• The use of mobile communication technology for tutoring

The use of mobile communication technology for tutoring
Katy Graham, Ericsson Education
Introduction
This paper looks at how mobile technology can be used for tutoring in a mobile learning environment.
It is divided into three sections; the first section looks at existing research to determine what the role
of a tutor is in a mobile learning environment. We then ask what tasks a tutor should perform, that is,
what a tutor should do to improve the quality of mlearning There is no set list of these requirements,
so general functions are suggested based on existing research and projects. Once these functions
have been identified, the second section examines the mobile enablers available to tutors. The final
part of the chapter suggests how these services can be applied to become effective mobile learning
tutoring aids. Finally, an existing mobile learning system is examined to see how a similar system
could be used for tutoring mobile learning.
1. Role of the tutor in mobile learning
Although instructional models exist for distance or e-learning, a literature review
revealed that in the field of mobile learning, there are not many widely used pedagogical
models or principles that describe the facilitation of learners learning processes by
tutoring interventions. Trainers and educators need to design learning materials for the
growing use of mobile devices. However, the design of the materials must be based on
sound learning theories and instructional design principles (Ally 2004). Clarifying the
role of the tutor and establishing effective methods for supporting students’ learning in a
mobile environment must be included in this design. Psychologists gain a working
knowledge of the basic cognitive processes underlying memory and learning - knowledge
that is critical for promoting optimal learning in any educational setting. In his paper,
Ally discusses the main cognitive learning theories and concludes that mLearning
materials need to use multimedia strategies that are information-rich rather than textual
strategies. This will result, Ally states, in developers’ greater use of visuals, photographs,
videos and audio. Multimedia content is used to a great extent today in e-learning. The
introduction of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) gave mobile devices access to the
internet via Wireless Access Protocol (WAP). It also enabled the evolution of short
messages (or SMS) into picture messaging (also called multimedia messaging or MMS).
Video telephony has more recently available and also mobile TV. It would seem like the
convergence of news and entertainment, mobile networks and the Internet is almost
complete. So if multimedia strategies are to be used more extensively in mobile learning,
the question of how can mobile multimedia be used effectively to scaffold the learning
progress of mobile learning students must be addressed.
1.1 Pedagogical Model for Mobile Tutoring
Ally examines mLearning design models from the perspective of the learner. It makes
sense, therefore, to examine mLearning from the tutor’s perspective if designing a mobile
tutoring system. To differentiate Information Technology (IT, also known as Information
and communication(s) technology or ICT) based learning from traditional forms of
learning, the term e-learning was coined. Following this, learning in a mobile context
was termed mLearning. A literature review shows that different terms such as online
tutor, online moderator, e-moderator, distance education tutor, e-tutor are used to refer to
the roles of a tutor in e-Learning. In this chapter, the term mTutor is suggested for the
tutor in a mLearning environment. We must define the tasks that an mTutor must
perform to fulfil that role before designing an mTutoring system. As mentioned above,
there is no widely tried and tested pedagogy that defines what an mTutor should do.
Inventing the phrase mPedagogy is probably stretching this mobile vocabulary too far but
Googling the word mPedagogy revealed that it is in use, albeit not very much. The
search retrieved three results, one of which was a paper by Silander and Rytkönen. In
this paper, they proposed a theoretically constructed pedagogical model for mTutoring
called AEFIRIP. AEFIRIP is based on the contemporary learning theories and
pedagogical models of eLearning, but it is focused on the characteristics of mobile
learning. This was the basis for the development of a semi-automatic tool for mobile
tutoring. AEFIRIP is an acronym for the phases of the pedagogical model designed for
facilitating mobile tutoring of learning taking place in a mobile environment. It stands
for Activation, Externalization, Focusing, Interpretations, Reflection and Information
Processing.
Phase Description of activity
1. Activation Activating student’s prior knowledge and
cognitive strategies by context creation or
e.g. presenting so called activating
Questions
2. Externalization Externalization of student’s prior
knowledge and thinking models. Students
become aware of their prior knowledge by
making it visible and exposing it to
reflection.
3. Focusing Focusing students perception and cognitive
processing in a mobile learning
environment according the objectives of
the learning situation (e.g. by focusing
questions or assignments)
4. Interpretations Explicit interpretations done by student
based on perception and prior
knowledge/cognitive strategies as well as
situational factors.
