Virtual Mentors

Social media has the potential to revolutionize teaching, learning, and collaborative partnerships in teacher preparation programs. Traditional mentoring has been conducted in person, via mail, telephone, e-mail, conferences, and typical daily interactions. However, the emergence of social media has led to an exciting development called the iMentor Model, virtual mentoring via social media. Through the iMentor Model, teacher candidates observed 21st century teaching methods that they were not always able to observe locally. The traditional mentor is an advisor, a coach, a facilitator, or a role model. An iMentor demonstrates these qualities as well as embracing multiple social networking platforms in teaching and learning. iMentors model three components of the Saint Joseph College School of Education Conceptual Framework (2010): Rigorous of Mind, Compassionate of Heart, and an Agent of Change in their teaching. This chapter discusses how the use of iMentors brings teacher preparation into the 21st century.

The Changing Roles of Faculty and Students when Mobile Devices Enter the Higher Education Classroom

Mobile devices pose a challenge for most faculty members in higher education as they view the device as disruptive and in competition with the work to be completed in the classroom. The goal of this chapter is to examine the implementation of HTC tablet devices and the changing roles of the faculty instructor and learners when using this device in an undergraduate business management course in a business college and a graduate course in early childhood in a college of education in a large Midwestern university. The chapter describes the classroom setting, instructor and student perspectives of the implementation, and the use of the tablet both in class and out of class as well as the barriers associated with tablet use when embedded in a higher education course.

Mobile Learning in Health Professions Education

Recent technological advances have led to the adoption of mobile learning devices throughout the world and this is reflected in the articles that were reviewed in health professions education. Several criteria were used to review the selected articles, including the target group, phase of learning (undergraduate, postgraduate, or continuous professional development), the theoretical framework used, and the reported outcomes. The majority of the studies fit into Kirkpatrick’s first level of evaluation and report learners’ views of learning experiences. A smaller number of articles incorporated changes in learners’ behaviour, but only one reported benefits to the delivery of health care. To assist educators in using mobile learning as part of their teaching, an implementation framework including infrastructure, training, and ethical elements based on the literature reviewed is provided.

Incorporating the Game of Geocaching in K-12 Classrooms and Teacher Education Programs

Mobile technology integration in educational settings is becoming an increasingly important topic as information technology continues to improve, prices decrease, and mobile devices proliferate. Geocaching, a high-tech scavenger hunt played with mobile GPS devices, is a significant example of a mobile technology-based activity that can be incorporated into educational practice. The history and implications of geocaching and its technological contributions are explored, while numerous theoretical frameworks for implementing geocaching in educational settings are discussed. Existing research on educational geocaching is presented, and the social effects of this unique mobile technology activity are examined. Pedagogical applications and best practices are detailed across the spectrum of curricular areas—informed, in part, by the personal teaching experiences of the two authors. Ideas for future research regarding geocaching and other forms of mobile technology-based educational practices are developed. Finally, selected texts for additional reading are provided.

iPad Integration in an Elementary Classroom

The availability of engaging apps on the iPad and its portability have encouraged many educators to adopt it as a teaching and learning tool in the classroom. However, because iPad integration is new, neither practical guidance nor best practices are yet available. Consequently, the authors integrated 13 iPads into a third grade classroom for a year to facilitate learning while examining how to unlock their full potential. The purpose of this chapter is to present specific elementary-level subject learning lesson ideas for iPads, identifying the advantages and challenges of such integration. They also provide practical tips for mobile technology integration in elementary classrooms.

Social Implications of Mobile Learning in Global Learning Environments

This chapter critiques six example case studies of global mobile learning projects using social networking tools to discuss the social implications of mobile learning in global learning environments. The researcher argues that supporting global mobile learning projects via the establishment of the projects as collaborative communities of practice of lecturers and students provides a rich environment for fostering pedagogical transformation from a focus upon teacher-directed content to student-generated content and student-generated learning contexts. The collaborative and communicative affordances of mobile devices coupled with Web 2.0 social software provide powerful tools for nurturing and sustaining global learning environments across the boundaries of time and geography. Lessons learned from the six projects between 2008 and 2012 illustrate the potentially transformative impact upon pedagogy of mobile learning used within the context of global learning environments.

Developing a Culturally-Rich Interactive Model for mLearning

The authors’ research group is part of a national consortium that developed and tested a successful Studio-Based Learning (SBL) model for teaching programming in undergraduate Computer Science (CS). The model was also developed for a 9th-grade Spatial Studies class to improve mathematics, digital literacy, and raise student interest in computing. Early CS course evaluations showed that culturally relevant content helped improve student learning and engagement. The group investigated the ability of mobile learning to personalize instruction, adapt content to cultural contexts, and coach students through complex design problems. Mobile offered a solution to improve and raise the quality of students’ SBL experience. The result presented here are the group’s modified mobile SBL model, the “mLearning Design Studio” (mLDS). The authors propose mLDS will improve students’ SBL experience, augment their analytical skills, attract more underrepresented students into computer science, raise all students’ skills needed to enter and compete in today’s global workforce.

The iPad in the Classroom

Mobile learning devices, such as the iPad tablet, have the potential of providing unique pedagogical strategies for the K-12 classroom. One of these strategies is digital storytelling, a constructivist approach using digital tools to create and share short stories. This chapter describes three iPad implementation projects involving multimedia database and digital storytelling creation that underscore the successes and challenges of these devices and the new classroom activities they make available to educators. The results of these projects suggest that the iPad is one device that can successfully support and sustain a variety of multimedia creation and use in the classroom. Specifically, this chapter reports on research that identifies mobile pedagogical strategies on the iPad, such as mobile small and large group demonstrations, student-directed control-and-playback activities, backchannel (microblogging) conversations, Web-based research activities, and digital storytelling. As with other types of technology implementations, management and process challenges exist that should be considered. This chapter details some of the challenges that are specific to iPads and multimedia creation on these devices.

Mobile Technologies and Web 2.0

This chapter explores changing definitions of literacy that build on the key concepts of New Literacies and existing Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, social networking, and other shared and collaborative media spaces (Davies & Merchant, 2009). The chapter also describes concrete examples of mobile-based literacy ideas that build on such a framework. The focus on teacher education, and literacy education in particular, examines and considers new definitions of literacy practices with connections to mobile technologies. Although mobile technologies offer possibilities for multi-modal and collaborative literacy practices, it is suggested that we should also stay grounded in some of the principles of print literacies (the prerequisite skills of the reading and writing processes), while also fostering Web 2.0 and New Literacies (as defined and discussed by Lankshear & Knobel, 2003, 2006). Specific examples of Web 2.0 technologies that can be implemented with mobile tools are shared and discussed.

Going 11 with Laptop Computers in an Independent, Co-Educational Middle and High School

This chapter describes some of the findings from a QUAL + QUAN concurrent mixed method study that examined the first-year implementation of a one-to-one (1:1) laptop initiative in a suburban, independent, co-educational middle and high school in the United States. Overall, the 1:1 laptop implementation was viewed as a positive learning experience for students, teachers, staff, and the school administration. Nevertheless, several problems developed over the course of implementation. These were: technical problems, issues with student distraction and off-task behavior, inappropriate uses of technology, as well as challenges to pedagogical and classroom management, and inclusion of teachers’ voices in implementation decisions. They are introduced in addition to several possible solutions. The chapter closes with suggestions for future research, such as the need to research 2:1 and 3:1 mobile technology initiatives, which are sure to become a part of the 21st century teaching and learning landscape.