Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Mobile Learning Technology

“The new educational imperative is to empower people to manage their own learning in a variety of contexts throughout their lifetimes” (Bentley, 1998).  Learning has shifted rapidly in the last decade and wireless devices have become a fundamental tool in students’ educational career.

http://edutechdebate.org/tablet-computers-in-education/assessing-the-impact-of-ipads-on-education-one-year-later/

IPads came to life in 2008 with prices that were more manageable than investing in a laptop or in a PC computer. These small devices are light and easy to carry around and importantly, have a long battery life. They turn on instantly and tend to have a clear and crisp quality display. It has a touch interface that enables the user to move around the monitor/screen very smoothly. Based on the Huffington Post, the sale number of iPads in the second quarter of 2014 was 13.3 million.

The role of iPads in schools has increased in recent years and the ability to use this device in classrooms has transformed the traditional learning process to a more sophisticated approach. Its popularity among teachers and students and particularly in Special Education classes has grown dramatically. With an iPad and an app, a teacher can tailor her students’ lessons based on each student learning style and academic level. In addition, students can make their own movies, ibooks, designs, music and more. Apple offers more than 80,000 app for education to its consumers who can benefit from the wealth of academic information listed on iTunes U prepared by a large number of professors and institutions along with virtual tours, interactive books, podcasts, etc. The possibilities are endless.

For online adult learners, their iPad is an important tool to catch up on reading assignments during lunch break, reply to emails from colleagues or instructors when waiting in line to be served, search online libraries, listen to podcasts, attend a collaborative classroom, take notes and stay inform when I make any changes in the course.


http://education.seattlepi.com/benefits-laptops-students-3053.html

Laptops are portable and lately very light. They are wireless and with the Wi-Fi offered in many places, lifelong learners can access their online classrooms, read their articles, write an email, search websites, and collaborate with their group located nationally or internationally while drinking their morning coffee at Starbucks. In addition, laptops enable students to share notes and interact via emails. This accessibility frees the students to pursue other responsibilities and interests they have to attend to.

Laptops are equipped with software to help students write a document, prepare an excel sheet, create a PowerPoint presentation, search the Internet and more. While collaborating in a group, students can take notes of the meeting and save them for later access to review and comment. According to the National Writing Project, 75 percent of students have improved their writing skills and felt more compelled to edit their work and 70 percent stated that laptops helped them improve their writing skills.

Learning is changing and with all the resources available nowadays, reaching to one’s computer to communicate with co-learners and instructor is just a click away. My students will use their laptops to collaborate on a project using any of the multimedia resources they are familiar with. They will submit their assignments online on the due date. They can communicate with me using the email format or request a Skype meeting.

Reference:

http://education.seattlepi.com/benefits-laptops-students-3053.html

http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/itunes-u/

Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation.Computers & Education, 49(3), 581-596.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Educational Technologies

More and more social networking sites continue on surfacing on the Internet and expanding. With all the emerging technologies, people tend to communicate more through their smart phones and social networking sites than email, snail mail, land phone or face-to-face. This shift is impacting all generations and all disciplines including education.

EbizMBA guide just listed the fifteen social networking sites in 2015 with an estimate of the number of users that affiliate with each site. This list starts off with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, VK, Flickr, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm, Meetme and Classmates.


Ask.fm is a social network with almost a 141 million registered users, 25 billion answers and 49 languages.  It is a global community for friends, family members, and others who can post a question and receive a variety of answers. Also the site allows users to ask a question anonymously. On this site, the main communication and interaction run through the prompts posted by users asking and responding to questions, which allows the freedom of expression. Moreover, users can link their Ask.fm account to their Facebook’s account, Twitter, and/or Vk.com.

From a pedagogical point of view, this site enables adult learners to connect with each other and exchange questions and answers.  This will create a learning community and promote a higher level of critical thinking. Users can block or refuse to receive questions from people they don’t know or would not like to interact with. The site lists and defines its core values, which are :"“Curiosity, Anonymity, Safety, Respect, and Togetherness”.
 


