Synthesis about Mobile Learning

1. Edilson Araujo
910068034
Synthesis about
Mobile Learning

2. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 At the begging of class the scores I got for the learning
preferences test was Active-9, Sensing-1, Visual-7, and
Sequential-5. I found all of them to be accurate as I indeed
prefer active, visual, and sequential learning. I tend to learning
by doing, and am more like to learn by seeing somebody doing
it first and then showing me the steps in a sensing manner. My
thinking hasn’t really changed about my learning styles as I still
prefer the same ones that the test said I preferred but now I can
at least adjust my study habits to pass a class that doesn't fit
into my learning preferences well. The only thing that changed
in my thinking is that I am trying to make more of an effort to
balance out my learning preferences. For example my score for
active versus reflective was active-9. I am now trying to make
that a more balanced learning style. As of right now knowing my
learning style has helped me to adjust to certain classes and
even feel better when I didn't retain certain material. It's good to
know what you prefer in a class room.

3. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The pathway I selected at the beginning of class was
that of a Learning Guide, but I wanted to get a broader
understanding of how my phone and tablet could help
me to study and be a better student, so I quickly
switched to the path of a Learning Warrior. I found that
my biggest problem right now is a difficult schedule that
leaves me with difficult times to study and do school
work, and I needed something that would help me to
study better on the go versus something that would
allow me to learn with others. The learning warrior path
was of great help for me because I felt I already had a
good idea of the technology out there but I wasn't sure
about how I could use it for learning and this path
deepened my understanding of how I can do that.

4. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 Some of the activities that helped me the most were the ones
where I got to try out different things and then report back on
them in the google doc. For example, during the iPad section
one of the items to be tested was an app to learn new
languages. I liked it a lot and looked for other apps by those
same creators and ended up finding an app that is now helping
me pass Spanish. The flashcard app was I think the most helpful
one as I get to use that for just about every class now. The
social bookmarking activity where we had to find web pages to
book mark and share with others was the best resource for me
during this class. Before this class I didn’t even know what social
bookmarking was and so that entire section really helped to
broaden my horizons. I now use the activities and tools to help
me research different topics for different classes. The activity
that thought me how to learn with others was the microblogs
one. It was interesting to see how others were seeing and
understanding a certain topic and I think that when working on a
problem, if you have folks following you or you following them,

5. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The top three technologies that I explore
were the iPads, the mp3 players, and
the podcasts.

6. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 Using the iPad for learning catered to the fact that I am a visual
learned and that I like to be an active learner. I got to watch
somebody do problems and explain things to me instead of
being stuck reading the textbook which is nearly impossible for
me. I would then try to solve problems myself with the
whiteboard app where I could try to solve a problem and then
compare my results with those from the lecture. The class I am
taking is physics and the professor who teaches it makes the
subject to be harder than it is. I started the class and right away
was lost in the concepts and could understand what was going
on but after I started watch other people' s lectures and
examples it became much easier to understand what was going
on in the homework and even the in class exercises.
 Using an iPad definitely helped to improve my learning because
it made the subject more available to me and a lot easier to
follow. If I didn’t have the lectures in the iPad I would've been
stuck having to read the book and that would've been tragic as
the book is useful but a very hard read. Having the iPad also

7. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The mp3 players were great to have with me while I was
working because I could load it up full of lectures and
podcasts about the subject that I was going to study that
day. I find that some subjects are hard to follow when all
you have is sound of what they are trying to explain, but
when you already have an idea of what is being talked
about, listening to more explanations could really help.
This would also help me with my sequential learning
preference as I could listen to somebody talking me
through all the steps where in class sometimes the small
steps get skipped.

8. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 Podcasts and online lectures from iTunesU have changed
the way I study completely. There is so much information
out there in the internet that it is a bit overwhelming. I
started off by downloading a series of lectures from UC
Berkley that matched up my own class pretty well. I liked
the way the professor from Berkley explained the material
better so I would watch his lecture before going to class
and it made a giant difference. I wouldn't really
understand the stuff my professor was explaining but
since I had watched the lecture online I wasn’t falling
behind. My professor prefers the global approach but I'm
more of a sequential learner and tend to only learn when I
can see the linear connections. Since my learning needs
weren't being met in class I supplemented with iTunesU
and it's working well.

9. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The technology that interested me the most as a learning
tool was the iPad because of all the different options you
have in that one single device. Everything from games to
help with learning to actual lectures and learning apps. I
was mostly surprised by the social bookmarking as I had
no idea that anything like that even existed. I'm not sure
that microblogs are an effective tool for learning right
away as it seems a little restricted and it seems like using
it for learning is just not intuitive and would take more
work than do good. The tools that I'd like to explore more
for my learning is MMOG's as there just seems to be lots
of opportunity there that I haven't really tapped into. The
idea that you can play games that would teach you about
physics for example just seems like a great way to learn
and in my mind I see it really facilitating the understanding
of the concepts.

10. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The mobile technology that worked best for me was the
podcasts. I downloaded videos of people solving
problems and explaining the material and that was great
help to me in my physics class. The material is not that
easy and seeing it once in class was not enough for me.
But I am an active visual leaner and reading the book was
not only hard but I also have trouble understanding the
material that way. Seeing somebody explain the subject
over and over brought much better results than having me
just sitting there and reading the book. I could actually see
it being done and while watching I could be following
along trying to do it myself and taking notes. This is what
saved me in physics.

11. Edilson Araujo
910068034
 The mobile technology that I will most likely continue to
use after this class is my iPad and the podcasts. There
truly is a lot of information out there on just about every
subject so from this point on if I am having trouble in class
or if I am feeling like I could use some extra help I will turn
to the app store and the look for apps that may facilitate
my learning and online lectures that can re-explain
concepts to me. Podcasts can be used in learning a job
because it you can watch videos and examples of certain
things getting done and that way you can learn. There are
lots of training videos on the apple store and I'm sure I
would be able to find a training on just about anything job
I would be starting. I think I will be avoiding the social
networking as I can see myself getting side-tracked by
chatting with friends and not actually getting any work
done. I think that there are just too many distractions from