Mobile Computing: The Why’s and the How’s Patrick M. O’Shea, Ph.D.

Mobile Computing:The Why’s and the How’s

Patrick M. O’Shea, Ph.D.

What am I going to talk about?

The educational needs of current & future students.

The nature and capabilities of mobile computing.

What does this all mean for educational practice?

Who am I, and why me?

Post Doctoral Fellow in Instructional Technology at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

Director of the Handheld Augmented Reality Project (HARP).

15 years experience working at every level of education.

Background in Instructional Technology, Assessment and Program Evaluation.

What is HARP?

Star Schools Grant

Focus: math and literacy

Focus: under-served urban middle school students and teachers

To design and study engaging and effective augmented reality learning environments using wireless handheld computers equipped with global positioning system (GPS) receivers

What is Augmented Reality?

“Games played in the real world with the support of digital devices (PDAs, cellphones) that create a fictional layer on top of the real world context” (Squire and Jan, 2007, p. 6).

Interact with virtual elements while moving around the physical environment.

Scenario based curricula: Alien Contact! & Gray Anatomy.

Involve groupwork and role assignment.

Education Today & Tomorrow

Student needs?Adaptive thinking.

Problem solving.

Critical thinking.

Metacognitive skills.

Analysis and synthesis of information.

Content knowledge?

To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand the facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. National Research Council (2000a). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (p. 16)

What do students bring?

Fluency in multimedia

Community awareness and involvement

An ability for nonlinear expressions

Technological familiarity

Multi-tasking ability

A desire for “individualization”

Mobile Computing: Examples

Laptops

Cell Phones

PDAs

MP3 Players

GPS devices

Gaming devices

eReaders

Digital cameras

Mobile Computing: Features & Capabilities

Wireless connectivity (w/network & other devices)

Small size/Portability

Self contained power (pro & con)

Delivery of multimedia

Limited computing power

Delivery of information

Simulations

What does this capability allow?

Sharing of information in real-time

Authentic interactions with information

Required collaboration

Creation of content

Leveraging of student-owned tech

Graphically represent complex information

A Vision of Students Today

How do we do this?Keep abreast of technology & features

Formal academic sources such as the International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing

Informal sources such as Popular Science/Mechanics or BoingBoing

Question academic practicesLook for opportunities to provide students information outside of the classroom (for example, tours or treasure hunts)

Look for opportunities where students could gather or create content on their own (for example, wikis, blogs or flickr)

How do we do this?Set the stage

Plan ahead to save work later

Involve students in the plan

Leverage the technology that students already own and know

Embrace ambiguity & be willing to fail meaningfully

Not all technology will work, but you can learn from it in either case

Students who create their own content will need lots of help making sure that it’s quality material

What does this all mean?

We can individualize education

We need a new philosophy of technology usage

We can fully involve students

We need a new philosophy of the students’ role

Questions?