Listening with mobile devices: An ecological approach to context-embedded learning

1. Listening with mobile devices: An ecological approach to context-embedded learning Agnieszka (Aga) Palalas, Ed.D. Debra Hoven, Ph.D. May 2013

2. Overview • What is DBR • What are mobile devices/mobile learning? • Listening in the real world • What is ecological constructivism (EC) • MELLES study overview • Listening tasks • EC and context-embedded language learning • Conclusions • Discussion

3. DBRmethodology • “Design experiments” > design-based research = design research = DBR = EDR = researching innovative educational designs in their naturalistic settings • (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992) • A systematic but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation, based on collaboration among researchers and practitioners in real-world settings, and leading to contextually-sensitive design principles and theories. • (Wang & Hannafin, 1999, p. 7) • Context rules 

4. DBR • Practice research (unifying theory and practice) • Drawing on engineering and technological research • Focusing on design, construction, implementation and adoption of learning solutions • Process-focused and iterative---evolving • Interventionist: applied solutions to real educational problems; participatory (multiple agents & actors) • Contextual: real people, context, and cultural background(s), in-situ investigation/evaluation

5. DBR: implications (Palalas & Hoven, 2013) The intervention “embod[ied] specific theoretical claims about teaching and learning, and reflect[ed] a commitment to understanding the relationships among theory, designed artifacts, and practice. […] research on specific interventions can contribute to theories of learning and teaching.” (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003, p.6)

6. What is mobile learning? • Learning or training: knowledge construction, skill development and performance support • Learners participate across locations, times and contexts(inside and outside the classroom) • Enabled by portable devices and web connectivity • flexible on-demand access to learning materials, experts, peers and other resources • tools to createcontent and interact with peers, experts, learning systems and supports, and the environment in which the learning is occurring • M-learning devices: handheld, highly portable, connected, always-on, personal, ubiquitous • …contingent on needs and context

7. Listening in the real world 1/…2 • Authentic listening • In dynamic real-world communicative situations • Integrated listening-speaking • Supported by “chunking” tasks & JIT peer/teacher/ learner-created audio-visual-textual vocabulary bank • Collaboratively co-construed meanings & interpretations • Collaboratively co-constructed schemata & environments

8. Listening in the real world 2/…2 • Authentic listening • Learners utilizing the resources available to them - self - peer - tool - expert … to raise their awareness of their context in order to perceive the affordances of features within the environment around them &/or accessible to them

9. Mobile-Enabled Language Learning Eco-system (MELLES) What are the characteristics of an effective, pedagogically-sound MELLES for students’ mobile devices, through which adult ESP students in a community college enhance listening skills, while expanding their learning outside the classroom? • Evolution of theory • MELLES design principles • Ecological Constructivism • Evolution of practice • MELLES prototype • Model for replication • DBR application for educational context (Palalas, 2012)

10. Statement of the problem • Inadequate aural skills instruction - college ESP students • Solution: MELL educational intervention to enhance effectiveness and appeal of ESP • augment in-class learning • out-of-class language practice • students’ own mobile devices • replicable and reusable design principles

11. 2011 Social Constructivism --> SCT --> Ecological Constructivism • 2010 • 2009 • 2007 • 2005 Evolution of DBR process and outcomes

12. Methodology: DBR • DBR Phases • Informed exploration • Enactment • Evaluation: • Local • Broad • (Analysis of outcomes • Redesign iterations) • Bannan, B. (2009) • Barab, S., & Squire, K. (2004) • Brown, A. (1992) • Dede, C. (2004) • Herrington, J., McKenney, S., Reeves, T., & Oliver, R. (2007) • Kelly, A. (2009) • Plomp, T. (2009) • Reeves, T. (2006) • Van den Akkeret al (2006) • Wang, F., & Hannafin, M. J. (2005) • Palalas, A. (2012)

