Mobile Learning Lesson Plans

I teach an Integrating Technology Into the Classroom course for the Boise State Universities EdTech graduate program.  As part of the course, students are given a choice menu of options for integrating technology into their respective content areas.  One of these choices is to develop a Mobile Learning Lesson Plan.  This is the template they are asked to follow:

• Background
  • Content Area:
  • Title:
  • Grade Level or Target Group:

• Pre Planning
  • Big Idea(s):
  • Essential Questions:
  • Objectives:

• Lesson Opening
  • Lesson Opening (The Hook): Include a least one content-area app to gain students’ interest.

• Lesson Body
  • Explanation: Include at least one content-area app that provides an explanation of the concepts
  • Check for Understanding: Include at least one content-area app “tests” student knowledge of the concepts.
  • Extended Practice: Include at least one content-area app that assists students in getting more practice in applying content-related concepts.

• Closing
  • Lesson Closing: Include at least one content-area app that assists students creating a project – producing a project that integrates and demonstrates the lesson’s concepts.

What follows are some examples from students who selected this option.

Language Arts

Poetry In Motion

Big Idea(s):

• Poetry is “Found” Everywhere
• The  Power of Expression (word choice / word combinations)

Essential Questions:

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge states, “Poetry: the best words in the best order.” Why is word choice especially important to poetry?
• Marshall Mcluhan states, “The medium is the message.”  Does the “medium” influence how the message is perceived?

Full Lesson: http://itechnow.weebly.com/poetry-in-motion-mobile-learning.html

Mobile Learning for Writing

Big Idea:

• Different pre-planning and organization methods are used based on the reasons for writing and the intended audience.

Essential Questions:

• How does the style and genre we choose to write in effect the message?
• How do different organization structures support different writing genres?

Full Lesson: http://evolvingeducator.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/mobile-learning-lesson-plans/

Writing a Paragraph

Big Idea:

• Begin by brainstorming, move on to main idea and supporting details, conclusion, and eventually write a complete how-to paragraph.

Essential Question:

• Why do writers need to make sure their writing is effective?

Full Lesson: http://gieson-edtech541.wikispaces.com/Content+Area+Learning+Activities~Mobile+Learning

Sight Word Writing for Kindergarten

Big Idea:

• Learning and practicing sight words helps students not only read at grade level, but also helps students express their ideas to produce pieces of legible, coherent writing.

Essential Questions:

• What does the word start with?
• What do you hear at the beginning?
• What sounds do you hear?
• What do you need in between your words when writing a sentence?

Full Lesson: http://kathrynaverkamp.weebly.com/mobile-learning-witih-apps.html

English Language Learning

English through Social Media on a Mobile Phone

Big Idea:

• Language learners can improve their English language skills and increase their global awareness by interacting with English-based, social media platforms.

Essential Questions:

• How can language learners express their ideas and opinions in response to authentic social media discourse?
• To what extent can language learners accurately express their ideas and opinions in response to authentic social media discourse?
• Can this type of lesson help language learners such as those students in the Academic Bridge Program achieve course learning objectives?

Full Lesson: http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/randyvanarsdale/541/mobilelesson.html

Mathematics

Money Management Mobile Learning Activity

Big Idea:

• Mobile apps allow students anytime/anywhere access to money managementinformation and tools.

Essential Questions:

• What are the core concepts that make up money management?
• What can one do to better manage their money?

Objectives:

• Students learn concepts of money management.
• Students increase their ability in money management.
• Students are more confident when it comes to managing their money.

Full Lesson:  http://classroomtechintegration.weebly.com/mobile-learning-activity.html

Solving Multiple Step Equations: Mobile Device Lesson

Big Idea:

• Students will be able to undo the math operations and keep the equation balanced to solve for the variable.

Essential Questions:  

• What is the process to solve for the missing variable?
• Is there a pattern in solving for the variable?
• How does PEMDAS work when solving for the missing variable?

