George's NM3221 Blog

This is bad. Young boy was scolding his maid “don’t touch me!” When the maid was simply providing a suggestion of where to go. Parents no where in sight. Boy had the frustrated look on his face. He ran off deeper into the store. Maid started to walk around looking for him. Maid looks equally frustrated. She had a water bottle slinged across her shoulder. Looks like water bottle for the boy. She calls out for her name “John!”

Both brothers (possibly) kneeling and squatting on the floor to get a closer look on the toys. Theres a screen with video advertisement on the toys in that section. Both were quietly looking at the toys, not showing any explicit interest in it. Seemed like they are taking their time to enjoy their Saturday. After the animation ended, the brothers stood up with the assitance of the pricing board. They went to the next shelf and repeated the same process.

Boy walks around with Mask proudly. Taking his own sweet time looking at various shelves. Mom and Dad at the front, already holding a big bag of toys and pushing a stroller with the boy’s younger brother. Boy saw a shelf with glass jar and stares at it intently. Looks intensely because he pulled down his mask to get a closer look. Mom looks back and found Boy lagging behind. Mom called “Boy!” in an affectionate yet firm tone and the boy put back on his mask and ran to find his parents

Girl is playing sword fight with Dad with an intense expression on her face. She looks joyful and even though she is making the repetitive movement of hitting her Dad’s stationary sword. Family members around seemed to be looking around and not overly concerned about her. Looking at which other section to go.

Boy sitting on the floor with three balls he liked. He asked his father if he could buy those balls. Dad convinced him he already has many balls at home. Nonetheless the boy carried them along for a short distance albeit with a visible pout and the look of disappointment. Strangely, the boy selected all three valls of the same design. Dad managed to convince the boy in a gentle tone to move to other section.

I noticed that some groups had the habit of waiting for everyone to come back to the table before starting to eat while some groups do not (eg; first guy comes back and starts eating). Both of the group behaviour seemed fine and normal to the groups themselves. 

The rise of platforms such as iOS and Android has given educators and learning games/apps developers a new lease of life as they can develop on phones and tablets that runs it. However, these devices are originally intended to be communication devices as compared to a device that is designed for mobile learning from ground up. They can be a source of distraction from the main purpose of learning with the slew of additional "good-to-have" features. It may even be an obstacle in the mainstream adoption of mobile learning technologies causing skeptics to reject adoption of technology in the classroom. As mobile technology matures and becomes more accessible and cost efficient to make, educators could perhaps start to look at producing mobile learning platforms that are stand-alone and catering to the mass market. Around the world, there are already start-ups that are trying to address this but there needs to be a serious movement led by decision makers in order to a paradigm shift to take place.

Children should instead use these tools to tap into the rich sources of information to super-charge their learning while using the appropriate research and knowledge inquiry methodologies. Therefore, educators should emphasise the use of technology and integrate traditional modes learning to develop these skill sets in children.

Mobile technologies provides a good way to teach young kids about technologies and gently introduce them to various basic technological concepts at a young age. Born as digital natives, kids nowadays are expected to be good at using technology. However, one must discern that being frequent users of technologies and being able to understand the principles behind the technology are two different things. This is because, technologies today are extremely complex and abstracted for ease of usage. The simpler and user-friendly the technology is, the more that goes on under the hood and complexity there is. Therefore, mobile technologies can be harnessed to make kids understand how the principles behind the technology that powers their everyday-life tools such as phones and personal computer. 

While mobile devices are useful in helping a child to learn outside of the classroom environment and promises a slew of benefits for the children. There is simply no way to replace the care and guidance from a child's parent. Take for example, when a child learns how to walk, the parents are there to guide and provide an environment to fail safely in order for the child to embark on that learning journey. Therefore, mobile learning devices of the future can also help the parents to make guidance and informal "home education" easier. This will foster bonding between the child and his/her parents and a better understanding of the child's learning abilities and personality. Devices can help and prompt parents on the important developmental stages of the child and provide key aids to help parents guide their kids to acquire hard/soft skills of life.

The use of technology can be indirectly used as a measure of equality in today's society. Children with access to technology might be able to have faster and better access to information and knowledge than their peers without. Children without access to technology will grow up not having the necessary skills to interact and use technology and it will become a problem when they eventually become adults. Technology can also be seen as an equaliser to differing standards of education by supplementing children's learning with additional modes of learning and bringing children of different learning abilities and background up to the same page.

In the past, literacy used to mean the ability to read and write. In today's context, the bar is set much higher and the definition has changed. Children are born as digital natives and are expected to interact with digital technology right from birth. Children who fail to acquire these skills will be placed at a serious disadvantage. Therefore, the new definition of being literate involves understanding technology as it is a skill that is as fundamental as reading and writing. The first steps towards digital literacy is the appreciation of the ingenuity that goes behind modern technology and the education of reading/writing code at a young age.

The openness of the technology marketplace for learning devices targeted at children can both be a boon and bane for the adoption of these technology in everyday learning. The openness gave OEMs, learning service providers, technology companies a place to openly compete and peddle their products; There is no lack of choice for consumers. However, products do not operate out of a single ecosystem and applications developed on a device/platform is not inter-operable both in hardware and software. Products sold on the market may or may not prioritise the child's learning as the main goal. Instead, products may be profit oriented and prioritise business goals with built-in planned obsolescence. There is a need for a standards body to define and enforce standards among such an open market to ensure the products sold benefits the child as the end goal in mind.

The rise of platforms like MOOCs gave educators and learners the flexibility to extend their teaching and learning beyond the confines of the classroom and gain various certification (Eg; Coursera) that could reinforce the formal education. The major problem faced in today's implementation of MOOCs is that the dropout rates are high (number of people that follow-through to the end are low) and the assessment rubrics are less rigorous than that of formal courses. Perhaps there is a large opportunity for institutions to partner with MOOC providers to provide complementary course packages that will synergistically combine the hands-on experience using the institution's facilities (Labs, field study etc) and theoretical knowledge (Lecture through the MOOCs online courses).

There is still a negative perception of mobile technologies by the public. The adoption of mobile technologies in the school and places of education is usually met with skepticism from educators. Although the viewpoints are slowly changing, educators belief of mobile technology is that they are more of a hindrance and disruption than an educational aid. There is a need to change these societal perceptions through successful examples before mass adoption can happen.