M Learning, Simulation/Programming and Playful Learning

Definition of mobile learning

Over the past 5 years there have been wide ranging debates about how to define, precisely, what mobile learning is. The difficulty in reaching a consensus is partially because of the rapid evolution of this as a field, and partially because mobile learning works best when it is a part of something else.

It perhaps best can be defined as:

Any activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting with, or creating information, mediated through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries on a regular basis, has reliable connectivity, and fits in a pocket or purse.

The term covers: learning with portable technologies including but not limited to handheld computers, notebooks and mobile phones. M-learning focuses on the mobility of the learner, interacting with portable technologies, and learning that reflects a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support an increasingly mobile population. There is also a new direction in MLearning that adds mobility of the instructor and includes creation of learning materials "on-the-spot, "in the field. Using mobile tools for creating learning aides and materials becomes an important part of informal learning.
Such hand held devices allow children to record hat they see/hear, using camera, video recorders or audio records, games consoles and GPS devices. Students can benefit from using mobile devices in the classroom to enhance group collaboration among students and instructors.


Applications outdoors could include:


Learning in museums or galleries with handheld or wearable technologies
Learning outdoors, for example on field trips.


Other benefits can include:


Improving levels of literacy, numeracy and participation in education amongst young adults.
Using the communication features of a mobile phone as part of a larger learning activity (e.g.: sending media or texts into a central portfolio, or exporting audio files from a learning platform to your phone).

GAMES BASED LEARNING

The opportunities for children to learn from play is endless and access to numerous computer games has opened up a whole new area of games based learning. Teachers must consider how they too  can incorporate this into the classroom and take advantage of children's capacity to enjoy and indulge in games based activities. At home many have the chance to play on Wii, X box,iphone,home laptops and so forth. 

The following are some of the examples of games that pupils may make use of in the modern primary school classroom.

Wordle

An online tool that generates varying different layouts , fonts and arrangements of words. There is  an endless variety of options of how the words put in can be displayed. This would be a perfect way to get pupils excited and interested in language, words, spelling and so forth.

This without is a fun application and would create a buzz in a class and leave pupils excited about the visual impact of seeing words of all variety.

Voki

Another online tool that gives pupils the chance to create their own talking character. Once again this brings a fun and creative element into the classroom. A voice can be attached to the character and the creative opportunities are endless giving children the chance to express themselves and learn at the same time.

Using Speaking Avatar or Voki for Teaching

A Voki is a talking voice character, a computer-generated version of oneself. The more generic term for a Voki is a speaking avatar, a digital representation of a person or being. Teachers and educators are discovering some of the unique roles these speaking avatars can play in education particularly in the online classroom.

For teachers these speaking avatars can add a more "human" element to the online class website or blog. It is especially useful for those of us who may not be all that great with video taping or vodcasting.

Instructors can use a voki avatar to introduce the course or topics. It can also be used to aid in instructing those who are more audio/visual learners. Voki is also a great way to get shy students involved or to share comments with students in other countries.

One teacher offers her own glowing report of just how useful and effective Voki can be:

Using Voki for oral tests allows the student to hear what I hear. I can’t tell you how many times students would ask, “Why didn’t I make a 100 on my oral test?” I would point out that they mispronounced a word, or said a wrong word and they would reply, “I did?” Using Voki allows the students to hear themselves, as an evaluator, and they can re-record until they’re happy with it, and attach the recording to a Voki, making the assessment creative. Students who use to make low assessment grades on oral tests are making perfect scores taking their oral tests using Voki. Efficient and Proficient!!!!

Dance to Advance

A great game that can be utilised n the classroom. The pupil stands on the dance matt infront of the computer screen and is prompted by whatever questions depending on the lesson directive. It can be played with more than one dancer and other children could be involved too helping out either on the computer or by calling out suggestions. It clearly combines the fun of the physical play with learning.

