Part three: Use of Mobile Technology for Teacher Training by JOCELYN WISHART edited by Mohammed Ally (2009)

PART THREE
Applications of Mobile Learning
Use of Mobile Technology for Teacher Training

JOCELYN WISHART
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

This chapter describes a small-scale project, funded by the UK Teacher Development Agency, where all teachers and trainee teachers in one secondary school science department were given handheld Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for the academic year. The aims were to build m-learning and m-teaching capacity, to enable school based associate tutors to join the e-learning community linked to the local initial teacher training course, and to encourage reflective practice amongst trainee teachers. However, not all these aims succeeded. The handhelds were viewed as personal devices rather than enabling access to a community of practice. Nearly all participants praised the personal information management functions of the devices; however, the teachers did not use the handhelds to access course information and trainees did so only rarely. The ability to access Google from any location to answer students’ and colleagues’ questions was more popular. Most popular were the multiple methods of recording available on the handheld: video, audio, and written notes. Teachers used these to record observations on each others’ lessons, students’ work, student behaviour, and trainees’ progress in teaching. The concept of using blogs to reflect on practice was not taken up though trainees did record personal reflections on their teaching in Pocket Word for later use in course assignments.

I sin inledning tar de upp det tidigare användandet av PDAs i skolor. Det understrukna liknar den känsla jag och många av mina vänner/kollegor har angående mobiler och internet. Nu när de finns så skulle vi inte vilja vara utan på grund utav med den enkelhet vi kan både hitta information snabbt och kommunicera effektivare.

Previous work with teachers using PDAs in schools (Perry 2003) has shown that PDAs can be supportive of teaching in that they offer considerable potential to make teachers’ management and presentation of information more efficient. One science teacher described their range of potential benefits to Perry: “I would never willingly go without one now; it is my instantly accessible encyclopedia, thesaurus, periodic table, diary, register/mark book, world map, and even star chart!” Additionally, whilst the trainees are directly supported by a mentor from the school when on placement, their university tutors need feedback on their trainees’ progress to assure themselves of their well being. Access to email and the Internet has become essential to managing this process.

 I och med utvecklingen av mobiler och då tänker jag på Smartphones i synnerhet så tror jag att de och även Surfplattorna för all del som är det allra nyaste, kommer att leda till att användandet av laptops kommer att minska radikalt framöver. När tillgängligheten till information via Internet och filer, både ljud och film samt utvecklingen av alla ”appar” (applikationer till Iphone, Android, Windowsphone) ökar så dramatiskt i dessa små lätta handhållna enheter som vi enkelt kan ta med oss över allt och med överlägsen standby tid. Ja då kommer nog väldigt många föredra detta istället för en laptop. Följaktligen blir dessa man även använder vid mobil inlärning, något som det här studien även pekar på och då relaterar de ändå till flera år tillbaka i tiden innan Smartphones exploderade på marknaden och hade den kapacitet de har idag.

Providing trainee teachers with PDAs is one way of resolving this issue and, indeed, previous research (Wishart, Ramsden, and McFarlane 2007) has shown that this can be effective where trainee teachers in science trialled the use of Internet enabled PDAs to support them in their teaching and learning. Another study investigating the development of e learning communities amongst initial teacher trainees dispersed on their school placements (Hughes 2005) found that the trainees preferred PDAs to laptops as they were smaller and lighter.

De delade ut den teknik som var tillgänglig då och följande var vad de ville åstadkomma med dem. De hade ganska höga tankar om vad de som skulle ingå i studien skulle åtaga sig att göra. Lite för höga tankar skulle det visa sig..

Method

Thirteen science teachers at a local community school and six trainee teachers on the PGCE one-year teacher training course at the University of Bristol were given handheld computers to use throughout the academic year. These were PDAs chosen from the Pocket PC range then available in the UK that contained cameras and used the mobile phone GPRS network to connect to the Internet. Previous research (Wishart, McFarlane, and Ramsden 2005) had shown that initial teacher trainees preferred Pocket PC-based handheld computers to Palm OS based ones.

On introduction to the mobile devices trainees and staff were shown how the PDAs have the potential to support them in:

• collaborating via the course Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)mdiscussion groups and email

• accessing course documentation (via the VLE or via synchronization with a PC)

• just in time acquisition of knowledge from the Web

• acquisition of science information from e-books and encyclopaedias

• delivering accurate figures for scientific constants and formulae

• organizing commitments, lesson plans and timetables

• recording and analysing laboratory results

• recording student attendance and grades

• photographing experiments for display and reinforcing student knowledge

• maintaining a reflective web log (blog) that could allow them to record lesson evaluations and other reflections on their teaching

I deras resultat så tycker jag att det visar sig att oavsett hur väl förberedd man är och vilka bra och djupa intentioner man har, så är alltid ändå den svagaste länken de som ska utföra själva studien. Att inte få med alla på tåget och utvärdera nya tekniska lösningar, är ett problem som jag själv ofta upplever inom skolans värld bland mina kollegor. Det finns en stor grad av "motvalls-pedagoger" som har svårt att gå i nya banor utan vill fortsätta köra i gamla beprövade spår.

Results from teachers

Four to five months into the study, during the Spring term, teachers were asked to report whether they were still using the PDA only half were using their PDA. On discussing reasons for not using the PDA three clear positions emerged: choosing to use an alternative technology to support teaching, lack of engagement with the study, and finding the PDA display difficult to read. Two teachers were not using the PDA as they now had alternative access to information and communication technology (ICT) which they found fitted their purposes better. Since the school had agreed to become involved with the PDA project each teaching laboratory had been equipped with a desktop computer, one teacher had purchased a digital camera and several had acquired USB memory sticks. All of these were suggested as being better for the purpose of designing presentations at home and bringing them to school for lessons. Another two teachers had failed to try out the PDA, and a third teacher found managing eye glasses (as the display was too small) and the stylus simultaneously too much trouble.

