Mobile
Learning in the IBDP CS Classroom.
Workshop Date and Time: Wednesday
and Friday, October the 12th and 14th.
Location: Private
Bilingual International School, Beijing, China.
No. of Students: 7
Audience Description: The
lesson was designed and taught to 7 students from ages 16 to 18, taking the
IBDP Computer Science course in their 11th grade year. This particular group of students even though
small, comes from very different backgrounds and bring an interesting
multicultural experience into the classroom.
Among the 7 students there are 5 nationalities and 3 continents
represented, various socio economic situations, and learning styles and
capabilities. 4 out of the 7 students are new to the school, and have been
sharing with each other for less than 2 months to the date of the lesson.
Preparation:
For the activity I researched about Mobile Learning first as
part of the previous unit for this module.
After that, I looked into my planning for a learning objective that was
suitable for being taught utilizing a mobile learning experience. From there, I started the design and
preparation of the lesson as described in the following documents:
Checklist of plan design: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lEs2TOX7OBBDW-ntNzBMjVzDkavUDy0apCD-EZK04y8
Procedure:
1.
Previous to the lesson:
I tested the app myself initially and prepare the materials (examples
and ppt) that I was going to use with my students. I distribute the groups based on English
language abilities and devices capacities of the students to try to ensure a
positive work environment as one of mi side objectives for this activity was to
build relationship among my students, particularly the new ones. I prepare all the required materials as
described in my lesson plan. I also
requested the students to download the Aurasma app on their cellphones and send
them the link on our chat group.
2.
Lesson 1: The
activity was developed in 2 sessions, during the first one, I introduced the
topic, and the 5 terms my students needed to review or learn for this
objective. I created 3 playing cards per
word; one with a picture, one with a definition and one with the word, and
asked them to play by placing an initial card and asking the others to try to
place the cards that should go together.
At the end of the lesson, each student had a clear understanding of the
definitions. For the second part of this
class, students were shown an example video of the purpose of the Aurasma app,
and were explained about the virtues of the augmented reality
technologies. They were then asked to
play with the app, and to try to create their own Aurasmas in preparation for
the real project they were going to develop on the next class. Minutes 9:39 to 10:35 of the video provided
in the evidence part below, show moments from this playing experience.
3.
Lesson 2: The
following class, students had a review session on the concepts covered, and
were introduced to the specifics of the project they were going to
develop. This part of the activity was
then recorded as shown in the first 9:39 minutes of the evidence video. Students then had the remaining 40 minutes of
the lesson to work on their Aurasma project.
The time wasn’t sufficient for the reflection section, which was then
assigned as HW to the students.
Key Take Away Points:
·
The lessons were successful on its objective of
covering the concepts with the students.
The students are effectively able to define and explain the concepts at
the end of the experience. This reminded
me the importance of providing an opportunity for the students to own the
terminology they need to learn. CS is a
subject with a vast amount of new and complex terminology, that is sometimes
neglected simply because it is assumed to be obvious. People tend to believe digital natives such
as our students don’t need to be explained the concept of software, the reality
is far from that.
·
Timing is everything. My planning was extremely positive in the use
of time, most of the feedback provided by students tells me they feel rushed
into the lesson.
·
Digital gap is a reality everywhere and not only
on third world countries or lower classes.
I have been assuming that my students were all privileged because they
all have a cellphone and access to technology, but with this activity I
experienced (unintended of course) the digital gap in my class when one of my
student feel behind because he was the only non IPhone user. I didn’t see that as a problem, until I read
his reflection. The app was slightly
different, and he had trouble completing the activity due to this. He wanted to use the IPad, but I insisted his
cellphone was ok. I felt terrible after
I realized what had happened.
·
Planning goes a long way when it comes to improvising. A structured planning, is the best way to be
prepared for how different our lessons end up looking from what we were
expecting in our heads.
Feedback:
Students used a standard reflection form that they have used
in the past as a way to reflect on pieces of work that will then become part of
their portfolio. I asked students to
include this project on their portfolios and to complete the form and submit
it. The following are some highlights
from their reflections:
“I really enjoyed to
use new technology and devices to create something fun and a part of our class
as well. I have seen the connection between computer sciences and the real life
application. Our teacher gave us this assignment to show the bridge between
playing and studying in order to motivate our strong interest in this subject.”
“This was for me a
challenging piece. Not because it was hard to do, but because I had so little
time and I had to figure out what to do while I had low-battery, low wi-fi
connection. I haven’t worked with this
app before, and I was the only one in the room that had an android OS so it
didn’t work the same way as it did with my classmates. So I couldn’t just mimic
their work.”
“This task helped me
to learn to work with a partner. That means that we have to communicate with
each other and make a good relationship with each other”
“I would choose it as
an enjoyable [piece or activity] simply because different from any other
courses’ homework I actually enjoyed doing the work. It was fun.”
Evidence:
The following link shows the lesson
that was taught and scenes from my students working on the project as well as
parts from the finalized products of their work.
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