One of the most popular social networks is Facebook. It has the highest number of users. It connects people around the globe and nowadays, it became an important social trend. Due to its popularity, many other websites try to integrate Facebook to bring traffic to their websites.

My first experience with Facebook was during my BA classes when a person from the cohort of twelve volunteered to create a private group on Facebook. She explained that we would be able to stay informed about the weekly assignments, quizzes and exams dates, as well as collaborating within the group and extending help to each other. I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea; however the experience was fruitful. Having our private group on Facebook was easy to access and the collaboration among all of us an amazing learning experience.  This group stayed private until we’ve completed our courses.


Social networks can be used for different purposes, including education. It’s an immediate and fast technology that enables learners to interact virtually, express their needs, exchange ideas and information, and develop new knowledge and skills.

Reference:


http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Multimedia Resources

Staying connected with people around the world has become a normal attribute to one’s daily life. With multimedia resources accessible to every person with an Internet connection, tablet, and smartphone, learning is happening every second that ticks on the clock.


This tool enables the user to collaborate with others virtually via mobile device and/or computer. The possibility of meeting, collaborating, and sharing documents has become a simple task. Adobe Connect users feel comfortable attending and navigating the meeting’s site. There is no need to download additional software as Adobe Flash Player is installed “on virtually all internet-connected computers”.   Other than video conferencing and iclasses, Adobe Connect offers a rich multimedia that enable users and participants to share animated presentations, audio and video as well as images. In addition, it provides security and privacy to its users. Being familiar with Adobe Connect, I have used it for my iclasses where my online students meet with me to share a topic in the French or Spanish language, discuss the current events in some of the countries we are learning about, and much more. I can easily divide my students in groups and set each group in a separate room to collaborate on one topic. Other than working with the students in that virtual classroom, iclass meetings are recorded, and then a link is distributed to all students for viewing if and when they need. Moreover, this tool allows me to record a lesson with any kind of multimedia and send the link to my students to view, comment and reply. 



More universities are implementing multimedia resources in their classrooms and in their online environments. Institutions such as Yale, Stanford and Oxford are connecting their courses’ contents on the iTunes Store. This tool is considered an innovative approach to educators who can design their courses and upload them on iTunes that is hosted by Apple and would be available to one’s learners.  In addition, educators and learners can enrich their knowledge by accessing the 500,000 and more resources on iTunes U, including videos and audio. It is considered “a snap to distribute it to anyone who’s interest in the topic – whether n your class or anywhere in the world”. This is an additional tool that I can easily implement in my teaching and many of my learners will have access to it. Moreover, learning from other educators in the field will allow me to evaluate some of my curriculum design to benefit my learners.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Effects of Emerging Technology on Education

Over the last couple decades, technology has wildly spread and invaded businesses, educational institutions, homes and even individuals. Nowadays, almost each family member has a smart phone, a tablet, and a PC. Education is one of the disciplines that has been impacted by technology. "Education apps are the second-most downloaded in iTunes of all categories, surpassing both entertainment and business apps in popularity" (Innovative Excellence).

Some of the emerging technologies are:

http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/technology_paper_2010.pdf

1) Google Docs is a Web-based technology that is easy to apply in adult education, in both traditional and online settings. Its platform is simple and provides the user (instructor and students) with tools to write documents, format them, add images as well as prepare presentations, share, edit and leave comments on each other's assignments. It is free and does not require storage on one's hard drive. In addition, Google Docs can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. It promotes collaborative work within a learning community, between instructors and colleagues, instructors and students, students and co-learners. With this tool, team members can easily discuss and work collaboratively. For instructors, Google Docs keeps track of records, helps in creating assessments and sent them to the learners.

http://cet.usc.edu/resources/events/12_3-9_game-based_learning.html

2) Game-based Learning is an innovative approach that engages adult learners in different contexts. It promotes collaboration, communication and problem-solving which develops an immediate interaction and feedback.