GOING MOBILE:
Mobile Media Technologies and their Impact on Academic
Collaboration Beyond the Walls of the Classroom
Douglas W. Conrad
What action can I take to discover the impact of mobile media technologies on academic collaboration and communication beyond the walls of the classroom?
C Y C L E T H R E E Report
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this action research project was to discover the effect of mobile media technologies on the learning thought of as "informal” that happens in the spaces and times outside of the classroom. Current research has shown that the use of mobile media tools has begun to change our understanding of place. When we can communicate, collaborate and relate without the boundaries of time or space, our understanding of place or where we are grounded is altered. It is possible that this change can be leveraged by schools to incorporate the academic collaboration and knowledge building that happens beyond the walls of the classroom into the students' "formal" learning environment. The impact that mobile media technologies have in this space was the focus of this action research project.
In the third cycle of this action research project, I added a new group of students and teachers (education students interning in K-12 classrooms) and helped them get set up to use Twitter. I added Glassboard micro blogging app to the second group of students. (The same AV student group as in cycle two, but a new mobile media tool). There were 28 participants between the two groups in this cycle of action research..
CYCLE RESEARCH QUESTION:
If a Twitter channel is set up for a section of students and a Glassboard channel is set up in a second section of students and specific use guidelines are given, how will these mobile media technologies impact academic collaboration beyond the walls of the classroom?
The purpose of this action research project was to discover the effect of mobile media technologies on the learning thought of as "informal” that happens in the spaces and times outside of the classroom. Current research has shown that the use of mobile media tools has begun to change our understanding of place. When we can communicate, collaborate and relate without the boundaries of time or space, our understanding of place or where we are grounded is altered. It is possible that this change can be leveraged by schools to incorporate the academic collaboration and knowledge building that happens beyond the walls of the classroom into the students' "formal" learning environment. The impact that mobile media technologies have in this space was the focus of this action research project.
In the third cycle of this action research project, I added a new group of students and teachers (education students interning in K-12 classrooms) and helped them get set up to use Twitter. I added Glassboard micro blogging app to the second group of students. (The same AV student group as in cycle two, but a new mobile media tool). There were 28 participants between the two groups in this cycle of action research..
CYCLE RESEARCH QUESTION:
If a Twitter channel is set up for a section of students and a Glassboard channel is set up in a second section of students and specific use guidelines are given, how will these mobile media technologies impact academic collaboration beyond the walls of the classroom?
EVIDENCE USED TO EVALUATE THE ACTION:
In this cycle, the action I took was to set up a new Twitter user group - one team-teaching group of two teachers and their class and gave them a context for the use of this tool. I consulted extensively with this new set of participants to make sure that Twitter was a good fit for their pedagogical goals. The evaluation of the action in this research was qualitative participant responses. I looked at how the students reflected on the action that we took together and noted the common themes in their experience with these mobile media technologies.The professors teach an education department course to student teachers working on their teaching credentials. In the current course, the students spend the majority of their course time, interning in local K-12 classrooms. In my pre-cycle discussions with the teachers, they thought that Twitter would be a good fit for their pedagogical goals of encouraging their students' academic collaboration outside of the classroom meeting times. The specific use guidelines given to this class involved the quantity of tweets in a week and the professors regularly gave direction for content. In the second group, I helped the student group from Cycle two (AV support student group) set up Glassboard accounts and had an initial discussion about the context for their participation in this action research project. I gave this second group the same use guidelines as the first.
As a tech steward, my involvement was in the work to strategize with the users groups, help with the set up and implementation of the tools, guide the assessment and lead the reflection. I was not involved in the day-to-day Twitter or Glassboard conversations. To capture and assess the user group experience, I solicited responses to the same questions for both groups using a Surveymonkey poll, coded the responses and analyzed the data. It is the students’ response to their participation with these mobile media tools rather than their specific tweet-by-tweet discussions that I used to assess the action. Tweet Archivist was used to take a snapshot each week during the cycle of the topics that the Twitter user group participants were discussing. There were 19 students and two professors in the Twitter group and 7 students in the Glassboard group.
