Category: mobile Learning Essentials

Mobile Learning Essentials Tutorial Job Search When we say Mobile Learning technologies, it is generally a blanket term which also includes other hand-held devices like MP3 players, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and phablets (a tablet which can also operate as a calling device). The feature that Mobile Learning focuses the most is on providing the learners a flexibility of time and place. The content must be made available for access according to the ease and convenience of the learner. In this tutorial, we will discuss in detail about the benefits of Mobile Learning and how it helps various educational institutions to expand their diverse services. Audience Mobile Learning allows educational institutions to expand their educational services beyond the boundaries of their classrooms right into the reading rooms of their learners. Many institutions are tying up with such platforms that can help provide their content as per the availability of the user. This is also an attractive platform to attract students and teachers towards education. Prerequisites Before proceeding with this tutorial, you are expected to know the basics of social learning and collaborative online efforts. Learning working make money

Mobile Learning Essentials – Quick Guide Mobile Learning Essentials – Introduction Mobile Learning, often shortened as M-learning, is the concept of gaining education on various available contexts by the usage of social media interactions and online content from using portable electronic media. The advantage with this technology is that it doubles up as a convenient form of distance education and also a time managing tool, as students have the option to avail the education at a time of the day as per their liking. When we say M-learning technologies, it is generally a blanket term which also includes other hand-held devices like − MP3 Players Mobile Phones Smartphones Tablets and Phablets (a tablet which can also operate as a calling device) The feature that M-learning focuses the most is on providing the learners a flexibility of time and place. The content must be made available for access according to the ease and convenience of the learner. To achieve this, many mobile tools have been created to engage and assist learners in finding new learning materials and sources. M-learning is the most convenient form of online educational platform today, simply because content can be accessed from any place on demand. Defining Mobile Learning Mobile learning can be defined superficially as a learning pedagogy that involves learning using mobile devices. However, there is more to this than meets the eye. What appears as simply a change of learning method, actually involves multiple learners accessing information stored in one remote server simultaneously and sharing their feedback on it. The devices are just accessories to learning, as classrooms, boards and chalk used to be. The important point here is providing the flexibility and context. For example, an online training session that needs to be attended between 3 and 5 in the afternoon, without any chances of flexi-times, isn’t mobile learning, even if the learner can attend the meeting online via his mobile device. Mobile learning allows for an environment of education that is not possible due to the physical and time-bound restrictions of working in desk jobs. Despite having such tremendous potential to take over standard methods of education, M-learning has very little research to support its claims; two reasons can be attributed to this, which are given below. Reason 1 − One of them being the very feature that gives M-learning its foundation, i.e., the device itself. By the time any research team has adequately held any observation over some period of time, some new device offering new features floods the market and disrupts the available data. Reason 2 − The students and employees are subject to the policies of their institutions or organizations, many of which do not encourage carrying of mobile phones or usage of it within their premises over concerns regarding privacy, protecting confidential details and minimizing distraction at work. Online Learning vs. Mobile Learning vs. Digital Learning vs. e-Learning Online Learning, Mobile Learning, Digital Learning, and e-Learning sound so similar to one another that people feel they are interchangeable terms and people use them so. While certain portions do overlap with one another, there are some distinctions as well. Let us discuss them. Online Learning is used to describe a learning pedagogy engaging both offline and online tools. A good example of this would be a learner reading Geography, and then referring to google maps to understand the concept of scale. e-learning refers to the extensive usage of internet in learning where all access to information needs internet usage and data is shared and accessed online only. Mobile Learning is designed as a “learning on the go” concept, where snippets of information are shared on individual topics as answers to particular questions, which makes it fundamentally different from the holistic approach towards learning that elearning adopts. Digital Learning is basically the combination of all these types of learning. It’s one term that encapsulates offline learning and online learning, so sometimes digital learning is also referred to as “Blended Learning”. Why Mobile Learning? Mobile Learning allows educational institutions to expand their educational services beyond the boundaries of their classrooms right into the reading rooms of their learners. Not only providing content quickly to multiple learners, sharing feedback and editing becomes faster too. M-learning caters to performance support systems as well, as employees can share their work details with their managers, who in turn, suggest changes and offer them alternatives. Many institutions are typing up with such platforms that can help provide their content as per the availability of the user. This is also an attractive platform to attract students and teachers towards education. Mobile Learning Essentials – Myths As with any new technology, there was initially a lot of skepticism regarding M-learning. Some said that it is not a perfect platform, others said that it will encourage distractions, some even suggested that it will reduce attention span and promote intrusive behavior. While some of these concerns might be justified, under specific circumstances, most of the others are not so well-rooted. Let us discuss some of the most common myths surrounding m-learning, and also debunk them − Myth 1: Mobile devices don’t have big enough screens It is true that mobile platforms won’t offer the kind of large screens that desktop computers or laptops offer. However, the more important question here is – do we use the entire laptop screen to read a document? E-book readers have done a marvelous job at debunking the myth that text cannot be read off a mobile screen. In other words, the screens used in mobile learning may not be large, but they are large enough for comfortable viewing and reading. In fact, their smallness is actually a boon, because it allows the learner to access information without additional use of hardware like a mouse and a keyboard or a headphone and webcam for that matter. All it takes is the tip of the finger. Myth 2: Mobile Learning doesn’t have a consistent standard of evaluation Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) had tried

