Session 7 Activity

1. How should schools take advantage of the affordances of Mobile Learning?
(Neo's share)

The school education usually takes the form of classroom learning/teaching, in which ITC devices can only function as the catalyst of improving education quality. However, if school educators focus more on the students’ final learning result, but not classroom performance, they can provide students many more learning opportunities outside school through mobile learning, and finally improve their school performance.

What the school needs to do is rather simple- to provide students mobile learning material, to make it school policy that teachers should provide relevant mobile learning material in any available courses.

For instance, if a primary school has a sort of astronomy classes that aims at introducing basic concepts of astronomy knowledge to students. In the classroom teaching, teachers could give students specific guides on how to take advantage of the mobile learning resources downloadable online.

At the same time, the school should make all the resources students can easily take advantage of available online. The resources include mp3 file for listening, video for watching, e-book for reading. The videos and e-books file forms should cover all the all students’ devices’ suitable forms.

Just like the above astronomy class, the following resources can be selected as students mobile learning resources:

Reading material: 100 greatest scientific discoveries (Astronomy part)

Video material: 100 greatest discoveries(Astronomy)

Listening material: The mp3 file converted from the above resource

2. Should students be required to carry a mobile device with them at all times?
(Yao’s share)
In this modern society, mobile devices play a very important role in everybody’s life. Many students carry mobile devices with them all the time because of their fascinating functions. Some schools allow students to carry mobile phones to school, and even encourage students to use these hi-tech machines to support teaching and learning; while, some educational institutions ban the use of mobile devices. Our group try to find out the advantages and disadvantages, thus we may know better whether they should carry mobile devices all the time.
Advantages:
1. Better Communication: one of the benefits of allowing mobile devices in schools is that students can communicate with people easily. In emergency situations, mobile phones can be the best tool for students to contact with teachers or parents.
2. Teaching and learning support: many mobile devices are helpful for teaching process. Attractive animation, video clip or other media resources can be played in these devices; students get involved in the learning situation easily. On the other hand, mobile devices support online learning and discussion forum.
Disadvantages:
1. Health effects: electronic radiation from mobile devices may cause health problems. Some researchers say that headaches, cancer, memory loss are likely to occur after a continuous use of mobile phones. The radiations produces by the phones may affect the brain of students.
2. Distraction: students become distracted if they receive incoming calls or messages, and the ringing or vibrating can disrupt class. It is also difficult for teachers to punish students who are texting on the phone since it is always silent.
3. High expense: mobile devices are not so friendly cost as paper or books. Some of them are very expensive, and the new technologies emerge soon, which will make students to pursue new functions all the time.
In conclusion, students should carry mobile devices, but they need to follow certain rules. School leaders need to listen to teachers and staffs and make rules for students on the use of mobile devices. As the development of technology, the rules also need to be changed. Proper administrative management should guarantee the practice of the rules as well.

3.Who should purchase the mobile devices - Education Bureau - School - Parent?

(Penny's share)

It is really a question difficult to answer and an issue hard to solve.

If education bureau is the only one to purchase the mobile devices, it may not have a comprehensive and exact understanding of each school’s specific requirements, which could raise the incorrect allocation or waste of resources.

If schools are encouraged to purchase the mobile devices on themselves, of course, they know clearly about what their teachers need and what their students need, the main problem is not all the schools have the ability (economic and technical) to introduce these devices all by themselves, and apart from the devices, they may need training for the teachers to manage those devices.

Then we talk about parents, the groups closest to students. They may doubt about the value to purchase mobile devices for their children: what are the kids going to use the devices, for learning only, or having some other usages? what if my son play games in his iphone or ipad in class? … Parents may ask themselves so many questions like these; besides, it needs not only one or two dollars to equip their children with modern mobile devices, and such expense could put another financial burden on the parents.

After discussion, we think that these three perspectives could and need get together to deal with the issue of purchasing mobile devices. Education bureau can provide financial and technical support to schools, which enable schools to choose the devices they need and conduct some necessary training for staff. As learning practice should beyond the schoolyard and class time, parents could buy a bit of mobile devices for their children except those have already offered in schools to encourage children study wherever they are and whenever they need. In addition, schools and parents can have communication on the outcomes and behaviours of the students’ learning by mobile devices.

5. How school should respond to digital devices?
(Edward's share)

Schools should start thinking about making use of digital devices for learning and teaching instead of banning the devices. First of all, schools can develop plans for adopting digital devices. It can be done by collecting opinions from different partakers including school management, teachers, students, parents and experts from outside of school. The views from different parties can help to resolve the issues such as suitable types of digital devices, the affordance of those digital devices, the pros and cons of using those devices, etc.

Different parties of schools then need to work on the implementation of the uses of the devices. Schools, in management perspective, need to find funding for purchasing necessary devices if it is not the students who buy the devices. Schools can make a pilot run by implementing the devices in a certain subject or for student of a particular level. Teachers can work on the curriculum and teaching practices so that the use of the devices can be integrated into the curriculum seamlessly. For example, teachers can integrate and design projects in the curriculum so students can make use of the functionality of devices e.g. photo and video taking, audio recording, GPS, web browsing, instant messaging, text messaging, etc. Besides, teachers need to design and prepare the materials for students’ learning e.g. Aris project, Mediascapes, etc.

In the meanwhile, schools should instill responsible uses of devices and technology for students so that students use the technology appropriately. Rules can be set to prevent students from improper use of technology such as inappropriate picture / video taking, inappropriate web sites, etc.