Full Lesson:http://jpiatt.weebly.com/mobile-learning.html

Art and Design

Digital Restaurant Flyer

Big Idea:

Using mobile technology, learners will develop conceptual, organizational, marketing, and artistic skills while producing a tangible digital composition in a real-world, design scenario.

Essential Questions:

• How can mobile technology be used to create an artistic design?
• How can mobile technology be used to develop an individual’s conceptual, developmental, and artistic skills?
• How can multiple mobile technologies be combined to make one, cohesive artistic design?
• How does the style and content of a design affect the overall perception and effectiveness of a marketing piece?
• What role does organization play in executing a design from the development of a design to the final delivery?

Full Lesson: http://joshuaslearninglog.com/mobile-learning-lesson/

Educational Networking and Networking Bubbles

I started off my journey as an educator in experiential education. For about a decade I was member of and attended the annual Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Conference.  Their vision is:

Our vision is to contribute to making a more just and compassionate world by transforming education.  Our mission is to develop and promote experiential education. We are committed to supporting professional development, theoretical advancement and the evaluation of experiential education worldwide.

This group of educators preaches, promotes, and practices the tenets of John Dewey and Kurt Hahn.  They design learning experiences that are hands-on, learner-centric, group-focused, and service-oriented.  As a young educator, I was excited to have found my tribe. I needed this educational network even back then as public schools have a history of being didactic and curriculum-text-test driven.  I found other educators who had similar pedagogical beliefs and instructional practices.

My teaching still focuses on experiential learning, but I began integrating technology as a means to enhance the learning experiences.  As such, I discovered and re-established my educational network through Twitter, Virtual Conferences and Webinars (Classroom 2.0 Live, The Global Education Conference, The Future of Education) and face-to-face educational technology driven conferences (ISTE, DML, EdCon).

Last year, I integrated mobile learning into my undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relations.  I used a lot of activities I learned through my early days in experiential education, but added a mobile element to them.  The results were very exciting, see:

• Technology Driven Community Building Activities – http://community-building.weebly.com/
• Mobile Learning: End of Course Student Survey Part II – https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/mobile-learning-end-of-course-student-survey-part-ii/

Recently, I became loosely reconnected with AEE by following them on Twitter and Facebook.  I noticed a lack of technology integration and social-educational networking by its members.  Coming from a mentality that when promoting technology integration, we must begin where the educators are at, I thought that presenting at this year’s AEE conference might help members of the organization see the value of technology integration.  The activities I use for experiential mobile learning are familiar to the members.  They just have the added enhancement of technology integration.

My workshop got accepted and I presented it to about 20 educators.  They laughed, played, bonded, and created. See photos from the workshop:

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I was excited to see the close to 100% engagement throughout the workshop until I get to the final reflection.  To end my workshops, I do a go-around the circle inviting participants to describe how they might use the workshop activities in their own learning settings.  Many of the participants questioned and criticized the use of technology in schools. “Kids will abuse it.”  “Our IT department has shown us all of the non-student friendly parts of the internet.”  “Technologies are not stable enough.”  A few did “get it” . . . The 30 something teacher said, “I thought I knew technology but need to get more up-to-date,” . . .  The 21 year old college student who said, “This is natural to me.  I wish more of my college teachers would use technology,” . . . The twenty-something French Canadian teacher who stated that she can’t wait to try these with her French class.  The workshop evaluations were less than stellar (not poor but not great either) and confirmed their skepticism about educational technology.  I was extremely grateful for one comment on an evaluation that stated, “It was great to have some new activities at the conference.”  Their negativity and critical responses took its toll on me especially given the amount of energy, passion, and excitement I put into my workshops

As I feared, they are not my tribe any longer.  I not only mourned the loss of this tribe, who meant so much to me earlier in my life, but also mourned that this organization cannot transform education, as per their mission, as long as members remain in their like-minded educational network bubble.

