ULearn2010: MLearning

Nathan Kerr
Robert Douglas
Dr Noeline Wright

Paper notes handout of slides, etc.  Refer to these.

Vodafone
Strong association with schools
Podcasting to mobiles

What is MLearning?
Any device that allows student to learn any where, any time.
Mobiles
iPods
Netbooks
Laptops
PSP
etc

Encourages sharing of content and product
videos, etc

From notes: Students wanted their mobile devices to be "communications Swiss army knives"
Access
Create
Manipulate
Critique
Publish
Collaborate

Content
Students want both teacher created and student created content, because they want to see the "standard" and variations of that standard.

MLearning encourages collaboration the most.

NZQA
They don't encourage text language (?)
Schools have their own ability to write up their own assessment activities
"If it meets the assessment criteria, why not?"

Further research needed

WordWall
In class response system
Not MLearning, but using a cellphone interface to respond to learning in class.
Can be short or long text, vote, etc.  All entries appear on screen as responding. 
Could this be done with mobiles?  texting in to a forum or collaborative environment?
Deliberate planning and interaction by the teacher is vital.

(Why do the presenters, in order to prove the worth of the experience they are presenting, always choose positive responses from the "bad" kids?  Does that make the response more relevant?)

Mobile devices as computers?
Issues:

Access

Networks

Internet

Budgets

Pedagogically applied technology improves student outcomes.
Capability improving
Usability improving
Cost plummiting

Cloud computing - how does this change the dynamic?

3G data or school wifi?  wifi = 0 cost to the student
But schools need to control and monitor use.

Internal IT support should be pedagogically aware for most effective support and provision

What schools need:
Robust policies for use
Clear communication of policies, possibilities and value to all parties
Include expectations for theft, misuse, abuse

You can't leave them to their own devices
(finally, someone not using PowerPoint)

Planned
Guided
Supported
Linked
Valued

Any where, any time
Easy to access any time, especially outside of specific learning environment/classroom, therefore reinforcing and embedding learning by revisiting and reviewing

Value in videoing teachers creating diagrams/equations/practical processes/sentence structures/etc.
Therefore, should we create podcasts and vodcasts of those learning moments?  Yes.  
In a lesson where you know that skill might need to be taught and retaught several times, get a student to video it and up load it straight away.  Video can then be used where ever, whenever.  

Staff
Pedagogical experience
Technological risk
Learning with studnets
Is digital pedagogy different, really? Then what is pedagogy?  Is learning dependent on environment of learning, or can learning happen anyway?

Does learning need to be fun?  Does fun meaning entertaining?
No
Fun is ... challenging, engaging, critical, new, collaborative.  Not just entertaining

Students still need to be taught how to learn via the technology. Learning to learn via technology.

ULearn 2010: Keynote - Lane Clarke

ThinkBox - Ideasys

Let's read quotes from slides
Predict the future
"you can change today, so you can own tomorrow"... pause...
as if we need to think some more on that

What does it mean to learn?
(this is a room full of educators.  We know all the things learning can be)


Lane's ThinkBox info
The irony of this info is that at the top of the graphic of the box that holds all her tools, Lane has written "think outside the box"


Lane has just suggested that doing "animal projects" with children is not the best way for us to teach them because it is not real world and as adults we don't do animal projects.  Animal projects are real world for kids, because kids are interested in animals.  I think it is the process of doing the "project" that is real world learning... transferable.

Okay, so encourage students to create questions as they are learning, but how are they learning the content in the meantime in order to ask those questions.

So, Lane looked at friends photos two years ago and wasn't interested because she said it wasn't relevant to her.  Then when she wanted to go to those places she wanted to see the photos because they were now relevant.  Yet she started her "lecture" telling us about being life-long learners.  My question is:  If she is a life-long learner, why wasn't she interested two years ago?
Doesn't the term life-long learner imply curiosity and a continuously inquiring mind?


So this is a session on the process of inquiry based learning.
Lots of good practical "tools" for the inquiry process.

However, it is really a promo for her thinkbox products.

Once again, a keynote speaker tell us that this generation will lead change and will be more advanced than ever.  Isn't that the nature of each new generation, since the beginning of time?

ULearn: Cool Stuff

Paul Reynolds - seeking to discover the deeply reflective places (EdTalks)

Vodafone
podcasting to mobiles

ULearn 2010: Keynote - Steve Wheeler

Transformation and Inspiration through Social Media

Teacher is the inspirer, not the social media

P   O   W   E   R   P   O   I   N   T
is so uninteresting!!!!

Trends!!!!
Mobile use!!!
Students have mobiles!!!!

