Discuss About The Mobile Technology Into Distance Education?

Traditional learning approach and its shortcomings

Question:

Discuss About The Mobile Technology Into Distance Education?

According to Kumar and Ahmed (2008) education is a life-long process, this is an acknowledged fact. Learning, an integral part of education refers to the process of gaining knowledge. Knowledge can be gained from every sphere of life, through social experiences, literary knowledge and practical knowledge. It is necessary for an individual to acquire proper education so that the person is able to handle any kind of circumstances. Considering the given case scenario, it has been observed, the principal and teachers of the school have decided to educate the grade two students about the fire incident which occurred in the coal mine. It is believed that science projects management can be conducted, dealing with questions about the reason and consequence of fire breakout along with the effects. Jim the local fire-fighter has been invited so that he can talk about the incident with the students.

It can be assessed that the school has taken the traditional approach of education. Firstly, the class consists of a large group of students. Secondly, the fire-fighter would some to the class to talk about the whole incident of the coal mine fire accident and this includes a long lecture. The estimated time for the whole discourse would be around 40 to 50 minutes, minimum over 30 minutes. Apart from the fire-fighter, the teachers would participate to conduct further discussion with the students. From the scenario, it has been understood that the teachers has asked the students to write a full essay about the coal mine and the fire breakout, the effects, impacts along with the consequences. This is considered necessary to get an overall assessment of the students regarding the entire incident. It is believed that this step would be helpful for the students to know more about the reasons which can create similar fire related incidents along with the way to resolve such issues. However, there are certain issues which can be perceived due to this method of teaching.

The first and the foremost factor which needs consideration, the economics of students regarding the fire and coal mine incident. The case scenario has mentioned that the incident have forced the school to remain close for ten days. Students were unable to come to school because of the incident. It should be mentioned that the community has been affected much due to the incident, therefore it can be said that the incident is a sensitive issue for the students which should be handled properly. The issue with traditional teaching is that the fire incident is treated as general objectives without much attention to the student behaviour regarding the matter (Best et al. 2013). Care should be taken to consider the students’ emotions regarding the fire incident. It is said that the fire-fighter Jim would be coming to the school to talk with the students which would be mainly one-sided in nature. Discussion would be made with the entire class; this means most of the students would be passive learners. Discussion tends to be one-sided in nature because after half an hour, the students would feel the discussion session dull and tedious. This would make the students lose interest and unwilling to conduct participation in the discussion session with the fire-fighter. Apart from the students who are expressive, students who find it difficult to interact and communicate would not be able to participate in the discussion in an effective manner. It is said that the students would have the task of writing an essay about the fire and coal mine incident. The issue concerning this decision is that, unless and until the students have a clear idea about the entire incident and is interested to perform the task, the task would be beneficial (Bennett, 2014).

Importance of new learning approaches

Considering the different issues and shortcomings with the traditional learning, it is necessary to encourage and implement new learning process (also known as student centric education).

Taking into account the context of the presented case scenario, it seems that Ms Newcombe has taken the initiative to investigate the learning approaches that are new and different from the traditional method of learning. The new teaching approach is necessary to make the process of education more effective and enjoyable for the students, enhancing their knowledge regarding the fire incident in the process. It should be stated that in the 21^st century, attempt is made to make the education approach student centric, giving importance to the factor of individuality. This approach encourages the lesson provider to be thoughtful and considerate towards the students (Grover et al. 2014).

Communication is considered to be one of the most effective new learning practices. The connection needs to be established between the teachers and the learners. The former should be aware of the latter’s’ individuality and differences in order to understand the learning ability, skill and field of interest. Communication enables the teacher to maintain a healthy learning atmosphere in the class. For instance, Ms. Newcombe and Mr. Benjamin need to have conversation with the class and try to encourage students to be expressive about the coal mine and fire incident. Students should be directly involved with the work, for example, the students should go to the fire-fighter to give invitation for the discussion session. Encouragement can be provided to the students to conduct arrangements for the proposed discussion (Peeters et al. 2014).

It is essential to make the study topic interesting and engaging for the students. This can be done by using modern learning technologies for the purpose. Multimedia and technology resources can be very much useful. For instance, instead of verbal discussion, creative presentation can be conducted aided with informative and interesting videos regarding the related topic. Games and videos can be used to make learning engaging (Gregory, 2017). AI (artificial intelligence) has the history of success in terms of being a useful tool for education; this can be used to teach the students.

The AR technology (augmented reality) is considered effective for learning purpose. This technology enables the users to get information about a certain learning topic. Considering the case scenario where the students did not get to see the actual condition of the coal mine and the fire outburst, the VR (virtual reality) technology can be really useful and effective to let the students experience the actual incident of the fire outburst in the open cut coal mine. It is important for the students to get the actual experience and information of the incident, the VR technology can be very much useful to fulfil this purpose.

