Mobile Assisted Learning for High School Spanish Students

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Mobile Assisted Learning for High School Spanish
Students

• Stacy Brewer
• Geoff Boyle
• Christine Chambers
• Verlinda Dority
• Kitty Williams

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Opportunity

• Deliver an interactive learning experience for
  high school Spanish students using an iPod Touch.

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Affordances of Mobile Learning

• Access
• Learning beyond four walls
• Continuous learning
• Multi-media lessons

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Stakeholders

• Students Engaged excited by mobile learning
• Teachers Interested in improving student
  performance and motivation
• Administration Wary of mobile devices becoming a
  distraction to learning, not a benefit

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Drivers Barriers

• Students unmotivated for language instruction
• Students/teachers unfamiliar with iPod Touch
• Students are more interested in using iPod for
  entertainment than learning
• Teachers not comfortable using mobile device in
  the classroom

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Priorities for Instruction
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Needs Analysis

• Demographics of Target Audience
• Age 14-18
• 11 Ratio of Males to Females
• Middle-class economic status
• 80 graduates attend college
• Exposure to computers and the Internet

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Knowledge Gap/Constraints

• Restrictions on use of mobile devices.
• Will teenagers accept iPod as a learning device?
• Not all students are connected.
• Instructors need to develop skills to use mobile
  learning environments.

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Massachusetts Foreign Language Curriculum
Framework

• The students ability to use what they have
  learned in meaningful ways is the primary goal of
  all language programs.
• Students of modern languages need abundant
  opportunities to speak, listen, read, and write
  in order to develop communicative fluency

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Personas

• Motivation varied among students
• Common characteristics
• Have experience with mobile devices
• Relevancy, specific goal of language study
• Knowledge gap
• All need to pass the course

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Persona 1 Leroy Jenkins

• Underachiever
• Takes Spanish to fulfill foreign language
  requirement
• Avid gamer, very connected

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Persona 2 Bobby Boucher

• Average student
• Believes that school is a waste of time and
  learns more outside of the classroom.
• Has a smart phone but does not use most of the
  features.

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Persona 3 Evan Toller

• Motivated to learn Spanish for possible career
• Has specific goals language study will help meet
• Limited use of technology
• Likes sports

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Persona 4 Bianca Smith

• Highly motivated
• Highly connected
• Has specific goals language study will help meet
• Likes to travel

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Persona 5 Hidemi Noguchi

• Spanish will be his 3rd language
• Owns a smart phone and uses it for communication
• Bit of a loner
• Likes sports, especially baseball

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Learning Goals

• Platform distributes media, text and facilitates
  interactive experience
• Small nuggets of learning
• MLE increases student interest engagement, easy
  to use, encourage collaboration, integrate into
  existing lesson plan, teachers retain control

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Learning Goals

• Applications that increase authentic context of
  use and social interaction
• Multiple applications for vocabulary and phrases,
  drill and practice, and application

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Correlation to Prior Analysis
Design Requirements Design Requirements Synthesis of Input on Creating Mobile Application Elements of Design Solution Photo Essay
User Need Student Constraint Low motivation levels to learn Spanish need additional motivators Design applications that provide time to use iTouch. Device is what motivates the student, but acts as vehicle for learning Device is integral to the learning experience Students photograph, provide narrative, and publish their photo essay in one class period
User Need Student Driver Most students enjoy socializing in school take advantage of this characteristic Provide appropriate ways of socializing through interactive lessons. Students can share photos and provide descriptions or captions, create videos in groups and share with other classmates, and submit group assignments to instructor Small groups work together to storyboard, write, and shoot photo essay. Highly interactive yet production oriented
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Correlation to Prior Analysis
Design Requirements Synthesis of Input on Creating Mobile Application Elements of Design Solution Photo Essay
User Need Teacher Bound by Standards Content indicated by Strand/Standard is amenable to chunking and short exercises Sweet spot for mobile apps is 5-15 minutes Students will use device to generate photo essays showing and describing people, places, and things using camera and keyboard functions will publish work with connectivity functions
Strand- Presentational Write and speak in a language other than English to present information, concepts, and ideas on a variety of topics Standard Describe people, places, and things Content indicated by Strand/Standard is amenable to chunking and short exercises Sweet spot for mobile apps is 5-15 minutes Students will use device to generate photo essays showing and describing people, places, and things using camera and keyboard functions will publish work with connectivity functions
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Interface Design Prototype

• Sitemap
• Flowchart
• Wireframe
• http//gomockingbird.com/mockingbird/index.html?pr
  oject9d47166d7320813c66608be0fdfa8ea8a0f6ab3c
• Layout and Visual Design

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User Feedback

• Layout was simple and easy to follow.
• Too much text. Want more graphics, more like a
  game.
• Needs more color more exciting layout.
• A header would be helpful to navigate to the
  other pages.
• Wanted to know if assignments would be in groups
  or individual.
• Photo Essay assignment would be more fun than
  looking at pictures and memorizing words.
• Assignment calendar Are assignments uploaded
  here?
• Can we take pictures of other things besides
  assignments and upload it to Facebook?
• Love doing assignments on mobile device

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Prototype
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Steps Forward

• Rethink visual design
• Create more apps
• Support teachers
• Promote the affordances of mobile learning

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Questions???