Handheld and Mobile Technologies, Fall, 2007
Coordinators: Shawn Lennie & Xiang Cao
Dates of activity: October 24, 2007
Overview/Summary of our approach
Our goal is to explore the use of handhelds as a tool for knowledge retrieval and development from an experiential perspective. Ideally we are hoping that the pre-class activities will provide people with an opportunity to use a variety of handheld devices to retrieve/develop knowledge that is meaningful for them. It is hoped that these experiences will serve as the foundation of our in class discussions on our topic.
We will also demonstrate and discuss other possibilities of mobile learning, and finally the in-class activity will simulate a field trip enhanced by mobile devices, hoping to inspire our classmates' interest and creative insights.
Pre-class activities
Readings
Two insightful speculations of how handheld devices can be used to enhance mobile learning experience, in a museum or in classrooms:
- Bannasch, S. (1999) The Electronic Curator: Using a Handheld Computer at the Exploratorium. The Concord Consortium Newsletter, Fall.
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/1999fall/electronic-curator.html - Prensky, M. (2005) Engage me or Enrage me; What todays Learners Demand. Educase Review, Fall.
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0553.pdf
"Homework"
Site Visit:
Summary: The purpose of this portion of the homework is to gain experience using a mobile device to gather information about a specific location. We would like you to choose a place that is interesting/appealing/meaningful for you to visit (besides your home or workplace). Once you have chosen a place please do the following:
- Go visit your place and take a mobile device (cell phone, PDA, laptop, mp3player, digital camera ... or even just a tape recorder) with you.
- Try to acquire some knowledge that you don't already know about the place using the mobile device there. This does not have to be through the internet, e.g. using your cell phone to call up somebody also counts. If you cannot get a connection on the spot, you may also try pre-loading some information onto your device at home, and consume it on the spot. (ie: if you go to a restaurant you can look up it's history or menu)
- Capture some of your experience on the spot using your mobile device, e.g. take a photo, record some sound, or even just write a few sentences or draw a sketch. Remember: Creativity is its own reward!
Share some of your knowledge and experiences at: Mobile Device Experiences.
In-class activity
Mini Field Trip
We will split into several groups, each going on a mini "field trip" in the Bahen building with a (or several) wireless-network-capable mobile device. Each group will be given a web page telling them the directions to the 1st destination (step). Once they get there, click on the "next step" link on the page will show them the direction of next step, and so on, until they visited all destinations. At each destination, they will also have a web link that provides additional knowledge about the place or objects there. The groups are encouraged to capture their experience both at the destination and en route using the mobile device. After groups returned, we will exchange our experience and knowledge facilitated by the mobile devices.
Click the links below for the directions for each group:
Discussion
- What are the unique properties/experiences of learning facilitated by mobile/handheld devices?
- How do different device capabilities and information format affect people's mobile learning experience?
- How can we design mobile learning experiences for different audiences (K-12, seniors, professionals...)?
- What are the overall benefits of using handhelds to consume and generate knowledge?
- What are the overall limitations of using handhelds to consumer and generate knowledge?
- What are the potential consequences of using handhelds in an educational setting? (foreseeable/unforeseeable)
Additional resources
- Handheld and mobile devices literature list
http://scienceview.berkeley.edu/research/handheld/ - Handheld projector demo video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-AJnLMzE0k - Handheld as a field guide
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2002winter/monday_lesson.html - iphone will change the world (commercials about the potential uses of iphone)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ - Speak and Spell: A handheld learning device from the 1980's
http://www.speaknspell.co.uk/ - Speak and Math: The math version of Speak and Spell from the eyes of Flicker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petromyzon/23406830/in/set-538195/ - Handhelds and Ubiquitous Learning: A Harvard Study
http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/whd-overview.htm - Wikipedia history of the mobile device
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant - Mobility and mobile learning
http://www.educause.edu/MobilityandMobileLearning/5527
- Palm PDAs in Education (high school project in Manitoba, Canada)
Garden Valley Collegiate High School (Manitoba, Canada) is pioneering the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in an educational setting. Its innovative project is the first of its kind in Canada, and focuses on the usefulness of PDAs to students in addition to their use by teachers and administrators. The primary goal of this project is to explore the use of PDAs as a learning tool. Students are able to take and share notes and assignment details, and the school is finding that PDAs expand possibilities in the area of collaborative learning. Additionally, students are learning to use PDAs as a personal organizational tool. The project is also seeking to sustain the integration of technology in education, especially given the events of the last decade, in which computer labs have reduced the amount of multi-use classroom space available in schools. The portability and flexibility of the PDA allow for the use of this technology in any classroom. Annual reports from the project are included on the project web site.
http://gvc.gvsd.mb.ca/pda/pdamain.htm
Evaluation
How do we feel it went?
What worked?
What didn't work?
What ideas would we have incorporated had we thought of them beforehand?
Comments (4)
Oct 20, 2007
Andrew Clarke says:
The Bannasch article has an interesting description of how handheld devices coul...The Bannasch article has an interesting description of how handheld devices could be used to facilitate two different types of educational experiences. But man, does it ever seem out of date in 2007! Is there nothing more up to date on this subject, and how it has evolved in the past eight years? Many of the things on Bannasch's wish list are now real and available, or else have been supplanted by better technologies that Bannasch didn't envision.
Oct 20, 2007
Andrew Clarke says:
Our attention seems to be on "handheld devices" as cell phones, and other WAN co...Our attention seems to be on "handheld devices" as cell phones, and other WAN connected things. I think we shouldn't overlook other types of handheld devices that are gaining traction in education. We don't have to go any farther afield than U of T for this. The iClicker is used in some applied science courses, I think. Seems to me that this would qualify as a handheld device that could have some transformative power in a variety of educational contexts. It also seems quite a bit simpler for a lot of traditional, lecture-based classrooms to adopt than some of the other technologies we're discussing.
Oct 20, 2007
Andrew Clarke says:
I just noticed that you can't edit comments once you post them. That's kind of ...I just noticed that you can't edit comments once you post them. That's kind of weird. Anyhow, here's the link to the bookstore listing for the applied science class at U of T that is using the iClicker.
Oct 20, 2007
Andrew Clarke says:
Wow, Xiang, that handheld projector thing is the COOLEST! I'm completely blown ...Wow, Xiang, that handheld projector thing is the COOLEST! I'm completely blown away. Utterly awesome. My head is spinning with all the possibilities.