Features

• Exciting game format engages audio, visual, and kinesthetic learners
• Create stimulating activities using text, sound, and pictures
• Edit and update pre-existing activities
• 1 or 2 player mode
• Customize player experience with a choice of characters, backgrounds, and music
• Select single, multiple, or sequential Dance Mat response types
• 3 rounds of increasing difficulty to challenge students
• High score table
• No additional software required

SPEAKING, LISTENING AND DIGITAL IMAGING

The introduction of ICT into the classroom has allowed a far greater opportunity for 

children to expand learning through the use of webcams, digital video, Talk Time cards and podcasts.

THE PODCAST

The podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically through web syndication. Files are stored locally on the users computer or other device ready for offline use.

A podcast is like a radio show. However, instead of being broadcast live, a podcast is recorded and then distributed over the internet, so that you can listen to it whenever you please. There are thousands of podcasts available, ranging from general interest entertainment shows to those which focus on specific topics (e.g. computers / music / education).

Podcasting is a wonderful way of allowing children to share their work and experiences with a potentially huge audience over the Internet. Schools are increasingly using the internet to promote what they do, and to celebrate the achievements of their children, and podcasting is an excellent way of doing this.

A school podcast can range from a single recorded story which is put onto the school website, to a weekly radio show with music and interviews which visitors can subscribe to using an RSS feed. How you make up your podcast is up to you.

The basic equipment you need is a computer with some kind of recording ability (an internal or external microphone) and some recording software.You can then upload this to your school website.

THE DIGITAL CAMERA IN THE CLASSROOM

Students love taking pictures as much as they love being in them.  They benefit from using digital cameras because they learn first hand the ease and immediacy of using digicams.

Most of my students aren’t aware of the different types of graphics, but they can understand how it’s much more convenient to save pictures onto a disk which can be popped into a disk drive and transferred to a computer right away, as opposed to taking pictures with a regular camera, sending film to be developed, getting the pictures back, and then discovering that half of the pictures they took weren’t usable.  

They also realize that they’re saved the trouble of scanning, saving, and doing a lot of editing of photos, since this is all done on the camera itself.  They also learn that pictures can be easily viewed on a screen or Smart Board, or emailed as attachments.

Using digital photography helps the student become more involved with the subject.  Younger are guided in “deciding” what they will photograph and the purpose behind the project.  Then they are responsible for carrying it out, with my supervision. Older students can decide for themselves what the project will be, and after  approval, they complete it. 


The process becomes a cognitive one as the students reason and plan what pictures to take and why those pictures are needed.  Random snapshots are okay sometimes, but the students quickly learn to be selective when using the camera.
It's also very easy to simply print out pictures onto paper (laser printers do a good job of keeping the pictures clear).  You can purchase actual photographic paper to print on, but for most projects copy paper works just fine.  




TALK TIME CARDS
 

These highly intuitive cards allow pupils to either insert a drawing or photo in a plastic pouch on the front of the card (Mini and A5 sized cards) or use a dry wipe pen to write and draw directly on to the surface of the card (A4 cards). The cards feature a built-in digital sound recording chip, that enables the pupil or teacher to record a brief voice file to describe the drawing on the card, so providing a valuable tool for reinforcing letter; word and shape to sound recognition and number bonding activities. The larger A4 cards are also ideal for creating video or animation storyboards.

DIGITAL VIDEO

Digital video is becoming ubiquitous in all aspects of life. Children and adults are increasingly using video in their leisure time, producing films on all manner of topics which they are then able to publish worldwide. In addition to this, the revised NLS framework puts particular emphasis on the use of digital video and understanding of digital media.

It’s important that the opportunities we provide for pupils in school at least match those that they have at home, but film making can be complicated and time consuming. Many schools do not have access to digital video cameras, or the accessories required to upload their films to the computer.

CASE STUDY

FROM FOUNDATION CLASS IN A LONDON PRIMARY SCHOOL.

