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MLEARN 2012
Mobile Learning in Secondary School
The Case for Educational
Transformation?
Brendan Tangney
Centre for Research in IT in Education
School of Education and School of Computer Science & Statistics
Trinity College Dublin
tangney@tcd.ie
www.slideshare.net/tangney
Bibliography
 All videos available on https://vimeo.com/user10137243
 Bruner, J. S. (1961). "The act of discovery". Harvard Educational Review 31 (1): 21–32
 Dror, Itiel E. 2008. Technology enhanced learning: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Pragmatics & Cognition 16:2 215–223.
 Galton, M., L. Hargreaves, and T. Pell, Group work and whole‐class teaching with 11‐ to 14‐year‐olds compared. Cambridge
Journal of Education, 2009. 39(1): p. 119-140.
 Jonassen, D., C. Carr, and H.-P. Yueh, Computers as mindtools for engaging learners in critical thinking. TechTrends, 1998.
43(2): p. 24-32.
 Jonassen, D., Mayes, T., & McAleese, R. (1993). A manifesto for a constructivist approach to uses of technology in higher
education. In T.M. Duffy, J. Lowyck, & D.H. Jonassen (Eds.), Designing environments for constructive learning (pp. 231–247).
Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
 Papert, S. & Harel, I. (eds). (1991) Constructionism: research reports and essays 1985 - 1990 by the Epistemology and
Learning Research Group, the Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ablex Pub. Corp, Norwood, NJ
 Piaget, Jean. (1950). The Psychology of Intelligence. New York: Routledge.
 Ruben R. Puentedura. Transformation, Technology, and Education. (2006) http://hippasus.com/resources/tte/
 Soloway, E., et al., Log on education: Handheld devices are ready-at-hand. Communications of the ACM, 2001. 44(6): p. 15-
20.
 Voogt & Pelgrum, Pedagogy in a knowledge-based society, Human Technology : 2005, Volume 1, Number 2 [9]
 Vygotskii, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press
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Acknowledgements
• Byrne P. , Tangney B., Animation on Mobile Phones, IADIS International Conference on Mobile Learning, July 2006,
pp365 – 369
• Conneely, C., Lawlor, J., Tangney, B., Technology, Teamwork and 21st Century Skills in the Irish Classroom in,
editor(s)Marshall, K., Shaping our Future: How the lessons of the past can shape educational transformation, Liffey
Press, to appear 2013
• Johnston K., Murchan D., Conneely C., Tangney B. Enacting Key Skills-based Curricula in Secondary Education:
Lessons from a Technology-mediated, Group-based Learning Initiative. European Conference on Educational
Research, 2012.
• Lawlor J., Conneely C., and Tangney B., Towards a pragmatic model for group-based, technology-mediated, project-
oriented learning – an overview of the B2C model, in Proceedings of the TechEduca Conference 2010, pp. 602-609.
• McCarthy, C., Bligh, J., Jennings, K., Tangney, B., Virtual Collaborative Learning Environments for Music: Networked
Drumsteps, Computers & Education, 44, (2), 2005, p173 - 195
• Patten B., A C4 Toolkit for the Teaching and Learning of Concurrency, M.Sc. Thesis, TCD, 2007
• Patten, B., Arnedillo Sánchez I., Tangney B., Designing collaborative, constructionist and contextual applications for
handheld devices. Computers & Education, 2006. 46(3): p. 294-308.
• Reardon S. and Tangney B., Studio-Based Learning with Smartphones for Novice Programmers, in Proceedings of
the 10th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning2011: Beijing. p. 32-39.
• Tangney B., Oldham E., Conneely C., Barrett S., Lawlor J., Pedagogy and Processes for a Computer Programming
Outreach Workshop—The Bridge to College Model. IEEE Transactions on Education, 2010. 53(1): p. 53-60.
• Tangney B., Weber S. , O'Hanlon P., Knowles D., Munnelly J., Salkham A., Watson R., Jennings K, MobiMaths: An
approach to utilising smartphones in teaching mathematics, Proceeding of the 9th world conference on mobile
and contextual learning, 2010, pp9 – 15
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1 My Philosophical Outlook
A Self Confessed Techno-Sceptic
This technology “is destined to revolutionize
our educational system and ... in a few years
it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use
of textbooks".
– 1922 - Thomas Edison on motion pictures.
“Taking full advantage of the benefits of
ICT in teaching and learning will
encourage and enable all students to
become self-assured and self-directed
learners.”
2011 (Smart Schools = Smart Economy,
Irish government policy document)
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2 Philosophers, 1 Poet
& 2 Researchers
Aristotle
"For the things we have
to learn before we can do
them, we learn by doing
them.“
Ethics Book II
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Kahlil Gibran
“If he (the teacher) is indeed wise
he does not bid you enter the
house of his wisdom, but rather
leads you to the threshold of
your own mind.”
