Innovation in Mobile Learning: An International Perspective

Mike SharplesInstitute of Educational

TechnologyThe Open University, UK

Open University UK

• Largest University in the UK• 260,000 students• Modern distance learning• Open access

– Open to all people– Free access to learning materials online– 20 million downloads from iTunesU

Milton Keynes

“Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies”Wikipedia. "Guidelines for learning/teaching/tutoring in a mobile environment". MOBIlearn. October 2003. pp. 6.

Mobile learning

• User centred

• Personal

• Networked

• Portable

• Ubiquitous

• Durable

MobileTechnology

PersonalisedLearning

• Learner centred

• Individualised

• Collaborative

• Situated

• Ubiquitous

• Lifelong

• User centred

• Personal

• Networked

• Portable

• Ubiquitous

• Durable

Mobile Learning

• Learner centred

• Individualised

• Collaborative

• Situated

• Ubiquitous

• Lifelong

What is the difference between these mobile tablet devices?

Dynabook 1974 iPad 2010

“A personal dynamic medium for children of all ages” Learning Research Group, Xerox PARC

Answer: 35 years!

Alan Kay

19741997

2002

20022003

20042006

2008

2010

First phase of mobile learningHandheld in classrooms• Lecture response systems

– since 1947

• Handheld computers in classrooms– Since 1980s

• E-books– since 1990

• Data logging

Focus on handheld technology for formal education and training

Second phase Learning across contexts• Personal learning organisers• Field trips• Museum visits• Bite sized learning• Professional updating• MOBIlearn and M-Learning

European projects

Focus on the mobile learner

Third phaseAmbient learning

• Augmented reality learning

• Learning enhanced physical spaces

Focus on a learning-enabled world

Innovations in mobile learning

From basic technology...

SMS text game for peer education in India

You are in the drop-in centre. There are boxes of condoms and posters for fly-posting. What do you do?

... to advanced technology

Mobilearn international context-aware mLearning platform

MyArtSpace exploratory learning with mobile phones in UK museums

L-Mo adaptive vocabulary learning in Japan

Innovative international m-learning projects

MOBIlearn (www.mobilearn.org)2002-2004

• Funded by the European Commission

• Aim: to develop services for mobile learning outside the classroom

• Scenarios– Art gallery– First aid in workplace– Work-based MBA course

Large scale project

• 24 partner organizations• €7.4 million funding ($10.8 million)• Open web service-based system• Content management• Context awareness• Collaboration• Mobile multimedia• Adaptive interface

OMAF systems architecture for MOBIlearn

Context

In a context

“that which weaves

together”

Source: Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

“that which surrounds us”

Creating a context

Context as a ‘shell’ that surrounds the human user of technology

Context created by the constructive interaction between people and technology

Source: Dourish, P. (2004) What we talk about when we talk about context. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 8 (1): 19-30.

Computer User

Context

Learning in context

Data filtering and integration

Data filtering and integration

Nottingham Castle museum

CAGE system

• Navigation in a conceptual space through physical movement

• Location-based content delivery

• Ultrasound tracking system

• Context awareness:– which painting?– how long?– been there before?

Creating context

Learning as situated social interaction and knowledge construction

• Aim: to connect learning in museums and classrooms

• Enhance museums as sites for authentic inquiry learning

• Learners as investigators• Service on mobile phones and

website for inquiry-led museum learning

MyArtSpace

Create and collect in the museum

View and share in the classroom

Present a personal perspective

Prepare inquiry in the classroom MyArtSpace

Evaluation

• Over 100 school visits• by 3000 children in three museums• Thousands of images and sounds created

by children in the museums and sent to personal websites

• Year-long evaluation from initial design to final deployment

• Observations, interviews, focus groups, surveys

Summary of findings

• The technology worked– Photos, information on exhibits, notes, automatic

sending to website• Students spent longer (90 mins compared to

20 mins)• Supported inquiry learning• Encouraged children to make active choices • Connected school and museum• Need for more teacher preparation• Managing the amount of collected material

back in the classroom

www.ooklnet.com

• Flexibility and mobility in the classroom and outside

• Rich task curriculum– E.g. Exploring science and

ethics

• Breaking down the separate zones of teacher and pupil

• Open (filtered) access to the Web

“My favourite rich task is ‘The Seasons’ because you get to study music, drama and dance every day for a whole term and they are my favourite lessons”Christopher Berry Year 9

Djanogly City AcademyFirst ‘mobile learning school’

Smartphones for language learning

Sharp Labs EuropeUniversity of NottinghamTokushima University, Japan

Incidental second language learning

E-book

Readstory for

vocabulary

Mobile game

Practise sentence

construction

Personal vocabulary

Rehearse vocabulary

list

Selected words

Gamewords

Missingwords

Elmo Mark 2 for smartphones

Research question

Are there differences in the learning of English vocabulary through reading novels, depending on the mode of mobile interaction?

Three modes of interaction• Paper book• e-book reader with English

dictionary• ‘ELMO’: e-book reader with

enhanced software, including adaptive user modelling and additional interactivity

E-book

Elmo adaptive system

Paper book

Participants

• 39 students (24 female, 15 male) aged 15-17 at a Japanese high school

• 3 comparison groups balanced in terms of English vocabulary and gender

Conclusions

• The study was carefully set up and rigorously conducted

• It didn’t show any particular technology to be effective in enhancing incidental learning of English vocabulary

• The technology wasn’t engaging• The books were too difficult and boring• Since the work was not assessed there was

no external motivation• Japanese teenagers have little or no free

time in the evenings

Elmo Mk3 for Android device

Product launch by Sharp in Autumn 2011

Toponimo– Tommy SweeneyContext and social language learning

• See nearby locations (from Google maps API)

• Click on a location

• Read words linked to the location, with definitions

• Add new words

• Change the definition and pronunciation

• Add photo of the word in context

• Share words, definitions, photos, pronunciations

• Rate words for relevancy

Personal Inquiry

• Three year project• University of Nottingham/ Open

University• Aim:

– To help children to engage in effective science inquiries

How can we help children to think, talk and act like good scientists?

Fitness and heartrate

Effect of noise pollution on birds

Healthy eatingMicro-climates

Urban heat islandsFood packaging and decay

Myself My Environment My Community

Personally meaningful investigations

Low cost inquiry toolkit

• Calculator• Timer• Camera• Audio recorder• Accelerometer• Location tracker• Tilt sensor• Communicator• Anemometer!

Lower cost inquiry toolkit

Inquiry Learning Cycle

Based on:

- Previous research on representing the inquiry process

- UK national curriculum language and process for inquiry learning

- Participatory design with science teachers

Record a daily food diary

For each meal – take a photo, describe the meal. Software

computes nutritional content.

Compare to recommended daily intake

Powerful tools to create new inquiries

Median scores of domain knowledge

Personal Inquiry Control0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Pre-testPost-test

Enjoyment of science lessons

Pre-test Post-test22

23

24

25

26

27

28

PI Control

nQuire onlinewww.nquire.org.uk

International collaboration in mobile learning

University of Twente, University of Oslo, Joseph Fourier University, University of Duisburg-Essen, University of Bergen, Fraunhofer IAIS, University of Cyprus, University of Tartu, De Praktijk, Stichting Technasium, ENOVATE, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Växjö University, Sweden, Stanford University,  Intel Research, Pasco, National Geographic Society

Open University, University of Nottingham, ScienceScope, UK research programme in Technology Enhanced Learning