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Kristen Outen

Dr. Honeycutt

Research Interest

9/11/14
Research Interest Project Planning

What aspects of your
teaching or your curriculum
are you passionately
interested in understanding
more deeply?


I am interested in learning more about Learning by Experience students use of
digital tools on mobile devices for educational purposes.


Why are you interested in
learning more about this part
of your teaching or
curriculum? Why do you
want to research this topic?

The New Literacies and Global Learning curriculum has shifted the importance of
digital literacy to the forefront of my concerns about education. Through Learning
by Experience, I provide some students with study and organizational support.
Some students receive instruction in a specific subject area. Some students attend
museums, theatre, or festivals for mentoring events. A common thread for all,
however, is our use of mobile devices and digital learning tools. When I am working
with students, I recommend and use a variety of digital learning tools through my
iPad. Regardless of the context, it is rare that they access digital tools on their own
accord, even though I promote and encourage it. Though each of the students I
work with have mobile devices, it is also rare that they initiate use of their mobile
device for educational purposes. As I have moved from the classroom into student
homes, I am sometimes shocked by the disconnect between the environments,
especially because none of the families I work with are of low socio-economic
status. The availability of PowerSchool and teacher websites (such as Blackboard)
provides families with the opportunity to remain connected. However,
PowerSchool, classroom websites, student emails are largely overlooked by the
families I work with. If students and parents are not taking full advantage of these
basic tools, it seems unlikely that resources such as dictionary.com, Khan Academy,
Crash Course, Duolingo, Quizelt, Edmodo, or any of the innumerable available
digital tools, are being used. I would like to see if a consistent modeling and
teaching of the use of mobile devices for educational purposes would lead to
student initiated exploration of resources beyond what is suggested or required.


Brainstorming Possible
Questions

How can I increase students use of mobile devices for educational
purposes?
How tech savvy are the digital natives that I work with?
Do students use the digital resources made available to them by their
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teachers?
What are the best digital tools for student initiated use on mobile devices?
A study of the attitudes of students an parents regarding the use of digital
tools on mobile devices and responding to what I find out by planning
action
Developing and evaluating activities which promote the use of digital tools
on mobile devices
How can I model motivation in mobile learning?
How can situated mobile learning increase student motivation?
Do my students recognize the benefits of situated mobile learning?
How do parents and teachers perceptions of mobile learning impact
student use?

Where will I search for
literature?
ERIC Education research database
JSTOR research database
Education World technology article library
EdWeek

What is the time-line?


I should be prepared to analyze my data and to report my findings by November 3
rd
.
The final research report is due on December 8
th
.


What is the relevant
literature (including articles,
books, web resources, etc)
that you might consult to
learn more about the topic?


Briggs, S. (2013, October). Mobile communication tools enhance student
motivation, says study. informED. Retrieved from
http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/news/mobile-communication-tools-
enhance-student-motivation-says-study/
Briggs, S. (2014, July). How educators around the world are implementing mobile
learning (and what you can learn from them). informED. Retrieved from
http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/how-educators-are-
practicing-mobile-learning/
Engel, G. & Green, T. (2011). Cellphones in the classroom: are we dialing up
disaster. TechTrends. 55.2, 39- 45.
Jones, A. & Issroff, K. (2007). Motivation and mobile devices: exploring the role of
appropriation and coping strategies. Research in Learning Technology. 15.3, 247-
258.
Kolb. L, (2011). Cellphones in the classroom. International Society for Technology in
Education.
Lopez, A., Rodiruez-Fortiz, M., Rodriguez-Almendros, M., & Martinez-Segura, M.
(2013). Mobile learning technology based on iOS devices to support students with
special education needs. Computers and Educaiton. 61, 77-90.
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Nagel, D. (2013, May). Report: students use smart phones and tablets for school,
want more. THE Journal. Retrieved from
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2013/05/08/Report-Students-Use-Smart-Phones-
and-Tablets-for-School-Want-More.aspx?Page=2
Neo, M. & Neo, T. K., (2009). Engaging students in multimedia-mediated
constructivist learning- students perceptions. Educational Technology & Society.
12.2, 254-266.
Norris, Cathleen; Elliot Soloway,. "Getting Mobile: Handheld Computers Bring K12
Classrooms into the 21st Century." District Administration. Professional Media
Group LLC. 2008. Retrieved September 08, 2014 from HighBeam
Research:http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-181752787.html
Project Tomorrow. (2013). Making learning mobile 1.0: leveraging mobile devices
to transform teaching and learning in 5
th
grade classrooms at Falcnor elementary
school. Project Tomorrow. 1-10.
Project Tomorrow. (2013). Making learning mobile 1.0: leveraging mobile devices
to transform teaching and learning in 8
th
grade classrooms at Falcnor elementary
school. Project Tomorrow. 1-11.
So, H., Seow, P. & Looi, C. (2009). Location matters: leveraging knowledge building
with mobile devices and Web 2.0 technology. Interactive Learning Enviroments.
17.4, 367-382.
Wu, H., Yen-Chun, J., Chun-Yu, C., Hao-Yun, K, & Che-Hung, L. (2012). Review of
trends from mobile learning studies: a meta-analysis. Computers and Education.
59, 817-827.