In this cycle, the action I took was to set up a new Twitter user group - one team-teaching group of two teachers and their class and gave them a context for the use of this tool. I consulted extensively with this new set of participants to make sure that Twitter was a good fit for their pedagogical goals. The evaluation of the action in this research was qualitative participant responses. I looked at how the students reflected on the action that we took together and noted the common themes in their experience with these mobile media technologies.The professors teach an education department course to student teachers working on their teaching credentials. In the current course, the students spend the majority of their course time, interning in local K-12 classrooms. In my pre-cycle discussions with the teachers, they thought that Twitter would be a good fit for their pedagogical goals of encouraging their students' academic collaboration outside of the classroom meeting times. The specific use guidelines given to this class involved the quantity of tweets in a week and the professors regularly gave direction for content. In the second group, I helped the student group from Cycle two (AV support student group) set up Glassboard accounts and had an initial discussion about the context for their participation in this action research project. I gave this second group the same use guidelines as the first.
As a tech steward, my involvement was in the work to strategize with the users groups, help with the set up and implementation of the tools, guide the assessment and lead the reflection. I was not involved in the day-to-day Twitter or Glassboard conversations. To capture and assess the user group experience, I solicited responses to the same questions for both groups using a Surveymonkey poll, coded the responses and analyzed the data. It is the students’ response to their participation with these mobile media tools rather than their specific tweet-by-tweet discussions that I used to assess the action. Tweet Archivist was used to take a snapshot each week during the cycle of the topics that the Twitter user group participants were discussing. There were 19 students and two professors in the Twitter group and 7 students in the Glassboard group.
EVALUATION:
Mobile media technologies like Twitter and Glassboard allow users to communicate with a selected group without limitation of being bound to any one place. The mobility of these technologies and their simple set up seem to enable the acquisition of information and building of knowledge outside of the formal learning structure. The content of communications during this cycle between the students showed their concentration on academic collaboration. In this cycle of action research, the participants were primarily focused on their communications and collaborations during their out of class hours. While technology has been readily integrated in the formal learning environment of the classroom for presentational purposes, the personal mobile device is still viewed as too disruptive by most educators. In contrast, the knowledge building that happens in the less formal, or informal learning spaces of our lives seem to be greatly enhanced by the powerful mobile media devices that we all carry. This is a snapshot of the first week of the cycle activity by the professors in the Twitter user group.
This analytic snapshot of the Twitter group tweets is from the second week of the cycle. It gives a view of the content of the collaborations.
In this graphic, the number of tweets for this week (39) points to an average of two tweets per person (21 users) for this group. The top words used are not so much a clinical finding as they provide a contextual view of the topics being discussed.
The survey poll was created in Survey Monkey and asked four questions of both groups. The questions were:
1. Describe how this mobile media tool can help students connect what they learn to their daily lives and their daily lives to what they learn.
2. Describe how mobile media technologies can be used to help students learn.
3. What are the benefits of these tools for learning and collaboration?
4. What was your weekly use of this technology?
The stated claim of the survey was: Use of mobile media tools will have a positive impact on academic collaboration outside of the formal learning environment. Keywords were chosen from a constructivist definition of learning theory.
The graph below shows the percent of times these keywords were used in the survey poll data in response to question #1, “Describe how this mobile media tool can help students connect what they learn to their daily lives and their daily lives to what they learn.” Both the Twitter group and the Glassboard group contributed to this poll. The breakdown between the two groups is in the chart below.
The survey poll was created in Survey Monkey and asked four questions of both groups. The questions were:
1. Describe how this mobile media tool can help students connect what they learn to their daily lives and their daily lives to what they learn.
2. Describe how mobile media technologies can be used to help students learn.
3. What are the benefits of these tools for learning and collaboration?
4. What was your weekly use of this technology?
The stated claim of the survey was: Use of mobile media tools will have a positive impact on academic collaboration outside of the formal learning environment. Keywords were chosen from a constructivist definition of learning theory.
The graph below shows the percent of times these keywords were used in the survey poll data in response to question #1, “Describe how this mobile media tool can help students connect what they learn to their daily lives and their daily lives to what they learn.” Both the Twitter group and the Glassboard group contributed to this poll. The breakdown between the two groups is in the chart below.
The Twitter and Glassboard user groups responded similarly to the poll questions except for the keyword, Collaborate. While this research is not about comparing different mobile media technologies, the Glassboard group found the lack of character limit helpful in their work together. Both groups responded around 50% on Knowledge, which seems to point to the value in these tools for more than just social connections.
