Peter Sen Kee Seow

Leveraging mobile technology for sustainable seamless learning: a research agenda

Chee-Kit Looi is Head of the Learning Sciences Lab of the National Institute of Education (LSL, NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He has over two decades of experience with educational technology research in research institutes and universities. He is an editorial member of the International Journal on AI & Education and the International Journal on CSCL. Peter Seow is a senior software engineer with the LSL, NIE. He has over 10 years of industrial experience in leading projects, consulting and systems development. Zhang BaoHui is an assistant professor in the Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group (LSTAG) and LSL, NIE, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). His current research foci are designing and assessing interactive environments when using computerbased modelling or mobile technologies for inquiry-based science learning. So Hyo-Jeong is an assistant professor in the LSTAG and LSL, NIE, NTU. Her research focuses on designing interactive online learning environments, and students’ scientific knowledge building through collaborative inquiry. Wenli Chen is an assistant professor in the LSTAG and LSL, NIE, NTU. Her research interests and expertise are computermediated communication, virtual learning environment, mobile learning and community of learners. Lung-Hsiang Wong is an assistant professor in the LSTAG and LSL, NIE, NTU. His research interests are information and communication technology-enhanced Chinese language learning, teachers’ professional development, agent technology for learning and mobile learning. Address for correspondence: LSL, NIE, NTU, 1 Nanyang Walk Singapore 637616. Email: cheekit.looi@nie.edu.sg

Anatomy of a mobilized lesson: Learning my way

With the mass adoption of mobile computing devices by the current school generation, significant opportunities have emerged for genuinely supporting differentiated and personalized learning experiences through mobile devices. In our school-based research work in introducing mobilized curricula to a class, we observe one compelling mobilized lesson that exploits the affordances of mobile learning to provide multiple learning pathways for elementary grade (primary) 2 students. Through the lesson, students move beyond classroom activities that merely mimic what the teacher says and does in the classroom, and yet they still learn in personally meaningful ways. In deconstructing the lesson, we provide an in-depth analysis of how the affordances of mobile computing enable personalized learning from four facets: (a) allowing multiple entry points and learning pathways, (b) supporting multi-modality, (c) enabling student improvisation in situ, and (d) supporting the sharing and creation of student artifacts on the move. A key property of mobile technology that enables these affordances lies with the small form factor and the lightweightness of these devices which make them non-obtrusive in the learning spaces of the student. This article makes a contribution on the design aspects of mobilized lessons, namely, what the affordances of mobile technologies can enable.

1:1 Mobile Inquiry Learning Experience for Primary Science Students--A Study of Learning Effectiveness

This paper presents the findings of a research project in which we transformed a primary (grade) 3 science curriculum for delivery via mobile technologies, and a teacher enacted the lessons over the 2009 academic year in a class in a primary school in Singapore. The students had a total of 21 weeks of the mobilized lessons in science, which were co-designed by teachers and researchers by tapping into the affordances of mobile technologies for supporting inquiry learning in and outside of class. We examine the learning effectiveness of the enacted mobilized science curriculum. The results show that among the six mixed-ability classes in primary (grade) 3 in the school, the experimental class performed better than other classes as measured by traditional assessments in the science subject. With mobilized lessons, students were found to learn science in personal, deep and engaging ways as well as developed positive attitudes towards mobile learning.

Location Matters: Leveraging Knowledge Building with Mobile Devices and Web 2.0 Technology

This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access, learning in situ, and seamless integration in and out of school environments. In this initial study, we explore how recent advances of mobile and Web 2.0 technologies can be utilized to support seamless knowledge building processes and to enhance contextualized learning experiences across multiple locations. Using design research as a methodological framework, we analyzed current practices and configurations of mobile learning in one primary school in Singapore, and codesigned a learning scenario with teachers toward seamless knowledge building experiences. The artifacts of primary grade 4 students created in the Google Maps space were analyzed to examine the knowledge building processes based on a location-based mobile learning scenario. We conclude by discussing both possibilities and challenges of knowledge building using mobile Web 2.0 technologies based on our early experiences.

Seamless Learning in the Mobile Age: A Theoretical and Methodological Discussion on Using Cooperative Inquiry to Study Digital Kids On-the-Move.

