New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education (e-book)

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 30 Nov, 2009

Jan Herrington, Anthony Herrington, Jessica Mantei, Ian Olney and Brian Ferry (editors), _New Technologies, New Pedagogies: Mobile learning In Higher Education_, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, 2009, 138p. ISBN: 978-1-74128-169-9

Full text and individual chapters available at http://ro.uow.edu.au/newtech/

Preface

 While mobile technologies such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and digital music players (mp3 players) have permeated popular culture, they have not found widespread acceptance as pedagogical tools in higher education.

The purpose of this e-book is to explore the use of mobile devices in learning in higher education, and to provide examples of good pedagogy. We are sure that the rich variety of examples of mobile learning found in this book will provide the reader with the inspiration to teach their own subjects and courses in ways that employ mobile devices in authentic and creative ways. This book is made up of a collection of double blind peer-reviewed chapters written by participants in the project New technologies, new pedagogies: Using mobile technologies to develop new ways of teaching and learning.

 The book begins with an introductory chapter that describes the overall project, its aims and methods. The second chapter describes the professional development process that was used for the teacher participants involved in the project. This is followed by 10 chapters, each describing a mobile learning pedagogy that was employed in the context of a subject area within a Faculty of Education. The final chapter presents guidelines or design principles for the use of mobile learning in higher education learning environments.

 We wish to acknowledge the support provided for the project on which this book is based by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. This research was also funded by generous support from the Office of Teaching and Learning at the University of Wollongong. Jan Herrington, Anthony Herrington, Jessica Mantei, Ian Olney & Brian Ferry, April 2009

 Thanks Gerry!

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eTV Big Debate on Education - Diarise this date

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 27 Nov, 2009
"The Big Debate" series on eTV will focus on Education - the problems and possible solutions.  The show will first be broadcast on eNews (DSTV channel 403) at 9pm on Wednesday 2 December, then again at 8pm on Friday 4 December.  It will also be broadcast on eTV on Friday 4 December at 10am. 

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Multilingualism in South Africa: Interview with Tessa Dowling (via LitNet)

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 13 Nov, 2009

An interview on LitNet with Tessa Dowling on Professor Jonathan Jansen's plea for multilingualism during his inaugural speech as Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State.

 <snip>

2008 statistics from the Department of Education show that out of the 590 000 pupils writing matric that year, 113 902 wrote Afrikaans as an additional language, compared with only 12 723 who chose one of the nine African languages available in the school curriculum. Why do you think so few English- and Afrikaans-speaking students opt to study an African language up to matric level?

There are a number of reasons.   ....    We have to go back to the foundation phase and see how African languages are taught there - you will find that while Afrikaans teachers use a variety of effective methods, styles and textbooks, African language teachers at primary schools are not as well versed in the methodologies required for teaching additional languages and often struggle with these problems alone, in English- or Afrikaans-medium schools, afraid to ask for help or guidance. So you get the situation where for five years learners learn exactly the same thing - there seems to be no logical progression from one grade to the next and teachers are often unaware of the materials that are out there that could help them. This means that when students get to high school they are sorely lacking in the skills needed to cope with a rigorous First Additional syllabus. So in a nutshell, I would put it down to the fact that (a) African languages are not considered prestige languages, (b) teachers of African languages are not sufficiently trained in teaching their languages as additional languages, and (c) students subsequently fear "doing badly" and therefore opt for Afrikaans.

 

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100 Open Access Journals for Educators

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 12 Nov, 2009

OnlineCollege has just published a list of 100 Open Access Journals for Educators.   Categories include Education Research, Practices and Approaches;  Education Policy and Issues;  Leadership ; Science and Maths;  Language Arts;  Technology;  Higher Education and Online Education and  Special Education, Early Education and Child Development.           

 


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