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Mobile CALL Projects |
 studypatch.net |
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| Chris Houser | Department
of Information Culture |
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| Patricia Thornton | Department
of Language and Culture |
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Learning On the Move: Vocabulary via Mobile Email
EduCALL: Adding Interactivity to Large Classes
Poodle: Course Management System for Mobile Phones
General Articles on Mobile Learning
We emailed English vocabulary lessons at timed intervals to the mobile phones of 44 Japanese university students, hoping to promote regular study. Compared with students urged to regularly study identical materials on paper or web, students receiving mobile email learned more (p<0.05). 71% of the subjects preferred receiving these lessons on mobile phones rather than PCs. 93% felt this a valuable teaching method.
References
Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2005). Using mobile phones in English education in Japan. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Vol. 21, Issue 3 pp.217-228.
Houser, C., Thornton, P., Yokoi, S., & Yasuda, T. (2001). Learning on the Move: Vocabulary Study via Mobile Phone Email, In Lee, Chul-Hwan (Ed): Enhancement of Quality Learning Through Information and Communication Technology, 1560-1567.
Thornton, Patricia & Houser, Chris (2001). Learning on the Move: Vocabulary Study via Email and Mobile Phone SMS, Proceedings of EdMedia2001, 1846-1847.
We polled 333 Japanese university students regarding their use of mobile devices. 100% reported owning a mobile phone. 99% send email on their mobile phones, exchanging some 200 email messages each week. 66% email peers about classes; 44% email for studying. In contrast, only 43% email on PCs, exchanging an average of only 2 messages per week. Only 20% had used a PDA.
References
Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2005). Using mobile phones in English education in Japan. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Vol. 21, Issue 3 pp.217-228.
Thornton, P. & C. Houser (2004). Using mobile phones in education. In Jeremy Roschelle, Tak-Wai Chan, Kinshuk, Stephen J. H. Yang (Eds.): Proceedings 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE 2004), Mobile Support for Learning Communities, 23-25 March 2004, Taoyuan, Taiwan. IEEE Computer Society 2004, pp. 3-10.
Recent work in cognitive science suggests that effective undergraduate education includes discussion, timely and frequent feedback to students, and active problem solving. However, these are not always easy to promote in classes with 40, 50, or even 300 students. This paper proposes using student's mobile web phones to take polls, promote interactivity, and check student comprehension during large lecture classes. Our prototype system exploits the ubiquity and power of Japanese mobile phones, letting students quickly and anonymously answer quizzes in class on their mobile web phones, and automatically collating and displaying the results. Such polling motivates student discussion, and gives students and instructors immediate feedback about comprehension, even in large lecture classes.
References
Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2003). EduCall: Adding interactivity to large lecture classes in Japan via mobile phones. Proceedings of EdMedia2003, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp.1871-1874.
Thornton, P., & Houser, C. (2003). Using mobile web and video phones in English language teaching: Projects with Japanese college students. In B. Morrison, C. Green, & G. Motteram (eds), Directions in CALL: Experience, experiments, and evaluation, pp.207-223. Hong Kong: English Language Centre.
We created a web site explaining English idioms. Student-produced animation shows each idiom's literal meaning; a video shows the idiomatic meaning. Textual materials include an explanation, script, and quiz. Thirty-one Japanese college sophomores evaluated the site using video-capable mobile phones, finding few technical difficulties, and rating highly its educational effectiveness.
References
Houser, C., Thornton, P., and Kluge, D. (2002). Mobile learning: Cell phones and PDAs for Education , In Kinshuk, et al. (Ed.), International Conference on Computers in Education, Vol.II, pp. 1149-1150.
Thornton, P., Houser, C., Nakata, H., Kluge, D., & Nishio, (2003) Ubiquitous Learning Opportunities: Learning via Web Video on Mobile Phones. Kinjo Gakuin University Humanities Research Institute, pp.25-35.
Thornton, P., & Houser, C. (2003). Using mobile web and video phones in English language teaching: Projects with Japanese college students. In B. Morrison, C. Green, & G. Motteram (eds), Directions in CALL: Experience, experiments, and evaluation, pp.207-223. Hong Kong: English Language Centre.
