i.am.nafiza

Mobile learning: Exploring the world with a digital frame

[loretod101-blog]

Thanks for the great ideas alisonlynch2014 . I’m going to go along and add my current favorite movement activity also. I work in an elementary school and find that kiddos get fidgety. GoNoodle is my utmost favorite site! It’s free site for teachers to create multiple classes if need be and...

[nafizasaur]

Okay! If I'm the last one~ here goes my activity, which is a cool one that I am going to borrow some ideas from people who are pretty brilliant!:

Learning the revolutions activity: throughout history classes, several revolutions occur and it can be a bit confusing for younger learners; what I would say is print one picture from every revolution, and use Aurasma as an augmented reality tool that associates the picture with a video or details about the revolution (when hovering over it with a mobile device). The video or details will disclose which revolution it is, the location and the dates of the revolution. Students can take this information and post the picture in a timeline around the classroom! Students can go back and use the pictures to recall details about the revolution!

Okay mkase, is that everyone? :)

[nafizasaur]

Multimedia and Instructional Design

I want to focus on Five features of effective multimedia messages: An evidence-based approach by Richard Mayer because it had a part that I felt was really relevant to what I do as a designer and struggle with. The article touches upon the concept of building learning models for students; it’s very evident that our college level students are very diverse and visual. Increasingly, with the use of smartphones and access to them, individuals synthesize bits of information faster; however, it seems that people want to devote less time to said information. Therefore, creating an hour-long video, or writing a 5 page tutorial isn’t really appealing to the modern user. We need everything to be chunked and accessible, as condensed as possible--simply because there is so much stimuli and only a given number of hours in a day. Also, we like clicking on random things to learn information we won’t really retain...think of all those Buzzfeed articles that list all the Cool Stuff That _______! --do you retain most of that information in your conscious and accessible memory? Probably not, but it certainly is exciting for the brain! Our brains are stimulated by the ability to access this information, and eventually we kind of grown an addiction to this even though we aren’t really gaining growth from it.

Therefore, powerful visuals are really important! But, as an instructor, you can’t simply add visuals and expect students will understand it without any context or guidelines to think critically about it. Think of a political cartoon--if there isn’t any context, they may be humorous, or just confusing and seem stupid. So context is key! At the beginning of a course, you really need to help learners and nurture them to build those connections between the visual multimedia resources and the context in which they are displayed. Sometimes, you may not want to blatantly state what is it, but prompt students to think about a few questions related to the image.

The final aspect that the article touches upon seems like a big one: helping students to stay focused. In a word full of stimuli, how in the world does that even occur? Well, I suppose that is the reason institutions invest in learning management systems. They are usually internally managed and free of ads and distractions around a given page. You can embed videos and articles right into the LMS so you don’t have to worry about students having to go outside of the LMS and risk losing their focus while having done so. So I think, they’re a great way to minimize distractions and keep students engaged in one focused environment. Not to say that outside tools cannot be incorporated into the LMS through something like a LTI, but keeping it inside the LMS prevents students from becoming distracted!

[nafizasaur]

[loretod101-blog]

This weeks readings were particularly interesting to me coming from a family who regularly discusses politics over Sunday FaceTime. I began to connect some frightening dots and just happened to hear the following piece on WNYC:

This is an interview with Loretta Napoleoni who just released...

[nafizasaur]

This was a great post; couldn't comment on it directly, but thought I would reblog to spread the word! It really is an interesting dilemma--being open and letting our words become part of the research/analytics/ecosystems of different companies trying to study our needs to better produce "needs" for us. I mean, it's brilliant really. But it's nothing that hasn't been done before...it just happens on a grander scale with the use of the internet. I'm thinking of political leaders that used fear to control and manipulate people to gain control. To me, I think that's essentially the same thing as tech companies collecting our data to see what we are looking for and eventually use that to their advantage.

[nafizasaur]

Games for learning

In the Savanna article, I think my *gasp* “Of course!” moment came when I read: “paying detailed attention to the question of how learners might ‘manage’ their identities as games players, as characters (lions) within a game, as strategic reflective thinkers about the game world and as pupils within a school setting” (p. 407). I’ve heard about the importance of identity and associating with an avatar/character within a game, but this add such an interesting aspect to this by adding the strategizer and school pupils aspect. I’ve kind of always thought of the strategizer as being a part of the character; as if you assume the role of the character and their mind if built to find the best solution or end game results. I’ve never seen them as separate identities or roles. In reality, I suppose you assume the role of a character, then you build them a persona that is a mixture of your identity and expectations of their identity, and then add in any goals you may have. So, say a fighting character, you talk as you fight as if you were yourself but amped up, and of course they come with the identity of being super strong, and you pair that with the goal of getting to level __.