Mobile Learning Essentials – Useful Resources The following resources contain additional information on Mobile Learning Essentials. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this. Useful Video Courses 56 Lectures 8 hours 23 Lectures 2.5 hours 10 Lectures 3 hours 30 Lectures 3 hours 5 Lectures 3 hours 11 Lectures 1.5 hours Learning working make money

Discuss Mobile Learning Essentials When we say Mobile Learning technologies, it is generally a blanket term which also includes other hand-held devices like MP3 players, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and phablets (a tablet which can also operate as a calling device). The feature that Mobile Learning focuses the most is on providing the learners a flexibility of time and place. The content must be made available for access according to the ease and convenience of the learner. In this tutorial, we will discuss in detail about the benefits of Mobile Learning and how it helps various educational institutions to expand their diverse services. Learning working make money

Mobile Learning Essentials – Frameworks Depending on the field in which Mobile Learning is to be implemented, users could choose between many available operational frameworks that have proven useful in boosting learning in many educational institutes. These frameworks are − Behaviorist − This framework promotes learning through changes in individual observation skills. Constructivist − This framework encourages the construction of new ideas and methods. Situated − Culture based education framework. Collaborative − This framework encourages learning through social interaction. Informal and lifelong − This framework supports learning outside curriculum by providing virtual environment. Learning and teaching support − This framework coordinates learners with resources for learning. Many online collaborations see many of these frameworks intermixed with each other during the implementation. Not all of these frameworks are collaborative in nature, although that’s the backbone of mobile learning. Some of them are more oriented towards increasing learning levels through personal observations (behaviorist framework). In these frameworks, the learner is given more inputs through his interaction with the learning software, as compared to his interaction socially. Park’s Pedagogical Framework Park’s (2011) pedagogical framework pitches distance against social activity to understand the meaning of social interaction. It makes a calculation of the amount of time two or more individuals are supposed to interact for a task to be completed successfully. This framework gives academics to plan the learning and teaching strategies for their learner base. Koole’s model for M-learning Pedagogy Koole’s framework uses Venn diagrams to explain the three aspects of M-learning, which are as follows − Learner (L) Society (S) and Device (D). Depending on the overlapping of these three circles, different zones are created. Some of these are − Device Region Learner Region Social Region Device Region Interaction Region Social Region Mobile Region According to Koole, Mobile learning is a combination of interactions between learners, the devices they use for M-learning, and the other people this learner interacts with. Depending on the elements, the areas of involvements are defined. Learning working make money

