For this unit, a mobile device includes smartphones, ipads, ipods, kindles, and tablets. I don't usually consider a laptop to be a mobile device.

Please listen to this mini-lecture by Dr. Foulger

This is a very interesting article that attempts to set up a method to empirically define the perceived ubiquity in mobile services.  This study’s formal objectives included doing a literature review to conceptualize the properties of ubiquity; examining perceived ubiquity qualitatively; and developing an instrument to measure perceived ubiquity in mobile services. This study helped me understand a little more what is meant by ubiquity for mobile services, or as the authors attempted to define, the perceived ubiquity. The study narrows the concept of perceived ubiquity to a multidimensional construct of continuity, immediacy, portability, and searchability.  They also suggested that we need to look deeper into how important perceived ubiquity expectations differ by users and apps.  According to Okazaki & Mendez (2013) This series of studies confirms each aspect is varied in importance, depending on the application used.

http://pl8cg5fc8w.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Perceived+ubiquity+in+mobile+services&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+interactive+marketing&rft.au=Okazaki%2C+Shintaro&rft.au=Mendez%2C+Felipe&rft.date=2013&rft.pub=Wiley&rft.issn=1094-9968&rft.eissn=1520-6653&rft.volume=27&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=98&rft.epage=111&rft.externalDocID=750471018&paramdict=en-US

Okazaki, S., & Mendez, F. (2013). Perceived ubiquity in mobile services. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(2), 98-111.

This is an interesting case study, which takes a look at students using iPads in 9^th grade Geography classes.  I especially liked the fact that they were very open in discussing the advantages as well as the disadvantages.  The study centers around the idea of Puentedura’s 2009 model known as SAMR, which stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.  The SAMR Model is used for transforming learning with technology. The results are probably what most of us would predict, technology was an improvement for students in that it increased active engagement, project time, and information literacy and digital citizenship.  The drawbacks, again pretty much what we would expect, too many online distractions, students needed a lot of self-discipline--which sometimes does not work out well.  Also, not every student had used a tablet so some extra time was needed for training.  Overall, using iPads was a positive experience, and no doubt a growing trend.

http://www.sicet.org/journals/jetde/jetde12-2/2-Chou.pdf

Chou, C.C., Block, L., & Jesness, R. (2012). A case study of mobile learning pilot project in K-12 schoolsJournal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 5 (2), 11-26.

This case study takes a look at how mobile devices can enhance the manufacturing process.  It actually used ubiquity as one of the reasons this is such a good idea.  In addition, it also talked about reachability and convenience as reasons to embrace mobile devices in the manufacturing process, and not just for in-house usage.  This study also looked at how mobile devices can improve communication with outside suppliers.  For in-house, the idea of augmented reality was studied for training purposes.  The idea was to reduce the cost of trainers, and allow trainees to work at their own pace and go through training sessions as required by individual need.  For the supply side, something called Pruefcubing was tested.  This is a process in which a supplier representative can view, in person through physical testing, how their part or subsystem works with the vehicle. By using a mobile device the supplier has the ability to stay near the vehicle and the need to travel frm one location to collect data to another location where the data is stored, is eliminated.  Again, there are some limitations to both, but overall the results were positive.

http://link.springer.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs12008-012-0148-x

Morkos, B., Taiber, J., Summers, J., Mears, L., Fadel, G., & Rilka, T. (2012). Mobile devices within manufacturing environments: A BMW applicability study. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM), 6(2), 101-111. doi:10.1007/s12008-012-0148-x

Learning Experiences

Jeff Kissinger “The Social & Mobile Learning Experiences of Students Using Mobile E-books”

  I still feel like students prefer reading physical and tangible books.  I still feel like the olfactory smell of an old library book matters and has value, but that just might be me approaching 40-years old and projecting my feelings and memories of things like the Dewy Decimal System and print newspapers onto this issue.  My students might not feel that way at all.  Though there is evidence that physical books are still better for readers, I need to be aware that E-books might just be the future. 