5. Reflection Reflection of own interpretations and
situational factors.
6. Information Processing Information Processing consist of sub
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 learning processes (cognitive processes)
such as problem solving, classification,
comparison, elaboration etc.
Table 1 Phases of the AEFIRIP pedagogical model for mobile learning and tutoring
1.2 What does an mTutor do?
Based on reading articles in this area, some tasks that a tutor performs are suggested
below:
• Guiding students throughout knowledge the building process
• Setting exercises
• Marking exercises
• Attaching handouts to marked assignments
• Availability for questioning
• Suggesting reading/research areas.
• Motivating students
• Encouraging debate and reflection through online discussion (this differs from the
email mentality, which lends itself to providing answers to direct questions)
• Reducing the students perceived isolation
• Interfacing between the students and the learning institution
• Synchronous working using videoconferencing
• Asynchronous working through text messaging or blogs
• Collaborative working through shared applications and workspaces eg. shared
whiteboard
Probably there is no single way to tutor in the mobile environment. It is likely that the
tutoring methods should be context specific, and may need to be adapted to the students
(age, background, environment etc) and to the nature of the course being taken. The role
of the tutor is not a new one, but traditional educational models have limited value since
they rely on face-to-face interaction between students and tutor. Nonetheless, in trying
to ascertain what tasks an mTutor must perform, it is worth examining what is to learn
from face-to-face and online pedagogy. Much in the same way that e-Learning looked to
traditional forms of learning for cues as to how to design a learning methodology, so
mobile learning looks to E-learning to see how its adaptation may be done. For example,
the Leonardo project ‘From e-learning to m-Learning’ looked at e-learning to see what
could be learned in the development of learning materials for mobile learning materials.
So, in examining the role of the tutor in a mobile learning environment, it is worthwhile
looking at the way online tutoring is performed. In the Online Tutoring e-Book ( Carol A.
Higgison 2000) it is stated that, in online tutoring “above all the tutor should be flexible”.
It is appropriate to apply this to mobile tutoring also.
By way of combining the above approaches of gaining information from tutoring in a
face-to-face learning environment and in e-learning, Silander and Rytkönen interviewed
52 teachers who had previous experience in web-based teaching. The authors posed the
question: How can advanced mobile technology facilitate the teacher’s work like tutoring
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and guiding the students’ learning processes? Answers were focused, not on the
technology, but on the educational practices that it enables. This is very relevant to what
we are trying to establish in this section of the chapter which is ‘What should an mTutor
do?
Based on the Silander and Rytkönen’s questionnaire, they drew up the table below of the
educational practices that mobile technology may be used for:
1. Tutoring and guidance of the learning Tutoring by SMSs
process: Blogs (an abbreviation of web logs, like an
online diary)
Student’s inquiries
Receiving and answering student’s acute
questions in problem situations
Reaching students rapidly
Tutoring by video phone calls
Providing help by SMSs if needed
Maintaining tutoring dialogue
Getting students answers to learning tasks /
assignments
Getting material like pictures and text
gather by a student in an authentic
environment
Easy access to students learning diaries /
learning log books
2. Receiving students products: Easy access to students observation logs
and reports
Chat
One-to-many communication
3. Communication: Real-time Interaction
Student’s portfolio
Gathering continuous evaluation
information on students learning
4. Evaluation / assessment: Gathering evaluation information from
authentic learning situations
6. Positioning of students (GPS)
7. Simulations
Table 2 Educational practices for which mobile technology may be used
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Clearly, section 1 Tutoring and guidance of the learning process relates to mobile tutoring.
Taking the activities listed in this section as the desired mobile tutoring practices that
teachers would like to perform using mobile devices, section 3 will re-examine these
practices and suggest other mobile services that could be used to perform them.
It is worth bearing in mind that Silander and Rytkönen’s research was conducted a)
among teachers, not necessarily those aware of all mobile telecom services. There could
be activities not listed here that they felt could not be addressed by mobile technology
and b) the paper was given in 2005, since then many developments have been made. The
continual evolution of telecom core networks to an All-IP environment enables many
more services than before.
