• Repurpose the existing materials for mobile learning

Online platform for creating, managing and delivering content

• Supports a wide range of devices, e.g. (http://www.mlearning.com/cellcast/devices.html)

• Avoids complicated programming and compatibility issues• Costs a bundle • Fear for losing data into the black hole of cyberspace• A few websites specifically related to language learning

http://smart.fm/goals/search?keyword=integrated+chinese

www.webswami.comhttp://www.byki.com/category/Chinese/a

Instructor-Driven Development

• Teachers know the pedagogy and students’ needs• Generation gap• Technology for developing mobile learning content is more

complicated than the desktop applications• FSI practice--Programmers’ role

Technology is Still Developing…..

• Multiple formats and types of devices--Adobe Flash, HTML5, and JavaScript , etc.

• User Unfriendly – BYKI example

Look into the Future

“In five years the typical American diplomat will be fully mobile ….. The diplomat of 2012 will operate on a work schedule spanning many time zones. He or she will be much less focused on working from a specific location and equally comfortable working from home, a hotel, or while on the move.”

--Diplopedia