mLearning - Using mobile technologies to develop new ways of teaching and learning

Pedagogies

Workshops

Staff were able to personally engage with mobile technology for six months prior to implementation in their teaching. They were encouraged and supported to think differently about engaging their students in pedagogically sound ways. Many of the staff involved were hesitant about the preparation required for such a project and had experienced more traditional approaches to professional development.

A series of workshops supported the project team. They were designed to:

discuss the authentic learning, action learning, and the theoretical underpinnings of the project
develop an understanding of device functionality and become familiar with using the technology
support the exploration and development of learning activities that used pedagogies that were enhanced by the integration of the mobile devices
provide a collegial forum to share the capabilities and limitations of implementing these mobile technology supported learning activities
reflect upon experiences when using the devices in both personal and teaching situations.

Additional activities such as show-and-tell workshops, participation in authentic tasks, scenario investigations, ad-hoc meetings, anonymous surveys, interviews, observation and informal discussions were utilised throughout the program to maximise the effectiveness of these activities as well as influencing their design and direction.

Support continued beyond this initial phase of personal experimentation and learning through the implementation and evaluation of the use of mobile technologies and authentic tasks in learning activities over a period of 3-5 weeks in a range of different subject areas.

More information about the staff development can be found within the following papers.