Mobile Learning Essentials – Role of Context The reason M-learning has become such an exciting area of research is that it provides real time learning solution in concentrated snippets of information. While this in itself is a good working methodology, the contexts in which mobile technology actually becomes fruitful might not be available at all places. Without these contexts and environment, mobile technology will not survive. Imagine a University where there are rigid classroom training hours, fixed curricula, and inflexible routines. Mobile learning won’t survive a semester in this environment. Let us understand the importance of these concepts and how they play such an important role in mobile learning. Changing Contexts Earlier, knowledge was restricted to physical forms such as books and texts. Not only physical boundaries, knowledge was also restricted to space boundaries. Earlier if you needed to learn something new and you didn’t have a book for it, you had to look for it in libraries. With the growth of mobile phones and social networking, that barrier has fallen. Students are no longer dependent on teachers for their information as online communities are fast organizing all relevant information under different categories, which makes collecting information very quick in real time. Understanding Context Sometimes, contexts change within the span of a semester itself. For example, a classroom training session could change to a project work scenario, where every student has to interact with one another and get results, as opposed to the “one-to-many approach” of learning they were being subjected to earlier. Assessment, Feedback and Submission Any learning session should be tested against a fair assessment system. Assessments give a transparent image of what learners have managed to achieve through a learning pedagogy. However, the traditional system of assessments involves making students appear tests, where they fill up questions sets with answers and get marks based on their answers. While this is still the standard in mobile learning technology, what changes is that mobile learning takes away the subjective angle from assessments. Now, students know that their scores and rankings are genuine as there would be no emotional element involved in awarding marks. Also, there will be plenty of time saved by electronic scoring of paper, as compared to the traditional method where an evaluator had to check the answer, decide of the marks, score the answer, and total the final score. Some of such similar advantages are − Instant Feedback Individual and Group Feedback Statement Banks- Minimize Effort Monitor Group Process & Outcomes Transparent Assessment Ease of Sharing Confidential Documents Easy Distribution of Information Faster Process of Scoring More Time for Practice and Feedback Mobile learning also involves learning through quizzes, polls, DIY tasks, submission facilities and methods for students to engage their minds in studies while providing for assistance through online mutual tutors. Learning working make money

Facilitating Mobile Learning Experts in the line of education predict that Mobile learning is going to bring a paradigm shift in education because of the changes in the approach, and incorporation of technology into learning. However, whenever any change of such scale is implemented, many technical and procedural changes are bound to happen. While these changes can still be adjusted to with the passage of time, the cultural changes that mobile learning brings might create some more complex scenarios in the workplace. Identifying Barriers One of the earliest barriers to mobile learning came from academic circles, and within the teaching community. Teachers weren’t too keen on losing the power or authority of being the sole educator in the classroom, whom all students were supposed to look up for knowledge. Suddenly there weren’t teachers teaching, but teachers answering queries. This was a marked difference from the one-to-many approach that the teachers had gotten used to in the many years of their teaching experience. This created an ideological chasm between teachers and the management. While the management was very excited to adopt the new learning methods, so that they can be perceived as a learning institution with an open door policy for education, the teachers were not thrilled at the idea of having to answer queries from different students who has referred to a different source of information. Other barriers include ambiguity on understanding the difference between e-learning and mlearning. While e-learning involves delivering in depth training on a topic, m-learning is designed to provide nuggets of information in real time and in quick bursts of time. More such barriers are − Issues in tracking results in real time and implementation Risk of initial disruption of students’ learning process Different standards, operating systems, and screen Absence of demographic boundary Barriers to mobile learning, as with any change management initiative are heavily contextdependent and will alter in terms of intensity as hardware and software. Finding Enablers As with barriers to mobile learning, there are also positives and enablers to it. The most significant of these enablers is the element of familiarity. Students are already using the same tools for facilitating their learning. These tools are very easy to adapt to and use cloud storage as a basis for data sharing. All the information is always available at the tip of the fingers and takes very less time to be accessed. Learning working make money

M-Learning Platforms Mobile platforms aim to provide a range of choices to the customer to make changes in the product as per his requirement, aesthetic sense and ease of access. Keeping this in mind, majority of mobile platforms come with built-in accessibility features which make it easy for the user to access information as per his requirement and convenience. The multiple ways that mobiles can be personalized involves changing the screen size, the font color, font itself, along with magnifying text and reading background. The vast opportunities of personalization make the learning experience inclusive and customized. Visual Cues To make an M-learning software appeal universally, the makers must keep in consideration that there are many learners who might be hearing impaired. Such people won’t be able to get an audio-based notification that rings in the background of an application they are currently using. In such cases, visual cues are the best way to give a notification to the learner that some important message has been delivered or some area needs to be looked into. It also is a useful feature for people who don’t want constant buzzes or audio notifications to distract them from their work. Customized Reading Tools Nowadays, all M-learning tools have started implementing reading features when a person struggles with text. By using The Reading Feature, the person can listen to the in-built narrator read out lines after lines from the text. People with dyslexia or literacy concerns with, say English, will be able to just listen to the lines and get the meaning all fine. Speech to text readers have been hailed as a breakthrough for visually impaired people, who earlier had to always rely on a physical narrator to read them some text. In addition to these, screen readers and voice command readers have helped people navigate their cars without having to look up locations in a physical map. Developers are working on a speech recognition tool which will provide excellent writing support to writers. Using this software, writers will be able to narrate sentences into the system and the sentences will be recognized by the editor and automatic transcripts of spoken sentences will be made. Not only that, they can also edit the transcripts through verbal commands. This will save them a lot of time as all they have to do now is speak, as compared to what they used to do earlier, i.e. speak into a recording device, transcript it, and then edit it. Learning working make money