How might you intentionally
and systematically collect
data to help you gain a
better understanding of this
part of your practice? Why
do you need each piece of
data?


Data Collection Prior to Action
Questionnaires before action that collected information on student, parent,
and teacher perceptions.
A questionnaire before action that collected information the true
availability of mobile devices at home and at school.
Collect information regarding school policies and projected availability of
mobile devices at school for student use.
Record use of digital tools used for educational purposes on each students
mobile device prior to action.
Action
Research and review apps that are pedagogically sound educational tools.
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Suggest apps to students based on individual learning needs.
Teach and model appropriate use.
Data Collection During Action
Maintain a journal that assesses and/or works to answer the following:
o Assess student use of suggested, taught, and modeled app.
o Are students motivated to initiate use of app independently?
o What pros and cons do students verbalize?
o What issues arise that prohibit students use of the digital tools?
o Are the apps improving student motivation?
o Are the apps improving student achievement?
Keep record of apps as they are added to student devices.
Action
Make changes based on observations.
Data Collection Post Action
Questionnaires after action that collect information on student and parent
perceptions.
Record use of digital tools used for educational purposes on each students
mobile device post action.

Are your plans workable?
I may encounter difficulty due to parent perceptions
(Maybe I should draft a parent letter to describe my project and its goals.)
The small group that I work with may not be a sufficient enough
representation of data to make my findings meaningful to other educators
I will need to make sure to conduct my research in such a way that it does
not detract from the time slot that is paid for by parents.
I will need to suggest free apps and resources, though I know of paid apps
that would be beneficial.
Because I cannot use paid time to distribute the survey(s), I will need to
have participants complete them digitally. This may result in lack of
participation from some members of my already small group. I will need to
do all that I can to encourage participation.
I will need to device a plan for recording student use of digital tools on
mobile devices.

Write down a working title.

Student Initiated Use of Digital Tools to Supplement Education via Mobile Devices


When during the school day
could you collect and begin

As I am not working in a traditional environment my inhibiting factors are more
related to using time that parents are paying for to conduct research. While I
believe most parents would be happy to see students use their mobile devices for
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to analyze this data?

educational purposes, I will need to be strategic with my data collection. Likely,
most of my data collection will need to be via online forms. This will eliminate the
possibility of conversation that may lead to further qualitative findings.
Additionally, it may require that I frontload the project with requests for support
from parents and students. This may impact my findings, as it may increase the
likelihood of the Hawthorne effect. I will need to consider this strategically.


Who can help you with your
research?
In order to understand what schools have to offer, I will need to contact the
schools that my students attend. This may result in me speaking with the
media specialist or the IT specialist.
I will also reach out to peers in my action research course. Peers will
provide insights that help me to craft and refine my research plans.
Students and parents will be of most assistance, as my focus is to determine
what is going on outside of school.

What are the possible
outcomes of my research?

I hope to be able to produce insight from the perspective of an educator who sees
the issues as they stand in the classroom and education as a whole blended with
the issues in student homes who do have access to mobile devices. I hope to be
able to define the disconnect.

What questions and
concerns do you have
about conducting your
own study?

I am ready to begin reading about data collection so that I might better understand
the best methods for collecting meaningful quantitative and qualitative data in a
scenario such as mine.