Weeks pass through and assignments requires us to be up-to-date. In this matter and situation, time management is the most important element to counter for. Life's getting busier and work loads getting heavier. Back to our task this week, we have to write a journal based on the topic that we have chosen in our first assignment ( think pair and share). So, my partner Josman Ghani and I have chosen the topic-Mobile Learning and our journal entitled " Mobile leaning Revolutionizing Education"
Mobile Learning Revolutionizing Education!
Over the past years, there have been broad discussions about how to define, precisely, what mobile learning is. Based on our research, the best definition comes from the eLearning Guild who defined it as:
“Any activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting with, or creating information, mediated through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries on a regular basis, has reliable connectivity, and fits in a pocket or purse.”
On the shell, mobile learning platform has its advantages. A vast percentage of the population is familiar with the technology required to access mobile learning. Furthermore, students can engage with mobile learning at any time and from any location, thereby overcoming geographic barriers. In this regard, mobile learning is both an accessible and economical option to help educate the students.
As a concept, mobile learning has been around for several years; some companies began delivering information in text format to employees on mobile devices nearly a decade ago. Today, the confluence of device technology, operating systems, content platforms, GPS and Web access - among other factors - has reengaged the minds of the learning community. Morning subway travels can become mini-classrooms; waiting for appointments can be turned into instant tutoring sessions. This is what mobile learning mainly about according to David Wentworth, 2011.
Truth be told, many users would probably admit that they don't use their smartphones for much more than texting, Web surfing, checking e-mail and the occasional actual phone call. More sophisticated users, however, know it is now possible to deliver media rich, interactive learning content to almost any smartphone. This represents an entirely new delivery channel for corporate learning professionals.
Next, we shall see an example of technology being used greatly mainly in sense of mobile learning as our topic goes. This example was taken from Joseph Rene Corbeil and Maria Elena Valdes-Corbeil. The character will be a college student, named Jason.
Jason, a 19-year-old college freshman, woke up early Friday morning to download this week's U.S. History podcast to his iPod. As he got into his car for the one-hour commute to campus, he put on his earbuds and began to listen to his professor's test review session. The lecture ended as he entered the student parking lot.
Before exiting the car, Jason received a text message on his smart phone from Paula, his study partner. She had some questions and wanted to meet up with him in the library before the test. He pulled out his laptop and backpack before locking the car door. By the time he reached the library, Paula was already connected and online at her favorite table. She was busily transferring the professor's lecture notes from the course Web site to her pen drive. "What's the answer to question number three?" she asked as Jason sat down.
"I don't know," he answered; "Why don't you Google it to find out?"
"I've got a better idea," she responded. "Why don't you IM the professor? He's online right now."
Professor Davis was on his way back to his office from Media Services when a familiar chime let him know that someone was IMing him. He pulled out his PDA and read the message. With stylus in hand, he typed the response, "Call me." Ten seconds later, his cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Dr. Davis. Jason and I are in the library and we are having a hard time answering question number three."
"Are you in front of your computer?" Dr. Davis asked.
"Yes, we are."
"Go to this week's lecture notes and review the section on Western Expansion. You'll find what you are looking for there."
"Thanks a lot," Paula answered. "We'll see you in class.
As what we have seen, Jason, as well as most of today’s college-aged students, is a product of advancement in technology. He was raised in this awesome technology kind world and makes use all the mobile devices that he is able to bring into play. This is where the awesomeness of mobile learning comes in. In our opinion, mobile learning will bring a new era of technology in education to our country.
On the other hand, in the past few years, organizations around the world have brought a new idea to the table for educating those who live in poverty: mobile learning. After all, according to the UN, half of the residents in remote areas around the world will own cell phones by 2012. This statistic seems to imply that, for a country like India—in which almost half of its population falls under the World Bank-defined poverty line of $1.25 a day—mobile learning could serve as a viable supplement to education, particularly in rural areas.
Related to that, students should be able first of all to participate in this active learning and teaching process. Likewise, this technology makes us keener to participate actively in our learning process and if we are teacher, we will be more interested to teach our students using the manipulative technology. Later on, we will be looking in deep of mobile devices used in learning and teaching process.
As we all know, the idea of mobile learning had existed for several years ago, in which employers had been delivering information to their employees in text format on their mobile devices. Adding to that, the invention of web access, GPS, email, and etc. had created a new dimension in the area of mobile learning. The learning communities had becoming more flexible in dealing with their studies and educational lifestyle. Many efforts had been done in order to implement mobile leaning in educational area.
Other factors which contributes to mobile learning is the increasing use of wireless, mobile, portable, and handheld devices across every sector of education, and all around the world. One of the most common example is the tutors can add in multimedia files in their lectures and receive instance feedback from their students via through their quizzes and review. As we all know, this is the scenario that our country is having nowadays in conducting learning in a higher educational institute. It is no longer restricted in a classroom environment which involves a face to face interaction between the tutor and the learner.
Furthermore, mobile learning can also helps in the business management sectors, in which it provides the worker with the important information, specification, and the facts about their products. Imagine that you are in a bus, going for a meeting at your workplace and you need to present a product review to your most important customer. Adding to that, you need to seal the deal in order to save the company. Thus you just need to open up your smartphones, PDA, or any other mobile device that enables you to review and re-evaluate the products specification and hence mobile learning have made it easier for you to get ready for the most important meeting that you are having while you are on the go.
One of the most common device that we are having nowadays which incorporates mobile learning is iPad. In some country such as US, this device is changing the classroom education into the digital era where the student is no more relying on a textbook. By using iPad, we are having a more flexible lesson in which the lesson is tightly targeted and structured. This is one of the scenario in which we can see that our world educational system is slowly evolving.
One of the features that make iPad convenience to use is the touch screen usability. This device has extended Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that impersonates human gestures or motion. The touch screen of this device had made the users to easily glance through every application, software and various function without any difficulty. Even children can handle this device without having a hard time getting use to it.
Another feature that makes this device appropriate to be use in class is that it does not support the ability to read information from multiple sources simultaneously on a single screen through windows. This will enables the student to concentrate more on their task and studies without having any interruption from any other application. For example, if the students were asked to do some task at a website, they will not be able to browse to another site without getting notice by their teacher. Thus the teacher will be able to monitor everything that their students do.
Furthermore, the iPad’s Book Reader is the most convenient feature that makes this device popular and very useful for the students in school or other higher educational institutes. The students no longer have to buy the books in a bookstore because they can easily choose their reference book, journal, educational magazine, etc. via online. Hence this have made it easier for the students to look for their information, resources as they does not have to travel far in order to look for a book. Here we can see how far the educational systems have changed from a decade ago.
As a conclusion, we can say that our country is slowly adapting to this new system of education because we are still mainly using the old conventional and traditional system from years ago. The technologies that our world is having nowadays have made it possible for everyone of us to incorporate mobile learning in our studies. However, the mentality of our people is causing it hard for us to use mobile learning in our educational system as we still believe that the most effective ways of learning is through face to face interaction in class. But, all in all we should use any possible ways or methods of learning in our daily life so that we can enhance our performance and thus improve the level of our country’s educational system. It is our hope that in few years to come, we can establish a stable state of educational level, so that we can compete with a modern developing countries and thus building a nation that is respected by the world.
Thank You @ IK
GOD is GREAT! ~
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