Week 4 Mobile Learning Technologies

Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms

e-Readers

An e-reader would be my first mobile education technology because it is essentially a library on the go. Downloading books from casual reading to research is easy, always accessible, and very user friendly. This product works just like if you go to the library for a book, except they are never out of stock or out of print. You can borrow, share, purchase or print.

PDAs

Although a bit dated, I’m still a fan of the Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), especially for students. The Personal is the selling point because you can store your due dates, assignment alerts, and deadlines on the same device you do your research and complete the assignment.

“You can use the dictionary and thesaurus on Dictionary.com, explore the world with Google Earth, or plot equations with Quick Graph. Download the Kindle app and turn your iPod into an e-reader, create your own stories with Story Kit, and find out about the latest space missions with the NASA app. These, and many others, are free downloads that are ideal for educators to use with their students in school.” (Wylie, 2012)

a recent study funded by the Department of Education, looked at the link between learning, and the PBS Kids educational gaming app, Martha Speaks Dog Party. The study found that after children had used the app every every day for two weeks, the vocabulary of Title 1 children between three and seven years old improved by as much as 31 percent. (Wylie, 2012)

Reference

Wylie, J. (2012). Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms. Retrieved from Scholastic: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742

LECTORA - Not the Lecture You Expected

For standardization and assessment, the tool is Lectora. The eLearning software is very flexible in its design and operation, can be modified in production without going back through technology packaging, and most important, the tests can be added to the end of each learning module, and the results of each module can be merged to create the final instead of recreating similar questions on a new final exam. The absolutely fantastic option with the Lectora eLearning software is that the entire training, including quizzes and assessments can be saved and stored in the employees files AND IT REQUIRES NO PROGRAMMING!. Essentially, the learners’ success is packaged once the course is over, and available for his or her review, or even on their desktop outside of training, as a personal reference guide.
Please view the Lectora demo which features the Camtasia suite.  http://youtu.be/GQA2jli0uso

GOOGLE CIRCLES

This explains it all http://youtu.be/oRxKUXJj1WU


Google Circles allows teaching and learning to happen within a 100% social networking service. This means we can teach and learn with anyone, at any time because there are no barriers. Another benefit is that we can select and filter our circle of friends, classmates, and various other circles with ease of drag and drop.

My favorite feature is the real time collaboration from all participants. There are other features such a chat and library but each feature creates a new layer to collaboration and partnership with your global team on one shared desktop.

Please view the link above a personal view of Google Circles.

YouTube is one of those tech toys that can resolve your issues with tutorial on demand. Let me know what you learned on YouTube recently.