#unesco_mlw Mike Sharples on #mLearning pedagogies

Appropriate pedagogy and learning with mobile phones. Still liveblogging from UNESCO mLearning symposium 16 December 2011.
He gave an overview of different learning models for mobile learning. I pick up from where Mike said it would be an asset for UNESCO. We need to look at education that could not be done in traditional education before, that is the strength of learning with mobile devices.
One important remark: the public empowerment potential of mobile devices is an incredible strong point for learning (formal and informal).

Constructive learning with mobile devices for meaningful, collaborative learning
first they solve the problem themselves, then they discuss with peers to see what the others did and how this works or not with their own solution, after that the teacher gives feedback. So it is a three step process towards collaborative knowledge construction. This was a successful mLearning project in Chili. It is an iterative process.
This model can be used for a variety of learning problems and goals, every time constructing on the learners solution.

Situated learning: making sense of the world, across locations, in context. For instance landscape learning with 3D models, mobile devices with augmented reality capacities. This offers more relevant information to the learner, allowing a more comprehensive knowledge construction to take place. This allows to really explore landscapes, rooms, architectures... and put for example an environment from the past over it to really get into the content you want the learners to understand.

Another option is empowerment, by sharing perspectives with basic mobile phones. For instance the project with male sex workers in India that offer help and support to one another to engage in collaborative support as well as learning (legal issues, narratives). This particular project used game based learning to offer them information that would help them in their vulnerable situation. Where culturally relevancy is also very important.

Mentions the three C's of effective learning
Construction, conversation, collaboration.

Challenges:

• how can you connect the learning that goes around inside and outside the classroom?
• how can you enable effective 1 to 1 learning in the classroom?
• how can you manage children that are increasingly going to bring their devices to the classroom?
• how can you support learning through construction and collaboration?

Reply on the keynote by Don Knezen
Occupy Wallstreet, Arab spring... these are real new world developments in which mobiles were key. I see this as examples for new pedagogical uses for mobile devices.
He offers Mike an option to collaborate on this

question from me to Mike on a potential research strand
Has there been any research on informal learning from youngsters to construct their own 'formal' learning (like for instance the surfers getting to the world top by using mobiles)?
Mike: not yet, although there are known examples of this happening, like sports and computer coding and gaming. This is an interesting potential for the computer science.
IT or computer science, the young learners that are networked learning and construct their own learning dispite the school education system.

Context outside the classroom becomes fluid: context that you are in, context that is part of your own understanding.
We learn by conversations, with others and with ourselves. So this should be materialized to fully understand learning and how it constructs from conversation. There has been some learning theories which uses conversations.