Mobile Learning - How Cool Is This?!

"Mobile Learning: Not Just Laptops Anymore" by Jennifer Nastu
e School News
Published Online on February 25, 2011
Complete URL:  http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/25/mobile-learning-not-just-laptops-any-more/?

OK, I admit the title of this blog entry is not the title of this article, but I wanted to get your attention because this is an awesome article!  As we have been reading articles not many of them get me really excited, but this one sure does.  It is a long article - 11 pages - but it is a pretty quick read.  It will take some work to get it as you have to register with e School News to be able to read the whole article.  I received the link via an e-mail from the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education which we can join), so if you are already a member you may have received this notification.

So, let's get started on the article.  The main point is taking my previous article on George Lucas' idea one step further: using the mobile devices children carry in their pocket (smart phones, small tablets and other mobile technology) for learning in the classroom and outside the classroom - a term now coined as "mobile learning".  Since last Fall, nearly 50% of all middle and high school students had smart phones, it is believed that in 5 years, all students in every school grade will be using mobile devices 24/7 to learn.  Whereas not everyone has a computer, computers could only be used for supplemental learning at best and not independent learning.  Mobile devices would solve that problem.

Now I know you are asking yourself, "How does everyone get a mobile device?"  Ms. Nastu gives plenty of ideas, with many of them already tested.  They involve schools buying them for kids, children who do not have them working with kids who have one or kids simply owning their own mobile device.  Security would be provided by having the kids logging into the school to use it therefore having content monitored.

One study was done for a 5th grade class in New Jersey where everyone had a smart phone and every student handed in every piece of homework on time.  That had never happened before.  Another study used 150 low-income ninth graders to see if they could improve their learning of Algebra 1.  The mobile devices were downloaded with Algebra 1 content, the teachers were trained on how to use it and the kids were encouraged to work together.  By using this program their average math test scores increased by 30%.  Some kids who had struggled with math now wanted to pursue a career in math!

I really do not see a downside here and it is definitely relevant to us as teachers as it would be a complete change on how things are done now.  As the article states in its last paragraph, “The model of teaching where the teacher is the sole source of information is changing... Teaching is not telling, and learning is not listening—it’s doing. So curriculum changes need to take place. And if we can pull it all together, the U.S. will no longer be 15th in the world.”