Do mobiles assist learning?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines the

concept of the Least Restrictive Environment as the

opportunity for a student with a disability to be "provided

with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve

educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled

peers." (Daniel R.r. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1050,

5th Cir.1989) This concept of providing students with

"supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve

educational goals" could be applied to all students. By

leveraging the capabilities of mobile devices, teachers can

support their students in creating a personalized learning

environment with the least number of barriers.

The Value of Working Digitally

In a traditional classroom, the only available technology may be

analog -- paper, whiteboards and books. However, for some

students, paper-based products may be the limiting factor. As

Karen Janowski (KarenJan) wrote in A Letter to My Teacher:

Dear Teacher,

I want to learn.

I want to be independent, but sometimes your curriculum is the

disability.

When you give it to me in paper form, I can't access it.

When text is digital, I can manipulate it. I can make it bigger,

pick the right font, add more white space -- it's easier to read.

When text is digital, I can add a voice and listen to it.

I don’t have to struggle with reading each word . . .

By providing students with the option to access content on a

mobile device, we begin removing many of the restrictions

previously placed upon their learning environment.

"In the print vs. screen debate, the answer will

probably always be 'it depends.' It depends on

the person, the text, the task and the context."

Justin Reich

Anything Digital Can Be Heard

Imagine if books could talk. Think about the benefit of allowing

students to experience text through more than one modality,

providing them even more opportunities to connect with the

written material. Consider the potential if students could

leverage text-to-speech in order to:

- Decode and comprehend an article that would otherwise be

above reading level

- Independently listen to written directions rather than asking

for support

- Enhance their writing and editing process by listening to each

paragraph for grammar, structure or sentence variation

Depending on the device, text-to-speech may work in a variety

of ways. On iPad, enabling Speak Selection in the Accessibility

features not only allows all text to be heard, but -- as of iOS6 --

also includes word highlighting.

For students working on any laptop with the Chrome Browser,

or on a Chromebook, the Chrome Speak app and iSpeech Select

and Speak extension convert web articles, Google Docs and

even test questions into audio.

And on any Mac product, students can access text-to-speech in

two different ways. First, within any program, they can

highlight the desired text and then access Speak Selection from

the Edit menu (Edit>Speech>Start Speaking). Second, it is

possible to configure custom keystrokes in the System

Preferences.

Credit: Apple Inc.

My elementary students loved using these two techniques in

our Mac lab -- both for reading online as well as to support

their writing process. When allowed to customize the listening

experience in terms of the voice, speaking rate and keystroke,

they also started taking more ownership of their learning

process.

Anything Digital Can Be Seen, Manipulated, Experienced

With mobile devices, neither we, as educators, nor our

students are limited to a single modality for presenting content

or demonstrating understanding. Regardless of the device, the

potential exists to create and consume images, audio, video,

text and more.

Imagine if teachers included QR codes or Augmented Reality

with paper-based activities. Picture a scenario where students

can leverage video, audio or screencasts of their thinking to

replace or enhance written assignments.

What might students create if they could choose the tool that

best supports their ability to demonstrate their understanding

and meet the desired learning objectives? Rather than being

told to start with a designated product, such as an essay or

poster, think about what may happen if students are instructed

to create the product that best represents their learning.

When the focus shifts toward the achievement of learning

objectives, rather than the completion of a specific product,

students can start to create and innovate within a virtually

limitless environment.

The Asymmetric Impact of Mobile Devices

In the same way that students determine their preferred

method for studying, such as using flashcards or writing lists,

they will also identify the digital features that best support and

demonstrate their learning. Text-to-speech may unlock content

for some students while being irrelevant to others. Adjusting

text size or watching video may be empowering for one group,

but not all. In the article, Special E-Readers for People with

Dyslexia, Justin Reich says, "In the print vs. screen debate, the

answer will probably always be 'it depends.' It depends on the

person, the text, the task and the context."

Mobile devices won't have the same impact on all students, but

they will allow teachers to work with "it depends" in

meaningful ways. They can use the features of iPads,

Chromebooks, Android and laptops to guide the creation of a

Least Restrictive Environment for all of their students. Not only

that, students become architects of their own learning

environments because they can determine the aids and

services most applicable to them.

Full article on: http://assistivemart.com/top-ld-topics/do-

mobiles-assist-learning.html

Reference: Written by Beth Holland for Edutopia. She is an

instructor and Communications Coordinator at EdTechTeacher.