1. Mobile Computing: The Why’s and the How’s Patrick M. O’Shea, Ph.D.

2. What am I going to talk about? The educational needs of current & future students. The nature and capabilities of mobile computing. What does this all mean for educational practice?

3. Who am I, and why me? Post Doctoral Fellow in Instructional Technology at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Director of the Handheld Augmented Reality Project (HARP). 15 years experience working at every level of education. Background in Instructional Technology, Assessment and Program Evaluation.

4. What is HARP? Star Schools Grant Focus: math and literacy Focus: under-served urban middle school students and teachers To design and study engaging and effective augmented reality learning environments using wireless handheld computers equipped with global positioning system (GPS) receivers

5. What is Augmented Reality? “Games played in the real world with the support of digital devices (PDAs, cellphones) that create a fictional layer on top of the real world context” (Squire and Jan, 2007, p. 6). Interact with virtual elements while moving around the physical environment. Scenario based curricula: Alien Contact! & Gray Anatomy. Involve groupwork and role assignment.

6. Education Today & Tomorrow

7. Student needs? Adaptive thinking. Problem solving. Critical thinking. Metacognitive skills. Analysis and synthesis of information. Content knowledge? To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: ( a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand the facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. National Research Council (2000a). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (p. 16)

8. What do students bring? Fluency in multimedia Community awareness and involvement An ability for nonlinear expressions Technological familiarity Multi-tasking ability A desire for “individualization”

9. Mobile Computing: Examples Laptops Cell Phones PDAs MP3 Players GPS devices Gaming devices eReaders Digital cameras

10. Mobile Computing: Features & Capabilities Wireless connectivity (w/network & other devices) Small size/Portability Self contained power (pro & con) Delivery of multimedia Limited computing power Delivery of information Simulations

11. What does this capability allow? Sharing of information in real-time Authentic interactions with information Required collaboration Creation of content Leveraging of student-owned tech Graphically represent complex information

12. A Vision of Students Today

13. How do we do this? Keep abreast of technology & features Formal academic sources such as the International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing Informal sources such as Popular Science/Mechanics or BoingBoing Question academic practices Look for opportunities to provide students information outside of the classroom (for example, tours or treasure hunts) Look for opportunities where students could gather or create content on their own (for example, wikis, blogs or flickr)

14. How do we do this? Set the stage Plan ahead to save work later Involve students in the plan Leverage the technology that students already own and know Embrace ambiguity & be willing to fail meaningfully Not all technology will work, but you can learn from it in either case Students who create their own content will need lots of help making sure that it’s quality material

15. What does this all mean? We can individualize education We need a new philosophy of technology usage We can fully involve students We need a new philosophy of the students’ role

16. Questions?