Mobile Technology in Higher Education

Mobile Technology for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education







General Information:




Dewsbury College, Thomas Danby College, and Bishop Burton College


These three colleges located in the U.K. have begun using mobile technology in order to increase access to technology. Dewsbury wanted to make their technology more user-friendly and pedagogically sound and felt that their current methods of only using laptops and projectors was not achieving that goal. Thomas Danby wanted to allow basic skills learners to practice at their own pace, which was could not happen when technology is only accessible in the classroom. Bishop Burton wanted to allow students to use technology in outdoor environments. In order for that to be possible, the technology had to be mobile and lightweight.


Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO)


SUNO experienced special circumstance that forced them to adopt mobile technology in order to stay open. After the Hurricane Katrina devastation, the university found itself without a place to meet and experience education. Thus, new methods and theories had to be developed in order to allow students to continue their studies there and allow new students to enroll. SUNO is considered Minority Serving Institution (MSI) due to that fact that the great majority of the attendees are African American. Certain challenges arise with MSI because according to Omar and Koong (2008), “most of their student bodies are from underserved or high risk populations that do not have the same economic luxury to have the latest high technology gadgets” (p.6).


SUNO faculty members usually have heavy teaching loads and most of the technology used in the school must be funded by grants or given as gifts from corporations (Omar; Liu & Koong, 2008). After the campus was demolished by the hurricane, SUNO had to set up the university in trailers. Obviously, it would be difficult to conduct a normal university environment in this situation, so a new strategy was implemented which made SUNO a hybrid school complete with both on-site classes and classes established by the new Department of Mobile Learning. Both single courses and complete degree programs were put into place with the inception of this new department.






Analysis


People:


In the first case involving Dewsbury, Thomas Danby, and Bishop Burton colleges, the target groups vary based on the actual school. Dewsbury use their mobile technology in outreach centers which teach courses on early childhood education. Thus, preservice teachers who plan to work with young children would be using the PDAs at their job-sites at Dewsbury. Students at Thomas Danby are working on basic skills. Thus the target group is English speakers of other languages (ESOL). Bishop Burton College is a vocational college that specializes in agriculture. Thus, students are often outside on jobsites. Dewsbuy and Danby support urban, multicultural communities, thus students come from many different backgrounds and bring different experiences to the classroom community.


In the SUNO case, the target group using the technology is predominantly minority (in this case African American) students. The mobile learning community was developed in response to Hurricane Katrina, thus some of the students could have been directly affected by that devastating event. Since SUNO is an MSI, it is likely that many of the students struggle financially.


In addition to the students acting as target groups for mobile learning, the faculty of SUNO is also very much involved with the mobile learning that is taking place. As mentioned previously, faculty at MSI campuses are usually underfunded and over-scheduled. However, using mobile learning is not way to provide more time for instructors. In fact, it is a great deal of work to implement an effective online course. Faculty members at SUNO “implement a model for teaching and learning that would meet the needs of all learners through the use of best practices, adaptive technologies, and instructional techniques” (p. 10). Faculty are also given incentives for successful implementation of mobile learning. Thus, not only are students at SUNO benefitting and learning from the use of mobile technology, faculty members are evolving teaching strategies and theories as well.


The two cases analyzed are very different. The colleges in the U.K. are three very different institutions that serve different groups of people. However, one commonality between the U.K. schools (especially Dewsbury and Thomas Danby) and SUNO is the support of education of minority or multicultural communities. Another commonality is the need for mobile learning in order to achieve the best possible education. For the U.K. colleges, the need is due to job-site based education. At SUNO, the need is due to the lack of an adequate physical compus.






Needs or Objectives:


An addition commonality is the need for mobile learning in order to achieve the best possible education. For the U.K. colleges, the need is due to job-site based education. At SUNO, the need is due to the lack of an adequate physical campus.


While the case studies involving the U.K. institutions seemed to center mostly around student needs as students who are “on-site” for education, faculty also needed the technology to make their teaching most effective. Faculty at the colleges wanted to “support a variety of learning preferences” (HEFCE 2005). In order to do this, staff changed websites to fit on a PDA and enabled the use of hyperlinks and audio files. Particularly at Danby, faculty wanted to provide a way for students to use “drill for skill” formative assessments as they are learning basic English skills. Bishop Burton college needed to use the technology to collect, store, and interpret data from the field (perhaps literally—an agricultural field).


At SUNO, the needs and objectives regarding the use of mobile technology were more for survival than just for making the lives of students and faculty easier and more interactive. Without much of a physical campus left after the hurricane, SUNO had to do something in order to allow students to access the university. Thus, the need for more online courses and degree programs was very real. In addition to just needing the courses and the infrastructure to run the programs, students also needed a reliable classroom-like experience while learning via mobile technologies. This means having interaction with a qualified faculty members and being able to access educational resources regardless disaster or other extenuating circumstances. In addition, mobile-learning had “favorable economics” which is important for students who may be struggling financially and would not be able to go to a typical “bricks and mortar” institution.