From The Prophet, Kahil Gibran
Socrates
“Can it be, Ischomachus,
that asking questions is
teaching?”
Socrates, quoted in
Xenophon's "Economics"
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Papert and Jonassen
• Learning as “hard fun”.
• “...technologies should not
support learning by attempting
to instruct the learners, but
rather should be used as
knowledge construction tools
that students learn with, not
from.”
(Jonassen, D., C. Carr, and H.-P. Yueh, 1998)
Some Mobile Learning
2
Applications
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The type of learning experiences we
wish to create
“…when learners are active and motivated,
when they are involved, participating, engaged,
and interacting with the material, then learning
is maximised.”
(Dror E. 2008)
Constructivist learning
 An environment which is rich in information
 Learners performing authentic tasks in ill-
structured domains
 Learning & problem solving in real-life contexts
 Learning through interactions with others
 An emphasis on learning rather than solutions
 An emphasis on reflective learning
 A cognitive apprenticeship teaching model
Bruner, J. S. (1961; Jonassen, D., Mayes, T., & McAleese, R. (1993); Papert, S. & Harel, I. (eds). (1991) ; Piaget, Jean. (1950);
Vygotskii, L.S. (1978).
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A Seminal Example
Cooties • Soloway, E., et al.,
2001.
1st Attempt at supporting
Learning Conversations
Patten B., A C4 Toolkit for the Teaching and Learning of Concurrency, M.Sc. Thesis, TCD, 2007
L3: Give me the Fork [to L4]
L4: Fork is gone
L3: GIMME!
L4: Sorry buddy.
L3: put down your damn fork. [to L5]
[L2 and L7 start to communicate]
L3: No, your fork has gone [to L2]
L2: I’m just telling him to wait
L3: Can you tell me to wait? [to L4]
[L3 and L4 point PDAs at each other]
L3: [reading from screen] ‘Fork is already being
used’
L4: I’m just sending you a message.
L3: [shouting] Conor [L5] relinquish the fork, I’m
starving here!
(Patten B., 2007)
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Other Early Ones
DRUMSTEPS
(McCarthy, C., Bligh, J., Jennings,
K., Tangney, B., 2005)
Virtual Graffiti
David O’Loghlin - www.vgraffiti.com
SMART - (Byrne P. , Tangney B., 2006)
Learner Created (AR) Mobile
Applications Using App Inventor
http://appinventor.mit.edu/
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Two Player PONG
(Sergey Slashchev, Vicki Wisuri, Jiachuan Wang)
PONG Video Clip
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Augmented Reality
Multi-player Draughts (Checkers)
Hugh Lardner & Stefan Weber
Augmented Reality
Multi-player Draughts (Checkers)
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Set Up I
Player’s current
location
Player’s piece
Set Up II – Walk to the correct location
Player’s current
location
Player’s piece
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How to move
Turn taking is controlled by the players
themselves talking to each other
– not the application!
When a team agrees which of its pieces
to move the appropriate player walks
to their new location and selects
“Choose to Move” which updates the
location of the piece on the board.
How to move - II
Piece has followed player to new
location and the screens of all
other players are updated.
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Game in action!
The Verdict on App Inventor
Q. Can non techies create interesting
mobile (AR) learning apps using App
Inventor?
A. Not there yet but getting close………
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Designing 21C “classroom”
3
learning experiences.
Collaboration
“Stationary desks
and chairs are proof
that the principle of
slavery still informs
the school”
- Montessori (1912)
2009
1890
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Aspect Pedagogy in an industrial Pedagogy in the information
society society
Active learners Whole class instruction Small groups
Collaborative Individual Working in teams
Homogeneous groups Heterogeneous groups
Everyone for him/herself Supporting each other
Creative Reproductive learning Productive learning
Integrative Discipline based Thematic
Individual teachers Teams of Teachers
The SAMR Model for
Technology Adoption
(Puentedura R., 2006)
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A Model of Team Based, Technology
Mediated, Project Oriented Learning
- Outside the Classroom
(Lawlor J., Conneely C., and Tangney B., 2010. ; Tangney B., Oldham E., Conneely C., Barrett S., Lawlor J., 2010; Conneely, C., Lawlor,
J., Tangney, B., 2013)
Technology
-mediated
Project-
Reflection
based
Facilitator
Learning
and/or
Space
Mentor(s)
Learning Model
Social
Team
Learning
work
Protocols
Skills-
focussed
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Experience to date
• Since Nov 2007 working in partnership with an
NGO (SUAS Educational Development)
• ~3,500 participants in out of school workshops of
1-3.5 days.
