Michael M. Grant

Using Mobile Devices to Support Formal, Informal and Semi-formal Learning

Mobile devices are ubiquitous. They are often invisible to accomplish our everyday tasks and learning goals. This chapter explains how individuals learn using mobile devices during their daily lives—within K-12 schools, higher education, and outside of educational institutions altogether—with specific attention to STEAM disciplines. First, brief definitions of mobile devices and mobile learning are presented, then types of learning, i.e. formal, informal, and semi-formal, are discussed. Next, seven categories describe how mobile devices have been used for teaching and learning with examples as appropriate from STEAM disciplines: (a) increasing access to student information and campus resources, (b) increasing interaction with learning contents, (c) creating representations of knowledge, (d) augmenting face-to-face instruction, (e) supporting performance and decision-making, (f) enabling personalized learning, and (g) deploying instruction. Finally, five implications for employing mobile devices for teaching and learning are discussed.

Make to learn: invention through emulation

The Make to Learn coalition was established to identify effective pedagogical approaches for employing makerspaces for educational innovation in schools. The Make to Learn coalition is anchored by the Make to Learn Laboratory in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and the Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing in the Charlottesville City Schools, working in collaboration with the Joseph Henry project at Princeton University, advanced manufacturing programs at Midlands Technical College, and the Smithsonian Institution. This paper describes a key consortium initiative, American Innovations in an Age of Discovery. Participating students use school makerspaces to reconstruct working models of transformational inventions. The reconstruction process is grounded in a method employed by historic inventors, invention through emulation. The benefits of this approach, updated to take advantage of modern technologies, are discussed in the context of maker education.

Exploring Instructional Strategies and Learning Theoretical Foundations of eHealth and mHealth Education Interventions

This qualitative study aimed at exploring how health professionals use theories and models from the field of education to create ehealth and mhealth education interventions in an effort to provide insights for future research and practice on the development and implementation of health promotion initiatives. A purposeful sample of 12 participants was selected, using criterion and snowballing sampling strategies. Data were collected and analyzed from semistructured interviews, planning materials, and artifacts. The findings revealed that none of the participants used a specific learning theory or an instructional model in their interventions. However, based on participants’ description, three themes emerged: (1) connections to behaviorist approaches to learning, (2) connections to cognitivist approaches to learning, and (3) connections to constructivist approaches to learning. Suggested implications for practice are (1) the design of a guidebook on the interplay of learning theories, instructional models, and health education and (2) the establishment of communities of practice. Further research can (1) investigate how learning theories and models intertwine with health behavior theories and models, (2) evaluate how the different instructional strategies presented in this study affect learning outcomes and health behavior change processes, and (3) investigate factors behind the instructional strategies choices made by health professionals.