Synthesis Project for Mobile Learning

Claire Menchaca, Nicholas Pallonetti, and Ty Miller

At the beginning of this class I took a survey and I found out my preferences in the class’ learning styles. I scored a 1 for reflective, which means I am more of a reflective learner than an active learner, but I am still balanced between the two styles. Reflective learners prefer to think about it new ideas quietly first before discussing it. The next learning styles category was sensing and intuitive. I scored a 3 towards intuitive, this means I may be better at grasping new concepts over memorizing facts. The next category was visual and verbal; I scored a 5 towards visual. That score indicates that while learning pictures, graphs, and charts will definitely help me to remember what I need to study. The last category on the survey was sequential and global; I scored a 3 on the sequential side. This means when I learn it is easier for me if there is some type of linear steps or patterns to connect the material. After finishing this course I feel as though learning preferences are correct and I took tips to help me benefit from knowing how I learn. Because I am a reflective learner while studying I would stop periodically to review what I read and to think about it and ask my self-questions. I also started to pay special attention of charts and images in my textbooks, which helped me, connect with my readings, I used techniques from being a visual learner.

Claire’s Learning Preferences:

At the beginning of the class when I first took the learning preferences survey, my scores were: reflective 5, sensing 5, visual 3, sequential 3. At the end of the class my thinking has changed about my learning preferences. I already had a good idea of what my learning preferences were. For instance, I knew I was a visual and reflective learner but knowing that I am also a sensory and sequential learner has helped me to to have a better focus on the way I study. I now try to focus on the facts while note-taking and I try to set my notes and study guides up in some sort of step by step order.

Nicholas’ Learning Preferences

My learning preferences for the class are visual and active. At the beginning of the semester when I took the learning preferences test they were all heavily weighted towards visual learning. I think this really is a societal norm because if the technology based society we live in today. I think now at the end of this class this understanding is even more in depth. I now look at learning styles, like visual learning, as an opportunity to share and discuss our knowledge with others through other various visual learning vehicles. I still think our society is building many visual learners but I also know that it other learning styles are out there and that it is important to understand all of them.

Ty’s Learning Preferences

Claire: At the end of class my ideas about learning preferences changed, I realized that all the different preferences should be represented in a successful learning environment. Because I now know my learning preferences I am able to study in a productive way and save myself sometime.

Nicholas: At the end of the class my thinking about learning preferences hasn’t changed but it has expanded. As I said previously I was already aware that I was a visual and reflective learner, but I didn’t know that there were other types of learning at all. Knowing my other two learning preferences has helped me hone my studying skills.

Ty: At the end of class my overall perspective on learning and learning preferences has not so much changed but evolved. I still have a strong belief in adhering education curriculum towards individual learning styles, and I think this class is one example of how this is possible. As I said before I am a visual and active learner, and this hasn’t changed. I do think this class did try its best to incorporate mine and every one elses learning styles.

Group’s Thoughts

At the beginning of the semester I choose to be in the Mobile / Personal Learning Guild and I hoped to get a deeper knowledge of mobile technologies, which made me a Learning Warrior. I chose to be a Learning Warrior because I had recently gotten a new iPod and I wanted to utilize it in the best way possible. I believe I was successful in getting a deeper sense of my technology through this class. After doing the learning quests I realized that to utilize my technology to the fullest I had to take knowledge from all categories, learning sage, warrior, and guide. My getting a deeper understanding of my technology I learned about other devices and learned with other students. I still continued to be a Warrior but I now understood that to succeed I had to acknowledge the other groups as well.

Claire’s Learning Pathway

At the beginning of the class the learning pathway I chose was that of a learning sage. A learning sage focuses on getting a broader knowledge of mobile/social/multimedia technologies. This is the pathway I chose because learning about different technologies was the whole reason I took this class. I was successful in broadening my knowledge of these many technologies. I continued as a learning sage thought the class because being a bit naïve about all of the new technologies out there today, I didn’t think deepening my knowledge was the best option and I also didn’t think that I would be of much help to others without knowing about the topics already. I am happy with my choice and I ended up learning more than I expected.

Nicholas’ Learning Pathway

At the beginning of the class I chose the mobile learning sage pathway to get a better and broader understanding on all mobile devices. I chose this one because I really wanted to know what other types of mobile device were out there and what they could be used for. As it continued on I chose to instead chose the mobile learning warrior pathway because I realized I pretty much knew all the mobile devices and now wanted to learn how to use the devices in a more in depth way. Both pathways were important to my learning though.

Ty’s Learning Pathway

We all feel the different level of activities helped us in our learning process, each level allowed us to do more research and get a different point of view of the technology. In each quest we were able to post questions we had and our peers did a great job answering the questions and that helped me learn. Level two of each learning quest showed us all different styles of each technology and this was the most useful because of the different perspectives and try new techniques. We all agree that the iPod and mp3 learning quest helped us all the most because we use those technologies daily.

