Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

As things have been a little quiet on the Forum, an idea that came from Jon Trinder (JonT) was to have a regular discussion about a subject that can be posed to the Forum. This would hopefully get people talking and sharing ideas while building the community spirit.

This, of course, doesn't mean that you can't post discussion topics whenever you feel the need (actually please do!!!!), it's just that sometimes it may be good to have a topic that all members are cordially invited for their input. Also by having the admin (that's me folks!) post and circulate it a subject can be posed for discussion without being attributed to a particular member (if requested). So if you'd like to pose a topic discussion then please just email me with it directly and I'll circulate it to the members and if you'd like to remain anonymous then that's how it will be.

So let's try this idea and see if we can get some really good discussions going!

The first topic has been suggested by the people at NESTA Futurelab (http://www.nestafuturelab.org/) who are involved in educational technology research and have held some thought provoking workshops on handheld computers.

The question is:

What is the educational toolset needed to make handheld computers a truly useful resource for learning?

things are remarkably quiet here.......

Anyway to the question....

I think it depends on whether the device is owned and kept by students or just loaned to them. Loaning a device changes a PDA from a Personal Digital Assistant to a merely Portable Digital Assistant.

I believe the real benefit of a PDA for any purpose is realised when a user actually owns it, so they really "buy into" the device. Its then worth their while customising/personalising the device to suit their purpose. A PDA becomes truly useful when someone has at least one application on the device that they find useful:-) Hmm direct and indirect benefits...........

Hmm centralised control of PDAs.

The less institutional influence the better. Too many people talk in terms of deciding whether their organisation should use one platform or another, once again missing the point that these devices are personal, like the choice of car/breakfast/pen/wallet/.
Ive tried using monitoring/logging software on PDAs to evaluate their use and in spite of the minimal data logged. (application name and time it was launched) even that causes some paranoia. Actual centralised control could take away the "personalness" of the device. However the ability to possibly beam back results to the tutor, from simple quizzes/formative assessment etc can be useful.

Jon, I think it's quiet because everyone has an answer but because this is going to $trillion market in a few years everyone's keeping schtum!!   

Well, I was going wait before wading in but...

Thinking about schools I'm envisaging a handheld computer per child world. The PDA as we all know is/was intended to be a business device which is why it has all those calender and PIM functions plus connectivity to email and Microsoft Office type applications. It only becomes an educational device when we add appropriate software applications to it, i.e. the toolset that the Futurelab question alludes to.

So I guess another way of phrasing this question is what collection of software can transform a handheld computer into a powerful handheld learning device?

To some extent companies such Elliot Soloway's GoKnow have already had a go at defining this as a consequence of years of research at the University of Michigan and I'd say that they've got a lot right in that they have word processing, graphics, web browsing, number crunching and presentation tools ready to go. I'd agree with all these applications and I'd add an education oriented e-book reader, a logic programming environment, a music/sound tool and a video player.

Of course, these are all content free applications and it's going to be about what functionality they provide that will determine whether they will be successful in the educational handheld computer revolution. But as I say, whatever the functionality they are used to create or access content. I think that with the increase in memory, the reduction in cost of removal storage such as SD cards, wi-fi or bluetooth enabled handhelds means that we will see some content rich applications appearing along the lines of what we saw when some of us (back in the day) got excited about "Interactive Multimedia" i..e videodiscs, cd-roms, etc.

From revision aids to virtual gallery tours to living books I can see a great deal of activity in the content-rich arena for handheld computers. After all in the games handheld computer market it's all about content-rich applications, i.e. games!

However, I am concerned that we face a chicken and egg situation with regards to the educational toolset matter. I think that when we have compelling, educationally relevant software for handheld computers then it will be a no brainer to see how rapidly they'll be adopted by schools however with such a relatively small and fragmented installed base of handheld computers in the education system who is going to invest the funds needed to develop the killer apps?

Finally, somebody recently said to me that "let's not use 21st Century technology to repeat 19th Century practices" meaning that a handheld computer is more than just a magic slate and I think that this is an important thing to keep in mind when consider what tools will transform these devices.

agreed, there's something called agentsheets that looks interesting but to achieve cross platform capability it does this using JAVA which I think has the potential to create user interface problems, i.e. applications may not have a consistent interface with the device so a bit like running a Windows app on a Mac.

but to avoid this thread getting too techie, e.g. JAVA vs C+ vs Basic, etc there's another (under-nourished) thread on development tools here:

http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/community/forum/index.php?topic=16.0

also you can get inside your iPod by installing Linux on it! check here:

http://www.ipoding.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2053

 

By centralised monitoring I meant in the same way that a perhaps exercise books are used to hand in work so that the teacher can measure/evaluate progress but I can see how this might be seen as making the device less personal but then again teachers and parents have access to exercise books but that doesn't make them less personal to the pupil or does it?

I like the idea of e-books and simple to use authoring programmes.

Simone

I'm not sure that the question that this discussion is based on is even right!

It pre-supposes that PDA's have a place in the classroom and that maybe, but perhaps we should consider the role of the PDA in support of the curriculum before we should start thinking in grand terms about an "Educational Toolset".

Why will providing a handheld computer to a child enhance or accelerate their learning experience?

Will it get them thru the curriculum quicker and will it improve the schools standings in the league tables?

It's presumeably a schools job to produce tax paying citizens for the workforce, so how is a PDA going to make this processing more cost-effective?

I disagree with Graham's opinion that it's software that will suddenly ignite this market it will be when there is evidence that if tax payers spends this much then they get that much back otherwise it's just more money spent on new fangled technology based training which has still yet to prove itself despite nearly 30 years and billions of £ investment while many children still can't read and in some cases standards have actually deteriorated.

I'm sure that in an ideal world children would have a handheld computer and use it continuously for their personal enrichment but in reality they'd probably just get bored with it and trade it in for a Gameboy so that they can just wipe out aliens.

Grrrrrr!

I think that FireStarter has mentioned some important points: it is true that we can't presuppose that PDAs will be useful, but this is why we need to discuss the possibilities offered by the tool before putting them into schools, as opposed to a hardware fix that then needs re-negotiating (without thinking of any white technologies in particular! ).  Also the  PDA may be the wrong term (due to its instant connection with the businessman's tool), but a personal device that enables mobile, connected, active learners is an exciting opportunity that merits investigation.

The notion of an educational toolset' is posed purposefully to look beyond the current curriculum.  Having a mobile, interoperable, connected device perhaps gives opportunities that the current schooling system does not (easily) support and perhaps provides a tool that allows for a renegotiation of what the curriculum should be.  I’m not entirely convinced that looking at short term benefits of enriching the current curriculum leads to thinking about how this tool could enable a more dynamic change in schooling – although I do appreciate the shorter term needs – perhaps we have two threads: one investigating a tool for current areas for enrichment and another for considering a tool that changes the power of the learner within a wider change.

Final point: there is an interesting dynamic between creating an environment in which learners are encouraged to bring personal devices into the classroom and the content on the device that is validated by their non-school culture.  These devices almost certainly will have photo, video, music and game-playing capabilities – so the wiping out of aliens may well be a consistent classroom activity.  Role of the teacher to control this or a role of the technology?

I've seen some really good projects looking at PDAs outside of the classroom - has anyone got any good examples of work in the classroom or work that links mobile, out-of-school learners with classroom activities?

Lots of examples of Interesting PDA projects can be found here: http://www.mobilebristol.com/flash.html