1. Starting with Mobile
Learning Pedagogy
Dr. Agnieszka Palalas
Mobile Learning App Camp at GBC
February 25-26, 2013

2. Overview
• M-learning defined
• Mobile stats
• Strategic benefits of m-learning
• Pedagogy of m-learning
• Design guidelines

3. über ?

4. 4
• Learning or training: knowledge construction, skill
development and performance support
• Learners participate across locations, times and contexts
(inside and outside the classroom)
• Enabled by portable devices and web connectivity
• flexible on-demand access to learning materials, experts,
peers and other resources
• tools to create content and interact with peers, experts,
learning systems and supports, and the environment in
which the learning is occurring
• M-learning devices: handheld, highly portable,
connected, always-on, personal
…contingent on needs and context
What is mobile learning
+ + +…

5. 5
The 8 mass media in chronological order:
• 1st Mass Medium: Print from the 1500s
• 2nd: Recordings from late 1800s
• 3rd: Cinema from about 1900
• 4th: Radio from the 1920s
• 5th: Television from the 1950s
6th: Internet form the 1990s
• 7th: Mobile from the 2000s
• 8th: Augmented Reality from the 2010s
Tomi Ahonen: http://www.communities-dominate.blogs.com
What is mobile learning

6. 6
• First truly personal mass medium
• First always‐on mass medium
• First always carried mass medium
• First to connect and access just-in-time from whenever
• First portable multimedia toolkit (incl. apps)
• First portable gateway to the network of learners
• First tool enabling interaction with context…
• Used habitually, frequently, on-demand, spontaneously
• Ubiquitous
Mobile technology

7. 7
Today
• 7.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions on the planet
• 7.1 billion total global population
Spring 2013
• Mobile phone subscriptions > global population
• Nearly 100 countries have passed 100% per-capita mobile
penetration rates
• The average cellphone user in America looks at the phone
150 times per day, in Britain - 200 times per day
Tomi Ahonen: http://www.communities-dominate.blogs.com
Background stats: global

8. 8
2012 full year OS market shares
Background stats: global
Rank OS
2010
units
Share
2011
units
Share
2012
units
Share
1(1) Android 54M 18% 208M 43% 452M 65%
2(2) iOS 48M 16% 93M 19% 136M 20%
3(4) Blackberry 48M 16% 52M 11% 33M 5%
4(3) Symbian 116M 39% 81M 17% 19M 3%
5(5) Bada 3M 1% 9M 2% 16M 2%
6(6)
Windows
Phone
2M 1% 5M 1% 16M 2%
Others 15M 2%
TOTAL 298% 486M 695M

9. 9
• By the end of 2013: 50% of new phones sold -
smartphones
• 2015 (Q2/Q3): 50% of all phones in use -
smartphones
• By the end of 2020: 100% of new phones sold-
smartphones
Tomi Ahonen: @tomiahonen (Twitter Feb 16, 2013)
Background stats
Global forecast

10. 10
• Smartphone usage has increased from 33% in March
2011 to 48% in March 2012 (universally across all age groups
and across Canada)
• 47% of mobile phone users have a
data plan (2011: 37%)
• Tablet ownership among cell phone users has quadrupled,
from 5% in 2011 to 20% in 2012
• 75% of these tablet connected to a cellular network
Quorus Consulting Group Inc., (2012). 2012 Cell Phone Consumer Attitudes Study.
Background stats
Mobile Phone Usage in Canada in 2012

11. 11
• 70% of smartphone users downloaded apps (up from 58% in
March 2011)
• Those who have downloaded apps to their phones
downloaded 12 apps on average ( 2 were paid)
• The most popular apps:
• weather information (84%)
• social networks, Instant Messaging, or blogs (79%)
• travel, transit, mapping, or navigation information (73%)
• YouTube access (64%)
• gaming apps (61%),
• regional, national or international news (53%)
Quorus Consulting Group Inc., (2012). 2012 Cell Phone Consumer Attitudes Study.
Background stats
Mobile Phone Apps in Canada in 2012

12. Trend Toward Mobility
Smartphones
replaced
feature phones
Trend Toward Mobility
WOW!

13. Extreme Mobility Still Supplemental
Use device for academic
purposes
Own device
Important to do from
a mobile device

14. Prolific and Diverse BYO Technology
iPad
57%
Android
device
25%
Other
18%
Tablets
Kindle
59%
Nook
24%
Other
17%
E-Readers
iPhone
44%
Android
device
46%
Other
10%
Smartphones
Windows
77%Mac
20%
Other
3%
Laptops

