Diskusjon.no - mLearning forum

Aleksander · Site Admin Joined: 01 Nov 2002 Posts: 7

-What benefit could students and teacher gain from using wireless connectivity and a PDA to communicate student – teacher in a traditional lecture (who would benefit the most)?

-What disadvantages could students and teacher experience from using wireless connectivity and a PDA to communicate student – teacher in a traditional lecture (who would have the greatest disadvantage)?

Confucius · Joined: 14 Nov 2002 Posts: 2

The biggest benefit is the notion of the possibility of "instant answer": this exactly is also the pitfall of the learning situation: If I search and evaluate a theory the misleading hypotheses are as important as the ones which lead to new insights. So it very well might be that the instant answer as a mere possibility cuts off the most rewarding situations to have found something with lots of effort and contemplation.

The biggest disadvantage will be the bill for mobile communication.[/b]

Socrates · Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Posts: 2

One benefit is that the more shy students get an opportunity to pose their questions anonomously. Also questions may be posed in the middle of a presentation without disturbing the lecturer. Thus the students get the questions out of their heads, and the lecturer can look through all incoming questions in breaks and answer them when suitable. In this manner, PDAs may be used to increase communication between lecturer and students, which often is more or less absent in traditional lecturers at University level. (This should of course not replace more spontaneous question/answer sessions, but could be an interesting supplement).

Kant · Joined: 25 Nov 2002 Posts: 5

To my opinion, a good lecturer should not merely reproduce the content of some kind of script previously prepared but focus on the critical points and give hints and remarks. If these PDA devices allowed to keep the script and add personal remarks in a way not disturbing other attendees, and these remarks could be shared with others, than even some kind of script/lecture evaluation could take place during the closing minutes of the lecture. This would allow the students to focus on the lecturer's spoken words and is not possible with written material, so it really would add value to conventional lecture learning.

Confucius · Joined: 14 Nov 2002 Posts: 2