Mobile and Wireless Learning

The purpose of this blog is to explore roles for mobile and wireless technologies in the blended learning educational environment. I believe everyone agrees that they both offer the following benefits:
- Active Learning experience;
- Empower and Engage Learners;
- Ability to support a range of functions in educational settings;
- Flexible access in time and place;
- Portability; and
- many more..
Some institutions have gained from introducing the mobile and wireless technologies by improving their institutional efficiency and communication with the college community. Equally important has been the role of these technologies in affording new ways for learners to participate in learning activities.
The mobile devises mentioned in this blog are:
- Laptops
- Tablet PCs
- Mobile Phones
- Personal Digital Assistant
- USB Storage
Evidence suggest that mobile devices like the ones mentioned above have already found their way in offering support for active learning and personalized learning approaches. Learners are taking control of their own learning process using mobile technology devices. We are no longer concerned to control learners’ use of computers, but now the challenge is how to the learners using technology to enhance their own learning.
Some more potential benefits for mobile technologies include: PDAs and Mobile phones are used to assist learners in time management, calendar, to-do-list, alarm, cameras, voice recording and many more functionalities that help the learners of today.
In Conclusion there are tremendous benefits to the use of mobile technologies in the educational sector. They help improve the institutional effectiveness as well as the learners and teachers in their teaching and learning process. On the other hand there are still some constraints on the use of the small mobile technologies.

Till my next reading...

Mobile and Wireless Technologies- Introduction

Today is the second day of the new year. I am not feeling well so I decided to take the day off work. The kids, whom their at midyear vacation, are keen to come to the swimming pool as the weather is really nice.
I am now sitting in a cafe inside the sport club. The atmosphere is really nice and internet connection is available free for all club members. I am writing my blog on mobile and wireless technologies.
There is no doubt that the introduction of mobile and wireless technologies has had huge impact on our daily lives. They have become an integral part of our daily routine. Their biggest impact is yet to happen in the education system. Educators are still exploring their roles and effectiveness on teaching and learning process. Some key benefits that I am experience her in the sport club are:

- Portability and connectivity;
- Anytime and anyplace access;
- Constant access;and
- Keeping in touch
I am sure when we look at the key benefits when it comes to the education sector it is much more than the list I provided.
I will try to address the impact o mobile and wireless technologies on education sector in my next blog. As for now my kids are getting out of the swimming pool and I need to help out 

See you..

More Professional Development reading....

Because many factors are affecting the teaching and learning process nowdays, teachers must rethink their own practice, to construct new classroom roles and expectations about student outcomes, and to teach in ways they have never taught before - and probably never experienced as students.

Professional development must extend beyond mere support for teachers' acquisition of new skills or knowledge. Professional development today also means providing occasions for teachers to reflect critically on their practice and to fashion new knowledge and beliefs about content, pedagogy, and learners as pointed out by (Ibid & Richard Prawat, 1992).

Some of the important characteristics of the Professional development plan that have been highlighted in the literature (Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995) are:

* It must engage teachers in concrete tasks of teaching, assessment, observation, and reflection that illuminate the processes of learning and development.

* It must be grounded in inquiry, reflection, and experimentation that are participant-driven.

* It must be collaborative, involving a sharing of knowledge among educators and a focus on teachers' communities of practice rather than on individual teachers.

* It must be connected to and derived from teachers' work with their students.

* It must be sustained, ongoing, intensive, and supported by modeling, coaching, and the collective solving of specific problems of practice.

* It must be connected to other aspects of school change.

Darling-Hammond, L., and McLaughlin, M.W., "Policies That Support Professional Development in an Era of Reform," Phi Delta Kappan, 1995. Reprint by MiddleWeb.

Ibid.; and Richard Prawat, "Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching and Learning: A Constructivist Perspective," American Journal of Education, vol. 100, 1992, pp. 354-95.

Please feel free to contribute to any of the posted articles..

Students as Digital Natives

Today is Eid Aldha holiday here in the UAE. We have couple of days break from the college. even though it is a holiday, I decided I need to catch up on some reading for my course.

I started reading the article on Digital Native, Digital immigrants by Marck Prensky. The contents of the article was not something new to me as I have read several papers recently on the characteristics of the Net Geners and how each generations process information little bit different from the other.

The big question that this paper tried to address is how can we cater for our Digital native students with our existing digital immigrants teachers. There are two main points that need to be addressed to keep our students engaged and interested in the learning process.

1. First, we need to change our method of content delivery. Step by step and spoon feeding does not satisfy the current net generation students. We have to be creative and invent new methodology that fits all subjects at all levels to keep our digital native students engaged in classrooms

2. Second, we need to assess and validate our Curriculum. What was important fifty years ago is not important at our days? Ethics, sociology, politics, and languages are contents that are important to our current net generation students.

It is a big gap between digital native students and the digital immigrant teachers. To narrow the gap everyone must work hard; teachers, students, administrators, school and local governments. ….

Till my next reading..

Prensky, M. (2002). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, retrieved on 23
Sept, 2005 from

Another reading on Professional Developpment

Exploring ICT Professional Development

An effective Professional development plan for teachers is the key to successfully integrating ICT into curriculum as discussion posting indicates (USQ….). According to Joyce and Showers (1983) staff development can make a powerful difference in performance of both teachers and students.