1.3 Automated mobile tutoring
Automated or semi-automated tutoring, if designed carefully, could be ideal for large
numbers of learners. The knowledge, strategy and experience of the expert could be
performed with the automatic delivery of the mTutor's own tutorials. The advantage for
the tutor is that once a tutorial is developed, it can be delivered again and again to new
students. Any automatic mobile tutoring system should support easy creation of new
tutorials thereby reducing the time it takes to create a tutorial, maximising use of
resources. Most existing mobile learning environments use a mobile Learning
Management System to track and manage a students progress through a mobile or
blended learning curriculum. It is likely that an automated tutoring application would be
integrated with the mLMS, providing and using information in a back-end database.
A number of automated mobile tutoring systems have already been developed. Älykkö is
an application that Silander and Rytkönen developed for tutoring students’ learning
processes based on the AEFIRIP model for both PC and mobile devices. Students can
construct the individual content of learning in the form of portfolios and communicate
with tutors by using the tutoring dialogue log. It is primarily a tutor’s tool with automatic
and semi-automatic tutoring . MTutor is a software package developed by PF
Culverhouse and CJ Burton at the University of Plymouth. MTutor enables one-to-one
tutorials over the web. Tutors pose a problem and provide resources and their own expert
knowledge for the learner to find a solution. MTutor follows the model of traditional
tutorials, where learners meet with their tutor to work through and discuss directed
problems. MTutor provides a complete computer-based tutorial system with defined
stages.
1.4 Peer tutoring
Research on peer tutoring indicates that the intervention is relatively effective in
improving both tutee’s and tutor’s academic and social development. (Gartner & Frank
1993). So if the tutor role is so effective, why not build on this and give all students the
opportunity to be a tutor? This model is different from usual tutoring approaches where
more proficient students tutor the less proficient. What will tutees and tutors learn in the
tutor-centred mode, Gartner and Frank ask. First, they will learn the subject matter that is
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being tutored. Second, they will learn how to tutor. Third, they will learn how to listen
and communicate effectively. Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, they will learn
about learning.
1.5 Tutor training
Any research article on online tutoring notes that tutors need training and practice to learn
to do it well. E-tutoring or m-tutoring differs so much from face-to-face tutoring that a
specialised training is required for the results to be of benefit to the learner. It is
important that the first experience a tutor has of m-tutoring technology is a good one,
otherwise they may be reluctant to try it again.
2 Third Generation Technologies
With the current and forthcoming wealth of ways to communicate, there is a danger that
educators may be over-eager to use this technology simply because they can, putting the
cart before the horse; the solution before problem. Implementing a tutoring mechanism
that has no perceivable benefits is a waste of the time it takes for students and tutors to
learn how to use it in the first place. Just because the technology is available it does not
mean that there is an overriding educational reason to use it (Lockitt, 2005). So the
question is not how can mobile technology be used for mLearning, but rather, how can
mobile technology be used effectively for mLearning? To answer this question, it is a
good idea to have a look at the technology that is soon to become widely available on
mobile handset. The next section looks at these possible tools for tutors of mobile
learning, focusing on how Ericsson implements the solutions.
Third generation (3G) mobile networks will offer faster uplink and downlink speeds with
more reliable connections and a Quality of Service across the radio access network. At
the same time, mobile core network are migrating toward an all-IP backbone, furthering
the convergence of fixed line and mobile networks. This evolution provides a basis for
richer and more complex services than were available previously. 3G technology is
standardised by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), defining standards in
the radio access network, the core, the service layer and user equipment. Multimedia
enablers will be discussed in this chapter, in particular the IP Multimedia Subsystem
(IMS) and the applications it supports. Although mobile devices can be tools used during
the whole knowledge building process, this section lists the features of 3G mobile devices
that could be used to tutor the knowledge building process taking place on-site in a
mobile environment. Section 4 will suggest how these features can be combined into an
mLearning application.
2.1 IP MultiMedia Subsystem
The IP MultiMedia Subsystem (IMS) is an (Internet Protocol) IP standard specified by
the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is platform that supports many new
and existing services. It is seen as the cornerstone of the evolution toward an all-IP
network. Indeed, the word evolution is worth noting, as it is an evolution, not a
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revolution of the service networks in mobile telephony. Data communication or
Datacomms is, in principle, the communication of information between computer
systems. This includes communication within a local environment (LAN) or where the
systems are separated over some distance (WAN). Various methods for data
communication have evolved over many years going well back through the 20th century.
