The Mobile Learning

 

The Mobile Learning Practices for the Development of Competencies in Education

  • Mobile devices can be used as educational tools to facilitate leaning in context and also to extend the possibility of “Learning in mobility”. Through well planned educational mobile resources, significant and collaborative construction of knowledge and the development of students` competencies can be reached.
  • Learning is a human process powered by tools that can be physical artifacts and / or culturally meditated meanings. Based on the developments and strategies derived from the Mobil Earn Project which is promoted by European countries and followed simultaneously by universities around the world, the spectrum of possibilities for using mobile devices as tools to promote learning has been broadened. The original conception that focused mobility in learning as a central element, analyzed the elements of space, time and areas of application to support this statement has been strengthened with the approach that relates mobile devices with the possibility of building knowledge, considering “the possibility of delivering and capturing information in a context.
  • Micro-blogs have expanded the possibilities of collaboration in real time between peers and the advice of teachers, demonstrating in practice a great contribution to improve collaborative learning activities.
  • The incorporation of these mobile tools in learning activities has also meant the expansion of possibilities to develop both disciplinary and transversal skills and abilities, a concern of teaching practice in higher education.
  • The personalization of learning and mobility, allowed by the daily use of devices, means that the development of technological and research skills – and even the development of thinking skills – transcends the limits of the classroom. It is important, however, to bear in mind that the issue of incorporating Smart phones for learning activities is affected by the habits of use of technology by students and the perceived ease of use by students and the teachers.
  • With these considerations, it is relevant to identify which practices have been the most effective for learning by students and which have been most rewarding in terms of their contribution to the development of skills by teachers, focusing on mobile learning a detonating strategy for change in the use of technology in education.

RELATED STUDIES

  • The Internet generation or generation:
  • The Internet Generation is related to computers and technologies such as the Internet, email, instant messaging, DVDs, video games and equipment associated with them, as usual environments for communication, socialization, learning and learning. I play and not as machines to be programmed.

  • His constant and early interaction with these technologies has also defined generic characteristics of his personality. Among these characteristics are: their approach to immediacy -with the consequent intolerance of waiting-, that they are multitasks, that focus on results, and that they like to remain constantly communicated and to work as a team.
  • Finally, they are researchers in search of immediate answers and seasoned navigators on the WEB, who access the information with a tenuous consideration of the limits between author and consumer, with the consequent problems in the recognition of copyright.
  • Similarly, there are investigations related to the need to identify if the innate characteristics of this Generation have as a counterpart the development of skills of discrimination of relevant information, ability to focus processes and the use and critical exploitation of multimedia and argumentative integration consistent of investigation reports.
  • In summary, research shows that the profile of students in higher education offers opportunities for the generation of educational strategies that are intensive in technology and focused on learning, with the concomitant challenge for the development of skills related to research, critical thinking and literacy multimedia.
  • B. Learning using mobile devices:
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Mobile learning is powered by the digital convergence that made cell phones smart phones powerful educational tools with the ability to record, play, browse the WEB, edit and exchange documents, in addition to the traditional communication functions – one-to-one and on social media – both oral and written. These teams and others with diverse possibilities such as e-books, tablets and PDAs allow to diversify the means of access to information sources, increase the speed and frequency of interactions for the construction of knowledge and in general increase the capacities of learners to direct their learning in context, by taking advantage of applications that allow immediate integration of signals and experiences from their environment.

  • C. The benefits reported are: 
  • promoting more student involvement, increased understanding of complex subjects, increased interest and enjoyment of class sessions, and the fact that they promote discussion and interactivity. They also point out that response systems help students identify their level of understanding; that through its use, teachers can identify difficulties in student learning and that more content can be covered taking advantage of time beyond class hours. Finally, they indicate that when using response systems, students think more being in the classroom; the quality of the questions is improved; shyness of students is avoided; time is better used and grade recording is simplified,

  • In mobile learning, the first thing is learning, the contextualization and approach of didactic that integrates the use of devices allows personalization and favors meaning. It is clear that it is necessary to standardize the quality criteria in the generation of multimedia resources and learning activities, orient them more to the approach of knowledge objects; however their use and integration into activities must be flexible, adapted to the learning conditions of the student. In the cases detected as the best practices, leadership for change, it seems to be a phrase that synthesizes the teacher’s strategy. The best courses analyzed integrate students into resource design, leveraging the multimedia skills of digital natives.
  • In short, it is necessary to make mobile learning a model of educational technology centered on the student, in his capacity for creation and innovation and taking advantage of the possibility of mastering technological and multimedia competences in context.
  • Advantages:
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Disadvantages: 

 

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