This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning refers to the integrated and synergistic effects of learning in both formal and informal settings, which is distributed across different learning processes (emergent or planned) as well as across different spaces (in or out of class). Drawing insights from the literature and our study, we assert that we should jettison the technology-centric view to adopt a socio-cultural framework. This move puts us in a better position to make sense of the rich complexities coalescing around the students’ in-situ use of mobile devices. We also critiqued the adequacy of our people-centred data collection method, in particular, cooperative inquiry in capturing instances of seamless learning. Challenges of operationalising the cooperative inquiry approaches are also detailed in the paper.

Bridging Formal and Informal Learning with the Use of Mobile Technology

Bridging formal and informal learning to enable students’ engaged learning is a core tenet of seamless learning. Addressing the limitations of the current studies on the innovative design and implementation of seamless learning scenarios, this chapter presents one well-designed and implemented curricular initiative at the primary school level, namely, “Mobilized 5E Science Curriculum” (M5ESC). The chapter first discusses the theoretical background of formal and informal learning, and of seamless learning, and then presents the context information of mobile technology for science education in Singapore, as well as the 5E (Engagement-Exploration-Explanation-Elaboration-Evaluation) instructional model. These serve as the design rationales for the M5ESC curricular innovation. Next, the description of M5ESC provides an overview of how the school designed curriculum for seamless learning supported by mobile technology, as well as how students and teachers responded to this innovation. The work reported here is intended to inform the curriculum design and implementation of the notion of seamless learning enabled by mobile technologies.

Exploring self-directed learning and the role of virtual badges in a mobile social learning platform

This paper presents experiences from a seamless mobile learning project in Singapore. It describes SamEx mobile learning application design by focusing on the possibilities for self-directed learning and the role of virtual badges gathered by the students during their one year SamEx usage. All the activities were structured by the teachers and scaffolded by the SamEx system tools such as contextually triggered questions and prompts. The paper describes experiences from the one-year SamEx usage period, gives an elaborate example of students learning experience during the period, and concludes by examining the effects of such an approach when it comes to summative exam results. The paper concludes that platforms such as SamEx have the potential of nurturing self-directed and collaborative learning and that badges can only motivate students to learn meaningfully when the teachers provide the suitable learning contexts.

Cooperative Learning Principles Enhance Online Interaction

Research suggests that cooperative interactions are associated with enhanced cognitive and affective outcomes. This paper describes eight principles that can be used to promote such interactions among students working in online environments. The principles derive from a well-established approach to education, known variously as cooperative learning and collaborative learning. Each principle is explained as to what it means, why it is important and how it can be deployed. The eight principles are heterogeneous grouping, teaching collaborative skills, group autonomy, maximum peer interactions, equal opportunity to participate, individual accountability, positive interdependence and cooperation as a value.

Analysis of linkages between an unplugged activity and the development of computational thinking

ABSTRACT Unplugged activities have been one approach to introduce computational thinking (CT) to students before any form of coding is involved. This paper reports on a study that examines the evaluation of the types of CT skills inculcated through an unplugged activity. Students in a grade 9 class were engaged in an unplugged activity on sorting before being asked to represent their understanding in the form of pseudo-English, flowchart or Python code. The assessment of CT skills comprises the aspects of decomposition, algorithmic design, generalization, abstraction and evaluation. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) was used to take a closer look at the unplugged CT activity and the subsequent artifact production. Such a QCA analysis can be used to inform a framework for designing instruction and tasks to target and teach certain types of CT knowledge in novice programmers, as well as for assessing an instruction package as to what CT knowledge is being covered.

Seamless Learning from Proof-of-Concept to Implementation and Scaling-Up: A Focus on Curriculum Design

Many educational research projects focused on designing curricular innovation or establishing design principles for guiding curriculum design and teacher facilitation that work well within specific contexts. When the curriculum is scaled up from one class to all classes in one grade level in a school, the design principles need to be fine-tuned iteratively to work well in more diversified contexts through a process of design-based implementation research. This is one main consideration in the trajectory of moving a curricular innovation from the research phase to implementation and scaling phases. This chapter addresses the broad challenge of understanding how more successful research innovations can proliferate to more usages, adoption and adaptation across levels of the education system in the context of seamless learning. This is done in the context of scaling up a seamless learning curricular innovation in a Singapore school. We focus on the articulation of principles for designing the curricular activities that adhere to the spirit of seamless learning and that have the potential for sustainable and scalable implementation by teachers.