Multi-Devices in Mobile Learning
Mynelle Gardner
August 15, 2021
What I Learned: Units 6 and 7
Overview of Unit Six – Open Educational Resources (OERs)
OERs (Open Educational Resources) are scholarly materials, writings that researchers share post and share with others on topic of interest. OERs use has increased since 1980 due to the increase in use of the internet and the World Wide Web and Gopher (Tuomi, I. 2013). OERs provided a more accessible way for scholars to present their works and research to share with others. This accessibility allowed for information to be shared worldwide with all socio-academic entities and provide textual knowledge for those involved with online learning.
Open Educational Resources became widely know due to the UNESCO Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing countries. The development of this forum was inspired by the Open Course – Ware of MIT and initiatives of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching. The UNESCO Forum defined Open Educational Resources as “the open provisions for educational research, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes” (Tuomi, I 2013 p. 60. [UNESCOM 2002, p.24]). This last statement was revised to eliminate the statement about non-commercial and in 2012 the definition was expanded to include non-digital materials. A definition now frequently used provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation states that:
OERs are teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain that have been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use or re- purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming, videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. (Toumi, I. 2013. P. 61).
OERs can also be defined as “accumulated assess that are available in a Nondiscriminatory way to educators, students, and self-learners and education.” (Toumi, I. 2013. p. 61). They can be uses by anyone without limiting or reducing other use of the materials, OERs are public goods. Through the use, OERs can be re-developed, and contributions made to the resource providing more information on the researched materials. This definition for OERs established the divided into four types:
- ORE I Access and Accessibility – the non-discriminatory opportunity for access to those who wish to read and explore the resources. Students may be able to use textbooks at no cost.
- OER II Right and Capability – the resources may be used by students to pass a test or obtain a certificate. It provided the possibility to use the service but excludes any formal recognition of learning.
- OER III Right and Capability to modify and add value to the resource. The user may remix, contextualize resources, and recombine existing resources and benefit from the improvements made to the resources.
- OER IV New Accumulated and Expansionary Resources become exponential, and a new collaborative learning takes place. This type of OER allows for a type of peer-based social learning to occur and focus is on collective construct of knowledge.
OERs shared teaching, learning, and research resources are made available by legally recognized open licenses- free for people to use. They are important because they provide free access to scholarly research, can save instructors time and effort on developing resources, and advance students learning inside and outside the classroom. In addition, OERs can increase collaboration, encourage improved availability of materials, and provide dissemination of best practices.
Creative Commons (https//creativecommons.org) is a good place to get started exploring OERs. It is free and offers easy-to-use copyright licenses that specify which rights to your work you want to keep and those that you waive.
Types of OERs are: Open Courseware, Learning Modules, Open Textbooks, Streaming Videos, Open Access Journals, Online Tutorials, and Digital Learning Objects.
Repositories and Providers of OERs: Creative Commons, Khan Academy, Open course Library, Open Educational Consortium, World Digital Library, UMN Open Textbook Library, and Suny Textbook.
The most significant thing I come away with from this unit is that the use of OERs promotes and encourage people to explore and retain information.
References
Open Educational Resources Roundup Edutopia. George Lucas Foundation.
https//www.edutopia.org/educational-resources-guide
Tuomi, I. European Journal of Education VOL. 48, No, 1 2013: Open educational resources and the transformation of education.