  An overarching theme in this is that I need to be cognizant of different learning experiences apart and aside from mine.  All teachers need to recognize this.  What works for me might not work for my much younger students.  They may feel more comfortable reading novels and taking in information on their mobile devices like their iPhones or their iPads.  Kissinger (2013) wrote, “Increasingly flexible and mobile distance learning methodologies are emerging that can be utilized for technology access-challenged student populations; however, significant data on issues related to teaching and learning in this fashion is lacking.”  So what we’re seeing here is that we don’t know.  We do not quite have the data on what’s best in terms of accessing and taking in information.  Still, an openness to different learning styles and experiences is what is important here.  As educators, we need to be open to the possibility that many of our young students prefer reading on mobile devices. 

Article 2: 

Yu-Chang Hsu and Yu-Hi Ching “Mobile Microblogging: Using Twitter and Mobile Devices in an Online Course to Promote Learning in Authentic Contexts”

  I wanted to look into this article because it’s about writing and Twitter.  The authors write about microblogging which seems to be something related to writing with a strict sense of an economy of words.  This makes perfect sense vis a vis Twitter, which, as you know, limits the amount of characters per Tweets.  Hsu and Ching (2012) write, “Learners can now take mobile devices anywhere they want in order to execute tasks or continue their learning processes outside classrooms or traditional learning environments. Learners can also go into the field, where they can apply their knowledge and skills in real-world settings.”  I love what the authors pointed out here, especially in relation to Twitter because when inspiration hits, students are able, through their mobile devices, to quickly Tweet their thoughts – it’s now saved forever to the cloud – and catalog all their writing into a microblog. 

  I’m also thinking of Ernest Hemingway here, who famously wrote stark, short and to-the-point sentences in his classic novels and short stories.  Sounds strange but he would have loved Twitter.  He may have even had more followers than Justin Bieber.  Twitter works well with microblogging because it forces the writer to be cognizant of word choice.  Students today often do not know when their good ideas begin and end in terms of their essay writing.  They write and write and write and sometimes there is a cogent thesis in there somewhere.  Twitter and microblogging would really help those students, and I can see myself using it for a writing assignment this year. 

Article 3:

Ch’ng Kee and Zarina Samsudin “Mobile Devices: Toys or Learning Tools for the 21st Century Teenagers?” 

  The authors write about whether or not mobile devices are toys or tools for school-age learners.  I deal with this each and every school day at Brophy, and so I was very interested to read this article.  Each morning, I find my students in the halls playing video games like Angry Birds on their school iPads.  It’s just a fact, and I’m not even an “angry bird” about it anymore when I see my students gaming in the halls incessantly.  That is their choice, and I think there is value in them being able to make their own choices with regards to their mobile devices.  At some point, they have to decide to buckle down and study.  At some point, their mobile devices need to cease to be a toy for a few minutes, and they need to consciously choose to turn off the games and study. 

  Kee and Samsudin (2014) write, “Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices become ubiquitous and are overtaking desktop PCs in popularity, especially with younger users (Pelleg, Savenkov&Agichtein, 2013). Pegrum, Oakley and Faulkner (2013) claimed that a key advantage of smartphones is that many students today already own these devices and carry them with them at all times.”  This is the reality that I and my fellow teachers at Brophy need to be aware of.  So, are mobile devices toys or tools?  They’re both, and I think it shifts throughout a learner’s experiences on the device. 

  At first, when their iPad is new to Brophy freshmen, it’s a toy.  It’s a toy because it’s fun and new, but it’s also a toy because these freshmen are uncertain in their new surroundings.  I think it’s invaluable to them – and this is another reason I’m okay with them playing games on their iPads – because they might not know anyone on campus just yet when school first starts in August.  Their gaming on their iPads is a safe-haven coping mechanism to deal with the uncertainty in not knowing a soul on campus.  As they meet new friends, the role of the mobile device shifts.  It becomes more of a tool as they realize they must get serious about their studies if they want to remain at the prep school. 

  I feel strongly about the importance of mobile devices on our campus.  They meet the needs of 21^st-century learners, and the role of the device shifts to meet the user’s needs.  It’s a toy, it’s a coping-mechanism, and it’s a tool, and I think it’s an invaluable experience to our young learners. 