The questions that have emerged from this experience include:

• So do I teach and present to those who are already or partially converted to the power of technology to enhance learning; or focus on those who may have a solid/progressive pedagogy but are technology skeptics in hopes that a few of those educators see its power?
• If I do decide to save myself the emotional toll of critics and naysayers, am I doing the same thing as the members of the Association of Experiential Education – staying with like-minded educators, staying safe within my own educational networking bubble?
• Do these educational networking bubbles actually do the opposite of their intended visions – hinder advancements in educational reform rather than promote them?
• Is my passion and excitement for educational technology perceived by others, who are not “converted,” as being too zealous resulting in the opposite results – a turn-off rather than a turn-on (double meaning intended – turn-on the technology).

Whichever direction I choose to go, I grateful for the opportunity to connect,  share, and get support from my human-humane network . . . which has become so much more to me than just a social network.

A Technology/Mobile-Enhanced I AM Poem

I blogged about this activity before.  I am using it for an online course for the first time this summer and am so excited about the results, I wanted to report on it again.  The I Am Poem is a popular exercise for language arts.  I thought it would also be a good ice breaker for students to get to know one another.  It goes beyond the, “Hi, my name is ________, and I live/work at __________” type of introduction, and reinforces the importance of beginning an online course through developing a sense of community.  Some general strategies to do so include:

• Connecting people’s names and faces is a first big step to forming bonds.
• Students need non-threatening, interesting ways to begin creating online community.
• Social interactions between and among learners enrich the learning community and should be supported in the instructional design of the course. (http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed01/19.html)

I have used the I Am Poem in a face-to-face undergraduate course (see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/mobile-driven-identity-activities/).  For this summer semester teaching online courses on Integrating Technology Into the Curriculum for the Boise State Educational Technology graduate program, I asked students to do the I Am poem as one of their first course tasks.

Students were provided with the following directions:

• Write an “I Am” poem using the template, either electronically – http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iampoem.htm or through the template below to write your own poems.

 

Flickr Version

• Once your poem is written, locate or take a photo via one of your computer devices that symbolizes who you are, the essence of your poem.
• Send your photo to Flickr along with your first name in the subject line and your I Am Poem in the email body to (email to my Flickr account – randomly generated by Flcikr).
• Since all the group’s images will be sent to this single Flickr account, you can view each other’s poems via the Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/78773858@N03.
• You do NOT have to have a Flickr account to submit your I Am Poems nor to view other students’ pictures/poems, but if you want to comment on a photo/poem (not required), you will need to have an account.
• A full description of this activity can be found at http://community-building.weebly.com/i-am-poems.html.  Here you can find more directions how to set up the activity for your own class.

Here is a screenshot of the Flickr page of student submissions.  I love the diversity and creativity they demonstrated both through the images selected and poems written.

Google Presentation Version

Directions to Students:

• Once your poem is written, locate or take a photo via one of your computer devices that symbolizes who you are, the essence of your poem.  It does not have to be a picture of you.  It can be a symbol.
• Create a slide that includes your poem/image. You can include your name or not – it is your choice.   Add it to the class Google presentation at https://docs.google.com/presentation/. . . .  This is the editing version.  Please make sure you choose a blank slide.  Google automatically saves any added content.  The presentation version can be found on the Moodle homepage.  Look for your slide once you add it.

Mobile Learning Presentation for the 4T Virtual Conference

I presented Experiential Mobile Learning at the 4T (Teachers Teaching Teachers About Technology) Virtual Conference.  I am all about sharing, so here is a version, an agenda, of what I presented.

Introduction: Epic Learning Activities

With a background in experiential education and as an advocate of John Dewey, I believe that learning experiences should be, borrowing from the game world, epic.

The following video is viewed with participants asked to describe the characteristics of the learning activities shown in the video.  Participant reactions are posted in the webinar backchannel.