How much of what goes into the formula probably varies on the game as well. RPGs have storylines that you follow, so you can build the character as you go; whereas if the game was a racing or fighting game, it may not require you to build as much of the character. Then there is the aspect of being a pupil in school. And, as I think through this, I wonder whether that should even be an apparent aspect. If I were to have my kids play a educational game, I want them to think of it as something fun and just naturally learn along the way. Games are great for developing critical thinking skills with minimal risks, and they show young child sequence of events and consequences of actions.

I don’t know how much I can really comment on the augmented reality game article (Mad City Mystery) because I absolutely love doing them, so I have a complete bias towards them. I went to a conference seminar recently where what we did was an augmented reality activity. And, it was amazing! I just thought it was such a clever use of mobile devices and getting people to work with one another using a game that’s meant to go beyond platforms and dimensions! One of the things that the limitations mentioned in this study was data on students prior to the study; I’d like to see if something like this really engaged the students that struggled to integrate into the classroom environment. I really love the idea of games for learning, and I think it is a powerful tool. Like most other things with technology, it has such potential for growth and I really hope that we can find the best uses for it in our society and the world as a whole.

[nafizasaur]

Team Text to Speech brings you resources!

Isnetworks is an artificial process of converting text into human speech. The process of conversion begins with recording a series of texts. Then, the recordings will be divided and organized according to diphones, morphemes, syllables, phrases, words, and sentences to create an acoustic database. After that, a syntactic and grammatical analysis will be carried out to enable the system to produce rhythm and intonation in sentences. Finally, the software will produce information based on the phonetic text, with the correct tone and length of pronunciation, and the best units from the acoustic database will be selected to generate speech.

  Make text-to-speech work using this code; this code will continue to perform text to speech conversions until it hears “turn off”. The function is simple and runs on a few while loops and with the import of speech.

  Microsoft’s text to speech document outlines everything from what is text to speech, the functionalities it has, to classroom uses for it. This also goes into explaining how to use software with existing documents and converting print documents to electronic docs to use TTS.

  This website outlines using text to speech as an assistive technology for students who have difficulty reading. It lists a bunch of resources that can be used as well as the best practice use for each individual tool.

  The future of text-to-speech technology: How long before it’s just one more thing we do when teaching reading?

This article discusses the future of text to speech with the scope of education and literacy. Think of using something like Text-to-speech as a tool to introduce what it means to be literate, explore what reading is/can be in the future.

AT&T’s researchers are working on AT&T Natural Voices, which they demo on this website: http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php. The demo includes English and Spanish, male and female, voices, which can be prompted to speak text you provide. You can also send feedback if you find something is mispronounced.   

Here are directions for using TalkBack to make devices accessible for those who have vision impairments. Talkback is made for Android devices; to use the Speak Selection option for your iOS device, you can read directions here.

And wait...there is more! But you'll have to wait to see our presentation to see those resources! We can't give you all the spoilers! Brought to you by Mihorban, Katy, and Nafiza

[nafizasaur]

This is the interview I did for my project. I initially thought it was supposed to be 10mins long and had to cut it down (unfortunately) a lot. 

Recorded on Samsung Galaxy S5, on HD but compressed through YouTube and Freemake.

Limitations: since it was recorded on a phone, I feel like it does not take advantage of all the real estate when I make it into a video made for watching on a computer screen. The editing added on the black space around the video, which does not take advantage of the real estate present. Also, I learned how difficult it is to edit (or try to, I gave up eventually after a few small edits) on a mobile device. I feel like I could have done more with the footage if I had it on a desktop or laptop, but I suppose that's part of using mobile devices. The precision that I want on a timeline while editing is difficult to get from a 5" screen--but it's possible that this is my bias and I could get used to it eventually to master it!

[nafizasaur]

App Review

I. Introduction

I love languages, so naturally I am reviewing a language-learning application. I initially thought I would review Duolingo, but chose a more traditional language-learning application instead. The app is called “Learn Korean Phrasebook” and can be found here on Android’s app store. I personally tested the Android version; however, it is available on the iOS app store, android play store, windows phone store, and Amazon appstore. The reason I chose a language learning application is because the high-end language learning products are quite expensive and inaccessible to most individuals; whereas an application like this is free for beginners, and a great way for students to hear how words are pronounced and written while practicing.

