McKenney, S. (2012, 4-5 September). What is educational design research? Invited lecture for the Crossfield Graduate School at the University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

What is educational design research

In this study we present a professional development initiative aimed at helping urban teachers in low-income underserved schools in the U.S. learn how to utilize iPads (a representative mobile device) and educational apps (software programs that run on mobile devices) to support teaching and learning. Subsequently, we examine the ways in which four case study teachers utilized iPads and educational apps in their classrooms to support their students' learning experiences. Data included observations of professional development activities, classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student focus groups. Findings revealed that students used iPads and educational apps to (a) access online content, (b) create learning artifacts, and (c) reinforce content learning through personalized instruction. Findings also indicated that use of iPads and educational apps supported student academic growth and empowerment. Results have implications for mobile learning researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, particularly those charged with the design and implementation of professional development programs.

Bridging the app gap: An examination of a professional development initiative on mobile learning in urban schools

Recent statistics on the use of mobile technology proclaim that the world is becoming mobile. People use their phones to socialize, to conduct business, to search for information, and more. For the first time in history, people around the world have the potential to learn from any location at their own convenience. But first, education systems must change, to facilitate mobile access to education. As this article describes, the most important change will be training teachers, both in pre-service programmes and through professional development, to use the technology to design and deliver education and to create bridges to informal learning. The article also describes some projects around the world that are helping to prepare teachers for the mobile world, and some pilot projects using the technology. Most such research, however, is limited to short-term studies focusing on learners’ satisfaction with mobile learning. Future studies must consider its long-term benefits and its impacts on performance and retention. As mobile technologies emerge, teachers have to keep up with the changes so that they can take advantage of the power of the technology to design and deliver education.

Preparing teachers for a mobile world, to improve access to education

The issue that this article introduces grew out of an event, the UNESCO Mobile Learning Week, but also out of a wider and growing movement of people and organisations exploiting mobile technologies, as they pursue varied educational missions. The UNESCO Mobile Learning Week represented by contributions here was a focus for contributions from across the field. This article provides a wider discussion of these contributions, first by looking at the achievements of UNESCO and then by considering these achievements more critically. In particular, it highlights several sets of inherent challenges facing UNESCO and other organisations engaging in mobile learning: those around evidence, evaluation, and sustainability; the problematic tension between large-scale interventions, based on scale and content delivered by national governments, and the language and culture of marginal or indigenous people; the absence of appropriate ethics procedures to manage educational interventions delivered by a powerful and ubiquitous technology; and the absence of learners in the forums that address all these various issues.

/pdf/introduction-the-prospects-for-mobile-learning-4fneybhnbq.pdf

Introduction: The Prospects for Mobile Learning.

Gamification in education refers to the application of game dynamics, mechanics into the teaching and learning engagement. This paper makes a case for viewing the objective of Educational Gamification as a Gameful Educational User Experience. In an effort to facilitate the integration of tablets in the teaching and learning environment of rural schools, gamification was used as one of the design tenets to engage and motivate teachers. The Gamification of the ICT4RED Teacher Professional Development Course as an instance of the Mobile Learning Curriculum implemented is outlined through the UX lens of the user, system and context.

Gamification beyond badges

The rapid spread and penetration of mobile devices to every layer of society has confronted the educational community with many new opportunities and responsibilities. As mobile compu ting and its disruptive aftermath enter the education arena, the challenge becomes how to harness the potential in ways that are beneficial to the educat ional community at large and the learners in particular. This paper outlines the initial conception, design research methodology followed and the development of the definitive Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework as a first attempt to systematically and comprehensively explore, where and how mobiles could appear within educational provision. The curriculum framework is underpinned by three broad learning objectives; to acquire domain knowle dge, to develop sufficient and appropriate skills to enable mobile learning pr actice and to understand the role and impact of domain knowledge in the relation to the application context. To this end the curriculum framework is pr esented as a modular solution for adaption to accommodate differing cont exts.

/pdf/towards-a-mobile-learning-curriculum-framework-352ake7ywm.pdf

Ignatia De Waard

Papers

Towards a Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework