Abstract
With announcements such as «more than half the world own a cell phone» (Lefkowitz, 2010) plus the convergence of multi-media elements in handsets, it is perhaps not surprising that education is calling for an increased use of mobile phones to support learning (Hartnell-Young & Heym, 2008). Phone use will contribute to cost efficiencies by subsidising IT budgets (Yorston, 2010) and support personalised learning and students’ underpinning knowledge. However, the reality is often ‹blanket bans› on mobiles in schools (Hartnell-Young & Heym, 2008) due to teaching staff who are nervous of possible disruption and uncertain of pedagogic application. MENTOR ME (Mobile Enhanced Mentoring) was a pilot project with 20 teacher training students at Barnet College, North London. The limited time available to mentors and trainee teachers to engage in mentoring was solved by providing all students and mentors with email-activated mobile phones for ease of communication and support, facilitating situated learning (Naismith et al., 2004). Face-to-face meetings were partially replaced by capturing students’ formal and informal learning with mobile functionality. This was shared with peers, tutors, mentors and lesson observers to further improve the mentoring and teaching experience. Self-reflection, peer assessment, peer support and idea-sharing contributed to improving trainees’ practice and employability. In addition, teachers’ confidence and ability in using technology improved, particularly in supporting learning and underpinning knowledge. The success of this project has influenced the organisation to adopt mobile learning across the curriculum by facilitating student use of personal devices.
Highlights
The teacher training paradigm for Schools and Further Education (FE) in the UK is based upon social constructivist theory (Quality Improvement Agency, No date), co-operative and experiential learning, providing trainees with tasks and activities to underpin and reinforce knowledge
The majority of students engaged with the project and agreed it enhanced the mentoring process and their own teaching and learning practice
In comparison with Wishart’s (2009) findings, trainees felt supported by personalised learning facilitated by the email capabilities of their devices as they were able to «keep in touch with email from my mentor and the College»
Summary
The teacher training paradigm for Schools and Further Education (FE) in the UK is based upon social constructivist theory (Quality Improvement Agency, No date), co-operative and experiential learning, providing trainees with tasks and activities to underpin and reinforce knowledge. In Barnet College, 20 teacher trainees and 7 mentors were provided with mobile phones to facilitate continuous communication and support, as well as enabling them to try mobile devices in classroom-based teaching and learning. This case study details background research surrounding mobile learning and describes the methods undertaken to evaluate practice within teacher training. Results come from both participants and devices, contributing to implications for practice. In 2010, staff and teacher trainees were funded by a small MoLeNet project and piloted the use of mobile devices, to assess their value for mentoring, communication and learning prior to moving into newly built premises. Due to the College having dispersed sites, students encountered similar problems of mentoring support www.medienpaed.com > 6.6.2011 2 / 14 to those of Wishart et al (2007) where internet enabled PDA’s (personal digital assistants) were provided to bridge the communication gap encountered through dispersed geographical locations
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