So what else can we do with a mobile device (like a cell phone)? Cell phones, aside from being a communication device also typically have audio, image and video capture support. In this post, I will discuss a way of using the video features of the cell phone for active learning.
I am going to use a business communications example for this post, one that would be covered in my general Introduction to Business class but the possibilities for similar uses in other subjects are only limited by your creativity. In my general business class, there are ample opportunities for role play exercises to learn business topics. We might do a role play exercise for job interviews, reprimanding an employee, performing a performance review, examples of potential sexual harassment, excellent salesmanship, etc.. One of the topics I spend time on is business communication. All forms of communication are covered but non-verbal communication presents an excellent opportunity for role play and the use of the cell phone to create a video to support learning.
For example, I might be able to take advantage of active learning on a mobile device by asking my students to record a short video demonstrating examples of conscious (looking at a clock when the class runs over) and unconscious examples (a frown when someone says something you disagree with) of non-verbal communication. Students could use their cell phones and with one or more students in their group, record an example of non-verbal communication for playback to the class. They would be asked to script out their example and make it obvious enough for the other students to recognize. The discussion could be expanded to cover other examples. It is active learning at its best and will engage students in topics that otherwise may not be as interesting. For visual learners, it may be the best way to reach them on a topic of this type.
When the video was recorded it will be sent to the instructors email (or to the Instructor's YouTube account if you trust the content provider) so that the videos could be played back to the class. YouTube is already a popular web site for playing videos submitted by others but many people do not realize that with a YouTube account (its free) you can submit your own videos and share them with a select list of family and friends or everyone via your YouTube email. To email directly to YouTube you will need to go into your account mobile settings and enable your YouTube account to accept videos via email. YouTube will produce an email for you to use. I will leave the explanation on how to use YouTube to YouTube. They have lots of great instructional videos to get you started.
For my cell phone carrier (Verizon), I can set my YouTube email account as a contact so when I need to send the video, I can just select from my contact list.
As always, make sure that before you start sending video files to YouTube, that your calling plan supports video file messages and that this feature is included with your plan and does not cost extra.
The mobile device facilitates an active learning exercise where the students get to have some fun with an important topic and also some technology which they own. For the instructor, it removes the need to acquire and share video equipment and allows for role play learning exercises. The mobile device does not deliver the course content but provides for a mobile assisted learning.
Do you have an idea for how you might use mobile assisted active learning? Post a comment to this post to tell us more. Also, you can also to the mobileDot Ning site and post it there.
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