  II. Description

The application is fairly simple; it takes a little under 12MB of storage in your Android device. It is made by Codegent, which publishes quite a few other language learning phrasebooks. I have tried a few other applications for language learning and find their applications the most appealing because of the simple, light, and clean design.

Upon launching the application, you see categories to choose from; the free categories are as follows: Greetings, General Conversation, Numbers, Directions & Places, Transportation, Eating Out, and Emergency. You can click into a category and choose a word to see how it is written and pronounced in the Korean language, or “Play all” to listen to have the app run through all the words. Once you listen to a word, you can select the heart icon to “favorite” it, in order to easily find it again. Alternatively, you can use the search icon to find a word of your choice, or the heart icon to find your favorite words. 

Tablet interface:

Mobile Phone Interface:

  III. Review the design

As an app, it’s light and simple design are most appealing. Having had the app for quite some time, it also does not need overwhelming amounts of updates and has never fails or crashes. The UI is easy enough for a user of any age to start learning the language. When you click on a given phrase, you click on the English phrase, and below it you see it translated into the Korean alphabet, then it is romanized, and to the right is a speaker icon to listen to the word being pronounced. Therefore, the information is presented in different manners and meets that aspect of UDL (CAST). In some languages, it is useful to see a person’s mouth movements as they speak, so the learner can imitate that; although that may be a nice feature, I believe it would make the app too “heavy” and it would end up taking up a lot of space on the device. Taking up more space and memory will also impact on the usability and smooth performance. 

In terms of accessibility, it is available for download all mobile markets, which makes it accessible. It is also a app that does not take up much space, so an older phone can still function using it. A hearing impaired person would be able to read the text and write the words to communicate the language. A visually impaired individual with a screen reader would be able to listen to the words being pronounced. I also think the simple design makes it easy to adapt to different interfaces and can be easily re-created or re-designed for a new OS update or marketplace.

  IV. Discuss the educational value

The app is intended to teach people the basics of Korean language; it is meant to replace the physical book one may purchase to take abroad to communicate with others. This app is in line with “authentic activity” (Brown et al., 1989, p. 34). This is designed more for practitioners than students; students would go into details with all the possible phrases and ways of saying them, but this is made specifically for a traveler who is trying to learn the basics in order to get started or get around an unfamiliar place. Although it is difficult to conceive an individual as an apprentice of an application, Cognitive apprenticeship takes place to some degree (p. 39). If an individual uses the application without ever having learned the Korean alphabet, they can derive how the alphabet is put together by cross examining the Korean characters with its romanization. Therefore, learning the Korean alphabet and the structuring of the sounds can be learned implicitly through the app.

 This , compared to other language learning applications, is very easy to use and learn from. It has a simple design that is accessible to people across all operating systems, which many other applications are not. It can be easily installed onto an iPad and used in conjunction with a language learning classroom. It certainly increases information literacy and impacts critical thinking (Pasnik, 2007). Individuals who are learning a language structuring system that is different from their own are forced to think differently and outside of their norm. Therefore, this easy to use app can certain enhance an individual’s ability to think, while giving them an authentic activity that is relevant to their needs.

  V. Conclusion

My language learning applications are possibly the ones I frequently neglect and give the least credit towards; afterall, they do not require meaningless swiping of my fingers to crush candies. Although there is no game aspect to this application, it is quite robust for such a lightly designed app. It allows users to carry a phrasebook to a different country without having to carry anything other than their phone (and charger). In addition to listening to how things are pronounced, it spells out the words in Korean and displays the romanization of the characters. Thereby also enabling the learner to experience the sounds of the individual Korean characters and how they are put together. The only area where it may lack is not having a portion to rewrite the phrase in the Korean language. It is made more for listening and memorization. This is best for a traveler, but can also be used in a classroom for students who may want an app to refer to in order to quickly practice pronunciation.  

  VI. References

Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42.

CAST: About UDL. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/udl/

Pasnik, S. (2007). iPod in education: The potential for teaching and learning. White Paper, Winter. Retrieved from http://cct-dev.edc.org/userfiles/publications/report/iPod_in_Education_Whitepaper.pdf

[nafizasaur]

Visit Original Link

Against better judgement, I thought I would try to record this from my phone to see what the quality would be like. I used the Galaxy S5, along with an app Sony Mobile Communications called "Audio Recorder". I used the standard Samsung earbuds that came with the phone (to test the standard), and the only other note I would make is that my moments of silence is me drinking water since my sore throat still persists! 

