Students reviewing the iPad-based dissection manual in relation to a hemisected head.
I have been thinking about mobile technology more and more these days, perhaps because I know I need to spend some serious time, next week, on my presentation for my MHE622 course. So, this week, I honed in on shared resources revolving around mobile technology.
The Wylie article caught my eye as the premise was to urge educators to take advantage of a new wave of electronic devices that offer portability and ease of use on a budget. Within the third paragraph Marc Prensky, who has written on Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, was cited saying, “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” Prensky goes on to summarize, that because today’s students are digital natives they used to interacting with technology and indeed actually ‘need’ mobile learning.
This article’s research was geared more toward the K-12 educational demographic. I would summarize the excellent points shared as being:
- We should not ban, we should embrace technology in education and the classroom.
- Those [students] not exposed to technology are unprepared to develop a respectable digital footprint [now, also referred to as a digital tattoo].
- Students need the knowledge and practice of safely interacting with technology.
- I would add, that the K-12 students moving up into the higher education system will be expecting to use their mobile technology in their classrooms.
The Lewis article brings the whole mobile technology discussion to the next level, which is out of our pockets and onto our bodies. The article discusses how wearable technology will transform education. I find this study fascinating, as I believe it further proves how much we are embracing our technology and expecting it to improve our lives. If wearable technology can aid us in monitoring data to track our: fitness, children and pets, etc. the next logical step seems to be to support the personalization of our educational efforts. Costs withstanding [for the moment, as costs will come down] I believe wearable technology will continue to help all of us better understand how we can be more productive and efficient with our personal learning processes.
Mayfied, Ohara and O’Sullivan (2013) discuss using iPad-based multimedia to improve dissection learning in an anatomy course. The investigation focused on how the iPad manual aided learner engagement, achieved instructional objectives, and enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of dissection education. The study also recommended that, “Mobile technologies can become productive learning tools delivering learning content and integrating into the social learning environment of the anatomy laboratory.”
These resources got me thinking about Bay Path’s own Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant Graduate Programs. While I have no first-hand understanding if and/or how they might currently be integrating mobile technology into the courses found within these programs…it seems to me that throughout Bay Path’s graduate program [both online and on the ground], there are opportunities to implement mobile technology and improve student learning.
References:
Kessler, S. (2011, May 4). 4 Ways Mobile Tech Is Improving Education. Retrieved November 14, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2011/05/04/mobile-education-initiatives/
Lewis, C. (2014, October 22). Wearable Technology: Will education look very different in the future?
Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs-post/wearable-technology-will-education-look-very-different-future/187878
Mayfield, C. H., Ohara, P. T., & O’Sullivan, P. S. (March 01, 2013). Perceptions of a mobile technology on learning strategies in the anatomy laboratory. Anatomical Sciences Education, 6, 2, 81-89.
Retrieved from: http://baypath.worldcat.org/title/perceptions-of-a-mobile-technology-on-learning-strategies-in-the-anatomy-laboratory/oclc/5156370955&referer=brief_results
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5
Retrieved from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
West, D. (2013. September 17). Mobile Learning: Transforming, Engaging Students and Improving Outcomes.
Retrieved from: http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2013/09/17-mobile-learning-education-engaging-students-west
Wylie, J. Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms. Scholastic.
Retrieved from: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742