Questions to assess the “epicness” of learning activities:

• Was there an experiential component?
• Was it engaging?
• Was it an authentic, relevant learning experience?
• Did it facilitate critical, reflective thinking?
• Did the learning activity change behavior or thinking?

Participants join and access Cel.ly to discuss their own Epic Learning activities.

Overview of Session

The session is divided into three components:

1. Research of the importance of building community and social interactive into the learning process.
2. Mobile device use patterns by young people.
3. Sample experiential mobile learning activities – active participation.

The Research and Its Implications for Mobile Learning

Information about the importance of building community in the classroom is shared from the following resources.

• Creating a School Community http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/Creating-a-School-Community.aspx
• Key Elements of Building Online Community: Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/vesely.htm.
• The Process of Community-Building in Distance Learning Classes http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v5n2/v5n2_brown.asp
• Exploring the Challenges of Supporting Collaborative Mobile Learning www.irma-international.org/viewtitle/60139/

Research about mobile use patterns is shared from the following resources.

• Pew Research: Teens, Smartphones & Texting http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones.aspx
• Pew Research: Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Just-in-time/Main-Report/Findings.aspx
• Educase ECAR Reprot: Mobile IT in Higher Education, 2011 Report http://www.educause.edu/ECAR/MobileITinHigherEducation2011R/238470
• My End-of-Course Student Survey https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/mobile-learning-end-of-course-student-survey-part-ii/

Participants share implications of the research on own teaching strategies via Cel.ly.

Sample Mobile Learning Activities

I Am Poems

• Example I AM Poems are shown via http://www.slideshare.net/jgerst1111/i-am-poems
• Participants are provided with directions about how to write a poem (https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/mobile-driven-identity-activities/), upload it with a picture via email to my Flickr account, and then view at http://www.flickr.com/photos/78773858@N03/

Participants are encouraged to respond on each other’s photos/poems . . .

QR Video Sorting Activities

• Participants are walked through the steps of the QR Video Sorting activity http://community-building.weebly.com/qr-video-sorting-game.html
• They are asked to access their QR code reader and given the challenge to guess which nonverbal behaviors were demonstrated via the student created videos.

Additional References are provided:

• Experiential Mobile Learning Activities website http://community-building.weebly.com/
• User-Generated Education blog posts tagged with mobile learning https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/tag/mobile-learning/
• Mobile Learning Reflections http://community-building.weebly.com/

Presentation Slides

Cell Sharing: An Ice Breaker Using Mobile-Devices (BYOD)

The following ice breaker is quick and easy to do (especially part 1) in all types of settings.  I have used it for the first meeting of my face-to-face college courses, conference presentations, and orientations for teen-age summer camp counselors.

Part 1:  Cell Sharing

• If a large group or class (over 20-25 members), separate members into smaller groups.
• Ask participants to locate a photo, song, or video from their mobile device that best represents them.
• Each person then shares with the group his or her media and the reason it was selected.
• For photo or video sharing, ask students to pass the device around so all students can view the image or use a webcam to project the image onto a larger computer screen or whiteboard.
• For sharing of music, attach portable speakers to assist with the sharing of songs so others can hear them.
• Also inform them that they will be asked to report via a group texting service what they liked, what they discovered about their group members.
  

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Part 2: Sharing of Favorite Cell Shares

During Part 2, members share what they learned about their team members via Celly, a group texting service.  The rationale behind Part 2 is twofold: (1) It reinforces learning about one another through sharing one another’s names and interests, and (2) It gets members registered for and accustomed to using a group texting service so that it can be used for future activities.

• Provide instructions to the members about how to join and use Celly.  Celly is very easy for participants to join and use.  Messages can be posted via all cell phone or directly through through a computer URL.  The biggest learning curve is for the facilitator who needs to set up his or her cell for the activity.  Cel.ly step-by-step guides can be found at http://cel.ly/guides. Learn It in 5 provides the following tutorial about how to set up and use Celly.

