Monday 4 April 2011

MobiMOOC

One year on I am attempting to take part in another MOOC and having failed miserably last year I am not too hopeful :-)

I do really want to do this one though, it is about mLearning and started April 2nd and is running until May 14th. Two days in I am overrun with e-mail, all interesting but just too much! I have done loads of week 1 reading and answered the week one questions. So – up to date on the 3rd day ;-) Long may it last.

Anyone still wishing to join visit the wiki http://mobimooc.wikispaces.com/a+MobiMOOC+hello!
And join the Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/mobimooc/topics

One of the videos for week one was the 2007 Teacher’s TV on the use of mobile phones in school – I watched it when it came out but had not revisited and it is quite astounding that even though the statistics will have increased dramatically since the film was made the attitudes of the adults probably hasn’t in many cases, it could have been made yesterday! http://www.teachers.tv/videos/mobile-phones-mobile-minds.

The survey carried out very recently in the States and reported on today would appear to uphold that view http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_do_kids_say_is_the_biggest_obstacle_to_techno.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29
Quote
"The results are pretty fascinating, as they show great adoption of technology among even very young students, but lingering resistance on the part of school administrators to sanction some of those tools into the classroom."

The report on the survey finishes with the most telling quotation:

"74% of high school teachers, 72% of high school principals, and 62% of parents of high school age children said yes, they thought their school was doing a good job using technology to enhance learning and/or student achievement.
Only 47% of high school students agreed."

I am looking forward to taking part as much as I can in the MobiMOOC and hopefully learning more about what is probably the most fascinating aspect of educational technology for the near future.

7 comments:

Inge (Ignatia) de Waard said...

Carol, with this post you are already amongst the contenders for one of MobiMOOC's 'memorable participant', so I think you are doing great!

Unknown said...

Thanks Ignatia - I am enjoying it so far!!

Anonymous said...

Carol, nice to meet you and your blog.
I play the bass clarinet, you write you were a music teacher, do you play an instrument?
regards Jaap

Unknown said...

Hi Carol,
Thank you for this reflection on week 1.
As a secondary humanities teacher, I struggled with limiting student access to their mobile devices; most used their cell-phones for distraction- games, texting, FaceBook...
The survey you highlighted seems to indicate a strong need for adults/educators to get more 'in-touch' with mobile technologies and devise ways of including engaging mLearning opportunities into their classrooms. I wonder if this reality varies across grade levels?
Cheers to a great start in mobiMOOC & new learning advenutres :)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hi Jaap
I used to but not these days!I used to play piano, guitar and sing but sadly the last time I touched an instrument was about 20 years ago.
Today though I have been playing with Garageband for the iPAD - great fun :-)

I love the clarinet - my daughter used to be very good and played all of them in the Youth Orchstra in Oxfordshire. I have not hear her pay for a long time now though!!

Unknown said...

Hi Sheena
I think it is hard to give freedom to the pupils to use mobile devices - there is so much scope for time wasting. I read about a teacher who was amazed by the quality for the answers after a research project though - she thought they had been wasting time :-)
There is hope!
Regards
Carol