"Tablets for Learning" or "Time to Rethink"

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I really enjoyed this week's activity wherein we had to find a primary source on the topic of the "iPad & Learning" and summarize it. Well actually, I did not really enjoy the summarizing part but, I did find the researching and reading part very fascinating. I also learned four interesting things. 

First, I learned that when your professor gives the whole class the same assignment to "find and summarize" a primary source on the week's topic and admonishes that each student must summarize a different reference source, the professor changes the nature of the student - student relationship. No longer are we members of a learning community working together to master the material. Rather, we are rivals seeking the best informative gems. The situation suddenly becomes a zero sum game. 

With this change, strategy suddenly becomes important. It suddenly behooves us to do two things. First, start our research early. Second, go to the class page as soon as we find a good reference source and "stake our claim." We should do this even before we start to summarize it. We have to prevent our classmates from coming in while we are summarizing and "snaking" our reference source. Yes, by limiting our resources, the professor suddenly made strategy come into play. 

I am not saying that that is a bad thing. I am just saying that I found the paradigm switch from learning community to zero sum gamesmanship very interesting.

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Second, and maybe this is just me but, I learned that the online availability of a reference source is inversely related to its potential value to my research. I cannot recall how many references to seeming right on point articles I found that, when I went to find them, I discovered that they were not available online. In direct contrast, the less desirable an article seemed to my research, the more readily available online it seemed to be. Humm...

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Third, and this was the most shocking, I learned that when it comes to iPads in the classroom, I am an "old school" thinker. I learned that I need to retool my thinking to allow me to maximize the pedagogical value to my students of their using tablets in my classroom. The article The Game Changer: Using iPads in College Teacher Education Classes. (http://eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=77305728&site=ehost-live), really drove home the point that to be in effective educator in today's and tomorrow's classroom, we educators must first educate ourselves on how our students learn. We must then take that knowledge and use it to transform our own thinking  about how best to teach and how best to prepare and present the material we create for our students.

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Lastly I learned, or rather relearned, that the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know and how much more I have yet to learn!

WOW! That Knocked the Blinders Right Off My Eyes!

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The New York Times article "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" by Charles Duhigg (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=0) that we had to read this week was a real eye opener. I had no idea that some companies collect and mine big data in that way. I had no idea that they can and do target consumers so precisely. It was really shocking and yet at the same time, it made perfect sense. As I read the article it seemed only natural that companies mine big data in this way. 

In fact, it makes such sense that I found myself wondering why I had not realized it on my own. All the signs are there. Log into Amazon. What do you see? A tempting selection of items that almost always appeal. Sign up for Safeway's Club Card. You will start receiving coupons that interest you in no time. Even if you have not signed up for Kmart's discount card, just making a purchase generates seemingly miles of coupons with your receipt. They too seem to tempt one with their spot on offers! Yes, Target is not the only one targeting specific consumers with tailor made offers. Now that I am looking for it, I realize that the behavior is ubiquitous and is not limited to retailers.

FaceBook seems to mine big data too. How else do you explain all those usually interesting ads that pop up on the right side of the screen? Google+ does it too. Heck, even Twitter does it. After I signed up for a MOOC I was suddenly getting suggestions from Twitter about who I should follow. When I do elect to follow someone, I quickly receive another email from Twitter trying to entice me to follow even more people. With FaceBook and Google+ I have found the suggestions to be interesting. With Twitter I have just found them to be overwhelming. Following too many people is like having too many cooks in the kitchen. I do not have the time to watch even a portion of their feeds and what I do follow is usually so dissociated that I usually end up all but ignoring most of the Twitter feeds.

In light of how ubiquitous big data mining is, tonight's guest speaker really got me thinking. Sure, at first blush giving every student from kindergarten through 12 grade their own iPad seems like a great idea. I wish that the college where I teach could do the same thing for our students. However, having each student create their own Apple ID through which they register their software licenses and purchase additional programs and content may not be such a good idea. When I heard that the students do not get to keep the iPad when they graduate but do get to keep the software licenses, all I could think of was how much personal data they were generating. By the time a student graduates from high school, Apple, through the data collected through the student's Apple ID, will probably know more about the student than they know about themself. 