The survey data sheet and the data web page showed that students in this research project valued the learning aspect of this tool over the community or social aspect. Over half of the respondents described their use of these mobile media technologies with relation to learning. This compared to only one fourth that felt community or social interaction to be the main use of the tools. Possible reasons for this contrast are that the students were using the tools specifically for academic collaboration and so potentially remained focused on learning and not merely social. The other possibility for the responses is that students found these mobile media technologies to be effective learning tools and that the social aspect is already a second nature to them.
The second survey poll question, “Describe how mobile media technologies can be used to help students learn.” shows a divergence of the students in the two different user groups regarding the use of these tools. The chart below shows the responses for the two user groups. For the Twitter user group, the Learning and Personal were main keywords in their responses. This may point to how these tools were being used by the students in academic collaboration with their peers while traveling between different classrooms. For the Glassboard user group, the top keywords in their responses were Collaborate and Personal. This may point to their mobile use of this tool as they worked together.
The survey data sheet and the data web page showed that students in this research project valued the learning aspect of this tool over the community or social aspect. Over half of the respondents described their use of these mobile media technologies with relation to learning. This compared to only one fourth that felt community or social interaction to be the main use of the tools. Possible reasons for this contrast are that the students were using the tools specifically for academic collaboration and so potentially remained focused on learning and not merely social. The other possibility for the responses is that students found these mobile media technologies to be effective learning tools and that the social aspect is already a second nature to them.
The second survey poll question, “Describe how mobile media technologies can be used to help students learn.” shows a divergence of the students in the two different user groups regarding the use of these tools. The chart below shows the responses for the two user groups. For the Twitter user group, the Learning and Personal were main keywords in their responses. This may point to how these tools were being used by the students in academic collaboration with their peers while traveling between different classrooms. For the Glassboard user group, the top keywords in their responses were Collaborate and Personal. This may point to their mobile use of this tool as they worked together.
This chart data seems to point to a certain level of ownership of the learning process by the Twitter user group. This is supportive of the research on how mobile media technologies enable the information gathered and the knowledge building that occurs while using the devices to be viewed as personal by users.
The two groups of students used the mobile media technologies to connect their learning outside of the formal academic environment to their more formal classroom time. . Half of the respondents described their use as “Connective” and “Personal” in joining their formal and informal learning environments. Another aspect they reflected on was how these tools allowed for group discussion regardless of time or place. Although the students were generally not ever in the same physical space, they ware able to collaborate on the elements of their academic work individually and in a group. In using these tools, the students were able to each have a part in the knowledge building and process the information at their individual pace. Key words pulled from a Tweet Archivist analysis of conversations during this cycle were, "students", "strategies", "solving" and "today". This points to how these tools were used to enable academic collaboration. The design differences between Twitter and Glassboard did not seem to have a noticeable effect on the research of the use of these tools for academic collaboration. One group found value in the 140-character limit of Twitter, while the Glassboard users felt that ability to engage with longer posts was beneficial to the work they were collaborating on. Each mobile media technology proved to fit well with the needs of each group and so the specific tool became somewhat transparent in this study.
The stated claim for the survey poll data was, "Use of mobile media tools will have a positive impact on knowledge building outside of the formal learning environment." The data collected in this cycle seems to support this claim. The very characteristic that makes these tools so disruptive to the formal learning environment of the classroom, is the very reason that they seem to have worked so well in this informal learning space - they are personal. Students own the device, carry it with them everywhere and rely on it for social as well as academic purposes. The academic collaboration that these two groups engaged in appears to have been enabled by the use of these tools. Mobile media technologies used in this cycle had a positive impact on the academic collaboration of these students beyond the walls of the classroom.
