1. Reclaiming mobile audioactive learner-gatherersacross the formal-informal continuum Andrew Middleton Sheffield Hallam University (cc) shadowtheG 2009
2. reconsider mobile audio for learning Contexts Methodology 6 Scenarios Discussion and conclusions (cc) skippyjon-2 2008
3. Dead-time learning does it work? Are you receiving me? (cc) Pink Sherbet Photography 2006
4. Deal (2007) points out that when students listen to lecture recordings they tend to do so using a PC, and usually at home. (cc) williambrawley 2009
5. The conversation continues Podcasting: “You can use it anytime, anywhere” said Cebeci and Tekdal (2006) “But can students concentrate?” asked Salmon and Nie (2008) “Teachers can do so much more with this” suggested Bell (2007) “And so can students, wherever they are” I said (cc) scrappy annie-2010/jenny downing 2010
13. Don’t look back... McLuhan and Fiore (1967): problem with evaluating the potential of technology looking “at the present through the rear-view mirror” Marching backwards into the future (cc) NightRPStar 2009
14. University Diversity The idea of the typical student is gone (Bradwell 2009) and with it expectations that student engagement will be predictable and regular. These days all students are exceptional (cc) wolfpix 2007
15. Diversity Challenge Tempting – but not good for you KISS regular, bite-sized, traditional, easy to swallow, content fed to irregular, forward-looking, challenging students?! (cc) MyklRoventine 2009
19. What is innovation in education? ...new technology? ...teaching the same way with new technology? ...doing new and better things that we weren’t able to do before?
21. formal: notes from the planned curriculum semi-formal: unplanned notes from the formal curriculum informal: notes from beyond the formal curriculum (Nortcliffe and Middleton 2009a)
23. Voices Pervasive Personal Niche adaptive Organised Transferable Active in different ways according to time and space Adaptable to changing working patterns Easy to integrate [ALSO: attributes recognised by Conole et al 2008 in depth study into use of everyday technology by students] (cc) John Wardell (Netinho) 2006
24. Transformation Sharples asks how can education itself be transformed by mobile technologies (2005)? (cc) miyukiutada 2007
25. audio is interventionary Enabling: connectivity orientation motivation personal and social challenge learner reflection (cc) Leo Reynolds 2007
26. scenario generation "a socially engaged approach to knowledge generation” (Bloor and Wood 2006) Developers Learning Technologists Academics Students Managers
27. 6 Ideas (a small selection of what is possible) a-PDP audio notes pre-visit fieldtrip commentary user voices pocketables (cc) Cayusa 2007
28. a-PDP 1 At the end of the dayrecord three questions: What have I done today? What have I learnt today? What will I do with this knowledge? At the beginning of the day play three answers! End of the week: written synthesis and action plan (cc) Cayusa 2007
29. audio notes 2 Students carry recorders andphone memo tools Capture 'significant conversations' eg formal, semi-formal feedback Summarise events and activities 'Middle of the night' ideas and personal notes 'Rehearsing' - listening back to yourself Group work decisions (cc) Cayusa 2007
30. previsit 3 Orientation prior to: visit field trip lab etc Listen on the way Arrive tuned in and ready to recognise the opportunity (cc) Cayusa 2007
31. fieldtrip commentary 4 Groups assigned task of creatingaudio reports different themes or responsibilities creating a rich collection of material students gather: interviews with people they meet audio observations (people, places and processes) ambient sound discussions (experts and peers) other information not usually available to them gathering and making creates a learning framework eventual use creates authentic driver (cc) Cayusa 2007
32. user voices 5 academics, developers or studentsgather and share real stories, e.g. patients clients (cc) Cayusa 2007
33. pocketables 6 audio or video podcastdemonstrations technique or process reduce anxiety prior to initial performance e.g. nursing student attaching a drip interview techniques (cc) Cayusa 2007
35. a-PDP audio notes mediating autonomous learner reflection found or made 'opportunity' - a significant part of the mobile learning environment deep learner engagement with knowledge from a situation that is otherwise ephemeral mediates a personal, rich articulation that is immediate and still forming devices extend benefits of conversation over time (cc) woodleywonderworks 2009
36. previsit a-PDP Orientation : transition from informal to formal spaces of engagement (cc) Kraetzsche Photo 2009
37. Field TripCommentary Scaffolding enquiry Motivating framework Gathering evidence Co-operation (side by side) Collaboration (together) (cc) chrisevans 2006
38. Pocketables Recognising: Predicament Situations Anxiety Instilling: Reassurance Confidence Making a personal connection to their competence (cc) +fatman+2006
41. The richest conversations happen beyond formal environmentAudio: accessible, adaptable and manageable, opportunistic Engagement: authentic independent and social timely and meaningful mobile (i.e. formal, semi-formal, informal) gathering (enquiry) (cc) kayintveen 2007
Editor's Notes
Deadtime learning:Mobile technology can be facilitate learning at times and in places that would otherwise be wasted:the commuting studentthose who are otherwise displaced, through the introduction. It recognises the complex student demographics of the twenty first century and the complex lives that many students lead as they work to pay their way through undergraduate study or as they study whilst making their ways through the post-graduate world of work.
when students listen to lecture recordings they tend to do so using a PC, and usually at home.
Cebeci and Tekdal (2006) : basic advantage of podcasting is its capacity to enable "anywhere or anytime mobile learning.”Salmon and Nie (2008) : students find it difficult to concentrate whilst mobileBell et al. (2007) frustrated at the limited vision for the educational use of podcasting. They suggest STILL TEACHER CENTRED: news and updates, answering questions sent in (for example by email), and/or give general feedback to students. Another possibility would be to highlight the key points you stated in class and have extended discussion about them, and/or conducting interviews with external people adding or reinforcing the material addressed. Podcasts [are] also a way of providing hands-free instructions to students conducting laboratory work or using different computer programs." ,
Several authors, including Parsons et al. (2009) and Copley (2007), have noted that the value of recorded lectures is limited as a teaching method, though in some cases there may be benefits for the learner as a revision aid. This acknowledgement signals where the real potential lies: away from the push of the teacher towards the learner’s control of the medium.
How audio can be used meaningfully and effectively to not only bring active forms of learning to situations that are otherwise unproductive, but to support learning beyond what are understood to be education’s formal and traditional academic environments and methods in an engaging learner-centred curriculum?
For learners, teachers and their institutions, the way ahead in considering audio and podcasting is inevitably obscured by their previous experiences of education. McLuhan and Fiore (1967, pp.74-75) describe this problem with evaluating the potential of technology as looking “at the present through the rear-view mirror;” a tendency to march backwards into the futureThe familiar paradigm for teaching and learning, however, is being disrupted by external factors, including government drivers and ready access to new ubiquitous and pervasive technology (Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler 2005).
Addressing student diversity creatively
The Learning Literacies in the Digital Age (JISC 2009) highlighted how the nature of work, learning and knowledge is changing, as is the texture of social life and literacy practices. It suggests education needs to address this change to ensure that the UK economy is not hampered by "a lack of high-level skills and a dearth of future capacity... The future demands skilled, digitally-aware learners with the capacity to participate in learning throughout their life, using technologies of their own choosing"
education should manage its disruption through innovative development.Disruption is often reported as being problematic, yet disruptiveness has two sides to it: one that undermines the status quo and one that drives innovation.
Education’s challenge: recognise change and innovate Towards better experience of being at university better than before. Needs simple and effective ways of doing this that are easy to implement, with benefits that are transparent to all involved.
The producersThe literature on podcasting, discussed in Middleton (2009), is split between the idea of educational podcasting as a teaching space and as a learning space. Learner-production is just one way in which podcasting can be used in a learner-centred curriculum. Cobcroftet al. (2006, p5) discuss how learners can be "empowered to undertake user-led education" by using audio to involve their "peers and communities within and beyond the classroom."
recognising formal, semi-formal and informal spaces and experiencePicking up on Conoleet al.'s keywords (2008), voices are pervasive, personal, niche adaptive, organised, transferable, active in different ways according to time and space, adaptable to changing working patterns and, potentially, easy to integrate. As learners, teachers, experts and publics, our voices and behaviours are innately adaptable, adjusting naturally and effectively to context. In a project conducted at Sheffield Hallam University over one academic year (Nortcliffe and Middleton 2009a), students were given MP3 recorders and asked to use them in any way that they would find useful to aid their learning and to periodically report back to share their experience with the other participants. Once the students had been challenged to think creatively about how they might make use of the devices, it emerged that they discovered and captured useful learning voices in many varied situations, most of which did not directly connect with a formal view of university education. These uses were loosely categorised as,formal: notes from the planned curriculum;semi-formal: unplanned notes from the formal curriculum; and,informal: notes from beyond the formal curriculum. (ibid)