• Once members have joined Cel.ly and the facilitator cell, ask them to text in interesting things they learned about their group members through the cell sharing activity.  Ask them to text the first name of the person who they selected along with what he/she shared.
• Project these text messages via an LCD projector or interactive whiteboard so everyone can view them or if none is available, provide them with the URL to the cell so those with laptops or smartphones can view them with some of their classmates.  For example, here is the URL to the cell I use for my team building activities http://cel.ly/c/teambuilding.

More experiential mobile learning activities like this can be found at Mobile and Technology Enhanced Experiential Activities.

The Equity Game: A Mobile Device-QR Code Driven Activity

Preface

I have been blogging about how I am integrating mobile technology into my undergraduate course on interpersonal relations.  Since I have always been an experiential educator, I seek ways to integrate the learners’ mobile devices into my experiential activities.  The questions I seek to address when designing experiential mobile learning activities include:

• What effective instructional activities did I use in the past that can include mobile device integration to make them even more effective?
• Will it be interesting and engaging for the learners?
• Will it be an authentic and relevant learning experience?
• Can it facilitate critical and reflective thinking?
• Does it have the potential for to cause a change in thinking and/or behavior?  (Grant Wiggins recently wrote about this in Everything you know about curriculum may be wrong. Really where he discussed the point of learning is not just to know things but to be a different person – more mature, more wise, more self-disciplined, more effective, and more productive in the broadest sense.)
• Does it have the potential to be epic?

The Equity Game

Goals

• To explore issues related to unequal distribution of resources.
• To explore principles related to communication, non-verbal behavior, emotions, listening, and conflict.

Audience

• High School, College, and Adult Learners in Face-to-Face Settings

Set-Up

• The intent of the activity is for three groups to build a city within the boundaries and materials provided.
• Prior to the activity, the facilitator set ups the room by tapping off three areas – a large, roomy area for the upper class, a medium sized area for the middle class, and a small, cramped area for the lower class.

• The community resources are provided to each group via QR Codes on Index cards.  The QR codes lead to Creative Commons Flickr photos of city structures, These include houses, schools, recreational buildings, etc.  The reasons QR codes are used is twofold: (1) It increases the realism by linking into real images, and (2) Because groups can trade with each other, it adds an element of trust.
• Popsicle sticks are also distributed to represent roads.  The upper class is given a huge pile, the middle class about a dozen, and the lower class a few broken ones.
• The resources represent those typically (and stereotypically) found in the neighbor of that social class.  The upper class gets nice homes, several schools, high class recreation center and golf course, and high end shopping.  Here are some examples (you’ll have to scan it).

      

• The middle class receives housing, some strip mall shopping centers, basic schools and recreational areas.

     

• The lower class receives low income housing, a liquor store, a waste disposal center.

    

Procedures

• The group is split into three sub-groups of equal numbers. There needs to be one or two mobile devices per group to serve two functions: scanning the QR codes and communicating via text with the other groups.
• The facilitator takes the groups one by one into the set up room and are told to build a city with the materials provided.  The upper class is taken first and given directions that they are to build a city, that they can request additional resources.  The middle class goes next with most of the same directions omitting that they can request additional resources.  The lower class is taken in last and given short directions, “Build a city with materials provided.  The QR Codes lead to pictures of resources.”

• They are told that they can text the other groups with questions and requests.  This is intentionally left vague with the hopes that some trading and deals with occur.

• The unspoken rules that the facilitator follows during the activity: (1) Upper Class can go outside of their boundaries, lower class cannot.  If the lower class member goes out of their boundary, they are warned.  If they get more than two warnings, the member causing the infraction is taken to “jail” – a corner of the room. (2) The facilitator continues to check in with the Upper Class group if they need anything.  If another group has an item requested, then the facilitator takes it and gives it to the Upper Class. (3) The Upper Class can communicate with the other groups in any manner they choose.  The Middle and Lower Class can only communicate via texting.
• Post-activity reflections occur via a group discussion and a VoiceThread using photos from the activity.  The Voicethread allows for opinions to be shared that might not be shared face-to-face.

