1. -Hot off the press after being written for my Masters studies: This overview of the what and why of one mLearning project I have conducted. Enjoy Part 1:
   

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Helena Rose was born 2:36 AM, 08 08 07. The first image recorded of her was taken on a mobile phone camera at 2:46 AM and emailed instantly out to waiting relatives. By the time she was 2 weeks old, this number had grown to over 200 images, videos and audio recordings. Clearly, she has been born into the digital age, a time where such technology is becoming so ubiquitous that she will know no other way. For those of us born before the digital revolution got into full stride however, there is much to know and understand. For educators especially, the challenge is to prepare future citizens such as Helena for their lives to come, but to also ensure this is done in meaningful ways.

While its impossible to know just what will the world of digital technology will look like by the time she finishes her schooling, recent developments may give us a guide. Among these is a 2005 Gartner research report (in Metcalf, 2006, p7) which showed that at that time, there were already over 1 billion mobile devices in the world. The US alone is forecast by SNL Kagan to reach 1:1 mobile phone ownership by only 2013 (source http://gigaom.com/2007/08/23/all-americans-to-have-mobile-phones-by-2013/) when Helena will only be six.

The use of these devices in learning has been labeled mLearning - meaning mobile learning. It has two main forms, a business one where the goal is “is to develop learning content that integrates with mobile applications and provides learning and performance in a just-in-time, just-in-place dynamic”(Metcalf, 2006, p2). In this way it is being used as a productivity driver in the workplace. The other form has been developed in universities and schools who are now able to facilitate learning and content to be accessed and interacted with anywhere. In this way, “mLearning combines the technologies of mobile communications with ‘eLearning’”(Ibid.), or online learning.

It is made possible by devices that range from “simple single-purpose devices such as audio players, to multi-purpose devices that combine a PDA or phone with other functionalities such as cameras and MP3 players”(Trinder, in Traxler 2005, p7). mLearning is considered the current step on the road to ubiquitous (also called pervasive or ‘ambient’) learning technologies  that integrate instant communication and information in ‘augmented’ environments where it becomes “as natural as the air we breathe”(Kukulska-Hulme, 2005, p3). Collis (2001, p9) calls this flexible, or blended learning.

My first tentative steps led to the 2006 purchase of 4 basic Palm PDA’s and a digital voice recorder for my Learning Support department. With these I have enacted several (ongoing) mLearning programs.  For this journal I will reflect on one unit developed to use PDA’s to help reluctant boys develop their writing skills. Many of the boys who most need assistance to develop their writing skills have by year 6 and 7 developed a strong dislike for participating in writing tasks. This may be due to avoidance of situations where they might appear inferior to their peers or it may be due to a lack of motivation. In any case, it often leads to disruptive behaviour and loss of vital learning opportunities; thus this unit was designed to provide learning opportunities in line with student developmental needs and experiences.

The initial purchase in June 2006 of four handheld PDA’s (Palm Z22’s) was researched by me to facilitate several of our intervention programs. In this way, I managed and extended our students access to ICT resources, while at the same time it allowed me to design learning opportunities to help achieve our students learning support goals. First among these was writing - an area that for several reasons (the primacy of reading and numeracy skills being one) is not always possible to address. To create a writing unit, I critically reviewed and selected several suitable software programs. I then planned a unit using ICT throughout its stages to achieve the purposes of introducing students to the PDA’s, and getting them writing.

The first part of this unit involved Direct teaching so that students could learn the safe use of the handhelds. Thus students initially spent a lesson being introduced to the functions of the PDA. This allowed them to develop new knowledge, skills and understanding. They next learnt how to navigate the device and how to write with it - both with the ‘graffitti’ area, and with an on-screen keyboard. Several writing task followed such as writing survey questions and answers, writing a follow-up report, and writing, beaming and then editing sentences to construct a longer piece. This allowed them to apply their enhanced knowledge of ICT and writing processes in line with their learning support needs, whilst also interacting and sharing with others. The unit had a very structured step-by step sequence to ensure that students didn’t move on until pre-requisite skills were learnt. It also incorporated shared learning as students later constructed a piece of writing together by writing, beaming and then editing each others work.

The task was developed to provide ICT-enhanced learning opportunities to achieve the direct learning goals contained in the students Support Plans. These goals aim for the student to:

1. •develop familiarity with a range of generic structures and uses aspects of text organization to make meaning and to create a text.
   

2. •regularly re-read during writing to maintain meaning.
   

3. •enhance sentence structures - progressing to more complex sentence types.
   

4. •use appropriate punctuation during the writing process.
   

5. •develop a more positive attitude towards writing and demonstrate confidence and persistence.
   

Informal assessment occurred as students demonstrated their readiness to advance to the next part, and in their editing and considering of each other’s samples during the beaming lessons. Formal assessment in this unit occurred when samples produced were considered as part of students Support Plan reviews each semester. At this point the effectiveness of the unit itself could be assessed.

PART 2 (The why) coming shortly...