References

Hsu, Y., & Ching, Y. (2012). Mobile microblogging: Using twitter and mobile devices in an  online course to promote learning in authentic contexts. International Review of Research  in Open and Distance Learning, 13(4), 211-227. Retrieved from  http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/136183  963?accountid=4485

Kee, C. L., & Samsudin, Z. (2014). Mobile devices: Toys or learning tools for the 21st century

  teenagers? Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET, 13(3), 107-122.  Retrieved from  http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/165185  091?accountid=4485

Kissinger, J. S. (2013). The social & mobile learning experiences of students using mobile E  books. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 17(1), 155-170. Retrieved from  http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/150908  286?accountid=4485

Article 1

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/eric/docview/910088115/D886135F67AD47BBPQ/4?accountid=4485

Gromik, N. A. (2012). Cell phone video recording feature as a language learning tool: A case study.Computers & Education,58(1), 223-230. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.06.013

Cell phones are seen as a method of enjoyment and not as a method of learning so many people are reluctant to use cell phones to learn something. Even people who do start using cell phones to learn are not always consistent with using it. This study focused on getting students to create videos about a topic that is interesting to them and deliver the video in a foreign language that they were learning. A constructivist approach says that learners create new concepts based on their knowledge through an active process of learning. This study also did not help the students with the cell phone usage saying that Vygotsky said that students learn through interaction with artifacts and peers. The students had to teach themselves how to use the cell phone and had to create a 30-second video each week and send it to the teacher. By using cell phones students were able to improve how many words they spoke per second as well as the quality of words that they used. Every student in this study improved their language skills. There were few technical difficulties with sending the videos to the teacher but there were not any in direct correlation to the phones. This study did have a small sample size but every one of the students who was used in this sample said that using a cell phone helped them with the language.

Article 2

http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/964179842?accountid=4485

Gaer, S. (2011). Cell phones in the classroom? yes!Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal,5(3), 176-180. Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/964179842?accountid=4485

One of the first things that should be done in class is to establish cell phone norms. One easy way to start this conversation is to have students write about a time they saw a cell phone being used inappropriately and establish what is polite and impolite. Creating a set of cell phone norms with the class allows students to take personal interest in them since they helped create them. There are many basic uses for cell phones such as using them to take pictures of items you want students to talk about or they can text each other to collaborate or understand what they missed. Other ideas that might not seem as obvious are using the cell phones as a student response system. This way even if a classroom does not have a set of clickers the teacher can still get quick real time feedback from students. There are also apps such as Google Voice which would allow students to record their voice for a project. As cell phones get more advanced and there are more apps on the market the range of use for cell phones will continue to grow.

Article 3

http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1140143245?accountid=4485

Duncan, D. K., Hoekstra, A. R., & Wilcox, B. R. (2012). Digital devices, distraction, and student performance: Does in-class cell phone use reduce learning?Astronomy Education Review,11(1), 010108-010101. Retrieved from http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1140143245?accountid=4485

Past studies have shown that students are more engaged with the lesson when items such as clickers are used but other studies have shown that students who used laptops to take notes had a final grade an entire letter grade lower than those who took notes with paper and pencil. This study was focused around three classes over two semesters where they used cell phones quite often in class. Students were surveyed about their cell phone habits in class and final grades were looked at. Many of the students said that even when they were using their cell phone for an educational purpose, such as note taking, they easily got distracted by other things such as text messages or facebook. Many students felt like they could multitask or that using their phone for a different purpose was not a big deal, however this was not reflected in their final grades. Those who often got distracted by their cell phones had a grade an entire letter grade lower than those who did not use their phones for non educational purposes in class.

This article, written by a distance learning professor from Concordia University, discusses the lessons educators can learn from the popularity and success of FitBits. Fitbits give constant and automatic feedback. This is something teachers can do with the support of technology in a blended classroom. Fitbits also do not choose the goals for you. This is a lesson for educators in the success of self-directed learning and self-directed goal setting. Fitbit also gives its users the ability to journal based on the day's events, and join social groups for like-minded users with similar life circumstances, so it takes advantage of our social natures and the desire to reflect on successes and failures. Fitbit doesn't tell you how to step, but it does track your steps. And, by tracking your steps it does not tell you to step, but it encourages the target behavior. I am going to track these things in myself this week to see how I could apply these same motivational tools with my students.

