Anatomy of a mobilized lesson: Learning my way

  • Authors:

  • Chee-Kit Looi;Lung-Hsiang Wong;Hyo-Jeong So;Peter Seow;Yancy Toh;Wenli Chen;Baohui Zhang;Cathie Norris;Elliot Soloway

  • Affiliations:

  • Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;Learning Sciences Laboratory, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;University of North Texas, Department of Learning Technologies, 3940 N. Elm, G 150 Denton, Texas 76203-0530, USA;University of Michigan, Department of EECS, College of Engineering, 2260 Hayward, Room 3629, CSE Building University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

  • Venue:
  • Computers & Education
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

With the mass adoption of mobile computing devices by the current school generation, significant opportunities have emerged for genuinely supporting differentiated and personalized learning experiences through mobile devices. In our school-based research work in introducing mobilized curricula to a class, we observe one compelling mobilized lesson that exploits the affordances of mobile learning to provide multiple learning pathways for elementary grade (primary) 2 students. Through the lesson, students move beyond classroom activities that merely mimic what the teacher says and does in the classroom, and yet they still learn in personally meaningful ways. In deconstructing the lesson, we provide an in-depth analysis of how the affordances of mobile computing enable personalized learning from four facets: (a) allowing multiple entry points and learning pathways, (b) supporting multi-modality, (c) enabling student improvisation in situ, and (d) supporting the sharing and creation of student artifacts on the move. A key property of mobile technology that enables these affordances lies with the small form factor and the lightweightness of these devices which make them non-obtrusive in the learning spaces of the student. This article makes a contribution on the design aspects of mobilized lessons, namely, what the affordances of mobile technologies can enable.