Mobile Learning

 Mobile Learning

During every single module of the Teach Now program, there has been an emphasis placed on using technology inside of the classroom and rightfully so. With more and more schools aligning their curriculum with 21^st century skills, using technology is a vital part of being a participant in today’s world.  One particular subset of technology is mobile learning. Mobile learning (mlearning) is defined as any learning that takes place through social interactions using any type of personal electronic device such as a smart phone or tablet (Pandey, 2016).

As a teacher, we must prepare our students for a rapidly changing environment. To be successful, students must be able to keep up with current trends and technology. Another reason teachers should use technology and mlearning in the classroom is because it’s engaging to younger generations. Students no longer learn and connect the way past generations did and that’s okay. However, we can’t continue to learn the way we used to. Teachers must adapt and allow students to learn in ways that are meaningful to them. Teaching kids to learn through mobile devices means they will always have a wealth of knowledge in the palm of their hand. Education shouldn’t be about how much knowledge one can store in their head. It should be about how can one can access information and apply it to a practical setting using critical thinking skills (Sergio, 2016).

Guiding Principles

However, it is no secret that using technology in the classroom can sometimes serve as a distraction for students. TO ensure that meaningful learning is taking place, here is a list of guiding principles to help teachers use mlearning effectively.

·      Incorporate mlearning into your lessons organically to help supplement the SMART objective. Do not introduce mlearning into a lesson just because you want to have a tech component. It should serve a purpose.

·      Make sure students know how to use the technology correctly and have access to it (Teachers should test and practice using the technology themselves before explaining it to the students).

·      Mleanring should not completely replace other types of learning. They should be used simultaneously (or side by side) together.

·      Allow students the freedom to explore mlearning but keep a close eye on them and make sure they keep on track with the objective.

Mobile Activities

Camera: In activity 2, I talked about using the social media app Instagram for an ESL lesson about describing features of a person. This activity could also be used in the classroom without the app. Students could use the camera function to take pictures of their friends and use those pictures to describe them. Using mobile cameras is great for ESL classes because pictures are universal, unlike words.

GPS: In the 5^th grade ESL curriculum in Korea, we have a chapter using directions. Students could use the GPS or map function on their mobile phones to use words such as: turn left, turn right, go straight, it’s next to, it’s behind…

Voice Commands: In ESL, speaking is a practical component that often gets overlooked as textbooks often focus on reading and writing. Using the voice-recording feature, students could record themselves using key expressions and then play it back so that they can listen for mistakes in pronunciation.

Sources

Pandey, Asha. How To Use Social Learning; Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/can-social-learning-spice-existing-learning-strategy 29 July 2016

Sergio, Fabio. 10 Ways Mobile Learning Will Revolutionize Education; Retrieved from http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669896/10-ways-that-mobile-learning-will-revolutionize-education 29 July 2016