I am looking at use of Fitbit through the lens of Gamification in learning. Gamification is "Using game-design concepts in domains, typically, but not exclusively, through computer games." The strengths of gamification stem from creating a large goal, then breaking that goal down into smaller goals to lead to the overall goal. This presentation showed several examples of games and how they motivate people toward a larger goal through smaller goals and sub-tasks. Rewards are also important, but it must be a reward the learners want. Visible progress tracking is also an important aspect of gamification, although it doesn't replace assessment. This presentation also listed several applications that use the gamification of learning. Gamifying is not for all learners, but it is a good strategy to try when motivation is lacking or behavioral reinforcement is the goal.

I was interested to read that wearables in the classroom have been discussed as early as the 1980s with wrist calculators. We have so many wearable options these days that it is an interesting concept! But, as the authors of this article discuss, utilizing wearables comes with the challenge of equitable access to students of all economic levels. Also, the security concerns are important to discuss. I liked what the article said about disruptive innovation, and how wearables may fit in that category if they are implemented well. I believe the use of Fitbits and other exercise tracking equipment could be part of the uncharted territory the article authors discussed as part of educational research.

http://www.choosemuse.com

https://muse.totemapp.com/articles

http://cecs5580.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/50303907/ET%20article%20Norris%20Soloway.pdf

http://www.asee-se.org/proceedings/ASEE2013/Papers2013/177.PDF

Page, T. (2014). Touchscreen mobile devices and older adults: a usability study. International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 3(1), 65-85.

The second case study explores informal learning in the workplace through mobile technologies(Gu, Churchill, & Lu, 2014).  It is monitored though an application called Web 2.0 which has been used more and more now and could improve learning outcomes.  Most learning at work actually comes from flexible and informal learning activities.  These can consist of learning from others and learning from personal experiences.  The best way to learn in the workplace has been characterized as individualized, personalized and learner controlled.  Some of the things that were concluded from the study were that the technology was able to change people’s way of learning by providing new possible ways of identifying resources and implementing strategies.  Mobile Web2.0 was found to be an effective type of informal learning in the workplace and its benefit was that it can be used anytime and anywhere.  This directly relates to my work because they use many types of informal learning platforms like WebEx and ComplianceWire which proves merit to them, but it should be explored whether something more comprehensive like Mobile Web2.0 should be invested in since it seems to be so effective.

Gu, J., Churchill, D., & Lu, J. (2014). Mobile Web 2.0 in the workplace: A case study of employees' informal learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(6), 1049-1059.

The third article is a perspective article about how smartphones are changing participatory healthcare(Boulos, Wheeler, Tavares, & Jones, 2011).  As smartphones get more powerful, there are numerous emerging healthcare applications on the market for all platforms.  These applications are targeting all types of people from layperson patients to savvy healthcare professionals in various realms including health, fitness, lifestyle etc.  Another important subgroup of these apps are those assisting in chronic disease management.  However, some of the barriers to using smartphones to manage aspects of health are privacy issues, cost, length of battery and network bandwidth issues.  This article directly hits on my previous job internship where I helped to create a mobile application to help patients with chronic diseases manage their conditions through the integration of feedback from both their social network and their doctor.  Some of the tips from this article could help my past team create a better application and I will send this article to them.  The application happens to be called HealthSignal.  At my new job, Stryker,  I think that the article really hits home how diverse mobile applications are for the health industry and how important they are becoming.  Stryker should really get a chunk of the market and invest in mobile health technology while they can as Medtronic has already got their share of continuous care and will probably dominate the market unless they have competition with companies like Stryker.

Boulos, M. N., Wheeler, S., Tavares, C., & Jones, R. (2011). How smartphones are changing the face of mobile and participatory healthcare: an overview, with example from eCAALYX. Biomedical engineering online, 10(1), 24.

https://www.splashmath.com/blog/2013/07/10-exciting-ways-to-use-mobile-phones-inside-the-classroom/

https://xyofeinstein.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/33_interesting_ways_to_use_mobile_phones_in_th.pdf

http://www.teachhub.com/how-use-cell-phones-learning-tools

http://gettingsmart.com/2013/01/part-1-44-smart-ways-to-use-smartphones-in-class/

https://www.fitbit.com/manual#section-start

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/fitness/fitbit.htm/printable

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/a-list-of-all-best-ipad-apps-teachers.html

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/11/apps-that-rise-to-the-top-tested-and-approved-by-teachers/

I'm dabbling with Socrative on my iPad.

Here is a youtube video tutorial on how to use Socrative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHIwRYl1UQQ