One issue I need to think about is that my understanding of the way my students operate is that it is very different to the types of students that were the subjects of the research papers. What I mean by that is that I am fairly sure that my students will use technology in different ways to students in other parts of the world because their lives are different. For example, my students are not commuters and do not tend to spend time waiting at the bus stop. Additionally, as second language learners with limited English skills, they have not previously shown much interest in listening to podcasts about microeconomics ( I have tried!). That may sound a bit facetious but what I mean by that is that it is incumbent on me as a teacher to try to figure out how my students both can and will use this technology to create meaningful learning opportunities.
I think the main benefit of using mobile learning for my students in the current project in which they are involved is probably going to lie in their ability to use their own devices to record authentic experiences relevant to the project they are undertaking. They are studying Micreconomics and this part of the project is to discuss with a local businessman his costs, which they will then need to analyse and discuss. A potential problem with this is that the businessman may not be willing to have the interview recorded. This could be minimised both by my issuing of a letter on college headed paper and also by a promise to destroy the recording after the project has been finished. By using their mobile devices (with the interviewees consent!) they will then create a permanent record which both they and I can review as they continue with the project. As they look for meaning from the conversations recorded they will be able to reflect on the actual recording, rather than their memory of it. This will enable us to discuss the content of the interview in a way which would not be possible if they simply made notes of the conversation.
At the end of the project I will then be able to specifically ask them whether they felt this was helpful in enabling them to reflect in a deeper way on their learning
I think your first comment is apt. I have found that the hardest part of any research opportunity is finding the time to properly explore the literature before you begin the research project.
ReplyDeleteUsually there is a time constraint that forces you to begin before you are truly ready or forces you to abandon a project because it just won't fly with the best you can do under the circumstances.
Dean
This is really interesting, Andrew, as you touch upon some issues that I have encountered in my work. My education students undertake a research project which entails observation and interviews of teachers and children in school. We consider the ethical aspects of this to be very important, so we have a few lessons on the centrality of ethics in research and equip each of them with a headed, bilingual letter to the school principal and their mentor ensuring anonymity and confidentiality and that their comments will not be made public.
ReplyDeleteThe second aspect is the idea of situated knowledge, how understanding and practices are partially a function of the particular socio-historical in which they are carried out. So much research and commentary is Western derived and so generally only obliquely relevant to our specific context. We need to appropriate and adapt these understanding and practices, so that they are effective in our learning context, rather than try to take them on wholesale.
Regards
Neil