The practitioner lacked confidence in using ICT and was initially unsure about how digital video could be used to support assessment practices. However she was prepared to explore the technology and the impact of the project on her use of ICT was probably the greatest, as over a short period of time her increasing confidence in the use of the technology became clearly evident, including sharing her knowledge of how to use the digital movie maker with other teachers at the school.

Following discussion about the possible uses of digital video, the practitioner planned to take clips of identified children and create learning stories for them. Through the clips that were taken the practitioner was able to demonstrate the progress one identified child was making with his increased participation in activities and developing relationships with other children in the setting.

During the course of the project the practitioner, in addition to documenting the learning of one child, took clips and photographs of children in a range of situations and annotated the clips to show evidence for Foundation Stage profiles.

The practitioner found the great benefits of having the digital movie maker in her classroom were that it was easy to use, very accessible and enabled an immediacy to the recording of children’s achievements, as well as enabling her to share clips with them. As a consequence of her involvement in the project, the practitioner, who had previously avoided having an interactive whiteboard in her classroom has now requested the installation of a board, as she can see the benefits that it can have in sharing resources and to children’s learning.

Digital Media and Computer Control across The Classroom

This introduces the concept of a computer and its software as a digital hub for a range of sources of digital media that can be used themselves as tools for teaching and learning in the classroom.

Schools can now use programmable toys to aid teaching and introduce computer technology and its uses to children at a n early stage and in a fun way.

We looked specifically at The Roamer, The Pixie and The Beebot.

Bee-Bot is a visually attractive, audible easily handle able programmable floor robot which can be used to support the development of skills in a wide range of areas. It allows learners to give a range of instructions from simple to more complex. Pupils with SEN could use it to develop one, two and three stage sequences using a variety of activity mats.

The programmable floor robot, the Bee-Bot is a perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming to young children.

It can be used for the development of fine motor skills by using the directional buttons. It can support imaginative play through the use of commercial or school designed covers. It allows learners to demonstrate skills in ways that a traditional approach would not support. A positive ICT resource for early Years.

PIPPIN and PIXIE are programmable vehicles for use in primary schools, nurseries and playgroups. Each is a rectangular box with wheels underneath and a keyboard on top. Children program them to carry out activities such as knocking skittles over or carrying a book across the classroom.

Data Logging Within The Classroom

Data logging is commonly used in scientific experiments and in monitoring systems where there is the need to collect information faster than a human can possibly collect the information and in cases where accuracy is essential. Examples of the types of information a data logging system can collect include temperatures, sound frequencies, vibrations, times, light intensities, electrical currents, pressure and changes in states of matter.

The logging and saving of information provides for increased knowledge and sometimes improved management of how and why different processes work. Many loggers archive information such as temperature using sensors and then convert the information into electrical signals. The data is archived and once retrieved can be filtered and properly understood.

As the stand-alone is specifically designed for data logging it is able process data faster, more efficiently and can have far more sensors than a PC. The information from the stand-alone logger can then be transferred to a personal computer.

Data logging is used in a variety of situtations. An easy example is the black box recorder in an airplane, which gathers information on the plane's flight to be used later. Another is a weather system logger used by meteorologists to detect temperature and pressure in order to determine upcoming weather conditions.

Data logging provides for the gathering of statistics which are used to give a better understanding of the field you are working in. The information is needed in all types of businesses to determine performance, quality, efficiency cost cutting, fuel consumption and many other vital information uses.

Over the years there has been an evolution in data logging and the type of loggers that are used. In the past, the equipment was bulky and mechanical, using huge paper chart recorders. Now, sophisticated computers and microprocessors retrieve the information in far more detail than could have been processed previously.

Loggers are used in everyday life unknowingly by you the public.

The next time that you are in a supermarket and hand over your credit card or store card, a data logging device may track your spending movements by the store. It can assess which items you have bought, how many times a month you buy them and even, how many times you use the store.

In today's society nearly all information from the weather to our shopping habits ends up in a data logger. The information is archived and saved for use at a later date.