The Equity Game: In Action

The following is an edited video of this activity in-process.  It provides a good overview of how this activity operates.

Mobile Learning: End of Course Student Survey Part II

This is the second of two posts on student perceptions of mobile learning integration within an undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relations.  It combines two semesters’ worth of student surveys.

Preface

As is true for many of us using educational technology in the classroom, we are experimenting with how technology can enhance the learning experiences of our students.  Sometimes we have failures, often times we have successes.  Yet, in this age of evidenced-based education, educators, administrators, and other decision-makers are depending on and using the data gleamed from large studies often completed by companies with vested interests, e.g. Gates Foundation, book publishers, and testing companies.

Educators can easily conduct action research about the practices they are using in their own classrooms especially given the ease of creating online surveys and data collection methods.  Yet, it seems that it is rarely done.

For example, I introduced Quest Atlantis into my gifted classes a few years ago and asked these 3rd through 5th graders to complete a survey to assess its efficacy from the student perspective.  The results I received were rich and informative.  The kids offered great feedback, ideas, and suggestions.  See Beyond the Game: Quest Atlantis as an Online Learning Experience for Gifted Elementary Students.

So if educators want to influence what occurs in not only their own classrooms, but in the classrooms of their co-teachers, then they need to invest the time and energy to demonstrate best practices.  In a related blog, I discuss Every Educator Has a Story . . . Just Tell It.

End-of-Course Survey

The two sections of Interpersonal Relations course were offered during Fall, 2011 and early Winter, 2012.  There were 20 students in the sections – eight were male, 12 female; 16 of the students were 17 to 20 years old, one was 25 year old male, another a 40 year old female, and two of the  students were females in their fifties.  All of them had/owned some type of mobile device.  No two of the owned devices were of the same make or model.

The first section of the survey listed all of the class activities that used the students’ cell phones.  I blogged about the individual activities.  The archive of these blog posts can be found at User-Generated Education tagged with mobile learning.

As can be seen by these results, most students rated most of the mobile-driven activities to be of some value in helping them understand the concepts being discussed/covered.  Students were them asked to identify their least and most favorite activities.  The most favorable activity was Building Communications.  The least favorite did not identify any consistent activity.  A few mentioned that there were none, “They were all pretty good.”

Do you feel that using students’ mobile phones during class time was a good idea? Why or why not?

• Yes, it was great learning new technology and interacting with each other via phones.
• Yes I do because it brings our generations technology and learning.
• Yes I do feel it is a good idea. I believe technology is growing so much that mobile phones are vital in today’s communication.
• There were some things about people calling with different providers which would be annoying.
• Yes, I liked it because I know how to use it so well.
• I do, but with my phone, it didn’t work well.
• I thought it made the time go by faster because we were learning a different way. But some other students took advantage of this and used it as personal time.
• Yes I do because it gets more involved in our lives.
• Yes, it gave us the ability to open up and be ourselves.
• Yes, I did. We are in a technological age, it is time to accept that.
• Yes, it made things more entertaining.
• Yes and no. we could have done the same on the computer.
• I think it was in the middle because I would get distracted.
• Yes because it helped us use our cell phones for good use in activities.
• Yes. I think it was because you go to learn more things about people
• Yea. Cell phones are a big past of society these days.

As can be seen in these results, there was an overwhelming positive response to mobile device use in the class.  A few problems were noted but no students reported a purely negative response to their use.  The reasons stated for positive feelings about mobile device use seemed to revolve around three themes:

1. Technology is part of today’s world.
2. It made the activities more engaging and interesting.
3. It provided the means for learning to be more personal.

What was the greatest advantage of using students’ mobile phones to get to know one another and build a sense of community in the class?