Communication and student engagement in learning

ARG (alternate reality games) gaming method can also be used. These games are conducted with the help of email, text messages, phones or real world events. These games are multi-player in nature. Assessing the context of the case scenario, the class can be encouraged to play ARGs. For instance, the content of the game can be about ways to deal with fire and how to manage the effect of fire outburst, this would be helpful to enhance student interest and knowledge (Iversen et al. 2016).

Modern student psychology has stated that the concentration phase of the student is short lived; the teacher needs to understand the fact. Instead of being unnecessarily descriptive, attempt should be made make the discussion concise and succinct. While conducting a serious discussion, the students tend to feel tedious and tiring, this can be avoided with a bit of humour. The teacher should have the mentality to say or comment something funny and humorous to make the environment light and to regain student attention. Students are different from each other with individual traits, strengths and shortcomings, herein lays the importance for individual learning (Dunst & Hamby, 2015). The teacher should try to give individual attention to students; this would be helpful for the latter to generate interest about education. Peer learning or group learning can also be used enhance student-teacher as well as student-teacher interaction.

Importance needs to be given on internal and external relationships keeping in mind the student’s wellbeing. The teacher should take the initiative to assess and understand the individual differences of the students, such as their strengths, shortcomings, potential field of interest. This information enables the teacher to know which learning approach can be better applicable and suitable (Drach et al. 2014)). The teacher should try to discuss ways of appropriate teaching with other fellow teachers. In terms of external relationship, the institution can make the effort to establish relationship with other academic organisations to conduct education programs and events. Taking into accounting the case scenario, the school can conduct partnership with Victoria’s fire-fighter entity and invite fire-fighters to engage in discussion and workshops related to fire management issues. There are many types of learning strategies, however, adaptive learning, incidental learning, learning through arguments is considered to be the effective learning strategies, the case scenario can be used for the explanation. Adaptive learning understands that all learners/students are different. Although a single teaching method is useful for most of the students but for some students, it is necessary to employ different teaching methods (Häkkinen et al. 2017). This learning is helpful to conduct student assessment. Learning through arguments refers not only discussion but expressing different perspectives and opinions about a particular study topic. It enables the learners to come up with new ideas and ways to resolve similar problems. This learning strategy can be much helpful to discuss about fire pre and post-management methods of similar accidents involving fire. Incidental learning indicates unintentional or unplanned learning (Viberg & Grönlund, 2015). It states that students can gain acquire valuable lessons from any activity. Students can be given practical activity to allow the students know more about fir management and coal mine.

Effective modern learning technologies

In today’s time, importance is given on new learning practice. This practice chiefly concentrates on the overall learning behaviour, attitude, interest, learning capacity of the students, i.e. student-centric learning. Taking into account the case scenario, it can be said that the teachers need to conduct the new learning practices to have better results. It has been stated that a science project would be conducted. Students would be encouraged to discuss about the fire in the coal mine incident, this would be helpful to enhance student knowledge regarding fire management methods (Chen & Denoyelles, 2013). In order to make the discussion, learning technology can be much effective. It has been stated that the students are required to write about the incident, in order to write well, the students need the factual information and the interest to perform the task. A VR technology can be used to give the information about the incident. This technology would enable the students to see the entire incident in 3D picture, making the students feel they are actually present during the time of the incident. ARG gaming method can also be useful however this technology cannot be used properly in school. The VR technology would be a better option. It is necessary to give importance to the factor of internal and external partnerships for the comprehensive betterment and development of the learners. Several types of learning strategies exist, but adaptive learning, learning through arguments and incidental learning are really useful and effective. The three types of learning are different and student-friendly, appropriate for different learning circumstances (Halttunen, Koivisto & Billett, 2014). Incidental learning enables students to acquire knowledge from real life incidents. Adaptive learning supports individual differences and hence separate learning needs as per learner ability. Learning through arguments highlights the fact that it is necessary and normal to voice different opinions and views. Arguments can occur and this would lead to the emergence of new ideas and solutions to manage various problems.

While working in the team to complete the assignment task, I have had a pleasant experience. At times I had to face certain challenges and difficulties; however, overall the entire journey of working as a team member was overwhelming. I understood the advantage of working in a team, one of which was work distribution. Each member had the responsibility of fulfilling a particular task of the project; this prevented the stress of overload on a single individual. I became more confident and expressive while working with the team. I think communication is very much important to do team work. Communication helps to generate creativity and new ideas regarding a certain matter. Problems arose due to clash of opinions and difference in thinking mentality; however all of the team members made the effort to cooperate with each other nevertheless. I feel in times like this, it is necessary to be understanding and appreciative each others’ differences. Instead of being judgmental, flexibility should be maintained to allow the scope of thinking like fellow mates. Every member should have this positive attitude. Difference can lead to problems, instead of continuing the issue; I think it is essential to look for solutions to such problems. I think adaptive, incidental and arguments; these three learning strategies are very much useful. All of the strategies encourage teacher-student communication and offers freedom to student thinking.

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