Professional development plan for schools and colleges are being updated to take into consideration not only acquiring ICT skills but also changes in specific teaching strategies and beliefs as well Hunt (1971).

MeKenzie (1991) indicate that to create staff development for the information age, the following elements must be considered : Staff development must offer immersion and transformation; must inspire teachers to invent; must be experienced based; must hook the curiosity , wonder or passion of teachers; must respond to teachers concerns and interest; must be consider the feelings, fears, and anxiety of the learners; must be engaging; must be catered for learners development stages; and must be properly supported and funded.

Providing proper Staff development is more important now than ever before as the role of teachers and educators is shifting to meet the new era of information age.

I believe we are seeing some improvements in that aspect. Many places have already shifted the funding from infrastructure to Staff development. Research tells that 10-25% of ICT budget should be spent on staff development. At our college we are spending 20% of our budget on Staff development. We are moving in the right direction

Joyce, B. and Showers, B. Power in staff development through research in training. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD, 1983.

Technology as a learning tool

The chapter I read today is very interesting one as the author tries to compare between three generations of learners. The author starts by stating some of the ways that today’s net Geners learn and how the education culture must change to cater for the new learning paradigm. Here are some highlighted points:

1. They learn by doing. I teach at a college where all students have tablets PCs. Sometime when I try to explain how to do certain things on the computer, many of them won’t listen. They immediately start to figure out themselves how to do things. They like to discover things on their own. Give them a book to learn from is a waste of time. Never buy a computer book anymore; students will use the online help to figure out things by trial and errors instead of reading instructions or manuals. Students like hands-on, experimental and interactive activities. Faculty must adjust their teaching styles to accommodate these types of learners in their classrooms or they will lose them.

2. Human Interaction. With all the existing technologies, the net geners still prefer to interact with their teachers and follow students in classrooms. They like to work in groups and help each others. So many times happened in my classes that when student is asking a question, immediately another student will get up and walk toward the person who is asking the question and try to help. Initially, I thought that it could be a cultural phenomenal but after reading this article I agree with the author that it is not. Learning though social interaction and getting feedback from teachers still an important to the Net Generation learners of today.

3. Cut-and-Past culture. Technology is everywhere. At home, at school, and at work. The learners of today have the tools to access information at all time. As research shows, cheating on the rise at universities. The net geners learn to work and help each other as part of the team work skill set they learn in schools, the author states that the current definition of cheating is changing and how students is assessed is changing as well.

What do Net Generation learners want from Technology?

As more technology is used in classrooms, students are going to ask for it to be used and integrated with their learning process in the classroom. Staff must be trained on how to use the new technology and how to integrate it in their lessons. It is very important that universities, colleges and schools support their staff in this integration process otherwise; the use of technology will become a burden on the teachers instead of helping them in teaching and learning process. Technology must always be seen as a learning tool to facilitate learning in the classrooms.

Ghassan

Teaching with Technology

Technology SUPPORTS LEARNING AT HCT COLLEGES

Distance Learning Classrooms Linking Madinat Zayed and Ruwais students

The guiding principle in creating distance learning classrooms (DLC) at Madinat Zayed and Ruwais colleges was to provide a consistent and accessible learning environment to students in various parts of the Western Region. It was also a requirement for DLC to support a variety of established pedagogical needs, as well as to provide a flexible format to encourage experimental approaches to teaching and learning. To this aim, three distance learning classrooms were installed at Madinat Zayed campus and another at Ruwais campus.

In the last month, we were happy to begin conducting classes at the Ruwais Campus. With the same number of teachers that had previously been at one location, Madinat Zayed, it was necessary to immediately begin taking full advantage of the DL classrooms. Distance learning classrooms are being used to teach foundation, Diploma and Higher Diploma students. In some instances students are in both locations with a teacher in one and in other instances students are all in one location with the teacher in the other. Management meetings with staff at both campuses have also taken place, as well as joint professional development sessions for staff at both locations.

To maximize the use of the technology and equipment, it was necessary to provide a variety of options for users while not complicating the system; that is, to enhance ease of use by staff with varying levels of technology experience. The current video conference system (complete with all the necessary display, audio, and presentation system capabilities) utilizes a touch screen control panel as the only input variable required of users. The classrooms appear to have a complex array of equipment, and they do, but all are controlled by one touch-pad device. Aside from the expected desks and chairs, the equipment in DL classrooms include web cameras, track-view mats (from which cameras follow the presenter), as well remote-control devices which allow students to direct cameras to them. Additional equipment includes interactive boards, projectors, and an LCD display panel that offer many possible combinations for interactions to take place on both ends. For example, aside from the live feed, DL classrooms can be used transmit live video, recorded medium, as well as projecting documents (including hard copies of student homework) via a scanner across the distances.

Fully-utilized distance learning classrooms are providing a bridge for students and staff at two campuses across the Western Region. The resources invested in setting up the DL classrooms, is not merely filling the gap of teacher shortage, but creating state-of-the-art opportunities for teaching and learning. The limits are yet to be discovered. For example, the pioneering work with the DLC’s is putting the HCT Western Region colleges into a great position from which to springboard to the next phase of development. Discussion is already underway for the possibility of outreach centers in some of the region’s more remote locations. The HCT already leads the way in providing tertiary level education in the western region, and the utilization of the DLCs will help maintain this position.

Ghassan