Contributions to Learning Pathways

The mobile technology I focused on was the new iPod touch, which I had just recently received. I tried to use the knowledge I obtained to and put it towards helping me succeed in my other classes. I am an intuitive learner so memorizing facts and words is not one of my strong points. I downloaded a flashcard app on my iPod and used it in two of my classes (Biology and Latin literature). It helped me not only with a weakness as a intuitive learner but it also helped me be an active learner because I was actively learning with use of the flashcards. One of my classmates posted a link on our Delicious page and I learned of the MyHomework app, which I instantly downloaded to my iPod. I would have to say it helped me learn sequentially because it put my learning topics in order on what I learned in each class everyday and it what made the app extremely helpful was it reminded me when home work was due. It was more of an organizational app but it still helped me to learn. I am a visual learner and reading long texts can make me unfocused but by using my iPod I started to download texts and books on to my iPod and I was able to highlight and bookmark certain pages which I would have been cautious to do with a rented book from the library. This made verbal learning visual. Overall by using my mobile technology I was able to learn more effectively.

Claire’s Top Technologies

The top mobile technology that I explored was the iPods and mp3 technology. I chose this one because I had gotten an iPhone and I wanted to use it to its full potential, so I wanted to use it to help my learning. I used my phone to help me learn in my biology class. I downloaded charts and diagrams from the textbook to study. I also looked up the online power points on my phone during class so I could follow along with the lecture. I started using a flashcard app which I downloaded to my phone as well.

This app helped address my reflective learning style because it allowed me to review what was covered in class. For me to retain information it is important for me to go over it more than once so this app turned out to be very helpful. The charts and diagrams, that I had gotten from the textbook, helped address my visual learning style because they contained a lot of important information in one visually appealing picture. It was convenient to have available on the go and it also helped me reflect on what I learned.

Nicholas’ Top Technologies

The two mobile devices I focused on the most this semester were the Iphone and the Tablets. I chose to focus on these because first of all I have both an Iphone and a tablet, and also I think that a deeper knowledge on these devices is really where our society is heading in terms of mobile technology. These mobile devices are going to better accommodate all of our society and myself to be better connected and ready for future challenges. Iphones and tables accommodate my learning style because I am a visual learner, and with all the streaming learning videos and pictures that are coming to us from every direction in our society, it is important to use them all, especially with devices such as the Iphone. In addition the Iphone allows me to learn in my style wherever and instead of just being in front of a tv or monitor to learn I can do it whenever and wherever. Also the tablet helps me learn in my active style more efficiently because as we learned in our class, apps, blogs, and interactive games are more and more prevalent in our mobile world in order to accommodate active learners like myself.

Ty’s Top Technologies

We would have to say that the technologies that interested us most as learning tools were the ones that involved ipods/mp3 players. We were most excited and interested in learning with our iPods because that is what drew us to the class in the first place because that is what the class is called after all. Learning through apps and podcasts surprised us the most as learning tools. We think that apps are a great new way to learn because it is very convenient and can be used on the go with ease. Podcasts, similarly are a very convenient way to learn and the depth of many of the topics we researched via podcasts was impressive. The lectures we found seemed to be very thorough and helpful and this is definitely a tool that we want to investigate and utilize further in the future.

These same two technologies surprisingly helped us the most. We were able to take notes while listening to the podcast lectures which we could form to fit our own personal learning preferences. Whether or not the lecturers approach was the best for our learning preferences, we could shape our notes in the way that helps us most. Many of the learning apps seemed to be helpful for us all because by using applications involving flashcards and practice quizzes we could study for tests and review fuzzy topics. Reviewing and studying is a crucial part to all of our learning preferences so these turned out to be the most useful tools.

Group’s Experience

After taking this class I think we all have a deeper respect and understanding for mobile technology in our own personal lives and in our society. After this class it will be nearly impossible to avoid using mobile devices in our everyday life and our work place. That is why we all decided that the ipod/Iphone technologies are the most useful in our lives after this class and after school. Mobile phones of today allow us as business men/women to stay connected to the news and colleagues that are most important to us. With the use of news apps, economic apps, networking apps, and business apps we are all able to easily stay more connected to our jobs and to the entire mobile world.

As we enter the workforce I believe mobile knowledge of technologies, such as document sharing, and presentation building with phones and tablets, will become more and more valuable. Mobile devices allow us to connect to our colleagues much quicker and thus learn job skills and techniques much quicker. In addition the ability to easily carry and share presentations or documents with other businesses is also extremely valuable and will ultimately make our work skills much more desirable. All these technologies are the ones our group decided are the most valuable outside of this class and school and thus will be the one we try to learn more about and use the most. The ones we will try to avoid will be the mobile gaming apps and technologies because we believe they will not further our work career and skills. In conclusion we felt a great appreciation for the knowledge we gained about mobile technologies and will be grateful for them as we move into our futures.

What We’ll Do Next