• It was nice to use them and not have to hide them and it connected the class because one way or another we all got each others numbers.
• I think people are a lot more open on their phones so I believe it helped us get to know each other more. Also we were able to show pictures of important people in our life so that I feel personalized it.
• The greatest advantage was how we could text and get to know each other.
• Ease of communication.
• You got to know the students better.
• It made us open up to one another because we had to connect at a more social level.
• It was something that we use everyday so it related back to us
• To get a better experience from the class and enjoy coming to class.
• It was something they were familiar with.
• It provided us with a common ground on which to get to know each other.
• We got to talk to each other outside of class, not just when we were in class.
• The students use their phones on a regular basis.
• That we didn’t waste paper.
• Getting the other students numbers and exchanging phone numbers to get to know one another.
• You got to know the people better though them
• We were able to communicate outside of class and create friendships.

The student responses centered around the social nature of mobile devices adding to their feelings getting to know one another.  Several students mentioned that it provided them with a forum to open up with other students.

What was the biggest problem in using students’ mobile devices during class time?

• People who did not have unlimited texting, or did not have a phone..
• Sometimes your phone wouldn’t be charged and you wouldn’t be able to participate in the activity.
• I think some of the students were confused on some of the activities.
• It distracted me because I kept texting and not focusing
• Lack of technological compatibility.
• People text other people other than the class mates.
• I didn’t always remember to charge my cellular device so I thought it was going to die.
• People would abuse it and text friends and do other things that the activity wasn’t for.
• Caused outside social distractions
• The students were tempted to use the phones for personal use.
• Not everyone brought their mobile device.
• Students had more of a chance to get distracted.
• Some didn’t work.
• The service was bad because i would send a text and it would show up ten minuets later.
• Some people texted when they should have been participating.
• I didn’t see any problems.

Not surprisingly, the responses centered around two themes: distraction and not having a device/device that worked for the activities.

In addition, students wrote a final course reflection.  What follows are some comments regarding their significant overall course learning.

I think I learned more about myself in the building structure unit then I did in the whole quarter.  I always thought of myself as having the potential to be a leader but this activity helped me believe it.  When I was trying to help the others build this structure without actually being able to help was very difficult, I had to make my teammates feel confident enough to where they could achieve the end project.

The most significant learning would be the, “building the bridge” because that was fun to be able to know who would take charge and everything you said over the phone about what your team was building with the blocks would affect how there bridge would look. I had to be very precise and accurate, nearly perfect in order to get them to build it the same. Something I am going to improve on is the clarity of how I talk.

My favorite activity would have to be going around taking pictures of our emotions with the emoticons.  We really got to see everybody’s different personalities and see them open up on a different level.

I learned several ways to communicate effectively with others, especially during our build a bridge activity.

I appreciate that there were so many hands on activities to do and that we got to learn in a different style other than lecture or reading.

I enjoyed them all because I like doing hands on learning and I learn the best that way versus book work and paperwork. Being able to learn about something then put it to use during a couple activities actually helped me a lot to understand everything I was learning.

I personally enjoyed the activities quite a lot. They helped me learn the concepts effectively while also being enjoyable to participate in.

I really liked having the participation on Facebook as part of our assignments. It was nice to have discussions throughout the week with classmates about what we had done in class

Summary

This part is easy.  Based on student testimonials both through the survey and their end of course reflection paper, the following two themes emerged:

• Students appreciated the use of mobile devices and believed they helped to increase their engagement.
• Students appreciated and learned best through the use of experiential and hands-on activities.

This is in line with recent research.  An EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative report, Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview, states that “students say they are motivated by solving real-world problems. They often express a preference for doing rather than listening.  At the same time, most educators consider learning-by-doing the most effective way to learn.” and that the focus should be “on real-world, complex problems and their solutions, using role-playing exercises, problem-based activities, case studies, and participation in virtual communities of practice” (net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli3009.pdf).