Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Mashup Edu: Research on K-12 New Media Literacy

I am pleased to announce that the book chapter that I co-authored with Dr. Mercedes Fisher, "Pedagogical Mashup: Gen Y, Social Media, and Digital Learning Styles," has officially been accepted for publication in the Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 Level: Issues and Challenges, to be published by IGI Global later this year.

Dr. Fisher and I wish to thank the co-editor of the book, Professor Subramaniam at the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, for his hard work and direction during the writing and peer-review process.

In addition, we appreciate all the members of the peer-review committee for their feedback, suggestions and collaboration on this chapter. It's been a wonderful experience to work with members of the international education technology/media community.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool delicious, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

Related Publications by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning & Mobile Technologies
• Social Software & Online Learning Design
• Social Media & Digital Learning Styles

Mashup Edu: A New Digital Pedagogy

Dr. Mercedes Fisher and I just finished a new book chapter titled "Pedagogical Mashup: Social Media, Gen Y and Digital Learning Styles" that will be published early next year. I'll have more details in a future post, but in the meantime I wanted to share the bounty of resources we culled together for the article.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

If you have any questions, or know of a great Education 2.0 resource that we should include, let us know!

Related Articles by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning & Mobile Technologies
• Social Software & Online Learning Design
• Social Media & Digital Learning Styles

mLearning: The Next Wave

Yesterday I got the reprints for my latest article on mobile learning (mLearning). You can read the abstract here. If you want to know more, or need a cure for insomnia, let me know and I'll send you a copy. Actually, it's a pretty interesting read.

Thanks to Mercedes Fisher and the rest of the National College of Ireland community who participated in the study.

And a special thanks to David O'Loghlin and Brendan Tangney, both from the Computer Science Department in Trinity College Dublin. They created a mobile application called Virtual Graffiti that we discuss in the article. It's a slick tool, so check it out.

Related Resources

• Looking Forward: Thinking About mLearning
• Learning 3.0: Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
• Leonard Low + mLearning
• MoSoSo, Gen Y & Digital Learning Styles

Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning and Mobile Technologies

Journal of Educational Technology Systems (JETS )

Volume 35 , Number 1 / 2006-2007

Making mLearning Work: Utilizing mobile technology for active exploration, collaboration, assessment, and reflection in higher education

Mercedes Fisher, PhD.
National College of Ireland

Derek E. Baird, M.A
Educational Technologist

Abstract

The convergence of mobile technologies into student centered learning environments requires academic institutions to design new and more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this paper we share results from a mLearning design experiment and analysis from a student survey conducted at the National College of Ireland. Quantitative data support our hypothesis that mLearning technologies can provide a platform for active learning, collaboration, and innovation in higher education.

In addition, we review mobile interface and user-experience design considerations, and mLearning theory. Finally, we provide an overview of mLearning applications being developed in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland including, Virtual Graffiti, BuddyBuzz, Flickr, and RAMBLE.

Keywords:

mLearning, social media, mobile, Flickr, BuddyBuzz, RAMBLE, Gen Y, mobile interface design, mobile user-experience design, participatory media, community generated content, rapid serial visual presentation, mobile learning theory, Ireland, Yahoo, Google, Tivo, PSP, iPod, open source education, YouTube, Claroline, National College of Ireland

Teaching on the Web

"Designing Courses and Teaching on the Web: A "How To" Guide to Proven, Innovative Strategies" Dr. Mercedes Fisher

Here is a practical, "how to" book written for new online web instructors. It will also be helpful to course designers, trainers, administrators, or anyone interested in the potential of online learning and training by providing an excellent introduction to the online education arena.

With direct and clear content, this book emphasizes that web-based learning should be active and engaging for students while supporting them in their learning journey.

Leveraging Community

“The challenge lies in bringing administrators and faculty together in ways that leverage their individual talents, while capitalizing on their differences.

In this way we create a tension between ways of thinking and knowing that results in better research product than could ever have been created without such diversity.

No one "expert" can teach everyone else how to design or carry out the best program research. Those decisions must rely on the strength of a community of individuals with various perspectives that, when summed together, produce the best possible product by leveraging what is known at large."

—Dr. Mercedes Fisher

Looking Forward: Thinking about mLearning

"The fates guide those who go willingly; those who do not, they drag" ~ Seneca

In late 2005, Dr. Mercedes Fisher and I began a new case study looking at the ways in which mobile technology, coupled with (mobile-based) content, can provide students with a platform for active learning, collaboration, and reflection in higher education.

