A pedagogical framework for mobile learning: Categorizing educational applications of mobile technologies into four types | Park. Yeonjeong Park Virginia Tech, USA Abstract Instructional designers and educators recognize the potential of mobile technologies as a learning tool for students and have incorporated them into the distance learning environment. However, little research has been done to categorize the numerous examples of mobile learning in the context of distance education, and few instructional design guidelines based on a solid theoretical framework for mobile learning exist.
In this paper I compare mobile learning (m-learning) with electronic learning (e-learning) and ubiquitous learning (u-learning) and describe the technological attributes and pedagogical affordances of mobile learning presented in previous studies. Keywords: m-learning; e-learning; u-learning; transactional distance theory; cultural-historical activity theory; distance education; mobile technology Introduction Mobile Learning The Evolution of Mobile Learning The Evolution to Ubiquitous Learning Limitations and Considerations. Peter Thiel: We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education.
Fair warning: This article will piss off a lot of you. I can say that with confidence because it’s about Peter Thiel. And Thiel – the PayPal co-founder, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist – not only has a special talent for making money, he has a special talent for making people furious. Some people are contrarian for the sake of getting headlines or outsmarting the markets.
For Thiel, it’s simply how he views the world. Of course a side benefit for the natural contrarian is it frequently leads to things like headlines and money. Consider the 2000 Nasdaq crash. And after the crash, Thiel insisted there hadn’t really been a crash: He argued the equity bubble had simply shifted onto the housing market. So Friday, as I sat with Thiel in his San Francisco home that he finally owns, I was curious what he thinks of the current Web frenzy.
Instead, for Thiel, the bubble that has taken the place of housing is the higher education bubble. Making matters worse was a 2005 President George W. Friends Don’t Let Friends Take Education Advice From Peter Thiel. My friends, my followers on Twitter, and people who’ve read my previous posts know that I have a very strong opinion about education: that it is absolutely necessary in order for you to build a foundation for success. Despite having appointments at five elite universities, I am not a proponent of elite education. Rather, my research led me to conclude that ivy-leaguers may be able to get their buddies from Sequoia and Kleiner to return emails, but aren’t going to be any more successful at building companies; that what matters is gaining a basic education and completing what you started—not the ranking of the school you graduate from. I am one of the people who Sarah Lacy predicted would be “pissed” when they read her post quoting Peter Thiel as saying “we’re in a bubble and it’s not the Internet.
It’s higher education”. Peter Thiel may have made the right calls with Paypal; he certainly made a smart decision by investing in Mark Zuckerberg. Universities -- Free Courses. See our list of the top schools offering free courses online. Learn about what types of courses are available to find the school and courses that are right for you. Online Courses for Credit Plenty of free resources are available online for students who want to learn a new topic, but these free options don't generally lead to college credit.
Students who want to earn college credit might want to look for online options that charge a small fee in exchange for access to online lessons. These fee-based courses can help students earn alternative forms of college credit. Education Portal offers this style of distance learning with quick, engaging video lessons and self-assessment quizzes.
Students can also find free transcripts for the video lessons. Free Online Non-Credited Courses Students who want to use the free university resources can go to the school's link, scroll through the list of available courses and lectures and view or download the available content. Yale University at Open Yale. 100 Free Online Ivy League Courses. By Alisa Miller Even those without top notch grades can now go to Ivy League schools. With the the availability of open courseware classes coming out of some of the finest schools in America, the range of subjects is astounding. If you have ever wondered about the beginnings of Hip Hop, wanted to learn a new language, would like to create a film for social change, or are interested in learning about robotics while playing with Legos, then these courses are right up your alley.
All you need to do is click on any one of these courses below to have access to free, online education. Health and Nutrition From an aging population to autism to creating chemistry in the kitchen, these < ahref=" courses provide interesting perspectives on health and nutrition issues. Health Across the Lifespan: Frameworks, Contexts, and Measurements.
