Mobile Learning and pictures What’s the real story?

A friend used to listen to a presentation of a new technique, a new program, or a new textbook and say “What’s the real story?” His question implied that when we hear the “wonders and amazements” of a new thing, we need to become aware of  what else is involved.  He disliked “All you have to do is…” because he knew that much else was really  involved.

Unfortunately when a new technology such as mobile learning hits, we hear the “it’s amazing” stories. The educators of the amazing stories do not tell  the reality of what did not work or the difficulties along the way.  I heard someone talk about how the students took pictures as part of a project. So, I built an assignment around my Modern Language  Spanish students taking personal pictures of current vocabulary of daily activities.  For example, students took pictures of their friends, family or children getting dressed, brushing teeth, combing their hair, etc.   My students found it easy to take the pictures on their cell phone.  They took the ten required pictures.   However, the difficult was getting the pictures from their cell phone to a central location. Most students could only send one picture at a time.  One student downloaded his pictures to his computer and then burned them onto a CD.  Another question was where do the students send the pictures so that others can look at the pictures? The simple solution seemed to be for students to keep their pictures on their own cellphone and let other students look at their cell phones. We learned to trade cell phones for a few minutes while we did this activity.

Let’s share the realities, the fixes, the this-is-the-easy-way-to-do-it, and the lessons learned  with others as we begin this new adventure with mobile learning.

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

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QR codes – one dimensional or multi-dimensional for rich learning

I’ve been seeing many QR codes so I have been using a  code reader to discover the message. Usually a link to a site comes up.  It’s sort of like a letter with only one short sentence  or a very  short tweet.  It’s a “just the facts” type of thinking. I often feel that I wasted my time in reading the QR code.

In education, we strive for richness in learning such as problem based learning (PBL). We want students to explore and think deeply. I think that a QR code with one short link often lacks depth.  For example, I was in a museum that used QR codes. The link went to a short bio on the artist. There were no links off of the bio.  Yes, I wanted to learn about the artist’s life but I also wanted to know more about the style of painting and what other artists painted in that style, and I wanted to know more about the subject of the paintings such as where where the painting was painted and what the subjects represented.

I am waiting to see a QR code  with a built in probing question/ essential question and some links to explore in search of the big answer.

Do your QR codes have just one short dimension or do they present multi-dimensional robust  learning?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.