Mobile Learning…

Guest post by Linda. @lindawollan

At the beginning of the year our principal offered  grants for three initiatives in our school proposing  innovative educational programs. With some imagination, our  head of  Learning Resource  Fiona (@fionannbir) proposed the acquisition of  a class set of iPod Touches.  They would allow her to implement an e-reading program in the school, as well as encouraging podcasting and voice recording, especially for second language learning. She was awarded one of the grants and we purchased our first set of iTouches.

On further investigation we’ve realised what rich learning these motivating devices can bring about for children. Fiona and I recently attended the Slide to Learn Mobile Event, put together by teachers from all over Australia who are finding real benefits using these devices in an educational setting. You can meet the team here.

I highly recommend having a look at the site – there are links to live sessions from the conference, as well as people with great information that they willingly share. One of the highlights was an international session with Tony Vincent, whose blog Learning in Hand gives fantastic practical advice. He talked us through creating podcasts and narrated slideshows using the voice memo capability in combination with sites like Posterous.

Further sessions showed how apps like Reel Director and Sonic Pics allow students to be creators of content, rather than consumers. Some schools have decided to go 1:1, with either student or school-owned devices; others have gone down the class set route like us. Either way, there are operational, strategic and technical issues to be addressed.

These are exciting devices which provide another tool to enhance student learning and we’ve taken a small step on our journey.

i love technology!

Yesterday I blogged  ‘I hate technology’.  As predicted by the first comment on that post, today I love technology again!

We recently acquired a set of iPod Touch for classroom use.  As a way to encourage innovation, the principal had offered a $5000 grant for each of 3 projects to enhance student learning.  We put in a submission for a set of iPods and were successful!

They have just been set up and I decided to give them a try today.  The Voice Memo app seemed like a great way to practise second language skills.   For a few dollars each, we have bought tiny microphones like the one in the picture.  The task was to interview a partner in Hebrew,  based on the current topic of study, incorporating newly learned vocabulary. The kids were extremely excited, very little explanation was required and they went off to their corners to record.

Here’s what the students said:

• I never imagined the school would get ipods! (Jay)
• It was fun and a different way of learning. (Lele)
• It was a good way to learn the new words by actually using them, while having fun at the same time. (Tahni)
• When we played it back, we could hear our mistakes and correct them. (Allegra) (That one is my favourite. Ed)

My observations:

• I love the iPods (and Apple in general, I assume) for sheer ease of use.  None of the usual teething problems when trying something new.  No delay for logging in as we have on the school computers. No time was wasted and the task was done really quickly!
• The kids were really engaged and self motivated and had lots of fun learning! I could have packed up and gone home and no-one would have been any the wiser.
• Why would we need to use Audacity for podcasting, unless we want to do something more complicated? This is just so simple. Even non-techy teachers will cope… well, they won’t have to, they can hand over to the students.
• Fiona used the Voice Memo app in the library for some book discussion today and was similarly successful. Kids from both classes were heard continuing to discuss their experiences in the playground at lunchtime. Always a good sign!
• I’m looking forward to using them for other things…  So are the students!
• I predict that mobile devices will be used more and more at schools.  This is technology the students are already comfortable with and extending its application to learning simply makes sense.