The phrase ‘convergence technology’ is often heard in relation to IMS. It is seen to
enable this evolution, or convergence of the datacomm, telecom, entertainment and media
networks into one service. The Ericsson implementation of IMS is called the IMS
Common System (ICS).
ICS consists of components that are used in both wireline and wireless IMS system
deployments and/or, components that are used to support different solutions in one
domain. For example, the ICS contains a presence component and group list
management component which may be used for a number of different applications, for
example both are used for the Push To Talk and WeShare applications. The support of
wireline and/or wireless applications could be very useful for the mobile tutor who is
more likely to access the tutoring system from a PC in his office, whereas students will
be more likely to be on the move, accessing from a PDA or a mobile phone. Device
profile caching is a feature of many applications that sit on the ICS for example, the
WeShare application. Storing the details of the device that a student last used to access
the system allows the system to tailor the presentation of the material to the mobile
device. This was found to be very successful in the Leonardo project entitled Mobile
Learning: The Next Generation Of Learning. The NKI partner developed an in-house
mobile Learning Content Management System called SESAM, that provides different
types of material to different devices automatically. In their system, they used Cascading
Style Sheet (CSS) to make changes in the layout and providing the appropriate style
sheets based on the clients accessing the page. An extension of this principle could be
applied to mobile tutoring also, whereby a tutoring system records the device last used to
access the mTutor or materials suggested by the tutor, and presents it in a suitable form.
ICS supports Push to Talk (PTT) Application, which is a walkie-talkie type of single
duplex communication, and the WeShare family. The Push to Talk Application enables
real-time communication one-to-one and one-to-many with the press of a button. The
solution is based on the Push To Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard to secure global
interoperability. WeShare is a family of services enabling the sharing of pictures and
video while talking. The IMS solution also includes Engine Multimedia Feature Server
and Presence Server to provide IP Centrex applications for enterprise customers as well
as multimedia offerings to residential broadband customers. Also included in the
Ericsson IMS is the Service Development Studio which is a development tool with on
open source integrated development environment for new applications that can run on the
Ericsson IMS platform. It is possible for developers to develop content that use the
services offered by the Ericsson IMS eg. Presence, group lists and so on.
2.3 Presence Service
The Presence service is a component of the IMS platform that may be used by other
applications e.g WeShare. It enables a user to subscribe to another users presence. This
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means that user1 will send a message to user2 requesting the ability to see their presence
and any changes that may occur to it. User2 will see a pop-up message with this request
and can either allow it or not. If they allow it, User1 will be able to see when they log on.
All users will have the ability to change their availability, much in the way that MSN
Messager does i.e. busy, out of office. Even moods will be possible to indicate. So User1
will see any of these changes when user2 changes them. So for example,in WeShare,
when a list of buddies is called up on the mobile handset, it will be possible to see who is
logged on or not. A tutor would be able to initiate a WeShare session with a student or
vice versa.
2.4 Group List Management
Group List Management is the IMS platform whereby a list of buddies (addresses) may
be stored in a shared server, or on application specific servers. This is a component that
is available to other applications, eg. Push To Talk. If a user wished to contact one of
their stored PTT buddies, it is simple to lookup the buddy address and send a voice
message. Similarly, if a tutor wished to notify a group of students as to an up and coming
deadline, for example, he can simply select this groupname and send a message.
2.5 Service Development Studio
It is possible to develop IMS applications by using the Service Development Studio and
thereafter launch them on the Ericsson’s SIP Application server or the Ericsson
Application Server. This could allow the developer to develop specific learning
applications, that could facilitate the tasks that a tutor should perform as part of their role.
2.6 Push to Talk
The PoC service, as defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), provides the
possibility for two or more users to communicate in a walkie-talkie type of fashion using
mobile telephones. It requires the person speaking to press a button while talking and
then release it when they are done. The listener then presses their button to respond. The
call setup is quick, involving only the press of a button, allowing instantaneous
communication.
