Reflection: Mobile Phones in Education wiki

With a busy week ahead of me - doing some IQ testing at work and preparing to go and see the accountant to do two years with of tax! - I decided to get a head start on the Week 2 activities. So, on Saturday and Sunday evenings I sat down and ploughed through the readings/viewings and got stuck into the wiki activity for the week - complete a reading or two around the issue, and then participate in a discussion about mobile phones in education, using de Bono's six thinking hats to frame the discussion and look at the issue from a variety of perspectives.

When considering the issue of using mobile phones as learning tools and looking around for different takes on the matter, I also came across a few interesting videos on YouTube. There are some people out there clearly very excited about the possibilities of making use of this ICT in education, and after watching this video on YouTube, I must admit - I got a little excited too! 

Since I had gotten in early this week to start the course readings and activities, it turned out I was the first to post to the wiki! So, I chose three of de Bono's six thinking hats (Black: Negative; Blue: Process; and Red: Intuitive) and posted some thoughts. Then, it was a case of waiting a few days to read others' perspectives on the use of mobile phones in education, wearing the same three hats I had, as well as the other three hats.

Ok, so now it's been a few days, and I've gone back and read others' responses. It was interesting, and here are my reflections...

Reflections:
My learning: The 'six hats' approach generated some interesting ideas. I know, for me it was useful to take a contentious issue (and one that I am still on the fence about) and consciously look at it from different perspectives. I found it interesting that the 'hat' with the most ideas posted against it so far is the black: Negative. The feeling I get from reading the wiki responses is that the majority of people see the use of mobile phones in education as a complicated but probably inevitable integration. Also, it should be seen as a long term initiative, one that will require a lot of thought around policies, funding and teacher training to ensure a successful implementation.

Potential for my learners: Using a wiki was a very useful way of learning of others' views on the issue. Given the flexible delivery of the ICTs for Learning Design course, this is an ideal alternative to conducting a similar discussion within a course lecture or tutorial. In addition, it allows all students the opportunity to participate to the discussion. 

Constructivism: Learners take an active role in the learning process, acquiring information for themselves and processing that information in a subjective way, elements consistent with Constructivism

Cognitivism: Using de Bono's six hats is a way of organising thoughts and information, a way of taking the task of 'Discuss the use of mobile phones in education' and breaking it down into manageable chunks. In addition, the task required students to 'present and defend opinions by making judgements about information', and this type of thinking is congruent with higher order thinking (i.e. Analysis) in Bloom's Cognitive Taxonomy.

Behaviourism: I can't think of any.

Connectivism: Consistent with the principles of Connectivism, this wiki activity worked on the assumption that (1) learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions, (2) nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.