Wong, L. H., & Looi, C. K. (2012, March). Enculturing self-directed seamless learners: Towards a facilitated seamless learning process framework mediated by mobile technology. In Wireless, Mobile and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (WMUTE), 2012 IEEE Seventh International Conference on (pp. 1-8). IEEE Quintana, C (2012). “Pervasive science: Using mobile devices and the cloud to support science education anytime, anyplace.” Interactions, 19, 4, 76-80 Reading Prompts The two short articles assigned describe the design of mobile learning platforms to support seamless and pervasive learning. As you read these papers, do seamless, pervasive and connected learning just seem to be variations on a theme with different emphases, or are they distinct pedagogical approaches to learning with technology? Be prepared to discuss this in class. When you read the Wong & Looi article spend a few minutes trying to unpack the Facilitated Seamless Learning (FSL) framework, and in the two case studies notice when and how teachers, peers, and family are brought into the learning cycle. Table 3 in the Activities ID lays out the tools and strategies built into the SEAMLESS platform to support learning interactions. In comparison, the Zydeco platform in the second paper has a simpler Setup, Collect, Explain learning activity flow with an associated set of mobile-based tools. As we start to think about the OEF Next Generation Learning platform and our design challenge to work on facilitation, the approaches, activity sequencing and platform details described in these papers will be good references to draw on. REFLECTION DUE: Tuesday 3/29 by 9am. **Please also send me before class your Learning Ecology Timelines & Insight Boards as PDF scans or files to share on the screen. Summary of Reflections:
Most of you have noted that connected learning, pervasive learning, and seamless learning seem to be variations of the same theme- one in which the learner is the focus, and learning takes place in relation to the environment, that is, artifacts, peers, out of school experiences play a major role in a person’s learning, which is very different from the traditional view of learning that tends to conceptualize learning as taking place within an individual’s brain. All three approaches emphasize the role of the teachers as facilitators. One of you has commented from personal experience: "people who tour museums can have fun with the material by doing activities but without someone to keep them there and actually engage them they will forget the majority of what they’ve learned by the end of the field trip”. Yet others have contested the use of different terminologies and feel like the big ideas are getting lost in syntax, for instance, “...I fail to see any considerable differences that would define them as separate entities."
LeRoy Gary
3/29/2016 01:33:04
To be clear, Pervasive, Seamless, and Connected learning are all modern learning styles. I understand connected learning to be a style where learners are the focus, academics, interests and mentors are connected, new technology with regards to connectivity is used, and the learner works in a hands-on and self motivated setting. Pervasive learning, as I gathered from the Quintana text, is a style where knowledge and experiences in the classroom and in external learning experiences (e.g. museum visits) are deeply linked. Seamless learning is defined by the Wong-Looi text as a style where learners take hold of modern mediums to use many different learning methods quickly at their discretion. Looking at this alone, pervasive learning and Seamless learning seem to take a piece from connected learning. Looking into the tools in the respective texts (Zydeco, FSL) more pieces seem to fall in line with connected learning. I argue that both pervasive and seamless learning styles are simply subsets of connected learning.
Maddie Duque
3/29/2016 01:43:20
Well, almost right off the bat the reading tells the reader that “seamless learning remains to be a loosely defined learning approach and yet-to-be established learning model”, which isn’t giving me much hope on the topic. Reading through the rest of the paper, I didn’t feel very assured that “seamless learning” was much different than the methods of learning we had been reading about previously. The main difference between this and the previous papers in the Wong & Looi article was the “classroom consolidation” sections, in which the teacher is supposed to gather up the children and attempt to facilitate discussion amongst the students. What the discussion of activity actually is could be lots of different things. Sometimes it appears to be brainstorming ideas while other times it appears to be debate on contextual vocabulary that the students use. The mobile platform paper also had a learning platform that felt very familiar to me. The Zycedo platform basically involves giving students an ipad and having them play what are essentially minigames/scavenger hunts in educational spaces such as schools or museums for the sake of reaffirming a kind of lesson. The students are then expected to return to class and synthesize the data they have collected over their field trip.
Cory Bird
3/29/2016 02:27:04
In my eyes, connected learning, seamless learning, and pervasive learning all seem to have a very similar outline with subtle differences between each of them. The three ideas appear to have essentially the same goal, but approach solving this problem in slightly different ways. Each style promotes the idea of providing students the freedom to pursue subject material that interests them, while utilizing new technologies along the way.
Edward Bai
3/29/2016 08:03:41
The readings have showed me little differences from the other readings on learning methods thus far. I believe so far the various learning methods are all at the moment all about reforming the current methods, particularly the two readings for this assignment. The article by Wong and Looi goes into depth about Facilitated Seamless Learning method, or FSL. This method talks about how learning can take the form of cyclical stages in no particular order (although they do recommend a certain pattern). The stages in this learning pattern are “learning engagement” (E), “personalized learning” (P), “online social learning” (S), and “in class consolidation” (C ). On a little tangent, this method seems to be similar to the one being used in this class. The authors then go into a few case studies of how these steps are applied in various situations, and how through different scenarios and situations the method of learning allowed the teaching methods to prosper using their steps. Although this method gives a different sort of process, or a spin on the way one can go about teaching, I believe the core of this method remains largely the same from previous methods discussed such as connected learning and seamless learning. They all aim to break down the construct of current education by blending in the element of technology and the abundance of information that technology provides into a single unit. How is unknown to them still as they state that this is still a rather experimental and open ended model. But there is at least one unifying factor in all the mentioned methods, and that is the search of effectiveness and efficiency. This topic again is still very vague, as these areas of discussion are often subjective to the character/student in question and thus not easily able to be standardized. The Zydeco article written by Quintana goes into this method, stating the importance of an education system that pushes the idea of “scientific” inquiry. This can be done he proposes by using the methods of framing and scaffolding, facilitated by technology and mobile devices. I can see the merit behind this idea as this puts efficiency in the hands of the student, primarily in how he or she can use the resources given to them. But again, in the end, the author states the importance of the existence of a “curricular connection”. And thus, again, we arrive back at the stage of the question, essentially stage 1, where the answer is unknown. In fact, after reading all these articles, I begin to question if there really is a “right” answer to solving education. But, from all these readings as well, I am convinced that it is headed in the right direction where the subject of efficiency, though daunting it is to try to optimize it for every student, is being correctly dissected and observed.
Anne Kim
3/29/2016 08:53:41
Across the readings we’ve done so far, it seems like connected, seamless, and pervasive learning styles just seem to be different flavors of one theme.
Yvonne Chen
3/29/2016 08:56:03
Despite having their differences, seamless, pervasive, and connected learning appear to be very similar ideas that focus on a style of learning opposite to our current educational system today. Connected learning is a broader concept that suggests learning should not only be confined to the classroom and classroom tools, but rather utilize other mediums like technology to allow students to focus more on their interests and educational methods that work for each individual. Seamless and pervasive learning seem to be covered under this umbrella. Seamless learning focuses on specific methods of connected learning, such as how to implement it in the classroom and help students learn outside of the classroom as well. Pervasive learning seems to focus more on out-of-the-classroom experiences, like field trips, to improve students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills, and provide them with another method of education.
Samiha Dawalbhakta
4/12/2016 07:23:18
As the effectiveness of the current education system comes into question, more and more strategies to help students learn are being introduced. A few of these include connected learning, seamless learning, and pervasive learning. Connected learning focuses on finding ways to integrate technology into learning, so learning would become more interest-driven. This type of learning also helps students find online communities that share these interests, so they can experiment and produce work in their interests and get members of these online communities to give them advice and feedback with their various international perspectives. Comments are closed.
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