Mobile Learning Essentials – Cultural Factors An organizational culture is defined as a collection of thoughts, values and beliefs shared within the organization. With its large, encompassing and far reaching effects, mobile learning can introduce many changes in the organization cultures of an organization. On the plus side, it opens up opportunities for people to explore and bring in new approaches to departments who were working in silos. On the flip side, it could bring about a huge restructuring of the organizations’ culture to include the many points of view that the different remotely working, contract based service providers are catering. In today’s world, every company has to constantly re-invent its working methodology to adapt to the fast changing environment. Companies that weren’t very responsive earlier have been made answerable due to the word of mouth information sharing that is made possible due the use of social media. In today’s time, a company needs to be comfortable with the idea that some of the best thoughts could come from not their managers, but their interns by their questioning the organization’s working methodologies after comparing it with what other companies are doing. Mobile learning will enable them to do this. This helps bridge the gap between the so-called Brains of the Organization and a genuine aspirant, who keeps himself abreast with all the modern changes happening in the real world. The next big idea could come from any managerial or departmental level now, thanks to mobile learning. It helps in keeping the management on its toes in an effort to constantly re-evaluate their roles and their contribution to the organization. These changes happen because mobile learning provides a boundary-less, unrestricted and unregulated access to information. Now, no one can claim monopoly on talent and knowledge. Keeping such a wide perspective in mind, the most important questions that can be asked of mobile learning as a substitute for traditional training in the classroom are − Does mobile learning reduce the interaction time between employees or students? Is this substitution in pedagogy bringing in a positive transformation? Has the mobile learning approach been accepted positively? Is everyone getting equally benefitted from mobile learning? Who is getting marginalized? What will be the ration of positive changes vs. drawbacks of mobile learning in the working environment? Mobile learning can be one of the most effective methods of breaking down the lines of distinction between formal and informal learning. Today, teachers happily don the roles of facilitators and refer students to any one the many instructional videos available online. Let us now understand the difference between – Video, Audio and Text tutorials. Video Tutorials vs Audio Tutorials vs Text Tutorials Where most learners prefer video tutorials over text tutorials because of the illustration-backed understanding that the former provides, many people have started gravitating towards audio tutorials off late, because they feel “disoriented” when referring to video content. They report a high level of distraction and prefer audio learning. Audio enabled eBooks have become a great success in recent times. In the same breath, it has been observed that people prefer interactive online training where they can ask questions any time, much more than going simply going through stock videos. The interesting point here is that this person sitting miles away would be describing a complex concept in simple language, without having a degree on the subject. In this case, it was his explaining powers that held more importance compared to his lack of an academic qualifications. More people can be engaged through this concept which makes the entire effort more collaborative and productive. Not only this, cultural boundaries are broken as different people get to know about one another’s culture and interact with one another. This not only builds a multi-cultural team, but also enhances a mutual tolerance towards different cultures. Cultural sensitivity could be one of mobile learning’s biggest assets. Instead of people working in culturally profiled sub-groups, the entire organization can now work as a huge team. Learning working make money

Mobile Learning Essentials – Case Study2 Educational websites like Edmondo have used social communication and collaboration to provide a seamless online teaching experience to students and teachers in schools. Edmondo allows students to share content, design quizzes and work on assignments together. It also has provisions for teachers to provide real-time online assistance and instant feedback through its tool, Snapshot which provides many assessment tools for teachers, using which they can map the progress of individual students in their class. It has merged with publishers like Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press to provide access to educational content on the Edmondo Platform. Features Virtual whiteboard with infinite pages for collaborating and team-learning Timeless data storage for future references Real-time voice conferencing and chatting Image uploading, multiple color-coding Voice conferencing and chatting Benefits to Teachers/Tutors Edmondo provides opportunities to tutors to hold meeting sessions online and review performances, while providing a platform to share feedback with individuals as well as the entire group of students collectively. Data related to progress and evaluation can be also illustrated using built-in technologies. Benefits to Students The students also have the option to discuss their homework with their tutors, take timely advice and guidance from them, and get feedback through illustrative examples. It also has provisions for sending invitations to teachers to get into a discussion forum and guide students. Learning working make money