Mobile Training

Mobile phones enhance learning for teachers, says academic
'Mobile technology can be an invaluable learning tool for teachers according to an academic from the University of Hull.
Kevin Burden from the University’s Centre for Educational Studies has investigated how the use of mobile phones could help teachers in their professional learning, and in turn improve the classroom learning environment.
Burden, together with Peter Aubusson and Sandy Shuck from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, has carried out a study with teachers in the UK and Australia.
Kevin Burden explains, “Since teachers do not tend to be located in one place for the working day, but move between classrooms, playgrounds and staffrooms, mobile learning is an effective way for professional learning to occur on the move.”
In their recent paper ‘Mobile Learning for teacher professional learning: benefits, obstacles and issues’ published in the ALT-J journal, the academics state that professional learning requires reflection and that mobile technology helps to capture the spontaneity of learning moments.
One teacher used his mobile phone to video, audio record and photograph student role-plays in his science classes. He started using the device because “it was there and in his pocket” and used it for professional learning; recording the activity allowed him to reflect on what had occurred and how engaged the students had been. A second use was to celebrate the work that students had completed.
Others who were interviewed thought that this was unusual and that since most teachers see mobile phones as a personal communication device, their use in the classroom is probably a generation away. However, many of the participants held the view that teachers became interested in particular technology and their value in the classroom after they had become familiar with the technology for personal use; digital videos being a case in point.'

Use of unconventional media in faclitating learning of students could become a lesson for corporate trainers in incorporating the same in employee training and engagement. This way the trainers may also succeed in getting rid of the menace of mobile phones in training rooms by using the same tool for training people.