EduTech: Mobile Learning - @iambenavat

The above quote is from today's reading on
Mobile Learning title, " Designing for
Mobile Learning: Clark and Mayer's
Principles Applied ". The reading
importantly predicted the increase in
"Mobile" use around the world. Today
Mobile Internet access spending is greater
than home Internet spending thing the
U.S., and there is no doubt that this trend
toward more and more "Mobilization" will
continue. This seems true to my
experience as I find an increasing amount
of my day being spent on a Mobile device.
Mobile is obviously the future of learning
but how?
On the second page of the reading the
author lays out " The six design principles"
for Mobile learning. [Note: this page is the
actual assigned reading, the former link is
to the full article.]
"The six design principles" are as follows:
1. The multimedia principle – building
connections verbal/written and
pictorial representation; i.e. graphics/
animation.
2. The modality principle – use types of
media most relevant to the media; e.g.
audio instead of written words.
3. The contiguity principle – keep
related media/learning elements close
one another; i.e. keep the images
close the text that describes them.
4. The redundancy principle – reduce
redundant information to avoid
"cognitive overload."
5. The coherence principle – avoid being
too "flashy" (illustrations, background
music, etc.) on Mobile devices as it
might overload working memory and
distract the learner.
6. The personalization principle – keep a
more conversational style/ coaching
approach with Mobile Learning; avoid
being to formal.
Overall this reading is a good resources
and the principles are very useful
consideration, however I have a few
disagreements with some of the points
made by the author.
Disagreements or New Consideration:
1. Data constraints. It is important to
point out that data constraints for
mobile devices at the time of this
writing (2006) influenced the author's
determination of these principles. So
if I were to rework some of the
principles here, I would say,
"consider the audience." If you're
designing a mobile learning app for
North America it might be important
to consider the advanced capabilities
of iPad Retina displays. But on the
other hand, if you're working for an
international non-profit and designing
a mobile learning site for an audience
in sub-Saharan Africa, then keep data
limits in highest consideration.
2. The Aesthetic. The author says in
principle 5 in reference to spicing up
preventions with sound, music, or
"flashy illustrations to beautify the
product," that, "These added media
elements have no positive effect of
learning; in fact, they may overload
working memory and distract the
learner." (The "working memory"
point aside as it relates to my first
point.) The comment by the author
pointing out that "these media
elements have no positive effect of
learning" is false as I understand it.
The aesthetic is a variable of
instructional design that we covered
in earlier section. And for my
personal preference, I give visually
appealing learning media/apps
highest preference. Nevertheless,
even if the author's statement is
somehow factually correct, as in there
is some study out there that says
"flashy images" to not increase
cognitive learning capacity, it is still
important to consider "spicing up" a
Mobile Learning service in order to
compete and/or standout in today's
vast Mobile app market.
3. Redundancy, Redundancy. When I
first read the title of principle 4 I
assumed the author would be an
advocate for redundancy in Mobile
Learning as some for of it is used
very commonly in many other modes
of learning. I was a little surprised to
see the opposite. Some amount of
redundancy is useful in learning and
too much is boring and distracting. I
do understand what the author's
intentions are though and would
perhaps rephrase this principle to
say, "The Reduce Unnecessary
Redundancy Principle."
Global Learning Stuttgart
So how does Mobile Learning pertain to
my course? Well, I tried my best to find a
LMS that has a great complimentary Mobile
app. Unfortunately, none yet really exists.
However, I did find one that works pretty
well on the mobile web, Coursesites.com .
Choosing this LMS platform was not my
only mobile consideration. I also plan to
post all course videos also on YouTube
(Course Sites can embedded them) so that
all students can see the weekly
introduction videos without having to
login into the LSM. And finally, I plan to
have a shared Facebook group page to post
other related updates and since Facebook
has a very strong mobile app this will help
provide more course presence for the
student.
Other
A few mobile learning apps that I keep an
eye on because I think they're great:
Duolingo , Coursera , and Khan Academy .