The two groups of students used the mobile media technologies to connect their learning outside of the formal academic environment to their more formal classroom time. . Half of the respondents described their use as “Connective” and “Personal” in joining their formal and informal learning environments. Another aspect they reflected on was how these tools allowed for group discussion regardless of time or place. Although the students were generally not ever in the same physical space, they ware able to collaborate on the elements of their academic work individually and in a group. In using these tools, the students were able to each have a part in the knowledge building and process the information at their individual pace. Key words pulled from a Tweet Archivist analysis of conversations during this cycle were, "students", "strategies", "solving" and "today". This points to how these tools were used to enable academic collaboration. The design differences between Twitter and Glassboard did not seem to have a noticeable effect on the research of the use of these tools for academic collaboration. One group found value in the 140-character limit of Twitter, while the Glassboard users felt that ability to engage with longer posts was beneficial to the work they were collaborating on. Each mobile media technology proved to fit well with the needs of each group and so the specific tool became somewhat transparent in this study.
The stated claim for the survey poll data was, "Use of mobile media tools will have a positive impact on knowledge building outside of the formal learning environment." The data collected in this cycle seems to support this claim. The very characteristic that makes these tools so disruptive to the formal learning environment of the classroom, is the very reason that they seem to have worked so well in this informal learning space - they are personal. Students own the device, carry it with them everywhere and rely on it for social as well as academic purposes. The academic collaboration that these two groups engaged in appears to have been enabled by the use of these tools. Mobile media technologies used in this cycle had a positive impact on the academic collaboration of these students beyond the walls of the classroom.
REFLECTION:
In the Journal logs for this cycle of action research, the reflections document my experience with the participants and with the mobile media technologies. I feel that the work and learning of the previous two cycles converged in this cycle to provide the framework for an effective cycle of action and data collection. In my cycle two report, I reflected on the importance of selecting the right mobile media technology for the pedagogical goals of the course and professor. For the class that used Twitter in this cycle, the tool and goals were a great fit. The students used the tool regularly for knowledge building (working together remotely to solve problems together) and quickly developed the habit of using it to connect them with their peers for academic collaboration. This translated to an element of transparency of the tool that allowed us to not focus on whether the tool was good or bad, but on how these types of mobile media technologies impact learning and communication. The second group that used Glassboard found it to be a good fit as well. For this group, the virtual unlimited character count of the micro blogging tool worked well for group discussions on technology. The cycle action up to this point has helped me realize that while my passion for action that I believe in is a good thing, it needs to be tempered with a greater level of discernment before taking the action. In this cycle, I took more time to listen to the professors and students involved in the project to help insure that the tools we were working with would in fact be not only useful to them and their specific needs, but also would help me discover how these tools impact student learning. I feel that learning how I can be better prepared to help implement and integrate technology solutions is an important outcome of this action research project.
When I began this action research project in August, I felt that our familiarity with mobile media technologies in our daily lives, might allow education to capitalize, in an academic sense, on the ubiquity of these tools. It is exciting to see that in this cycle of action, the participants felt that these tools had a positive impact on their learning and collaboration outside of the classroom. While Twitter and Glassboard were originally designed for mainly social communications, the data in this cycle points to the potential for the use of the tools for knowledge building in education. I feel that my experience with these students and professors have helped me form a new scheme of my own understanding of the need for education to examine how and where we learn best. I had originally thought that technology was best when used by students in a classroom to bring the world of knowledge and information into the formal environment of the class. I now think that it may be, at least in part, quite the opposite. If mobile media technologies can be used, rather, to bring the classroom and the learner into the world that they live in, we may find that students experience a greater understanding of the context of their learning. In this cycle, both groups of students engaged in academic collaboration in the moments between their organized activities and responsibilities. The mobility of these tools allowed for their work together to be situated in the middle of their lives instead of separated from their lives by the physical walls of a classroom. While this is only one view of the potential use of these tools, I believe that it hints at what may be possible as we further explore the impact of mobile media technologies in the learning spaces of our lives.
Smartphones, tablets, iPods and the apps that allow us to carry the power of a personal computer in our pockets, while not transforming agents in and of themselves, have become as commonplace as a wrist watch in our daily lives. It is the personal nature of these devices that makes them a useful tool, but so far is mostly a disruption in our academic lives in the classroom. Because these devices are personal, the "threat" of distraction is too great for most classes and teachers. I feel the tension of this moment in our society where the very tools we use to gather and build knowledge before and after school, are the very ones that we are asked to "power down" so the learning environment is not distracted. To be fair, as I have stated above, mobile media technology is not always going to be a great fit for a structured, formal learning environment. The action and the experience of the participants in this cycle point to another way to leverage these powerful tools for learning and communication. I feel that the more we look at how to "expand the walls" of the learning environment to include more of our daily lives, the more we will be able to help students understand the context to construct knowledge. Mobile media technologies have the potential to enable our learning beyond the classroom, blurring the lines between the formal and informal learning spaces. My mind is filled with the possibilities that this research cycle point to, but will take the time to talk with the professors and students before beginning cycle 4 of this project. So far, this has been a journey of much greater self-discovery than I had ever imagined. Changing my way of looking at how I prepare to take action and how I reflect on what I have learned have been the surprise outcomes of this action research project for me.