Regardless, this is my podcast/argument/proposition!

[nafizasaur]

Mobile Interfaces and Design

This was probably the most exciting of all the readings for me! I’ve pretty much been begging for readings on interface design since the beginning of Programming II and was very upset when we didn’t cover anything about design! I actually found the Apple developer UI document to be really great; it could be the way it’s written/presented is just better for reading online or visual learners, or the text is easily readable but insightful. My personal favorite section of this document is the part that covers clarity.

This part went over the importance of negative space, font/color, and borderlessness. I think negative space is probably the most important because once we begin to cram too much information into one area, it’s difficult for the user to decipher what is and isn’t important to look at. When this, together with colors looking just the right tint are combined with the less clunky/borderless buttons, come together it makes the interface look more modern. It’s interesting that UI’s now have less borders and lines; it was always frustrating having to click within a “box” of some kind and now that the box has been removed, we don’t mind pressing a second time to do something. On a somewhat side note: I was also reading an article about how animation looks different now than it did in the 90’s, and the characters animated now also have less pronounced lines in their features, which is very interesting to think about in relation to this.

I personally could not help but agree with most of this article: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/03/12/dads-plea-developers-ipad-apps-children/. Kids are incredibly smart, and when you hand them a tablet, I would highly recommend not ever using your email address to initiate the device! My nephew somehow found a way to reinstall the gmail app and start emailing and google messaging people. I didn’t have any idea until my friends started to ask if my account was hacked. But anyway, I have found that a lot of apps guise themselves as free educational apps, but really are filled with buttons to buy things with that kids are constantly tempted to click on.

The article also addresses the issue about not knowing what is a clickable object within an app. A lot of apps designed for younger kids (prior to reading skills have developed) just demo something at the beginning and expect the child will imitate; however, if you did not witness this demo, then you have no idea how to aid the child in playing this game because there are no other directions!  This is where color can be used in the UI to highlight things and bring attention to them, and set it apart from the background. Color is important for children’s applications because children are easily drawn to bright colors, so I wonder where the right balance of colors is for these apps--because it’s also important not to overstimulate the child.

[nafizasaur]

Tablets and eReaders

I found the Hillesund article to be very intriguing, especially the beginning. Having a Psychology background, I was really fascinated by the introductory research on reading, it’s quite interesting to think about how reading occurs and the aspects of it that we are unconsciously connected to. Hillesund states, “[b]y including bodily and material perspectives in reading research, it becomes increasingly clear that reading, in addition to decoding and comprehension, is also physical handling of reading appliances and that the way we read is dependent on technologies, implement design and text composition.

Whenever I ask people whether they like eReaders, those that answer no usually always say that they like the “feel” of a book and some even say that they the smell of the pages. Smell is a strong sense in terms of memory, so you can see the person reminiscing about the text based on the smell they describe it to have. Personally, due to my smaller stature and weak arms, I prefer using my phone or tablet for reading and was never all that attached to the old or new book smell.

The article leans towards saying that younger people have gravitated towards digital devices for reading, and it is more sustainable for us to stop relying on printing on paper. Although I think this is undeniable, I wonder if different people prefer print for certain things. For example, if I asked for reports from our lab printers, I can say with great certainty that printing during midterms and finals times is significantly higher than any other time of the semester. We can make one of two simple assumptions from this: 1. students have procrastinated and are just now printing their materials for class, or 2. (some) students simply need the print materials to study.  I mean it’s possible it’s both, but let’s give our students the benefit of the doubt!

The article on iPads was interesting and I would love to see long-term use case studies on it. I feel like a lot of schools are doing it because it is popular, and do not have a clear instructional use plan behind it. I think a lot of us use our mobile devices for reading or consumption of information--and sometimes that information isn’t all the relevant to our lives, but the act of finding this information rewards our brains and we are excited by it. When giving information to students on a device, I think it’s important to make sure it states what is relevant and is to the point. I fear that it is just too easy to lose student engagement when we end up giving them dense e-texts. Readings that are a bit more fluid seem to be more digestible online. This may be my personal preference, but it’s not hard to close an app, or initiate reading something that is more engaging--especially on a eReader or mobile device.

[nafizasaur]

Text to speech

I think text to speech would be an interesting topic to look at for our tech report! So is voice recognition, but I'm intrigued by the humanization of text of speech dialog. What do you guys think?