Solutions:


The colleges in the U.K. all met their needs of needing mobile, on-the-job-site technology and personal learning tools through adopting the use of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). This required more than just going to the local electronics store and purchasing a piece of equipment, however. According to the case study, “resources will work best if they are built for use on PDAs” (HEFCE 2005). Thus, special technology had to be implemented in order for the PDA to do its job. However, once the infrastructure was in place, PDAs allowed for data collection and storage, making calculations, and personalized learning. Plus, “the technology adds an element of ‘cool’ to workplace learning” (HEFCE 2005).


The solution to the needs and issues at SUNO were a bit more involved than just adding the use of PDAs and PDA-friendly technology. As mentioned, the use of mobile technology was essentially part of the disaster recovery plan for the school. In order for the physically destroyed campus to be revived in a time efficient manner, a solution other than rebuilding the physical building had to be put into place. Due to the initial lack of a place to study, SUNO’s enrollment went down significantly (3681 students to 700). Without a viable solution, the university could not survive financially. Thus the Department of Mobile Learning was introduced. The ability for students to take classes and earn degrees online was supported by the fact that mobile learning would allow for the communication and computer technology to converge. It would also allow workers in all economies to access education and stay knowledgeable and skilled without interruption (i.e. by natural disasters), allow students of all economic backgrounds and financial situations to access education, and for institutions, colleges, and universities to compete (Omar; Liu & Koong, 2008).


In order to SUNO’s solution to be successful, faculty had to implement at least one online course in his or her area. Not only did a course have to be developed, the faculty member was also expected to successfully “teach the course.” This meant using the Blackboard course management system effectively and communicating with students. In fact, students enrolled in could expect to always hear from their instructor within 24 hours of online communication (email, Blackboard, etc.). For the successful implementation of online courses and the use of the management system, professionals uses a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) using Cisco equipment. Having a secure, reliable network was key in the a successful solution for SUNO because without a sound infrastructure behind the ideas, a successful learning community can never come to life.






Pedagogical Underpinnings:


Both cases seem to involve the Activity theory to some extent. According to Chong (2011-e-lecture), this theory can:


• Take into account socio-cultural differences from learners’ environments.


• Provide learners with tools to address problems in their own context.


• Provide learners with a way to clarify and transform their learning gains in their own context.


I certainly think this applies to both the colleges in the U.K and also SUNO. However, though some of the same pedagogical underpinnings can apply to both cases, the institutions are definitely very different in their learning theories. For example, the U.K. colleges seem to support the situated learning theory in that learners are in naturally authentic contexts using their mobile learning devices, they are collaborating with other learners, they are listening to experts in their field, and they are able to use the mobile technology to formulate reflections. In addition, Thomas Danby College seems to apply behaviorism as well. According to Chong (2010), behaviorism, as it applies to mobile learning


• Provides learners with instant feedback.


• Repeats learning activities, returning positive reinforcements to learners’ correct responses.


This is especially for the ESOL students. They PDAs at the college are used to allow students to drill at their own pace and get instant feedback on how they are doing. The programs developed and used for the PDA in this field allow students to use mobile technology to have control over their own learning and reinforce themselves.


All of the U.K. colleges in the case also seem to believe in constructivism. The reason I say this is because constructivism is based on background knowledge and experience in the real world. The colleges are teaching in real world, job-site settings. Students simply use their mobile learning devices and technologies to help them construct additional knowledge.


In addition to the activity theory, SUNO developed its own learning model for the use of mobile technology.


While this model is personalized for SUNO, to me it looks like a more specified version of the activity theory. The reasoning for this is that they establish a subject, and object, and means of achieving the goal.


In addition, much of the theory behind using mobile technology at SUNO revolves around the importance of communication between knowledge systems. This was demonstrated in the high expectations of the faculty delivering the program, in the thorough development of a secure network, and also in the expectations of the student. Thus, the conversation theory also seems to be a large part of the learning theory behind the mobile learning at SUNO.

Works Cited

Chong, N.J. (2011, January 24). Pedagogical underpinnings [Online Forum Comment]. Retrieved from    https://oncourse.iu.edu/portal/site/SP11-BL-EDUC-W505-15701/page/6d59fe84-aae5-46d6-a08e-4d1a299d9086

Higher Education Funding Council, (2005). Mobile learning and teaching with pdas. United Kingdom: Joint Information Systems Committee.

Omar, A., Liu, L.C., & Koong, K.S. (2008). From distare recover to mobile learning: a case study. International Journal Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2(1), 4-17.