You can see the short animations and videos on our Vidioms web pages:
In previous work on mobile learning, students used cellphones and pocket computers (PDAs) primarily to view study materials and answer quizzes. But anecdotes imply that Japanese students type faster on cellphones than on desktop PCs, suggesting that students could use mobile devices to take notes and write reports. This paper is a first quantitative investigation into the ability of Japanese students to enter text on mobile devices. In 2-minute transcription tasks, 24 Japanese university students typed Japanese:English at 8:7 wpm on miniature QWERTY thumb keyboards, 10:9 on onscreen QWERTY keyboards, 17:5 on cellphones, 23:14 on desktop PCs, and 31:30 with pencil and paper. 5-minute composition speeds were slightly less in the student's native Japanese, and about half in English. Transcription errors were rare in Japanese, but more frequent in English, especially on mobile devices. Students preferred typing on desktops and cellphones. This data suggests that Japanese students could take notes and write reports on their mobile phones, but would require training before using PDAs and writing in English. Future work includes longitudinal studies learning various input methods, including handwriting recognition.
Reference
Houser, C. & P. Thornton (2004). Japanese college studentsf typing speed on mobile devices. In Jeremy Roschelle, Tak-Wai Chan, Kinshuk, Stephen J. H. Yang (Eds.): Proceedings 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE 2004), Mobile Support for Learning Communities, 23-25 March 2004, Taoyuan, Taiwan. IEEE Computer Society 2004, pp. 129-133.
Japanese mobile phones contain small but standard web browsers and email programs, and so can replace desktop computers for a variety of educational tasks. Mobile phones have the advantage of being easily usable at any time and any place, even in large lecture halls without desktop computers, and offer the possibility of exploiting time otherwise wasted in commuting. We believe that mobile phones offer our best chance at normalization: making (miniature) networked computers a standard part of every educational activity, rather than being offered only for certain activities in isolated, dedicated computer labs. A number of research projects have indeed shown the efficacy of educational applications of mobile phones, but creating such materials is still difficult. This paper proposes poodle, a course management system designed to facilitate deploying educational materials to mobile phones. After reviewing moodle, and technologies for display on small screens, this paper presents our experience with poodle, showing how it supports ubiquitous polls, quizzes, wikis, forums, and flash cards. We believe poodle is an important step towards the normalization of mobile phones in education.
Reference
Houser, C. & Thornton, P. (2005). Poodle: A course-management system for mobile phones. In H. Ogata, M. Sharples, Kinshuk, & Y. Yano (Eds.), Proceedings of the third IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education 2005, November 28-30, 2005, Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society, pp. 211-215.
Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2002). M-Learning: Learning in Transit. In P. Lewis (ed.), The Changing Face of CALL: A Japanese Perspective. Pp. 229-243. Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger,.
Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2005). Mobile educational technology. In C. Howard, J. Boettcher, L. Justice, K. Schenk, P. Rogers, and G. Berg (eds), The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Los Angeles: Idea Group, pp. 1289-1296.
Alexander, B. (2004, Sept-Oct). Going Nomadic: mobile learning in higher education. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5, p. 28-35.
Reviews the current state of wireless mobile technology and outlines emerging trends.
Attewell, J., & Savill-Smith, C. (Eds.). (2004). Learning with mobile devices: A book of papers . London, UK: Learning and Skills Development Agency.
Excellent collection of papers on all aspects of mobile learning: learning spaces, accessibility, design, collaboration, evaluating effectiveness.
Available in PDF from LSDA. This organization has several free publications about mobile technologies and learning.
Conference papers from Mlearn 2004
2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE'04) March 23 - 25, 2004 JungLi, Taiwan.
3rd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE'05) November 25-28, 2005, Tokushima, Japan.
Keegan, D. 2002. The Future of Learning: From e-Learning to m-Learning.
Outcome of the EU Leonardo da Vinci program that looks at the evolution of distance learning.
Learning Technology April 2003, Vol. 5, No. 2.
Issue devoted to the subject of mobile learning
Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning at NESTA FutureLab
Mobile Technology in the Classroom
Interesting work from Chile, especially in collaborative learningSharples, M. (2000). "The Design of Personal Mobile Technologies for Lifelong Learning." Computers and Education 34: 177-193.
University of Michiganfs Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education
Harvard University School of Educationfs Handheld Devices for Ubiquitous Learning Project
Mobile Learning
EDUCAUSE: Handheld and Mobile Computing
MOBIlearnfs Bibliography of Mobile Learning