13. Outcomes: listening tasks

14. Listening tasks • Eight interconnected, non-linear tasks • Co-learning: collaborative & individual • Authentic communication challenges • Expert guidance • Interaction: peers, L1 speakers, ESP experts • Co-created multimedia artefacts • Peer evaluation: comments & rating each other’s audio • Evolving ESP resource • Aural focus but integrated all four language skills (holistic learning context)

15. Emerging theoretical framework • Ecological Constructivism Deriving from: • Social Constructivism + Sociocultural Theory + Ecological Linguistics + Contextual and situated learning • “the recent metaphor of ecology attempts to capture the interconnectedness of psychological, social, and environmental process in SLA” (Lam & Kramsch, 2003, p.144) • Affordances: • - exist as an initial state in the dynamic environment • - represent a relationship (reciprocal interaction) between the actors (learners) and elements of the environment • - are for learners to perceive, construe and act purposefully upon, both individually and in collaboration with others

16. Ecological Constructivism: emergent theory • Incorporating: • Interaction mediated by “cultural tools such as language and technology” (Hoven, 1997; Pachler, 2009, p. 5) • Learning mediated by the context • Active learning in & around real-life problems • Goal-oriented, real-life communicative activities • Interactivity in social contexts • Community-embedded communication • Communities of learners developing into communities of practice • Scaffolding and guidance • Feedback from facilitators and peers

17. Ecological Constructivism: principles • Language is dynamic and contextually contingent • Affordances are inherent in the dynamic environment • Learners act on affordances in the environment • Learning, individual or collaborative, emerges from and through interactions – co-construing of knowledge • The process of collaboration enables individuals to perceive novel affordances • Noticing of affordances can be self-originating or can be guided • Dynamic networks of fluidly inter-linked contexts form an open system • Mobile technologies mediate interaction and connection over the network and with environment • Knowing: an evolving process enabled by acting on affordances available in the environment, in which learners operate and collaborate across dynamic networks through connections made possible by mobile technologies

18. Thank you!Q&A

19. References • Bannan, B. (2009). The Integrative Learning Design Framework: An illustrated example from the domain of instructional technology. In T. Plomp & N. Nieveen (Eds.), An introduction to educational design research (pp. 53-73). SLO: Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development. • Barab, S., & Squire, K. (2004). Design-Based Research: Putting a stake in the ground. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 1-14. doi:10.1207/s15327809jls1301_1 • Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178. • Collins, A. (1992). Towards a design science of education. In E. Scanlon and T. O’Shea (Eds.), New directionsin educational technology (pp. 15–22). Berlin: Springer. • Dede, C. (2004). If Design-Based Research is the answer, what is the question? The Journal of the Instructional Sciences, 13 (1). • Design-Based Research Collective. (2003). Design-Based Research: An emerging paradigm for educational inquiry. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 5-8. Retrieved from http://www.designbasedresearch.org/reppubs/DBRC2003.pdf • Farmer, R., & Gruba, P. (2006). Towards model-driven end-user development in CALL. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 19(2 & 3), 149-191. • Palalas, A. (2012). Design guidelines for a Mobile-Enabled Language Learning system supporting the development of ESP listening skills (Doctoral dissertation, Athabasca University). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10791/17 • Palalas, A., & Hoven, D. (2013). Implications of using DBR to investigate the iterative design of a mobile-enabled language learning system. CALICO • Plomp, T. (2009). Educational design research: An introduction. In T. Plomp & N. Nieveen (Eds.), An introduction to educational design research (pp. 9-36). SLO: Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development. • Reeves, T. (2006). Design research from a technology perspective. In J. van den Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational design research: The design, development and evaluation of programs, processes and products (pp. 52-66). New York: Routledge. • Van den Akker, J. (1999). Principles and Methods of Development Research. In J. van den Akker, R.M. Branch, K. Gustafson, N. Nieveen, & T. Plomp (Eds.), Design approaches and tools in education and training (pp. 1-14). Boston: Kluwer Academic. • Wang, F., & Hannafin, M. J. (2005). Design-based research and technology-enhanced learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 5-23.