Part three: From E-learning to Mobile Learning: New Opportunities by Pieri and Damantini edited by Mohammed Ally (2009)

Part three: Applications of Mobile Learning
From E-learning to Mobile Learning: New Opportunities

MICHELLE PIERI

DAVIDE DIAMANTINI
UNIVERSITY OF MILANO-BICOCCA
TALY

Abstract

This chapter focuses on an experience of blended learning that is still on goin for the training of managers of Technological Transfer (TT), who work in an Italian Scientific Technological Park (STP). Their main activity is linked to technological transfer. In the STP the technological transfer manager is the key figure in the management of the transmission of scientific knowledge from the research world to the industrial dimension. The aim of this project is to conduct an experiment in a “Training course for the TT manager” in order to satisfy their training needs. The course is based on a blended learning model, with the use of combined traditional educational methodologies: (1) e-learning methodologies and face to face and (2) m-learning methodologies and face to face. This chapter will focus on the blended m-learning experience.

I sin inledning så berör de kärnan av mobilt lärande direkt, nämligen att den inte är bunden till en särskild plats utan att man kan studera i stort sett var som helst när som helst. Dötiden försvinner i denna typ av inlärning. De försöker också anamma en blandad inlärningsmodell vilket jag tycker känns spännande eftersom e-learning och m-learning är så nära besläktade.

"With mobile learning the learning phase is not bound to a location with specific characteristics, potentially becoming omnipresent learning. For example, delays during commuting and travelling on the underground become potential learning moments. In general, any moment which would otherwise be “wasted,” or that before now could not be enriched with didactic contents, has now become a potential learning moment thanks to mobile learning."

Så här gick de tillväga med m-learning:

The Blended Mobile Learning Course

It is thought that m-learning can make up for the critical factors that characterized the blended e learning experience. In the blended m-learning we decided to:

1. Administer a pre-questionnaire in order to understand how the learning instrument could be best used.

2. Familiarize the students with the instrument through a first face to face meeting of the course where the Pocket PC is presented and distributed to the students; the fruition of a learning unit on mobile learning and a second face to face meeting to share doubts about the new learning typology.

The Pre-questionnaire

The goal of this questionnaire is to understand how the learning instrument can be used, something which was not done in the blended e-learning experience. For this, it is necessary to understand what mobile devices our subjects have, how they use them and how they are willing to use them.

The Didactic Modules

The didactic modules, in text format and audio, constitute the learning objects which last approximately ten minutes each. Every MLO has a contents part followed by tasks to do (for example: “Try to reflect on one of the topics that was just presented to you,” or “Collect material on one of the topics which was just presented”).

The Assessment Questionnaire

The areas to be investigated in the assessment of the quality of the mobile learning experimentation have been identified also in the literature about mobile learning. In particular we have considered:

- The benefits of mobile learning, such as the chance to access the training contents anywhere and anytime.

- The features of the mobile device in itself, in this case the Pocket PC, both in terms of hardware and software.

- The way the user feels the mobile device is as a learning tool.

- The structuring of the course both in terms of content organization, the stimuli and the homework assignments proposed.

Regarding the features of the mobile devices in themselves, if subjects have never used a PDA before, they were asked if they had any problem using the Pocket PC. They were also asked to assess the following aspects using a five-point Likert scale:

•  readability of the contents on the screen

•  use of the pen

•  surfing and menu changing

•  screen colours

•  battery life

•  audio

Vad kom de då fram till i sin undersökning och vad tycker jag är intressanta fakta? Jo att m-learning både är roligare för eleverna samt enklare för de som skapar innehållet än vad e-learning är. Att dötid tillvaratas samt att det går att kombinera med e-learning utan problem. De inser också att mer utveckling inom området måste göras för att den skall bli effektivare. Kärnan är ju precis som de pekar på att man lär sig genom att "uppleva", den mobila tekniken handlar mycket mer om syn och ljud inryck än vad tidigare traditionell inlärning har haft. Därför så tycker jag att den kräver en annan synvinkel på hur vi ska utforma innehållet i lärandet. Att det dessutom verkar upplevas som ett mer lustfyllt sätt att lära sig på kan ju heller inte skada...

Conclusion

From this experience of blended m-learning still in progress, it seems that blended m-learning training method suits the needs of TT managers better than blended e-learning. Mobile learning allows trainees to use time and spaces formerly “lost” from training activities (for example, the time spent on the bus from the city to the STP) by blending it with e-learning. Among the positive elements of this experience, subjects mentioned the ease of use of the mobile device, its usefulness to fill up empty moments like traveling on the train, and the fact that taking a course via a mobile device was engaging and fun. This last point is a further confirmation of what has emerged from other numerous international experiences: Learning with a mobile device is enjoyable for students (Prensky 2001; Seppälä and Alamäki 2003; Savill-Smith and Kent 2003; Schwabe and Göth 2005). The work with blended m-learning also shows that there is the need to develop teaching strategies that focus on those experiential elements which can strengthen learning by building what in contemporary literature is  called “learning experience.”

/Helge Lundgren