• Most from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Most participants ~16 years but also Primary,
year 1 secondary, Masters, learners with
intellectual disability.
• Topics covered: MM production; Programming;
Learning core curriculum without a teacher
(Mitra like).
Bridge 21 Video (bridge21.ie)
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Themes emerging from “I can do
things I
research
didn’t think I
could”
1. Students developed a personal responsibility “You’re
for learning responsible for
yourself & for
2. Teamwork is a positive contributor to the your own
learning experience work”
3. Evidence of development of meta-cognition
“I learned how to
& higher order learning interact with other
4. Results resonate with the SPRinG project people & work
together to build
5. Skills students developed during programme anything”
carried back to school
“I like working in
a team rather
than by myself”
(Lawlor J., Conneely C., and Tangney B., 2010. ; Tangney B., Oldham E., Conneely C., Barrett S., Lawlor J., 2010;)
Systemic Change
in Irish Secondary Schools?
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Systemic Change in Irish Schools
(12-16 age range)
Being creative Working with others Managing information and thinking
Imagining Relating effectively and resolving Being curious
conflict
Exploring options and alternatives Gathering, recording, organising, and
Co-operating evaluating information
Implementing ideas and taking action
Respecting difference Using information to solve problems
Changing and taking risks and create new ideas
Contributing
Learning creatively Thinking creatively and critically
Learning with others
Being creative through ICT Reflecting on and evaluating my
Using ICT to work with others learning
Using ICT to access, manage and
share knowledge
Key Skills
Can we adapt the Bridge21 Model
for use in formal schooling?
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Challanges
Assimilating
content/curriculum for
Embedding key skills
Assessment of student-led learning Classroom &
within subject content
learning & school design
achievement
Teacher &
The role of the student
teacher development &
training needs
B21 Learning Bridge21 School
Model Transformation
Programme
A 21st Century
School
Worked with 8 schools in 2011-12
Impact on Key Skills (n=134)
Mean
Key Skill Sub-Skill Difference SD t Alpha Effect Size
Being Creative Exploring options & alternatives .27 .87 3.4 .001 .32
Implementing ideas & taking action .14 .56 2.9 .005 .26
Learning creatively -.06 .48 -1.43 .154 .13
Working with Others Co-operating .22 1.10 2.16 .03 .23
Contributing .04 .58 .67 .51 .06
Learning with others .12 .93 1.4 .17 .15
Using ICT to work with others .34 1.32 2.6 .01 .31
Managing information Gathering, recording, organising and evaluating .12 .82 1.68 .10 .17
and thinking information
Using information to solve problems and create .11 .61 2.02 .05 .21
new ideas
Thinking creatively and critically .12 .51 2.63 .01 .24
Reflecting on and evaluating my learning .00 .57 .67 .94 .02
Johnston K., Murchan D., Conneely C., Tangney B. 2012
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Key Skills
Being creative Working with others Managing information and thinking
Imagining Relating effectively and resolving Being curious
conflict
Exploring options and alternatives Gathering, recording, organising, and
Co-operating evaluating information
Implementing ideas and taking action
Respecting difference Using information to solve problems
Changing and taking risks and create new ideas
Contributing
Learning creatively Thinking creatively and critically
Learning with others
Being creative through ICT Reflecting on and evaluating my
Using ICT to work with others learning
Using ICT to access, manage and
share knowledge
Modest evidence of gain
No evidence of gain
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The MobiMath
Toolkit
(Tangney B., Weber S. , O'Hanlon P., Knowles D., Munnelly J., Salkham A., Watson R.,
Jennings K, 2010)
The Pond Example
Exploring: problem solving; estimation;
measurement; geometry & volume
Students in year 1 secondary school
~ 12-13 years old
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How long would it take you to fill the pond in the local park with
water using only buckets filled from the tap in the school yard?
School Pond
Very nice pond!
Irregular in shape and has little islands in it.
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Video Clip
The Bridge 21 model and (mobile) technology
can help us create learning experiences which
are...
 An environment which is rich
in information
 Performing authentic tasks in
ill-structured domains
 Learning & problem solving in
real-life contexts
 Learning through interactions Problem based
with others
 An emphasis on learning
Open ended
rather than solutions
 An emphasis on reflective
learning Contextualised
Team based
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Going forward
• Working with 12 schools in 2012-13
– Working with 3 schools opening in 2014.
• Training for pupils
• CPD for teachers
• Co-operative planning with schools
• Research Instruments
– Case studies of different schools
– Skills instrument
– Standardised tests
In Conclusion
(Mobile) Technology Enhanced
Learning in Secondary Schools?
• “The task is not to
understand the
world but to change it.”
Karl Marx
• We wish to help transform
the Irish Secondary School
system.
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