Fine Arts From the art of color to theater to music, these courses will expand your knowledge while learning something fun. Technophilia. The Google+ Guide For Educators. Home » Education, Social Media Written by Grace2 August 2011 Unless you've been living under a rock the last month, undoubtedly you've heard of the new social networking site everyone has been raving about: Google+. All this buzz has generated some great articles (my to-read pile just keeps growing!) So it's been hard to find just one favorite Google+ area to discuss...that's why I've decided to share some of my favorite articles to help get educators started. Here's my Google+ Guide for Educators: So what do you think about Google+? Share this post with your friends and colleagues: 5 Startups to Watch.
The future of teaching: Difference engine: Let the games begin. FULL marks to Apple for devising ways to improve how science, mathematics and other topics are taught in primary and secondary schools across America. The company's “Reinventing Textbooks” event last week showed how effectively Apple's popular iPad tablet computer can replace the stack of tedious, and invariably outdated, textbooks that school children have to lug around these days (see “A textbook manoeuvre”, January 19th 2012). Apple is providing a free Macintosh application, dubbed iBooks Author, which allows publishers, teachers and writers to produce interactive textbooks with video, audio and even rotating 3D graphics that spring to life with the touch of a finger.
By and large, interactive multimedia offer more engaging explanations that students more readily grasp and remember. To play such books on an iPad, a free application called iBooks 2 must first be downloaded from the company's App Store. No question that interactive textbooks deliver results. MindShift | How we will learn.
How Learning Environments Are Changing. Cost cutting is a big motivating factor for traditional schools offering online programs. A Michigan-based study found that Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida spend 20 to 30 percent less per pupil on full-time student online enrollment as they do on traditional classroom enrollment, and administrators in Florida admitted that a huge impetus for creating e-learning labs was to bypass a class-size reduction law.
Universities are also leveraging online classes for practical benefits -- as a way to compensate for over-filled classes and a way to save costs. The number of online-only universities hit record highs in 2010, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all college students taking at least one course online. Online classes offer a number of benefits: personalized, flexible learning approaches, access to courses that are over-capacity, and collaboration with other institutions, for starters. [Sara Bernard contributed to this report.] 2) Theme-Based. 3) Deconstructed. Spurred by ideas like Dr. Three Trends That Will Shape the Future of Curriculum. Following in the steps of Wikipedia – and the collaborative world of Web 2.0 -- a growing proliferation of open-source sites aimed at education have sprouted up over the past few years.
For both K-12 schools and higher education, sites like MIT Open SourceWare that publishes almost all the university’s content for students, Open Educational Resources, Curriki, Merlot, Connexions, CK12, Scitable, and Hippocampus offer their own expert-written, vetted content. But more importantly, they allow educators and students to add, edit, and change the order of all the information on those sites according to their own needs.
Entire school districts are starting to go open-source, too, such as the Bering Strait School District in Alaska, which is using a Wiki-style format for its curriculum. CK12 is part of California's Free Digital Textbook Initiative, and school districts in Pennsylvania are also considering using its materials once the curricula has met state standards. 2. Interest-driven 3. Three Trends That Define the Future of Teaching and Learning. They're finding each other on their own kid-specific social networking sites, on their blogs, on schools' sites, and of course on Facebook and Twitter. Though Facebook is still a red herring when it comes to school policy (Massachusetts districts have threatened to fire teachers who friend students on Facebook), and educators are split over whether tweeting in class is disruptive or helpful, the sites continue to be pervasive in both higher-ed and K-12.
Educators know they can grab students' attention where they naturally live outside the classroom -- the online social world, whether or not it's Facebook. "If you're teaching something that's usually bland and you insert a simple tool that allows students to connect with each other or their peers in other schools and countries whenever they want, you just see kids' faces light up," says veteran educator Chris Lehmann of the Science Leadership Academy. Educators Unite 2. Tech-Powered. Flickr:Randy Pertiet 3. What these trends mean.