[nafizasaur]

Mobile Technology and Politics

I think Castells was a perfect person to read for this module, even though I have such a difficult time getting through his works sometimes. They are quite bombarded with information, and if I were a brilliant socio-economist with exceptional understand of technology, philosophy, and history, I might be able to understand his thoughts to a much deeper extent. For example, when he says, “[t]he communication foundation of the network society is the global web of horizontal communication networks that include the multimodal exchange of interactive messages from many to many both synchronous and asynchronous” (p. 246). I find it interesting that he’s addressing technology, communication, hierarchy, and modality. In fact, in order to understand what he really means by the network society, you can read an entire book he wrote. He mentions later that self-mass communication is of growing interest to corporate organizations, which I cannot deny. I feel a little conflicted about this, because it gives the consumer power to give feedback to the corporation, but then the information they provide only make them better consumers in the eyes of the corporation--because they gain insights into the needs and wants of the better consumer market.

  I want to focus on the video The Internet in Society (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8x3V-sUgU) because I thought it was quite compelling and well composed. I liked the idea of introducing cyber utopians, because--being a person who often falls into this category in moments of naive weakness--there are many that think that through blogging we can create social change and justice. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I would love to see it happen but I’m not sure it is as powerful as we would like to imagine. I particularly liked that they introduced the idea that if governments were indeed afraid of the internet, why would they permit it to exist? Why would they allow bloggers to write unappealing things about the government in these forms of media? It does provide agencies, companies, and governments a great platform for gathering information/intel on individuals. This can lead to good things, like correcting some issues in order to maintain public appearance and win reelection, or it can lead to severe consequences for the person who is publically putting information out there.

I think the internet is great for creating transparency and openness, but this is where I feel conflicted. Is the information we put out there just a ploy made by big brother to manipulate us? Give us a false sense of self-actualization through this very powerful tool that is supposedly centered around its users? Anyway, in a less negative note, watch this TED--I found it inspiring and beautiful and thought this would be a good moment to bring in how the internet can actually bring power to the individual and masse: http://www.ted.com/talks/keren_elazari_hackers_the_internet_s_immune_system

[nafizasaur]

Mobile Technology and the Classroom

I think I found the iPod in Education article to be the most moving. I’ve heard a lot of cases for using iPads or bringing iPads to the classroom, but not iPods. I think iPods, for young people, are more accessible than something like iPads, although those are becoming more accessible. I loved the idea that we can use something as simple as an iPod, a little device marketed towards entertainment, and transform it into a device that “hone students’ critical thinking and information literacy” as well as deepens a students content knowledge.

The idea that you can expose students to more primary source content through podcasts, audiobooks, and videos is ideal--but being able to actually get that content to them in an accessible manner is fantastic. I mean, it’s great to give students many resources, but if they don’t take advantage of it because it’s difficult for them to access, it’s absolutely disheartening. The article also touches upon how it can increase media literacy and creativity, but I would end up going on forever if I continued to talk about this article. I think you can get an iPod for around 200USD, and although I’ve kind of thought of that as accessible--being a native NYer and knowing how difficult it is to make a living there, I wonder if it really is accessible to all populations. What if we have great content, and a easy way of getting it to simple technologies, but those technologies are simply not something our students can afford to have? The one thing I would note for the case for iPods is we need to better educate people about volume controls so children don’t completely ruin their hearing at a young age.

The article on using Mobile Technologies for Teacher Training was interesting, but not all that inspiring. The article found that many of the (few) participants did not believe in technology as an asset and I think two participant did not even use it at all. I’m a little confused about whether people still use PDAs...this being published in 2009, it makes sense since the Palm came out around that time and PDAs were a big deal, but I don’t know if it’s really relevant technology. I think nowadays most mobile phones end up having the functionality a PDA would, or at least a cloud based app that works with the phone would.

So I’ll move onto Designing Mobile Communication Tools because I thought this was very relevant to our class. In week 2, we were asked to reply on VoiceThread and explain how our literature relates to using Tumblr as a tool for the course. I want to highlight that this article actually goes into that on page 7. It brings out the fact that mobile blogging can create a platform for collaboration for a virtual class. Learners are able to capture and reflect on things instantaneously, gaining insight into the learners’ raw thoughts.

[nafizasaur]

I'm not sure if making a video out of my poem was the best option, but I thought I would do it anyway because I love the song in the background. So you'll have to endure it, I apologize!

I originally started making the poem about a certain place, thinking of where I am from--but realized later that I was thinking too much on a micro-level. Anyway, you'll get what I mean by the end of the poem (hopefully!)