Overview of Unit Seven – Multi Device and Mobile Learning
“Mobile learning is not about mobile devices but about mobile learners” by [ Ed ] is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Mobile learning commonly called M-learning is a way to access learning content by using mobile devices. Mobile Learning helps us to recognize who we are as learner. What we want to learn and how we go about the process of learning. As learners we want the information concise and relevant and an ease of access. The M-learner can access information whenever and wherever they choose if the device is connected to the internet. Mobile learning is revolutionizing the way learners can learn and access information. Mobile is widely used all over the world and is based on the availability of mobile phones and technology ability to motivate students and the freedom and privacy they provide to share information (Mohammed A. & Masadeh, T. International Journal of Higher Education: The Effective of students’ achievement and conversational skills. VOL 5, No 3. 2016 p. 20). As this is growing phenomenon in higher education occurs, educational institutions recognize that they must face the use of mobile devices in the education of today’s learner. These developments had led to increased speed and storage capacity for mobile devices for them to become viable for the learners’ educational endeavors. Instructors must redesign and develop their learning materials to delivered in such a manner to integrate this new type of learning and for it to be an effective method of teaching and learning. The advances being developed and promoted provide not only a communication tool, but also an educational tool for the learners. The mobile device allows for the greater engagement of the learner on their own terms and enhances their exposure to a broader knowledge base. This exposure can happen anytime anywhere for the learner. However, the use of a mobile device requires the user to be aware of its benefits and the specific limitations. Instructors must be aware of the accessibility of the information they design for their students. Are the students able to access it on their mobile device or will specific instructions be needed for them to do so?
M-learning can provide the learner with problem solving in a real-world environment. Mobile devices have the capability of accessing information in the forms of various media; it can capture information by sensors such as microphones, cameras and store them for future use; they can be programed to perform various types of computations and process it to more relevant data; and communicate can take place with others through microblogging, text, VoIP, or IM. The performance of Mobile learning has the capability to support and augment formal learning. Mobile Learning takes away the time and place problems for today’s learner. It appeals to students who can access their information with no time or place constraints. They can access assignments via their mobile device and submitted them the same way. Instructors can upload the assignments or teaching materials, develop collaborative discussions, and provide instantaneous feedback to the student. In addition, instructor are not constrained to one place or time can keep in contact with the students. Instructors must realize that all learning activities must be well designed and capable of being used on a mobile device. The flexibility, cost benefits and effectiveness will advance the potential for the evolving technology to set the stage for Mobile Learning.
References
Quinn, C. 2011. Designing M-Learning: Tapping into the mobile learning revolution for organizational performance. Pfeiffer Essential Tools.
Elfeky, A. & Masadeh, T. International Journal of Higher Education: The effect of mobile learning on students’ achievement and conversational skills. Vol. 5 No. 3; 2016
Personal Reflection on What I Learned and the Impact on My course
Before taking this course, I never looked at my iPhone as an educational tool. It was a means of receiving and making calls, take photos or videos, play a few games, listen to music, or read books. Now I am learning how to design a course to deliver via a mobile device. I acknowledge that I must provide more interactive activities and tailor my content to fit various learning styles. M-Learning provides students with a wider range of instructional media such as videos, infographic which is a visual representation of information or data; it can be a collection of images, charts, minimal text to provide an overview of the topic being covered and audios. No more listening to longwinded lectures. The following site gives an example of an infographic for Early Childhood Education.
https://elearninginfographics.com/far-behind-preschool-infographic/
I would implement infographics to go with the topic because it gives the learners a visual representation of the topic. They would be able to integrate it into their learning and become more engaged in understanding why infant, toddler, preschool education is an essential element in the children success in school. Infographics can be made in Canva, and the pixels are determined by the platform you use. To be effective I will need to shorten some of my course work and add in more videos and tutorials for training purposes along with the content. In addition, the use of weekly Blogs with additional information will aid in retaining content.
I have not been in the classroom or taught for twelve years. The university where I taught had not yet embraced the technology age fully. Eventually, a computer lab for students was developed but it was used more for doing assignments not used in depth for research or learning activities. Mobile devices were not allowed in the room. Students did have access to e books to use outside of the classroom. Therefore, I must develop a whole new format for teaching because it is no longer the lecture, but a more interactive method. A constructive pedagogical approach which is teacher guided but student centered and uses the mobile device to facilitate learning and the students can take more control of their own learning. This whole new method for me is exciting and challenging. I will be able to meet the needs of my students in a more engaging manner.
References
https://elearninginfographics.com/far-behind-preschool-infographic/
https://hurix.com hurix digital: Ten learning Design Techniques for Improved Learner Engagement
Educative Trends In Distance Education 