2. Teaching and Learning

The Modern Medical Reference

Lutana Haan — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:00:00 PDT

The presentation will discuss the reasons behind my interest in mobile technology used in a health science program. I will talk about how the device was integrated into our Respiratory Care program and clinical facilities. We will look at the applications the students found most beneficial and some of the strategies used to engage the students with the device.

Mobile Technology as a Tool for Enhancing Student Learning in Geosciences

Sam Matson — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:30:00 PDT

Incorporation of mobile technology into the post-secondary classroom is becoming increasingly common as universities seek to facilitate active, student-centered learning through rapid access to information, connect students with course content through social media, and evaluate digital alternatives to conventional instructor-student interaction. The m-Learning Scholars Program at Boise State University was initiated during the 2010 – 2011 academic year, and provides a venue for exploring the potential of mobile technology to enhance student learning in the geosciences. Through this program, 38 students in an introductory Earth History course for non-geoscience majors each purchased a subsidized handheld device (iPod touch) that they used in the lecture and laboratory portions of this Spring 2011 course. Largely in response to the results of that exploratory initiative, 14 tablet devices (iPad 2) will be integrated into the lab curriculum for two introductory courses (Fundamentals of Geology; Global Environmental Science; ca. 550 students total) during the Fall 2011 semester.

Preliminary results indicate that mobile devices provide students access to dynamic course content and are a valuable tool for active learning, but the devices (especially handheld) are limited in comparison to more expensive traditional computers. Basic spreadsheet, statistical, and graphing applications provide much of the same functionality as a desktop spreadsheet program although data must be exchanged between multiple applications. In the classroom, handheld devices were a versatile alternative to audience response hardware (“clickers”), but their small screen size was a severe limitation to browser-based in-class activities. The portability of the mobile devices made them very useful for field-based lab activities in which students assessed and modified experimental design in response to their real-time analysis of new data. Most applications were best suited for classroom use with access to a wireless network (e.g., Blackboard, Google Earth, Measure Map, EarthObserver), but some allowed data and/or maps to be downloaded in advance for use in any setting (e.g., Topo Maps, Geology ID). Other applications were useful as alternatives to traditional field tools (e.g., TiltMeter, iGeoLog).

mLearning Scholar Survey Results

Allan Heaps — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:00:00 PDT

At the end of the Spring 11 semester we asked the mLearning scholars and their students to take a survey designed to measure their attitudes about the experience with mobile devices in the classroom.

This short presentation will focus on the results of that survey and the directions suggested for using mobile devices in support of teaching and learning at Boise State.

The Use of Mobile Devices for Language Documentation

Michal Temkin Martinez — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:00:00 PDT

The senior seminar in linguistics (ENGL 498) focuses on field methods in language documentation. During the semester, students work with a language consultant whose native language is not known by any of the students or instructors. The aim of the course is to discover and learn as much about the language's structure without being explicitly taught the language. This experience is similar to that of documentary linguists who work with speakers of undocumented languages to help preserve the knowledge of their speakers. In Spring 2011, the language chosen was Kizigua - a Bantu language spoken by some of the Somali-Bantu refugees resettled in the Boise area. Because this language is undocumented in the linguistic literature, students recorded all elicitation sessions with the consultant. In cases where students worked individually with the consultants, the iPod Touch was used to record audio and video of the session. Additionally, students used the iPod Touch to record interactions between different members of the Zigua community during their service-learning project. In a collaborative project with Dr. Nicole Mulomby's Ear Training course, linguistics students also recorded folk songs in Kizigua and sent the audio recording to Dr. Molumby. Her class, then, worked on transcribing the melodic dictation in Western notation. This transcription of Kizigua folk songs will help preserve not only the language, but also its culture and folklore. This collaboration was not originally planned by the two instructors, but stemmed from the discussions during the mLearning Scholars group meetings.

iPad Masterclass - Mobile Learning the University Aural Skills Class

Nicole Molumby — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:30:00 PDT

During spring 2011 semester, students in two sections Ear Training II MUS 122 received iPads. This brief report will revisit the goals of the project, details of how the iPads were used in teaching and learning throughout the semester, discuss the “Learning at Lunch” presentation with colleague Dr. Michal Martinez, and outline how I intend to document this m-learning project in the 2011 and 2012 academic year. M-technology assisted with the overall effectiveness of Ear Training II by bridging the gap between the work students did in and out of class. Before receiving iPads, students struggled to find the time and space to practice the aural skills learned in class. Often, practice rooms are full and pianos out of tune. Having the iPad in student hands made available several apps allowing students to practice their sight singing melodies or listen to harmonic exercises at any time and in any location.

Other examples of how mobile technology impacted Ear Training MUS 122 were:

· Increased student use of blackboard and online text connected to the textbook
· Student composition, performance and listening
· Peer sharing of practice strategies and uses for new applications through discussion boards, wikis, &/or blackboard
· In-class use of iPad for individual supervised practice sessions instantly creates a virtual piano lab
· Used recording apps to record activities in class allowing students to self assess their performance after class to submit for a self grade.
· Students composed and recorded melodies during practice time. These melodies were then used during in-class dictations
· Student developed learning strategies and shared in group discussion boards

· Built a student self assessment aspect to class · Help students personalize and develop their own practice strategies and games through assigned applications and games · Apps used: Virtual Piano, Facebook, Blackboard, DropBox, Audio Memos, Ear Trainer

Bringing History to the Very Small Screen: Creating Mobile Public History Projects in a Graduate Seminar

Leslie Madsen-Brooks — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:30:00 PDT

What happens when an enthusiastic group of humanities grad students are given access to the iPod Touch and provided a good deal of freedom to develop mobile history projects for a public audience? Leslie Madsen-Brooks will discuss the advantages and liabilities of a relatively free-wheeling approach to student development of mobile projects, as well as offer tips for others wishing to tackle student projects of similar autonomy and scale.

mLearning Scholars Panel

Allan Heaps et al. — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:00 PDT

The Spring 2011 mLearning Scholars will discuss their experience as a panel. Questions will be fielded from the audience.

Teaching and Learning Track Introduction

Susan Shadle — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:15:00 PDT

Introduction and welcome to the Teaching and Learning track from Susan Shadle, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Boise State University

Using m-Learning to Enrich Introductory Field Experiences

David Rickels — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:30:00 PDT

The purpose of this project was to explore an m-Learning approach using mobile devices in an introductory-level course for undergraduate music education majors. The course in question (MUS 230 Foundations of Music Education) is an introductory course for pre-service teachers, and has traditionally incorporated a series of field observations in local K-12 schools. These observations are designed to acquaint students with a variety of current music education practices and settings, with assessment typically accomplished by means of a written reflection assignment following each observation.

For the spring 2011 semester, the students enrolled in the MUS 230 class were given the opportunity to purchase an Apple iPod Touch (4th generation) at a substantial discount. As an alternative to traditional written field reports, students had the opportunity to demonstrate reflection and comprehension of field-based knowledge by submitting reports in m-Learning media or Web 2.0 formats using the mobile device: annotated video clips, narrated audio clip podcasts, captioned photo slideshows, or blog entries.

This project was designed to be exploratory in nature, with the goal of freely employing new teaching and assessment practices; no experimental controls were utilized. Data were gathered from student work samples and pre-/post-course surveys. Two questions guided the analysis: (a) can using media-enabled mobile devices engage the students in deeper reflection on their field experience; and (2) can using media-enabled mobile devices allow the instructor a more meaningful assessment of the knowledge gained in field experience? This session will present descriptive results as a means of addressing these questions, as well as broader implications for teaching in an m-Learning environment.