Technology enhanced learning through mobile technology in secondary education

Digital games seem to be excellent tools for facilitating and supporting situated learning. This unbinding of knowledge from a specific context fosters its transfer to new problems and new domains. Additionally, children’s attitude towards computer games is the very attitude we would like all our learners to have. Therefore, it makes sense to try to merge the content of learning and the motivation of games. Frequency 1550 is a mobile city game in which pupils playfully acquire historical knowledge about the medieval city of Amsterdam. Results of the evaluation of two pilots in 2005 and 2007 will be discussed. The preliminary results show highly motivated pupils playing, learning and working on the subject of medieval Amsterdam. A newly designed mobile game on contemporary Amsterdam will also be presented. 1. Innovative Pedagogies and Technology: Game-based Learning Computer and games can let student experience ways of learning that stress immersion in a practice, supported by structures that lead to expertise, professional-like skills, and innovative thinking [1]. Children learn prior to and outside school, at home or elsewhere, technical languages, skills and knowledge. But today, children have to be able to produce and not just consume, to make knowledge and not just receive it. We like the approach to learning of Shaffer [2][3][4], which is about having pupils do things that matter in the world by immersing them in rigorous professional practices of innovation. In this approach, pupil do things that have meaning to them and to society, supported all along the way by structure, leading to expertise, professional-like skills, and ability to innovate. Digital games seem to be excellent tools for facilitating and supporting meaningful learning of pupils, merging out-of-school and school learning [5][6]. Gee [7] lists a number of principles of learning or practices to be built in digital pedagogy characterizing gamebased learning. These principles of learning are clustered into three sections: principles which have to do with the empowerment of the learner, features of the learning task as a problem-solving task, and aspects of the learning process as a process of understanding (see Table 1). These principles of game-based learning will be effectuated in the design and the evaluation of educational practices using mobile games in secondary education. Table 1: Characteristics of game-based learning Principles Description Co-design Learners feel like active agents (producers) and not just passive recipients (consumers). Players should feel a real sense of agency and control as they are the ones who make things happen. Customize Different styles of learning work better for different learners. Learners have to be able to make decisions about how their learning will work, but should be encouraged to try new styles as well. Identity Learners take on a new identity they value and in which they become heavily invested. Players either inherit a strongly formed and appealing character or they get to build a character from the ground up. Em po w er ed le ar ne rs Distributed knowledge Learners feel expanded and empowered when they can manipulate powerful tools in intricate ways that extend their area of effectiveness. Well-order problems The problems learners face early should be well designed to lead them to hypotheses that work well, not just on these problems, but as aspects of the solutions of later, harder problems, as well. Pleasantly frustrating Learning works best when new challenges are pleasantly frustrating in the sense of being felt by learners to be at the outer edge of, but within, their range of competence. That is, these challenges feel hard, but ‘doable’. Cycles of expertise Good pacing in learning is constituted through cycles of extended practice, tests of mastery of that practice, then a new challenge, and the new extended practice. Information on demand and justin-time Learners use information best when it is given ‘just-in-time’ (when they can put it to use) and ‘on demand’ (when they feel they need it). Fish tanks When confronted with complex problems, letting the learner see some of the basic variables and how they interact can be a good way into confronting more complex versions of the system later on. Sandboxes If learners are put into a situation that feels like the real thing, but with risks and dangers greatly mitigated, they can learn well and still feel a sense of authenticity and accomplishment. Pr ob le m so lv in g Skills as strategies Learners learn and practice skills best when they see a set of related skills as a strategy to accomplish goals they want to accomplish. System thinking Any learning experience is enhanced when we understand how it fits into a larger meaningful whole.