[nafizasaur]

Laptops for education

Solve for X: Nicholas Negroponte was an interesting (watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNRaM2GgQuA) in the sense that it brings up an important issue: primary education should be centered around teaching kids to learn and love learning. I think the reason we don’t have successful schools is because we have designed curriculum to disengage students--from the very beginning. To kids, school seems like it’s more of a chore, or a list of chores, or even an overwhelming amount of chores. It’s not a place where you go to discover new things, or find out how everything works, or see how the world has come to be what it is now. This video kind of goes over the idea that if you can use this technology and give it to kids, maybe they can learn to use it on their own. I liked that he brought up the idea of working with those that critiqued OLPC in order to better it. I think to engage those that might not think your idea will work and just ask them why they think that is--and try to get to the root of it can certainly be insightful.

  I personally really loved this initiative. I thought the intent was great. With all technology, there is always a push to make the piece of technology more accessible to the average consumer; what OLPC did was to try to go beyond that and not only market to the average consumer, but expand it to the world. With the motive of wanting to bring children education in other parts of the world, using technology, who wouldn’t be moved? In the video, I loved the image of the instructor that had the children swarming around him to learn from this little device. The idea that instruction that wasn’t interactive without technology, is interactive with technology is amazing.

Implementation and Effects Of One-to-One Computing Initiatives: A Research Synthesis was an interesting article to look at. I was expecting more unique results from the synthesis of a large body of research studies. I suppose that was a unrealistic expectation I had simply because I looked at a few studies that stated that children that learn to read on paper versus a digital device learn quicker. So I had high hopes for this article to revolutionize the other side of the debate. Although one thing they did do in p. 340 was identify four articles that report positive effects of laptops on writing skills. In the discussion portion of the article, they note that future researchers, “will have to develop and establish the reliability and validity of a wide variety of outcome measures as part of their research” (p. 342). I thought this was helpful to state, for those who may do research in the future in this subject matter. It was also interesting to see the number of studies that focused on word processing instead of something like multimedia authoring. Although word processing is a skill that is needed, it just seems that multimedia design is just more appealing to young people and an easy way to engage learners.

[nafizasaur]

Learning together, globally

In order to be a mobile learner, I thought I would try reading all the articles from my phone and “Situated Cognition and Culture of Learning” was probably the most difficult to read on a mobile device (it’s split up into three columns, meaning if you zoom in and then drag down, then you have to do the same three times, and then zoom out in order to move to the next page--definitely not seamless). I was actually surprised to see the situated cognition module in our Mobile Learning course; I really did not think we would have the time to go through this in the class, but I really enjoyed the readings. I think the Wenger-Trayner article on “Communities of Practice” was my favorite because it was very readable, clear and concise.

I think it’s such an interesting skill to be able to collectively learn in order to achieve a common goal; my first instinct is to associate it with being human but many animal species have been working together to survive/thrive throughout history. I think of ants, mice and bees, but even something like the hyena is a good example. One of the things I love about where I work is that collective learning occurs for everything; whenever an issue is presented, we get a group of people together (from different areas) and brainstorm how we can work together to achieve an ideal outcome. I think this not only resolves the issue at hand from everyone’s perspective, but also engages different people from various parts of our organization.

But that’s collective learning happening on a micro level; what happens when over 85% of the world’s population has access to mobile phones and we can communicate with people around the world to resolve a global issue? Take clean water for example: we try to figure out how we can get more people access to clean water, but many of those individuals struggling to access clean water are in different parts of the world. Of course, some researchers have gone abroad to study conditions--but conditions change, and many have possible traveled to various parts without knowing that there is someone in Laos also doing research on the same thing. Using something as simple as a phone, we can connect people who are actively trying to resolve these issues, as well as engage the population facing the issue--that, I think, is what’s amazing about collective learning in the digital age.

The article “Using Mobile Technologies for Multimedia Tours in a Traditional Museum Setting” is probably a good representation of how mobile technologies can be used in conjunction with physical spaces. The article noted that most visitors were ‘browser’ or ‘followers’ but the issue was that there was not enough follow up. The visitors do not really need to interact enough to what they defined as a meaningful experience. One of the things I thought of as I read this was how different the people are who visit museums: some stare at the art and move on, some read the label, some go directly to the label, some come to revisit pieces they love, and others just circle around until something new grabs them. I personally don’t even look at the tags unless someone directs me to look at them, but living in NY--it never occurred to me that people didn’t have museums accessible to them; it wasn’t until after I looked at classes and their syllabi that required students to go to museums that I wondered how other people accessed museums. Having virtual access to museums can change learning art so drastically!