Module 3 Unit 3 Activity 2: Mobile Learning

Report requirements

• VoiceThread with summary of cohort discussions and student consultations, and descriptions of using mobile devices for student project work inside and outside the classroom
• Peer review of one other cohort member’s VoiceThread, using the Commenting feature on VoiceThread or on the Activity Submission page.

Here is my VoiceThread:

https://voicethread.com/share/12434905/

I posted several comments in both Mercedes' and Chris' VoiceThreads.

I think there were a number of differences for me. My students, as elementary school students, were less likely to have their own device. Only 44% of my Computer Art Club students had their own device. 44% had access to a parents device at home, and 11% were not allowed to use phones or tablet devices.

My school does not have any mobile devices, nor do the students bring their own. This is partly due to fears of them being lost or damaged. Personally, I like this. We have a computer room, its not perfect but my classes make a lot of use out of it.

There is something to be said for using mobile devices though, specifically for the project that I outlined, which would not be possible just using a desktop device. It uses hardware and software not available on a desktop computer. Also, of course we need to teach students to use the devices that they have or will have in the future.

I do like how, in general, desktops are much better for development, they can have better specs and the OS can have more features and the often have more powerful and professional software available for them. This may change with time. Things are evolving.

For my students and this project they will use apps specifically related to the task, for creating and viewing the 360/VR content. They can also use their phones to share the content to the iEarn or Facebook Group. Equally, they could use a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Google Photos to share content. I think most of us mentioned communication software and cloud storage platforms, because it does affect collaboration. There are downsides to all these options in terms of terms of service and privacy. I could see advantages to the school setting up their own server as an alternative to Google cloud services, but then, who would the students trust more, the school or Google? It's hard to say. This is the way society is headed, and we are all kind of teaching students to just give all our information away to these services, I'm not sure we really know the long term implications of that just yet.

I'd like to thank my students for completing the survey, but hopefully their reward will be actually doing this activity in the near future. I'd also like to thank Chris and Mercedes for the interesting conversations regarding this topic. If anyone else wants to do a peer review swap, please let me know.

Update:

I have added three additional slides since, one with a typed summary of the important findings and accompanying audio; one further explaining how mobile devises are used in this project for content creation, collaboration and the VR cultural exchange element where students use a headmount to 'visit' the school; and finally another slide with a small example 360 collaboration project where we tested what we could do with the images and we tried to find ways to add in regular green screened photos into 360 photos (there were technical hurdles to overcome and this is information is not documented for the software we use).

I explained how this project can be done with only mobile devices and with free software and optionally, with extremely cheap headmounts that give you a lot of bang for your buck.

The content creation is done with the Google Cardboard Camera app, which is available on Android and iOS and works on some pretty old devices as well as new.

Students can use the iEarn platform to share the content, or, alternatively, the Facebook group. This can make collaboration a lot easier.

And, if you want to go beyond 360 and introduce your student to VR, the Google Cardboard headmounts like the one in this picture can cost as little as 5 USD if you buy them from China. I've had them shipped from Hong Kong with ebay and also from taobao. They are plastic with cushioned edges, magnetic buttons, comfortable headstraps and you can easily adjust the distance of the eye pieces.

And, in response to a comment by Anthony who suggested that I explain how we touched on the global awareness criteria, I added an extra video clip of a collaborative project with audio explaining how the collaborative project fostered global understanding and I also added another audio reply explaining how we have had posts of 360 footage of earthquake drills, temples and religious ceremonies, and students in Pakistan travelling in deserts via camels. Also, as most of the students speak English as a second language, there can be language barriers and certain words cannot be translated. Students begin to understand how language is important for forming connections and reaching a deeper understanding. These again help to fulfill the global awareness criterion of 21st century skills. There really are very few projects out there where you can feel like you are there with students in so many different countries from around the world and see first hand their culture, lives, and struggles.

Update:

I have added the following extra slides:

A slide focused on comparing and contrasting my findings with that of my cohort for "Summary of Cohort Collaboration and Student Consultation"

A slide focused on additional materials to help them further understand and get interested in the project to help better address the criterion "Age Appropriate Project Description"

A slide on further uses of mobile devices for the project to address the "Use of Mobile Device" criterion.

I've also fixed a typo on the summary of findings slide.

Transcripts

I also want to show you an example of a fun collaborative project here. In this example the students have added an image of themselves into a photo shared by another class to take part in a virtual cultural exchange project. Through sharing photos and videos with each other asking questions and communicating with each other, either to ask questions about a photo or to do a collaboration, students begin to learn from another. It can promote understanding and tolerance. It doesn't just bridge the gap, when you are in VR, you are there with them.

So again, this project can be done with only mobile devices and with free software and optionally, with extremely cheap headmounts that give you a lot of bang for your buck.

The content creation is done with the Google Cardboard Camera app, which is available on Android and iOS and works on some pretty old devices as well as new.

Students can use the iEarn platform to share the content, or, alternatively, the Facebook group. This can make collaboration a lot easier.

And, if you want to go beyond 360 and introduce your student to VR, the Google Cardboard headmounts like the one in this picture can cost as little as 5 USD if you buy them from China. I've had them shipped from Hong Kong with ebay and also from taobao. They are plastic with cushioned edges, magnetic buttons, comfortable headstraps and you can easily adjust the distance of the eye pieces.

We have had posts of 360 footage of earthquake drills, temples and religious ceremonies, and students in Pakistan travelling in deserts via camels. Also, as most of the students speak English as a second language, there can be language barriers and certain words cannot be translated. Students begin to understand how language is important for forming connections and reaching a deeper understanding