The use of mobile technologies in the process of future professionals of arts degree training

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru//

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru//

The use of mobile technologies in the process of future professionals of arts degree training

Prokopchuk Olha Igorivna

the candidate of pedagogical Sciences, assistant Professor

foreign languages and area studies of tourism faculty of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University

Formulation and justification of the relevance of the problem

The Bologna Process implementation actualized the problem of improving the quality of vocational education not only for Ukraine but for the whole international community. Therefore, educational content modernization, optimization of methods and technologies of educational process is necessary for solving this problem.

E-learning in general and particularly mobile learning, as one of the types of e-learning, occupies an important place among the search for new technologies that take into account the achievements of modern science.

The use of mobile technologies in modern professional and social contexts has grown over recent years. The accessibility of such devices as mobile phones, personal digital assistants and mobile music players, has influenced the ways of human communication, socializing and entertainment. In developed western countries almost every person, especially youth, owns at least one such device.

Thus, the pedagogical use of these modern devices is not widespread in higher education. There is little theoretical foundation to the learning environments that do use them. While some educators have experience of mobile devices implementation for pedagogical purposes, there are not sound theoretical reasons for the use of mobile devices in learning, even in western countries.

Analysis of recent research and publications. As mobile devices are becoming widespread, many researchers and practitioners implement the technology into their teaching and learning environments. As Keegan stated, «mobile learning is a harbinger of the future of learning». The applications of mobile learning range widely, from high school to universities and corporate learning settings, from formal and informal learning to classroom learning, distance learning, and field study. Despite the many forms of and increasing services offered by mobile learning, according to Traxler it is still immature in terms of its technological limitations and pedagogical considerations. And although some researchers offer a framework for theorizing about mobile learning with conversation theory and activity theory (Sharples, Taylor, Vavoula,; Uden; Zurita, Nussbaum), instructional designers and teachers need a theoretical foundation for mobile learning in the context of distance education and more guidance about how to utilize emerging mobile technologies and integrate them into their teaching more effectively.

The contribution of technical advancement in mobile and web technologies to the potential support of learners studying a variety of subjects in elementary as well as in higher education was examined by Scanlon and Jarvela.

In Ukraine the current problems of mobile learning development in the context of distance education were examined by V. Bykov, M. Kozyar, A. Kuzyk, V. Pereverzyev, V. Sol- datkin, D. Chernilevskyy; mobile learning in higher education was learned by Y. Trius, W. Lubina Franchuk.

The purpose of the article is to study the use of mobile technologies, including the training of future professionals of arts degree.

The main material of the study. In recent years, mobile technology as a learning tool has been actively used by pupils, students, and teachers. This type is called mobile learning (m-learning), which is essentially an electronic learning using small, mobile network devices by students and educators to access information and learning resources, communicate with colleagues regardless of their location. professional art mobile technologie

Patten, Arnedillo Sanchez and Tangney offered a framework for classifying educational uses of mobile technologies. It suggests that the uses of them relate mainly to administration functions such as calendaring and timetabling; reference functions such as eBooks and dictionaries; and interactive functions as in response and feedback activities.

Like the previous generation of distance learning when radio, television and desktop computers were used, mobile technologies have provided an alternative way of engaging teachers and students into the process of teaching and learning. In most cases, these devices are cheaper, more portable and easier to use and maintain than desktops or laptops. In many developed countries the implementation of mobile phones is promoted to improve language and math learning skills, to do home task and to provide the Internet access. For example, teachers send home works to students with the help of short text messages (SMS) or multimedia messages (MMS). Also, students use laptop computers for Internet research. Portable media players are used for listening audio material in the process of studying the language.

Presently, in developing countries most initiatives of using mobile technology are of small scale and are isolated, with no specific indicators of efficient studies betterment. However, there is a gradual increase in the benefits of the availability of mobile devices and the web. Mobile technologies have many advantages: they are ubiquitous, portable and easy to use, and the development of educational applications for the use of audio, video and multimedia materials makes them very perspective for the process of students training and the professional development [8].