The future of education, beyond the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the classroom, is the migration of social media and learning from the PC onto mobile and handheld devices.

The European Union, in addition to their ongoing mobile education research, is also actively working on implementing several mLearning initiatives.

Moreover, mobile-based learning may (finally!) provide a way to close the digital divide and provide educational access and equality for children in developing nations.

In a recent speech, Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel pointed to some trends in terms of Internet access and mobile devices:

• 900 million people connect to the Internet via a PC
• 2 billion cell phones, many of these are web-enabled
• 50% of those outside the US will connect to the web via a mobile or handheld device, NOT a PC

One thing is clear: The convergence of mobile technologies and student-centered learning environments will require academic institutions to design and implement new and more effective user experience strategies for use in mobile learning environments (MLE).

I'm looking forward to sharing more of our research on mLearning, including our final case study, with BlendedEdu readers soon!

Additional Readings

• The Real Wireless Revolution is Just Beginning
• E-Learning on the Move
• Gradeschoolers Learn on handheld
• Mobile Phones in Education
• mLearning Research at the University of Birmingham
• Welcome to Convergence Culture (pdf)
• Professor joins Yahoo! to study sharing

Farwell & Safe Travels!

I’d like to take a moment to wish my friend, colleague, mentor and writing partner, Dr. Mercedes Fisher, safe travels and good luck as she spends the next year in Dublin, Ireland as a Distinguished Research Professor and Fulbright Scholar.

Dr. Fisher will be teaching and lecturing on educational technology, social computing, and learning at the National College of Ireland (NCI) in the School of Informatics.

I know she will do a brilliant job, and I’m excited to hear about (and share) the research and emerging social software projects our friends at NCI are working on!

Cheers to Mercedes!

Social Software & Online Learning Design

Online Learning Design That Fosters Student Support, Self-Regulation, And Retention, Campus-Wide Information Systems : The International Journal of Learning and Technology, (2005) Volume: 22 Number: 2

Authors Mercedes Fisher, PhD. Derek E. Baird, M.A.

Purpose: Investigating the social structure in online environments helps us design for and facilitate student (user) support and retention. Provides data showing how design and use of social media networking technologies provided collaborative learning opportunities for online students.

Design / Methodology / Approach: A study of computer-mediated groups that utilized social networking technologies and a web-based collaborative model in an online learning program. Participants were put into groups and observed as they used both online dialogue (synchronous and asynchronous) and social media technologies, such as blogs, as tools to support their learning.

Findings: The integration of web-based learning communities and collaborative group assignments into the course design has a positive influence on retention in online environments.

Research limitations / implications: The research was limited to the online student population at Pepperdine University, and did not include data or research from similar online programs at other universities. Future research should include data collected from students outside the U.S. to find out what role cultural mores, attitudes, and gender play in online learning.

Practical Implications: Provides curriculum design strategies that foster community, utilize social / participatory media, and support online student learning and retention through effective course design.

Originality / value: Current research on distance learning curriculum has focused on the instructor’s perspective. We feel that research from the student’s perspective can also yield some valuable insights for online course design.

Social Media and Digital Learning Styles

Journal of Educational Technology Systems
Issue: Volume 34, Number 1 / 2005-2006

Neomillennial User Experience Design Strategies: Utilizing Social Networking Media To Support "Always On" Learning Styles

Derek E. Baird and Mercedes Fisher

Abstract:

Raised in the "always on" world of interactive media, the Internet, and digital messaging technologies, today's student has different expectations and learning styles than previous generations. This net-centric generation values their ability to use the Web to create a self-paced, customized, on-demand learning path that includes multiple forms of interactive, social, and self-publishing media tools.

First, we investigate the formation of a burgeoning digital pedagogy that roots itself in current adult and social learning theories, while integrating social networking, user experience design strategies, and other emerging technologies into the curriculum to support student learning.

Next, we explore how current and emerging social networking media (such as blogs, iPod, RSS/XML, podcasting/audioblogs, wiki, YackPack, Flickr, and other self-publishing media) can support digital learning styles, facilitate the formation of learning communities, foster student engagement and reflection, and enhance the overall user experience for students in synchronous and asynchronous learning environments.

The data included in this article are intended as directional means to help instructors and course designers identify social networking resources and other emerging technologies that will enhance the delivery of instruction while meeting the needs of today's generational learning styles.