PTT is implemented over standard GSM/GPRS/EDGE and CDMA200 networks. The
solution can be implemented on the same device that is used as a traditional mobile
phone. This feature makes it particularly suitable for mlearning for students who cannot
afford PDAs or smartphones that to date have proved more effective for mobile learning.
Ericsson IMS PTT is based on IETF and 3GPP/3GPP2 standards and uses the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) for control signaling. This adherence to standards guarantees
interoperability and therefore more widespread availability and use and also provides
‘future-proofness’.
Features of PTT
• One person can talk to everyone in the group at one time, just by pressing the PTT
key.
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 • User Contact List – Users can view the availability of contacts (or buddies) in
their contact lists. They may be listed as individuals or as group members in the
group contact list. Based on who is available, the user can select one or many
buddies from the contact list and send them a PTT invitation.
• Instant Personal Talk - This service includes 1-to-1 communication as well as 1-
to-many communication.
• Instant Group Talk – PTT enables the set up of group calls, where one user sets
up the group session either by selecting a pre-defined group or by creating a
temporary group on-the-fly.
• Invite or Reject – A recipient has the option or manually accept or reject joining a
PTT session.
• Presence Indicators – This provides a user with an indication of the presence of
another user on the network, in other words, indicating that a user is registered.
• Do-Not-Disturb (DND) – If a user is engaged in another call the presence will be
set to a do-not-disturb mode. All PTT invitations will automatically be rejected in
this mode. A user can also choose to activate and deactivate the DND function
while not engaged in a call.
• Contact and Group Management – The user is able to manage their buddy list
and create groups from the mobile device, or from a Web interface. Users can
add, edit and remove contacts on their lists.
2.7 WeShare
WeShare is a family of services combining the circuit swiched voice with packet
switched data, like pictures, video and games. These services have a very obvious
potential to be tools for tutoring any type of mLearning course. It is flexible allowing
media to be sent at anytime during the call.
The advantage of WeShare for tutoring is that it is built on existing behavior. During
voice conversations, (face to face) people share things. So they will probably want to do
this when having a voice conversation that is not face to face. (This is why it is called
weShare.)
Features of WeShare
• The user can combine any voice call with different media types: weShare
includes Video, Picture, Stored File as current share-able options with, Games,
Music and Web.
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 • Whiteboard application allows two users to see the same diagram and add text or
graphic to it. So if user1 adds an arrow, user2 will see this arrow on the shared
whiteboard. Voice will simultaneously be heard with this.
• It is easy to understand. It is almost totally intuitive. Nothing difficult about using
it at all.
• Minimises user input, just a few key strokes are required, therefore suitable for a
mobile learning environment
• Users can introduce service & educate each other during the call
• A user can see immediately (via the CSI icon) whether or not the other party has
weShare.
• Can spontaneously add something to help convey the message
• Material can be stored or created during the conversation
3. Applications enabling tutoring of mlearning students
Telephones are still used an enormous amount by both students and their tutors but have
only recently become again the subject of critical analysis and research, mainly in the
context of mobile phones and 'mLearning' (Keegan 2002). In a paper presented to the
Third EDEN Research Workshop, Oldenburg in 2004 by Gaskell and Mills, it was found
that proactive and responsive contact from the tutors in the Open University UK as well
as over-the-phone tutorials were favourably received by the students, improving student
performance on the course assignments as well as increasing student retention. Their
paper did not examine the functionality of the mobile phone beyond voice and SMS
messaging. The technologies discussed in section 3 have the potential for the tutor in a
mobile learning environment. However, the task of designing mLearning applications
and appropriate learner support is complex and challenging. The impact of new mobile
technologies need to be appraised and evaluated. What the following section covers is
the suggested applications of 3G mobile technologies for the purposes of mTutoring.
In section 2 the role of the tutor was discussed, and more specifically, what a tutor should
actually do was analysed. Table 2 in section 2 listed some of these tasks. Section 3
examined the available tools to do this. In order to give some structure to applying the
functions offered by the tools in section 3, we revist table 2, this time applying the
possible use of the tools which we have since learned about. Table 3, below, introduces a
third column, which lists the technology that could be used to achieve the task identified
by Silander and Rytkönen’s research. Some other technologies are suggested here in
combination with IMS applications. MultiMedia Messaging Service (MMS) or picture
messaging enables graphic and text to be sent to/from student and tutor. This could be a
map, diagram etc. Short Message Service (SMS) is a circuit switched technology for
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transmitting small amounts of text. Global Positioning System (GPS) is present in 3G
networks and can approximate the position of a mobile terminal. Wireless Access
Protocol provides mobile access to the Internet. (iMode also performs this function.