Mobile Phones. Worldwide, there are a number of initiatives on the mobile phones using in the learning process. Some of them are specific for the higher education. For instance, in Finland the project «MOOP» helps teachers and students find the appropriate course materials and communicate with colleagues from other establishments within the reference-based learning.

There was a significant increase in the use of mobile learning in combination with other models, especially in educational institutions of developed countries. It is worth mentioning two applications for mobile phones, which are used in education process. First, «SoukTel» is simple technology that connects mobile phone to the server database to provide young people access to information, related to their work and study area. The overall structure of «Souktel» is currently often used by educators of different levels. For example, «SoukTel» is used in the course «Teachers without Borders» for communication and control of teachers on the basis of their educational and professional development goals.

Another application is «Bambuser», which allows users to upload videos from their mobile phones to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. This service can be used by teachers and mentors, downloading video training classes in real time for students of remote location. This application can allow Ukrainian students of arts degrees easily find and watch tracks of vocal classes, drawing techniques presentations.

Smart phones. Previous generation phones with voice and text function demonstrated that they can be independently or in conjunction with other forms of e-learning used as instruments of education, both for the provision of training materials and guidelines to ensure the connection between teachers and students, and for implementation of mechanisms their further support. Smart phones, which allow using the Internet, downloading audio files, using on-line data services, making phone calls and sending text messages, are even more promising and powerful. IPhone and Droid (Smartphone brands), which are exponentially powerful, are often called «pocket computers».

In the context of higher education smart phones are mainly used as communication and information sharing devices for teachers.

Extending the possibilities, particularly the development of mobile platforms, has made the smart phone a powerful tool for the educational process. A striking example of effective mobile learning is South Korea, that provided nearly wide-spread high speed Internet access and partnership between the Korea Open University and the «KT», a major provider of mobile services in South Korea, contributes which supports the national goal of universal education.

At the Korean Open University their own proprietary application has been developed. They give students the possibility to access on-line courses with the help of their smart phones. All studying materials of online courses (lectures, multimedia applications, digital television, audio files, etc.) were transformed for mobile devices. As of January 2009, 30,000 students of the university have access to educational materials for their courses through mobile phones.

Special attention is paid to smart phones as tools for professional development because of the availability and variety of apps (applications) increasing. Cheap or free apps can be downloaded to a smart phone or tablet, such as the Ipad. Applications can be small, such as widgets, or powerful enough mini-applications that are used for personal computer or laptop.

While the mobile applications are primarily considered as a means of recreation and entertainment, they are increasingly used to provide educational content. Any type of applications can be used as a teaching tool: applications that allow users to download and read free books on the mobile phone; applications that are used for learning foreign languages; applications that are based on games for the development of certain skills of pupils and students. For example, Google in partnership with a number of mobile companies is developing a range of educational programs that can be used as part of the on-line learning program or as freestanding widgets for downloading. Florida Virtual School has released a set of applications called «me Studying» to studying algebra and reading [13].

Nowadays, educational applications are ranked to be the fourth among downloaded applications of Apple from approximately 25,000 existing programs [5].

Portable tools. Such devices as Pocket PCs are also used as training tools, thus using of them will surely decrease because smart phones are becoming more powerful and widespread. «Digital Education Development Project» that was created by the Open University in the UK, provides teachers with pocket computers for the development and improvement of professional skills and knowledge. Along with mobile phones, tutors and teachers use portable devices for recording training materials; video viewing sessions with other teachers; creating lesson plans; sharing materials with colleagues; producing their own educational video and audio materials.

Literature review indicates that teachers positively have perceived portable devices as educational tools. In particular, surveys of teachers and students of the Open University confirmed that one of the major benefits of pocket computers is «access to learning resources at any given time and in any place». Portable devices help them to plan and organize the educational process, «and search for information, analysis, as well as they contribute self-improvement, teamwork and cooperation» [4].

Portable media players. One of the latest audio innovations of e-learning is the use of podcasting. Podcasts are audio or video series of digital media files that are spread over the Internet with the help of downloading to a portable MP3 and MP4 media players and personal computers.

