como: supporting collaborative groupwork using mobile phones in distant education -cde conference...
TRANSCRIPT
CoMo: Supporting collaborative group work using mobile phones in
distance education
Niall WintersLondon Knowledge Lab
CDE Conference, 9th February 2009 Brunei Gallery, London
Taken from: Magdalena Jara and Fitri Mohamad (2007) Pedagogical templates for e-learning, WLE Occasional Paper: http://is.gd/iwcu
‘Modes’ of learning
Audience for this research
Audience for this research
• Those designing a course – With a ‘hands-on’ element– That uses a combination of distance and f2f
engagement with students– Where collaborative work around boundary
objects occurs
The CoMo project
• 1-year, CDE funded– Yishay Mor and Natasha Lackovic
• Context– 4th and 5th year students @ Royal Veterinary College– Rotations– Use of mobile phones to support groupwork
• Experience from the RVC’s myPad project
Critique
• Mobile learning has failed to adequately exploit “the social practices by which [the] new affordances [of mobile devices] become powerful educational interventions” (Roschelle, 2003)
• Roschelle, J. (2003) Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices, JCAL, 19(3), 260-272
• Argue: applies even more so today
Fifth generation distance education, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government, http://is.gd/iuip
Web 2.0 short-hand definition
“[T]he design of systems that get better the more people use them.”
–Tim O’Reilly
For more see: A quick guide to web 2.0
7 steps1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Review: techno-pedagogic understanding
Observe: an ethnographic study of the context of learning
Identify gaps that can be addressed with the technology
Blend: consider how the new technology, and any new practices derived from it, would fit in with the existing context
Develop scenarios, addressing concerns
Deploy and enhance
Challenge with new possibilities
p1
tt/ee
p2
• P1 is a practical problem: “When is tieback surgery in dogs appropriate?”• TT/EE represents a critique of tentative solutions to the problem. • It is often the case that further problems will emerge from this critique and discussion of the solution; these are denoted by P2 and the process beings again
(Chiptin, 2006)
Capture – Visualise – Discuss and Reflect
Student use
• Social: social relationships between student are an important support framework
• Memory jog: snapshots of key incidents facilitated group reflection
• Clinical subjects and procedures were documented for discussion
• Temporal analysis: students documented case progression over time, evening days
Outcomes
• Mobile learning as an intervention supported knowledge construction by the learner– Embedded in an existing infrastructure and learning ecosystem:
the mobile phone is both an additional tool for the student and part of a ‘family’ of technologies used by the RVC
– Learning activities need to be designed for embedding in this ecosystem
• Types of representation provided by the devices– Images collected by students supported tutors’ approaches to
problem-based learning. They were a bridge between the abstract nature of what was in the students’ textbooks and they way cases presented when they arrived at the hospital.
• A window for the tutors on what student were focusing on
Future research agenda
• Effective pedagogic design of learning experiences for mobile web 2.0– CoMo as an exemplar
• Challenge to the notion of distance learning– How can multiple contexts be designed for?– Potential for larger-scale learning than before– Location-based information (e.g. Google Latitude)
• Support lightweight interaction between students (e.g. twitter, presence)
Acknowledgements
• Kim Whittlestone, Senior Lecturer in Independent Learning,
• Dr. Matthew Pead, Senior Lecturer in Orthopaedic Surgery and Head of the Small Animal Medicine and Surgery Group,
• Arthur House, European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery and Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery
• Richard Coe, European Veterinary Specialist in Surgery and Temporary Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery
• All our student participants
Contact details
• Email: [email protected] • Twitter: @nwin • Blog: http://niallw.wordpress.com
Thank you.