I believe in and support putting iPads in the hands of every student. If we educators can learn how to use them to maximize their educational value, our students will truly benefit from their usage. However, if such use becomes a rich data source for companies contriving to manipulate our kids, the long term cost to our students who will be targeted by retailers and other marketers, may very well out weigh the educational benefit derived from using the iPad. 

Administrators and educators need to consider the iPad usage question from this angle. What good will it do to educate our children with iPads if doing so gives data mining companies the information required to specifically market goods and services to them just as they enter the marketplace as high school graduates? It is hard enough for adults to recognize and resist targeted marketing strategies. Our children do not stand a chance. Once the marketers can hook the kids, they will be hooked for life. We need to find a way to give these young students mobile learning technology while at the same time protecting their anonymity. 

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Mobile Learning: Self Discipline and Self Knowledge Required

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I am a huge proponent of mobile learning. I have been taking advantage of mobile learning since before the term came into existence. While an exchange student in Japan I purchased an electronic English-Japanese & Kanji-English dictionary and made extensive use of it as I struggled to become fluent in Japanese. I believe that my usage of such a device made me a pioneer of mobile learning.

Today, I still own that dictionary but, I never use it. Apps on my iPhone have made it obsolete. Actually, apps on my iPhone have made most of my Japanese studying aids obsolete. I no longer need "501 Japanese Verbs." I have "Katsuyo" to refer to when the proper conjugation of a verbs eludes my memory. Likewise, I have apps to help me recall and learn grammar, vocabulary, and kanji. All of these apps are free or very inexpensive! As a pioneer of mobile learning, I spent a small fortune on that dictionary. Today's students, assuming that they already own a smart phone, do not have to incur such expenses. 

Having said that, I feel the need to remind everyone of the old adage: Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware! Free does not always mean good. In my quest to find free mobile learning apps to help me keep up my Japanese and to help me learn to speak even more Japanese-like Japanese (日本語らしい日本語) I have discovered a number of apps that provide the Japanese language student with information that is simply incorrect. 

For example, the app "Flashcards" which provides both written pronunciation guides and recorded audio tracks, mispronounces the word "day" in the expression "Happy Birthday." If the app contains errors at this, the most basic level of learning, what other errors might one find? How embarrassing for the poor student who memorizes the incorrect pronunciation or usage and then tries to use her/his incorrect knowledge in Japan! So, mobile learners really need to be careful. But, that is not to say that they should not take advantage of mobile learning opportunities. 

As I said above, I am a huge proponent of mobile learning. The ability to access knowledge and informational resources any time and any where is incredible. I love to look up information on artists as I look at their work in a museum. I love to resolve fun conflicts with my friends by looking up information and finding definitive answers when they exist. Google and all the information it puts at my finger tips via my iPhone is incredible.

Besides in my personal life, I am also a huge proponent of mobile learning in my professional life. I teach photography courses in a way designed to facilitate and encourage it. I do not print any of the material that I create for my students. Rather, I use the University's course management software to post PDFs of my material. 

From the very first day of instruction I encourage my students to download the material to their smart phones or other mobile learning devices. I tell them to use it out in the field as they work their way through each project. In class as we go over the specifics and practice each project, I give additional recognition and encouragement to those students who take the time to download and actually access the material on their mobile learning devices.

One unexpected lesson that I learned a long time ago when I was majoring in Japanese is that education is a very personal experience. To maximize any educational opportunity one must first learn how they as an individual learn. No matter how good and motivating one's teacher is, the learner must still sit down and do the hard work of educating themselves. To maximize the educational opportunity manifested in mobile learning, students need to understand how they learn. They also need the self discipline to use that knowledge to educate themselves.

Mobile learning provides an incredible opportunity for anyone with access to it and enough self understanding and self discipline. I am a huge supporter. I hope the trend of making these opportunities more available to more people will continue. The more the members of a society educate themselves, the more the society as a whole benefits. I only hope that today's younger short attention span kids will find the self discipline and self understanding required to make the most of these awesome opportunities. 

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