Podcasts are different from other formats of digital media tools because of their ability to be syndicated, the ability to be subscribed to and downloaded automatically when you add new content. They are increasingly being used in American, Australian and European universities and schools to improve students' achievement and students, to record lectures by teachers and students, to create audio reports. Podcasts are particularly effective for learning foreign languages. Educators in the UK often use multimedia applications and podcasts for learning the alphabet, basic English phrases, numbers, colors, animals, etc. Increasingly, American students use mobile devices which have applications that cover a wide range of functions that allow students to communicate with their teachers if they have questions about certain topics in multimedia encyclopedia. MP3-players have the ability to contain large amounts of information and digital content that they can play, stop, and repeat as necessary. The ability to play is particularly useful in self-training.

Recognizing the potential of MP3 and MP4 players as learning tools, YouTube together with leading European, American, Australian and Israel universities has created an educational video sharing website «YouTube EDU», which provides free educational materials. They can be used online with the help of netbook, tablet or by downloading to MP3-player (in some cases by special software).

In 2008, in Michigan, the United States educators are provided with online software for using learning materials, including textbooks, in the form of podcasts from the University ITunes, which offers free lectures, discussions and conference materials and documentation worldwide. A number of other US states have followed the example of Michigan. This on-line resource complements the process of vocational training [14].

Influence of podcasts use in the educational process is currently not fully examined, but current studies indicate its perspective. In one of the American universities an experiment was carried out to find out whether students were receiving lectures via podcasts, if they had learned all the material as effectively as students who attended the lectures. Both groups were tested. The students, who used podcasts and epitomized essential information, received 9 percent points higher than students who attended the lectures. [6]

Tablets. Currently, little use of tablets in formal programs of professional development is observed, because these media tools are fairly new and not commonly used. However, they already have significant impact on storage and display of educational content as well as the process of communication between students and teachers.

Therefore, the potential of this device deserves attention. It combines the functions of a laptop, allowing users to communicate, create documents, and develop multimedia files and ebooks, as well as MP3-player, enabling users to download and play audio materials. In addition, it may contain thousands of educational applications.

In Canada and New Zealand school administrators, teachers and students provision with tablets is currently being carried out. In Australian University (Adelaide, Australia) first year students have already been provided with tablets, that were uploaded with educational materials. In the US, the possibility of using the tablets as digital textbooks instead of more expensive desktops is being investigated. For example, four school districts in California are planning to replace algebra textbooks in eighth grade by tablets in order to explore the benefits of interactive digital technology compared to traditional teaching methods [9].

Exactly tablets have the greatest potential for use in e-learning in higher education. First, they will change the format of such concepts as «textbooks», which concept from one-dimensional printed production is changing on the tablet with the stored multimedia and interactive content.

Second, the use of tablets affects the way how, when and where the learning process will take place that is essential for implementation of IT-technologies and further development of efficient vocational education. In countries where portable devices are commonly available, online learning is actively developed and the concept of vocational training is quite flexible. However, in countries where the educational process is dependent on time and place, where professional skills are approved in accordance with the national standard, where information is transmitted only through a teacher or lecturer, changes resulted from the use of mobile devices in general, and tablets in particular, is currently rather insignificant.

Third, the use of tablet allows you to personalize and differentiate learning, especially distance education. All of the characteristics, that were described earlier, make the tablet personal, professional training device for both students and teachers.

After all, tablets and e-books, could potentially change the concept of not only «text», but also «read» and, as a result, «training». Currently, numerous magazines and periodicals implement interactive diagrams and maps of their digital versions. Publishers of digital content began to replace or supplement the texts with the video clips or voice-overs. In 2010 the company «Apple» began issuing electronic versions of the texts of classic literature that allows readers to interact with the touch screen with the images in the text.

Focusing on the use of mobile technologies, as a basis three features of the educational process should be taken into account: structuring programs, interaction between a teacher and a student, autonomy of students [7].

