LightintheWoods

Today, I met with the Centre for Academic Technologies at the University of Regina. The topic of discussion was possibilities for, and the potential of, mobile tools and learning. In preparation for this discussion I prepared this wiki on Mobile Tools. You will find links to stories, possible tools, ideas around teaching & learning, strengths/opportunities & weaknesses/barriers to consider and a selection of related links. In the end we agreed on the importance of remaining current on these technologies and attempting to ensure that courses are designed with possibilities for mobile tools in mind.

Hopefully in the near the future we will see these tools integrated into courses as they are needed and not because mobile seems to be the latest & greatest trend or flashy gizmo. My feeling is that some students are already self equipped with devices that have the potential to expand upon their access to content and overall learning experience. It was evident that his area is ripe for experimentation and innovation, as we generated far more questions than answers. We are continually looking for models of success and ideas of sound pedagogical application, please share if you have any stories of mobile technologies and learning.

There is much more on this topic that I want to unpack and think about. As tools advance, barriers to efficient use of the tools will decrease and learners will continue to find ways to utilize the mini computers that we carry.

I have a related post on MP3 players from January that has more thoughts on possibilities for tools.

Today was a big day.

Alec Couros has invited me to participate as an assistant with his EC&I 831 Course. Tonight was the first class via Adobe Connect. I am very excited about this opportunity. Not many folks are teaching assistants without first taking the course, nevermind a graduate level course.

Dean Shareski made my day brighter by inviting me to join him on Friday to shoot video and later accompanying him to work with classrooms within Prairie South School Division.

Having these mentors is quite a honor and definitely a testimony to my learning of educational technology over the last while. These two individuals are instrumental to my personal/professional development and I am honored to work this closely with them so early in my career.

Later in the day, I returned to the University of Regina to complete the final course of my Education Degree. The course is on the the teaching of writing, so I have no doubt this blog will see improvements in my writing. Returning to class feels odd. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a second year course and I am ready to graduate with my second degree. It may be that I feel ready for the classroom, I feel ready to teach. Perhaps, it is because I have taken control of my own learning process and the class is disconnected from the network (so far). I had some ideas for bringing web 2.0 to my peers. I am going to speak to my prof about creating a common tag for internet resources. Hopefully I will coerce somebody to join me on del.icio.us. I already have plans to create a wiki for my major project, and hopefully I will be able to push the idea on my group members.

I continue to explore, learn and develop professionally. Thanks be to the network.