Role Task Technology
1. Tutoring and guidance of Tutoring by SMSs SMS
the learning Blog Web based system
process: Student’s enquiries Email,SMS,PTT,Voice
call with WeShare add-
in
Receiving and answering Voice call or Video
student’s acute questions in call (WeShare)
problem situations
Reaching students rapidly PTT
Tutoring by video phone calls WeShare
Providing help by SMSs if SMS
needed
Maintaining tutoring dialogue Voice,WeShare
Getting students answers to WAP access for
learning tasks / assignments students to get to pre-
assigned tasks.
Getting material like pictures Students submit
and text gather by a student in video,voice, picture
an mobile environment messages to tutor.
These could be stored
on database as part of
mLMS
Easy access to students Presence service with
PTT or WeShare
Learning diaries / learning log PTT, SMS, Email
books
2. Receiving students Easy access to students Web access to stored
products: observation logs and reports student logs and
Chat reports
One-to-many communication PTT, SMS, Email
PTT, conference call
3. Communication: Real-time Interaction WeShare, Voice Call
Student’s portfolio mLMS support
Gathering continuous mLMS support
evaluation information on
students’ learning
4. Evaluation / assessment: Gathering evaluation mLMS support
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 information from mobile
learning situations
6. Positioning of students Global Positioning
(GPS) System
7. Simulations WAP access to
simulator. WeShare
stored maps, games,
demos, video
walkthrough of an
equipment upgrade
procedure, for
example.
Table 3 Educational practices and technology used
4. Moop Project
Having examined the roles of the tutor and then listed the newer ICS technologies in
sections 1 and 2, we then looked at some suggested uses of these tools for mobile tutoring
that could be developed, based on the pedagogical models discussed in section 2. But are
there any current applications of these technologies for the purposes of mobile tutoring?
Some projects that use a small number of theses applications have been mentioned in this
chapter already, but a very good example of a system that uses nearly all of them is a
system called Moop. The pedagogic and technical know-how of Moop is developed in
collaboration of the public and private sector. The Moop application is developed by the
software house Incode Oy from the city of Oulu in Finland. The project is supported by
Nokia, Elisa and Viestimaa companies. The pedagogical planning and development work
of Moop environment has been done by the schools of Korvensuora, Oulunlahti and
Patamäki in Finland. The project has received funding from Oulu’s development project
for network services and from the Smart Oulu project. To conclude this chapter we will
examine how Moop is used and how, going forward, a similar system could rework this
model for the purposes of mobile tutoring.
Moop is an existing mLearning system that utilises many of the above mobile services. It
is included here because it is very close to demonstrating how most of the above
technologies could be used by an mTutor. It is based on a sound, learner-centered
pedagogy. The teacher in the Moop system fulfils some of the roles of the mTutor
discussed in section 2, but it could very easily extended to provide a full system for
mobile tutoring.
Moop is learning platform for situations where a pupil first makes observations, then
saves and manages them on a mobile and web-based platform. It promotes interaction
among students and teachers. The learning environment is closed and safe for pupils to
use, requiring users to log in before allowing access. The system enables learning
through observations – taking photos, recording sounds and interviews or filming short
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video clips in the nearby surroundings of the school. A camera phone is used as a tool
that supports elementary school learning. The basic functions of a mobile phone are
normally usable. The real-time learning situation is coordinated by the teacher and
enables interaction between pupils using Push To Talk. Maps and GPS are used for
safety. The environment offers tools that support communication between pupils, pupil
groups and teacher.
The work is divided up into 4 steps:
1. Teacher or Pupils Prepare the Task Courses on the Computer – The teacher logs
into the system and assigns tasks to the student. These may be location dependent.
2. Execute – The student logs into the system and sees the list of assigned tasks. The
student performs the task by writing an answer, sending a picture, re