Teacher training course on didactics and technologies for mobile learningMart Laanpere, Tallinn University, Estonia

Introduction

I have been teaching in the outdoor education summer school for 4 years

Well-established community of primary & secondary school teachers

Identity of this community and essence of outdoor education is often defined through black & white opposition with technology

Four cornerstones of good outdoor education: place, sense, act, story (+1: point)

Definitions of outdoor education

Psychosocial:

the use of experiences in the outdoors for the education and development of the ‘whole person’

appeals to the use of the senses - audio, visual, taste, touch, and smell - for observation and perception

Environmental:

education in, for, and about the outdoors

going out into the natural environment, learning about and respecting the environment

often synonymous with environmental education and outdoor recreation

Competing OE cultures/traditions

Scouts: survival skills, using/defeating the nature

Playful learning

Academic discourse: physiological grounding (cortisone level, physical development) or pedagogical reasons (experiential learning)

Estonian approach: folklore, cultural heritage

New perspective: M-learning (learning with mobile technologies like GPS, smartphone, iPad, camera…)

M-learning challenges

Didactical:

poor reflection and sense-making

no feedback, no grading

loose connection to curriculum

repeating classroom practices

Technological:

conflicts with the mainstream view

poor IT skills and technophobia

cost (devices, GSM)

access (no wifi in forest)

Planning teacher training course on MOE

Descriptive didactics: no recipes, models, theories

Experiential learning: direct experience, reflection, generalisation, practical implementation

Urban playground: parks, backyards, streets

Artifact-oriented: producing scenarios, lesson plans, learning resources, learning tasks

Course design

Two contact days within 2 months, mostly Web-based

Mobile technologies used: GPS, smartphone, camera

Online learning environment: Wikiversity, Elgg, portfolio, Gowalla, Flickr, Twitter

Tasks: create your e-portfolio, share your OE experience, reflect on geocaching game, write a scenario for m-learning game, test and evaluate the game scenario of your peer, reflect on course

Implementation 2009 an 2010

Participants: 15 (2009) and 12 (2010) educational technologists and lecturers from universities, colleges, vocational schools

Scenarios developed by participants: Urban bird watch (QR) First aid simulations using mobile video tutorials Privacy and security map of the university campus

Conclusions

Most of the participants have been technology enthusiasts

Our m-learning course is clearly not attractive to outdoor education community

Learning by doing (or designing scenarios) and sharing is appreciated by the learners with good ICT skills

Involving students in M-learning scenario design? Cross-curricular theme ‘Technology & Innovation’