Really???
BORED!


A time of change... when hasn't there been a time of change!  Let's get over it and get on with it.

"Teenagers send text messages and we ban them in schools"  WTF!!

Once again, we are being talked to about the fact that teenagers use mobiles, etc. 
Why can't we move to discussing ways of using the technology effectively?

Where's the TRANSFORMATION?

Where's the INSPIRATION?

If I weren't sitting fourth seat in from the aisle, I would be very tempted to leave.


Natives?  Immigrants?
Teenagers texting? 
How old are this guy's ideas?

ULearn: Game Based Learning

Spending 10000 hours on any one activity makes you an expert. 
Gladwell

Decline in literacy and numeracy, but increase in gaming

Gaming as a context for learning

Breakout wiki

ULearn 2010: Googlefest

http://sites.google.com/a/ptengland.school.nz/googlefest/

How to set up a google account...

How to use various search functions...

* = wildcard

Google as a calculator

World clock = time: london

Weather: christchurch

Google instant

Wonderwheel

Timeline

Images search - use advanced function to determine usage rights.

Google Search Stories

Literacy activity

Research activity

Possibilities

Google Earth Tours:

Fly in and out

upload images - from Picassa

add text comments

Embed video - from Google Video

Add voice comments

...Downloads as kmz(?) file

Use this to plan Classcial Tour 2011!!

Lit Trips - plot places in texts, journeys of characters, texts set by author, by genre or era...

3D Tours in Google Earth

Underwater tours - try California, Great Barrier Reef, Monterey

Google Maps

Tom Barrett in UK

scribblemaps.com does similar to My Maps 

Can export files

Google Alerts

enter search term and define timeliness and get updates

Schools "should" have this set to get what is being said about school

Teacher's Dashboard - brochure

for tracking and easy access of student accounts

example

Student accounts from primary, intermediate to secondary to life...

How does this happen?

export option in the teacher dashboard or do it manually

Reflection:

Teacher Dashboard would be cool as!!!

Alerts would be quite cool too

Earth tours... would be great to have time to do this.

SHE DIDN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT SITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blogs:

And Yet IT Moves

Peter Looms - Leading E-Learning Change

What is E-Learning?

What is the value of using video in learning?

Why do we need to discuss the topic of common technologies and whether they are "designed" for education?  Who cares?  Why aren't we talking about HOW we can use any of the technologies available to us?  From ANY industry or area of society.

Wordle??? NO SHIT!!!!

I am really tired of coming to courses like this and being told a whole lot of stuff about "e-learning" and ICT for learning IN GENERAL!!!

I thought I was coming to this to learn how to approach e-learning change with the people I work with and how we can promote positive benefits of using e-learning strategies and technologies.

This guy is from a university in Denmark.

Why can't we have sessions with school teachers and how this has been addressed and worked for them?

OMG!!!  He just suggested we think about "something called Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats"!!!!!  As if we might not have heard of this cliche and static theory of learning.

He isn't making it relevant either.  More like "ooo I should show I know a bit about education by inserting comments about learning theory... here..."

Kotter's eight change phases

1. establish a sense of urgency = DO IT NOW!!! not next year.....

2. Create a coalition

3. Develop a clear vision

4. Share the vision

5. Empower people to clear obstacles

Money

time

6. Secure short term wins

7. Consolidate and keep moving

8. Anchor the change

Four quadrant expectation management (look up)

Explicit expectations

Internal stakeholders

External stakeholders

Implicit expactations

NABC model

OMG!!!  He just suggested we think about "something called Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats"!!!!!  As if we might not have heard of this cliche and static theory of learning.

He isn't making it relevant either.  More like "ooo I should show I know a bit about education by inserting comments about learning theory... here..."

OMG!! he can't actually answer a question without referring to a previous slide to find the answer.  He just referred to a learning theory based on thinking and he has just shown he cannot think independently for himself.

I also can't think outside of my lesson plan because you just asked something I have planned for this afternoon.   Arrgh! stop thinking so much, I haven't planned to answer that question yet.

I would rather talk about how to go through the process, rather than vague lecturing on the fact that other institutions have gone through the process.  What is the process???!!!!

How do we make it work???!!!

I don't think our school is really that reluctant across the board.  I want to know how we can do it WELL.

I like the idea of the "Lone ranger"
I think people need to be free to explore what works and then bring it to a collective e-learning strategy.  How do we know what to plan to implement if we don't know how the tools can be used and implemented?  Three amigos, baby!

I hate action research!!!!!!!!

I think the point that "podcasts are boring" is dumb.  Make them better! Make them interesting!
They should not be just lecture style lessons.