In the Journal logs for this cycle of action research, the reflections document my experience with the participants and with the mobile media technologies. I feel that the work and learning of the previous two cycles converged in this cycle to provide the framework for an effective cycle of action and data collection. In my cycle two report, I reflected on the importance of selecting the right mobile media technology for the pedagogical goals of the course and professor. For the class that used Twitter in this cycle, the tool and goals were a great fit. The students used the tool regularly for knowledge building (working together remotely to solve problems together) and quickly developed the habit of using it to connect them with their peers for academic collaboration. This translated to an element of transparency of the tool that allowed us to not focus on whether the tool was good or bad, but on how these types of mobile media technologies impact learning and communication. The second group that used Glassboard found it to be a good fit as well. For this group, the virtual unlimited character count of the micro blogging tool worked well for group discussions on technology. The cycle action up to this point has helped me realize that while my passion for action that I believe in is a good thing, it needs to be tempered with a greater level of discernment before taking the action. In this cycle, I took more time to listen to the professors and students involved in the project to help insure that the tools we were working with would in fact be not only useful to them and their specific needs, but also would help me discover how these tools impact student learning. I feel that learning how I can be better prepared to help implement and integrate technology solutions is an important outcome of this action research project.
When I began this action research project in August, I felt that our familiarity with mobile media technologies in our daily lives, might allow education to capitalize, in an academic sense, on the ubiquity of these tools. It is exciting to see that in this cycle of action, the participants felt that these tools had a positive impact on their learning and collaboration outside of the classroom. While Twitter and Glassboard were originally designed for mainly social communications, the data in this cycle points to the potential for the use of the tools for knowledge building in education. I feel that my experience with these students and professors have helped me form a new scheme of my own understanding of the need for education to examine how and where we learn best. I had originally thought that technology was best when used by students in a classroom to bring the world of knowledge and information into the formal environment of the class. I now think that it may be, at least in part, quite the opposite. If mobile media technologies can be used, rather, to bring the classroom and the learner into the world that they live in, we may find that students experience a greater understanding of the context of their learning. In this cycle, both groups of students engaged in academic collaboration in the moments between their organized activities and responsibilities. The mobility of these tools allowed for their work together to be situated in the middle of their lives instead of separated from their lives by the physical walls of a classroom. While this is only one view of the potential use of these tools, I believe that it hints at what may be possible as we further explore the impact of mobile media technologies in the learning spaces of our lives.
Smartphones, tablets, iPods and the apps that allow us to carry the power of a personal computer in our pockets, while not transforming agents in and of themselves, have become as commonplace as a wrist watch in our daily lives. It is the personal nature of these devices that makes them a useful tool, but so far is mostly a disruption in our academic lives in the classroom. Because these devices are personal, the "threat" of distraction is too great for most classes and teachers. I feel the tension of this moment in our society where the very tools we use to gather and build knowledge before and after school, are the very ones that we are asked to "power down" so the learning environment is not distracted. To be fair, as I have stated above, mobile media technology is not always going to be a great fit for a structured, formal learning environment. The action and the experience of the participants in this cycle point to another way to leverage these powerful tools for learning and communication. I feel that the more we look at how to "expand the walls" of the learning environment to include more of our daily lives, the more we will be able to help students understand the context to construct knowledge. Mobile media technologies have the potential to enable our learning beyond the classroom, blurring the lines between the formal and informal learning spaces. My mind is filled with the possibilities that this research cycle point to, but will take the time to talk with the professors and students before beginning cycle 4 of this project. So far, this has been a journey of much greater self-discovery than I had ever imagined. Changing my way of looking at how I prepare to take action and how I reflect on what I have learned have been the surprise outcomes of this action research project for me.