Resultaten var som sagt inte överraskande för mig då det alltid finns en ”tröskel” att komma över när det gäller att ta till sig nya teknik eller nya hjälpmedel för vissa. Jag kan dock hålla med om att en Pocket PC har sina begränsningar.

Det fanns dock de som hittade fördelar:

A list of the activities that were reported by more than one teacher as being used successfully to support teaching and mentoring trainee teachers is as follows:

• Making notes in meetings or for lesson observations using Word

• Calendar/Diary Scheduler

• Taking photos and videos

• Searching/Researching (Internet)

Figure 2 shows an example of the notes made by an experienced teacher during an observation of a trainee teacher’s lesson, these were then beamed using infra-red to the trainee’s PDA for her to include in her reflections on her teaching. The teachers noted the advantages of being able to use the PDA to quickly and easily make notes both in formal meetings and on accidentally meeting up with colleagues in the corridor between lessons.

Figure 3 is an illustration of how the Pocket PC Calendar can be used to display a teaching timetable. Whilst the diary design was not as appropriate for teaching as customized timetabling software, it was still one of the most popular applications.

Här är andra exempel på saker som de tyckte fungerade bra. Det visar tydligt tycker jag att om bara viljan finns så kan man använda sig av mobila hjälpmedel i sin undervisning på ett mycket smidigt sätt.

Access to the Internet was also reported particularly favourably, especially for keeping abreast of breaking news usually unavailable during the school day (such as the cricket scores). Additionally, one member of staff was very emphatic about how useful it was to set up a class administration system in Excel on a desktop computer and synchronize it to the PDA so that it could be quickly and easily updated during lessons. He used multiple windows for attendance, grades, practical skills achieved, and commendations.

Här är exempel på vad som sker när viljan inte finns..

However, when it came to participating in the e-learning community designed to support the trainee teachers in the school, the teachers were less forthcoming. In fact the teachers’ communication using the PDA was much less than anticipated with only occasional use of SMS texts and email to contact each other or friends and family outside school. More use was made of beaming files to the trainee teachers than messaging or emailing them.

Tittar vi sen på resultaten från trainees så tycker jag att de var förvånasvärt nedslående resultat. Jag hade förväntat mig mer från dom. Speciellt eftersom som de borde vara vana användare av ny teknik och tycka att få möjligheten att använda den i sin inlärning borde locka mera.

Results from Trainee Teachers

Results from the online questionnaires completed by the six trainee teachers (three from the autumn term teaching practice who were allowed to keep their PDAs when they moved to a different school and three from the Spring term practice) show similar trends. Just over half had given up using the PDA towards the end of the term. Two trainees had given up as they had allowed the PDA battery to discharge and lost their diaries and stored work, another found the PDA more hassle than a pen and paper, and another found it faster and easier to use a laptop that had become available. However, all the trainees agreed that using the PDA was easy and five of the six disagreed with the statement that the PDA was of no use to them as an individual. There was no clear agreement amongst this group as to whether having a PDA might support their learning and/or teaching. There was clear agreement though that the two most useful applications were the calendar for organizing their timetable and the task list for organizing their multiple commitments. The web browser was used (most often via Google) to answer queries and to find information to support teaching, but more often to support personal interest or need. They also used Word for making notes on lesson observations and for receiving feedback from experienced teachers on their own lessons.

I deras slutsatser så framgår det tydligt att denna teknik ännu inte har fått genomslagskraft inom undervisning trots att den visar på potential. I slutklämmen så tycker jag att de pekar på det som jag tror är viktigast i hela det här resonemanget, nämligen att det krävs att instutitionen erkänner resursen och lägger kraft på att utveckla och supporta den för att den skall bli effektiv. Även att man antar en ann syn på användandet att mobilt lärande. Detta är inte något som sker i en handvändning utan är en process som måste noga planeras och ges tid och resurser till att genomföras. Jag tror att inom en snar framtid så kommer även de som fattar besluten förstå att det är den rätta vägen att gå. Eleverna har ju redan förstått det och många av pedagogerna med, nu gäller det bara att övertala alla "motvalls-pedagoger" och skolledningar att förstå nyttan och resursen i mobil inlärning.

Conclusion

Despite acknowledging their potential for supporting collaboration, teachers mostly view PDAs as personal devices and used only the software that supported their personal information needs.

However, providing a PDA for all teachers within a department enabled a culture for trainee teachers where their use could be experimented with and the experienced teachers who continued to use the PDAs found that they provided individual teaching support through:

• Internet access

• taking photos

• class administration

• diary scheduling in particular

It was clear that the just-in-time nature of the individual support – having almost instant access to personal calendar, class lists and grades, and Google was important to the trainees and supported them in their learning. Additionally, recording notes on trainees’ lessons and using the infrared beam to share them was very useful to both the teachers and trainees who continued to use the PDAs.

Finally, for effective deployment of mobile devices in teaching and learning support there needs to be recognition of PDAs and other Smartphones as part of the whole ICT system within an institution. Issues such as using the WiFi to connect to the wireless network, connecting the PDAs to the data projectors and connecting the PDA cradles to the classroom desktops need a significant amount of facilitation in the school context where access to computer networks is heavily restricted.

/Helge Lundgren