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More than Just Talk: Learning with Mobile Media

Filed at 9:54 am on May 21, 2009 • Leave a comment

By Seann Dikkers & Kurt Squire

The cell phones we carry in our pockets have rapidly become more than just phones. We use these new “smart phones” for instant access to an entire universe of digital media—music, movies, the Internet, instant communication, and social connectivity.

How we use mobile media in the future will be shaped by the questions we ask today. Questions like, What will change tomorrow? and How will we connect to, contribute to, and organize our world?

The Mobile Media Learning Project is one effort to explore these questions and examine how we might apply these technologies to education. We’re asking, for example:

• What unique avenues do developers see in mobile media devices?
• Do they see mobile media primarily as an educational tool, advertising device, or as a simple money-maker?
• What can we understand from watching closely as youth “play” with these devices in their homes, schools, and community settings?
• Are children using mobile devices in ways that developers aren’t foreseeing? If so, what are they?

We hope to design research that helps us better understand emergent learning experiences, maximize the use of mobile media, and learn what new relationships youth can have with their world. Some of our early findings point to the ways mobile media are enabling young people to build on and expand their own interests, among other things, as “amplifiers” of their activities: Josh, a student we are following in a case study, used his smart phone to improve his guitar playing. Within two days of starting the project, Josh had installed multiple applications on his smart phone: a tuner, a song finder, a chord guide, and an application that gave him access to tablature for any song.  This amplified how he could practice and build his guitar skills using any song he wanted. After a week, Josh was using a program that recognized his taste in music and recommended new bands. Another program allowed him to add background sounds to his jam sessions, and he was able to share his work with friends and family.  All of this can be done with a normal computer. However, Josh claimed that it was the immediate presence of the mobile device, and its ease of use, that inspired him to use the applications where he had never thought to before.  Camille was a social student and an active user of online networking sites.  Her interests in reading and writing were well in place before she participated in the MML study.  At the end, however, she reported her surprise at how her interests were fed by having the tool in hand.  One example she gave was the fun she had giving her babysitting job a new layer of contact.  While the parents were out and about, she was able to send IMs and pictures of the child regularly, providing them status updates without the intrusiveness of a phone call.  The mobile device integrated the camera, file storage, and e-mail functions to allow nearly instant updates with the right applications in a way her desktop could not.  Using case studies, our curriculum team is creating class activities using mobile media that build on the interactivity, tools, and immediacy of the devices to ignite learning opportunities for students.  These are currently in development and implementation stages at a local area high school.  We’re developing tools, providing examples, building lessons, and creating a central hub to connect with others who are interested in exploring similar research questions.  To date, our website has grown to include a vibrant community of developers, researchers, teachers, and other interested parties.  As the content grows, so does the community and the conversation. We welcome your input.  Food for Thought For more on mobile technology, check out the recent New York Times articles on using cell phones to teach sex education and cell phone use in India. Similarly, Digital Media and Learning Competition winner MILLEE, is working with mobile learning technology to improve educational opportunities for students in India.  You can read about their work here. Mobile Media Learning is a community of developers, researchers, and educators, led by Kurt Squire and funded by the MacArthur Foundation to collaborate and stay current on the ongoing developments of educational application of digital media—specifically the use of mobile technologies.
Photo:  Students in science class trying their hand at “Saving Lake Wingra,” a project designed for Mobile Media Learning using the OAR Engine from MIT.

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