Phil Jones to speak at MobileLearnAsia, Singapore

Phil Jones will present a paper at MobileLearnAsia. Phil’s paper will focus on the impact of Mobile Learing and technology in science education. Here is a synopsis of his paper.

In this workshop I will examine a number of technologies that can fundamentally change the way we teach science, by transforming it into a truly enquiry-based subject with more emphasis on student research and creativity, and less on knowledge acquisition.

These technologies are not new, however what is new is that they are now accessible in the classroom.

As a research scientist in the early 1980s I was analysing and graphing the results of research using a PDP11 computer – a large computer that reminded me of a locker.   As a teacher in the late 1980s I was using photo gates and pulley interfaces with an Apple IIE to analyse and graph data with my students. So what has changed in those 30 years between the Apple IIE and the iPad?  Quite a bit.  The technology is smaller, less expensive and portable, and therefore more accessible.  Attitudes of both teachers and students have also changed towards technology from fear, to curiosity, to familiarity- but we are still not where we could be.  For the first time in my experience, my students have access to technologies that are used by researchers – they can become creators of knowledge, not just consumers of it, if freed to do so.