15. 15
All 13 pertinent to m-learning…
1. Continue to support blended-learning environments and reward innovation
2. Work with faculty to experiment with open educational resources and game-based learning
3. Develop mobile IT strategies that allow for
cross-platform compatibility
4. Prioritize the development or improvement of
mobile-friendly resources and activities that
students say are important
5. Identify what additional value or resource desktops provide beyond the user-owned laptop, and consider
alternative and perhaps more affordable options to meet this need.
6. Consider multiple communication channels between the institution and students and between instructors
and students; students say they want options
7. Bridge the gap between the technologies that have seen the greatest growth (e-portfolios, e-books/e-
textbooks, and web-based citation/bibliographic tools) and students’ attitudes about their importance
8. Provide students with networking opportunities…
ECAR recommendations

16. 16
Background stats: GBC faculty
51%
12%
23%
4%
5%
6%
16%
76%
1%
0%
1%
0%
0%
1%
1%
8%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
...a smartphone
...a basic cell (non-smart)
...a tablet
...an MP3 player
...an iPod touch
...an e-Reader
...a netbook/ notebook
...a laptop
for academic purposes
for both personal &
academic purposes

17. 17
Background stats: GBC faculty
Don’t
know/Not sure
4%
Windows
Mobile, 2%
Symbian , 1%
Android, 18%
iOS (Apple)
47%
Blackberry, 29
%

18. 18
Why mobile learning
Strategic benefits
• Curriculum redesign and update
• Personalization and customization of learning
• Student empowerment and satisfaction
• Digital literacies for the millennial learner
Reducing costs (doing more with less)
• Using tools students carry in their pockets
• Graduate attributes and employability
• Enhancing assessment and feedback
• Widening participation
• Improving student engagement and retention
• Energy efficiency
Modified from http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/mobile-learning/why-mobile-learning

21. 21
Pedagogy
Away from:
• Instructionalism
• Behaviourism
Toward:
• Constructivist
• Situated, contextual
• Collaborative, connected
• Informal and lifelong
• Learning/teaching support
• Inquiry-based

22. 22
Tangible benefits 1/2
• Personal, private and familiar (reduce perceived barriers to learning)
• Pervasive and ubiquitous
• Fit into the lives of learners (productive ‘dead’ time)
• Portable and flexible (whenever, wherever)
• Immediacy of communication (incl. speech and data-sharing)
• Enhanced access to learning (dispersed communities , isolated situations)
• Access to mentors, tutors and others learners on-the-move
• Perceived as an acceptable way for learners to receive reminders
and chasers (time management)
• Bite-sized e-learning resources delivered to learners (field practice, work-
based learning)
• Abstract (representational) and concrete (environmentally-situated)
knowledge integrated
• Student-centred (peer-to-peer networks)
Modified from http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/mobile-learning/why-mobile-learning

23. 23
Tangible benefits 2/2
• Active learning (hands-on, experiential, real-life context)
• Contextualization: situational, embedded learning (location-aware, GPS)
• Capturing of data, record of learning processes
• Context-inspired authentic content and challenge
• Connecting learning across contexts
• New learning environments
• Continuity across the life span
• A route to learner autonomy
• Flexible collaboration
• Accessibility for learners with special educational needs
• Reflection in close proximity to the learning event
• Technical barriers to e-learning reduced…

25. 25
Build in…

26. 26
Build in…

27. 27
Build in…

28. 28
Build in…

29. Enable…

30. Enable…

31. 31
Enable…

32. 32
Enable…

33. 33
Additional design guidelines…
• Modular: chunk it up into bite-sized units
• Allow for spaced learning, reflection, repetition
• Customizable and personalized (provide
choice, access to a coach, create a conversation)
• Use multimedia but short (ease-up on download time)
• No irrelevant information (duplicate information only for
e.g., language learners)
• Metacognition support

34. 34
Additional design guidelines…
• Modular: chunk it up into bite-sized units
• Allow for spaced learning, reflection, repetition
• Customizable and personalized (provide
choice, access to a coach, create a conversation)
• Use multimedia but short (ease-up on download time)
• No irrelevant information (duplicate information only for
e.g., language learners)
• Metacognition support

35. Mobile is an entirely
new ecosystem!

36. Thank you
Dr. Agnieszka Palalas
GBC: apalalas@georgebrown.ca
Twitter: @agaiza
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/apalalas
Presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/agaiza
Publications: http://athabascau.academia.edu/apalalas