Term 3 - Meta Project
From WebQuest to MobiQuest -
Using Mobile Devices to Contextualise the Learning
MobiQuest MobiQuest HQ The Paper Reflections
The brief for the meta project was short (belying the amount of work involved!). It was:
"Carry out a piece of research in the general area of technology and learning. The design and execution of the project should demonstrate your understanding of some aspect of the relationship between the two.
At the heart of the project should be some learning experience in which IT plays an important role.
In carrying out the project you must demonstrate your own technical competence by developing an IT based learning artefact. Normally the artefact will be developed for use in the learning experience under investigation."
I carried out my research within the general of mobile learning. I looked at how a WebQuest might be adapted to make use of mobile phones could help to contextualise learning and encourage collaboration among learners. I called the artefact a MobiQuest and the topic I chose from the primary curriculum was minibeasts, as it was something that, in my opinion, could be enhanced with contextual learning.
The artefact consists of two parts:
the MobiQuest, which is similar to a WebQuest
and the MobiQuest HQ, from where SMS messages and users are managed.
The Paper - From WebQuest to MobiQuest - Using Mobile Devices to Contextualise the Learning (PDF)
Reflections on the meta project and this term in general.
Credits
Black & white minibeast images on the MobiQuest taken from http://school.discovery.com/clipart/category/scie.html.
JavaScript/CSS to create movable objects on the Knowledge Viewer: from http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex11/domdrag/.
Thanks to Karen Gleeson (of the MITE05 class) for the suggestion to look at Minibeasts as a subject for my mobile learning artefact.
Background information on minibeasts and how they relate to the primary curriculum came from the Primary Curriculum Support Programme website at http://www.pcsp.ie/html/sc_lt.php and from the NCCA web site at http://www.ncca.ie/eng/index.asp?docID=121.
