Mobile collaboration in Educational Settings
Why use mobile collaborative technologies in education? Let's look at what the research says.
Mobile learning is an ever-increasing
field for educational research in all areas of learning, with studies revealing that smartphones and tablets are
the preferred mobile devices (Yildiz et al, 2020).
Combining constructivism and social cognitive theory –
“Learning is both a process of self-organization and a process of enculturation that occurs while participating in cultural practices, frequently while interacting with others
(Cobb, 2005, p. 63). As such, collaborative activities often play a key role in learning for both in-person and remote learning options.
Constructivist learning environments involve student-centred learning, which is an active process during which the learner constructs knowledge
(Zielinski et. al, 2017).
“Using technology to encourage student collaboration and interaction...is in alignment with constructivism” (Zielinski et al. 2017,p. 671).
“[M]obile-based collaborative learning is better able to serve as cognitive, metacognitive, and epistemological
tools for students’ understanding and conception transformation” (Fu & Hwang, 2018), when compared to internet-based learning.
As mobile learning becomes more a part of student lives,
adaptive technologies allow for content to be presented
and updated in accordance with individual students’
learning styles and contexts, resulting in more
personalization of learning while offering collaborative
opportunities (Yildiz et al, 2020).
Student engagement, interest and focus is maintained over longer periods of time when using mobile technologies with “novel pedagogies, collaboration
adaptivity, and game elements” (Jagušt & Botički, 2019, p. 360)
Mobile technologies have the unique strength to “frequently connect the teachers and students to formulate an interactive learning setting” (Zhai, Li, & Chen 2019, p. 318) meaning that “learner-centric uses of mobile technology should be encouraged in the future” (p. 318).
Mobile Collaboration in the Classroom
After listening to the hybrid teaching & learning scenario, please join our collaborative Flipgrid discussion by clicking the icon below.
Choosing collaborative tools for student collaboration - what to consider?
Designing collaborative learning opportunities with mobile technologies means balancing the affordances with ease of use for the level of learners involved.
The teacher’s role is to design and facilitate authentic learning experiences, of which peer to peer discussion and collaboration are important factors.
As remote working and learning has become the norm in the face of Covid-19, the availability of tools for mobile collaborative learning is not an issue, but rather the focus turns to which tools are suitable for which learning environments?
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How is Pre-service Teaching and Professional Development Changing for Teachers?
Callaghan (2017), identifies the preparation of educators as one of the challenges in the implementation of mobile teaching and learning:
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“The field of information and communication technologies (ICT), and specifically, mobile devices and mobile applications, is developing continuously”p. 332), and “leads to different adoption rates of technology” (p. 333).
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“Educators often lag in both their willingness and their ability to make successful use of new developments” (p. 333).
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“Development in the mobile education environment creates the need for pre-service student teachers, in-service teachers, and education lecturers to face and address these challenges” (p. 334).
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“A Faculty of Education should be a safe space where challenging aspects, such as mobile teaching and learning practices can be investigated and developed” (p. 348).
Maher (2018) identifies sharing resources and ideas using mobile technology as an important way to “enhance pre-service teachers’ learning through sharing meaning with others” (p. 167), with mobile devices allowing for “communication and connectivity” (p. 167) between pre-service teachers and teaching mentors.
In their study on embedded experts in online collaborative learning for pre-service teachers, Lock & Redmond (2021) state that:
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“Teacher education programs need to provide an array of authentic learning experiences, including learning online, where learning occurs through critical discourse” (p. 1).
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An “Online Collaborative Learning Framework [Figure 1] ” (p. 2) can be used to facilitate an authentic experience in learning from others. It includes:
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“Community Building
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Learning from a Shared Experience
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Learning from Teachers as Experts
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Critical Reflection” (p. 2)
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online discussion forums allow a “risk-free environment” (p. 4) where pre-service teachers are free to ask questions and learn in collaboration with experienced teachers, or “embedded experts” (p. 4).
Mobile collaboration technologies for teacher training
After watching the scenario video, please join our discussion on Jamboard by clicking the icon below.
Multimodal Communication Supports Learners with Special Needs
There is a growing interest towards developing technology-based materials for students with special educational needs and the use of information and communication technology (ICT)-assisted learning is increasingly significant in achieving integration and inclusion of these students in mainstream classrooms and society (Florian, 2003). For many disabled people, computers offer the potential to increase independence and quality of life and to reduce the degree of handicap caused by their disability. ICT support can provide opportunities to increase performance in activities and opportunities to increase participation (Istenic Starcic & Bagon, 2014).
Lewis and Neil (2001) identified the main functions of ICT support as follows:
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Interaction communication/collaboration
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physical control and access to the normal curriculum
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subject-linked learning
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reward/motivation
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information technology skills
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assessment
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record-keeping
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teacher support
Before designing any sorts of instruction, instructional designers must have good understanding of needs and capabilities of potential users of the instructional materials.
Please see the post on ETEC 523 Blog for further information on accessibility on mobile technology.
Mobile Collaboration Using Multimodal Suppports
After watching the scenario video, please join us on a collaboration activity on a Padlet by clicking below.
Collaborative applications for collaborative teaching and learning
For each of the apps below, click on the icon to connect to an introductory video
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Google Classroom– A learning management system that connects to all of Google’s other goodies. Students & teachers can chat, video conference, share files, & collaborate on assignments.
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Microsoft Teams – A learning management system where students & teachers can chat, video conference, share files, and collaborate.
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Jamboard - An interactive whiteboard that allows multiple participants to work together on ideas and problems by drawing, using sticky notes, and importing graphics.
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CLAS-UBC - A whiteboard platform allows mixed-media inputs, real-time and asynchronous collaboration, video creation, animation, and more..
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Flipgrid – An online discussion forum that allows participants to respond to a prompt or question with recorded videos, text, or both.
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Padlet – A online bulletin board where participants can post notes, leave comments, add video links and react to content.
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Kialo – An online discussion forum for facilitating debates and critical thinking. Choose to contribute to existing debates or create a new one.
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Kahoot – A fun quiz app that allows students and teachers to create and implement quizzes in a gamified atmosphere.
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Socrative – An online quiz app that can be used for collaborative practice and review with immediate feedback or for assessment.