Respectively, we can classify types of mobile learning as follows:

social activities with high transaction distance (there is a high psychological distance between students and teachers or educational establishments, but educational content is well structured. It is preferable to use the methodology of group work, in which interactions take place mainly between the students and the teacher, and only has managerial role);

the individual activities with high

transaction distance (also present high distance and well structured content. However, the main interaction occurs between the student and course content);

social activities with low transaction distance (students work on solving problems in groups and interaction processes are set naturally);

the individual activities with low

transaction distance (students often interact with the teacher, who controls the process of learning, trying to adapt learning content to their personal needs).

Summing up, we can determine the following benefits of mobile technology: in the learning process, which is independent from time and place, teachers and tutors can assist and provide resources; learning and adopting to the mobile technology, especially such as the phone, does not require a lot of time; smart phones operate as computers, providing «micro» studies; using mobile phones and smart phones give access to the Internet through cellular networks, which are more common and affordable than Internet network.

However, multimedia content and interactive training materials and applications require network access with high throughput, which is not always possible, especially for mobile phones. Reading, typing or viewing videos is convenient for all users, since the size of mobile is small.

Conclusions and prospects for further researches of direction

The role of mobile technologies in vocational training can defined as the following: mobile tools and devices can provide ongoing support and communication in the learning process; they provide access to educational resources; audio, video and multimedia materials expand and deepen the content of courses; since most software is developed for phones and tablets, their widespread use as a means of professional development has been predicted; a large number of available applications allows teachers and administrators of educational institutions at various levels provide differentiated and personalized learning opportunities for students.

The most promising technologies for higher education in developing countries are mobile phones, including smart phones and tablets. The main reasons should be identified. First, the use of cell phones is not limited to a certain place as the use of desktop computers. Secondly, mobile phones provide teachers and tutors access to learning and teaching resources as well as individual support and training.

The limitation of mobile devices as means of e-learning is caused primarily by their novelty, so much of their capacity is currently considered only theoretically. There is little empirical or experimental data on how they function, their impact as instruments of professional development. Because of the various phone operating systems and platforms, developers have to create multiple versions of the same content, especially education, which slows down the process.

References

Commonwealth of Learning (2008). Education for a digital world: Advice, guidelines and efective practice from around the globe.

Fillip, B (2001). Distance education in Central America and the Caribbean: Making the most of the region's experience and tackling challenges and opportunities of the new information and communications technologies.

Keegan, D. (2002). The future of learning: From eLearning to mLearning, ZIFF papiere 119. Retrieved from ERIC ED472435 database. Available from http://www. fernuni-hagen. de/ZIFF

Leach J., Power T., Tomas, R., Fadani X., Mbebe A (2003). 4D Technologies: appropriating handheld computers to serve the needs of teachers and learners in rural African settings.

MacMillan, D (2010). Google sees future in hosting market for educational apps. Boston Globe.

McKinney, D., Dyck, J. L., Luber, E. S (2009). iTunes University and the classroom: Can

podcasts replace professors? // Computers & Education.

Moore, M. G (2007). The theory of transactional distance // Handbook of distance education. pp. 89-105.

Pasnik, S. (2007). iPod in Education: potential for teaching and learning // A white paper for iPods in education. Prepared for Apple Computers. New York, NY: Education Development Center, Inc.

Patten, B., Arnedillo Sanchez, I., & Tangney, B. (2006). Designing collaborative, constructionist and contextual applications for handheld devices. Computers in Education, 46(2006), 294-308.

Sharples, M., Taylor, J., & Vavoula, G. (2007). A theory of learning for the mobile age. In R. Andrews & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Sage handbook of e-learning research (pp. 221-247). Sage: London.

Schashauser, D (2010). University education researcher trying iPads in K-8 classroom // Technology Horizons in Education.

Traxler, J. (2007). Defining, discussing, and evaluating mobile learning: The moving finger writes and having write... International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(2), 1-12.

Umpstead, B (2008). Michigan targets «Millennials» with iTunes content for learning // E-School News..

Watson, J., Murin, A., Vashaw, L., Gemin, B., Rapp. C (2010). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning: An annual review of policy and practice.

Размещено на Allbest.ru