I think the main issue that any instructor would want to carefully examine is the potential audience for the lessons they create and the learning gains they would predict for that audience versus the time and effort necessary to produce the content.  I spend a lot of time providing content and exercises that I deliver to my students via email on a regular basis, but I provide email accounts via gaggle.net for each of my students and if they don't have a computer at home they have the opportunity to check their email and do their assignments in class.  While not every student does every assignment, enough of them do so I feel the time I expend on the effort to provide the accounts and produce the assignments is worthwhile. 

I do know that I occasionally see an iPod (maybe one a semester belonging to the youngest students) but I'm not ready at this point to devote the development time necessary to something that will only possibly be used by one or two students at the most.    This calculation of course would be different for each instructor and or institution.

The other issue that instructors considering developing content for handhelds and cellphones would want to carefully examine is mating appropriate content to this delivery system.  Certain types of practices and assignments might just not be viewable or usable optimally on a "micro" screen while others might be fine.  Deciding which types of assignments and content work best might take a lot of trial and error.  That experimentation might take a lot of time and effort bringing the individual practitioner back to the calculation posed in the first paragraph above.

On the other hand, where would we be with current practices using computer assisted language learning if the first CALL pioneers didn't devote excessive amounts of time to the first lessons that were probably only usable by a handful of students ten or fifteen years ago? Recall also, that most of the first computer-based lessons were simply static worksheets converted to a computer screen and did not begin to fully utilize the full capabilities of computer-based delivery until much later.

Barry Bakin
Pacoima Skills Center
Division of Adult and Career Education
Los Angeles Unified School District


-----Original Message-----
From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Steve Quann
Sent: Thu 11/16/2006 7:38 AM
To: technology at nifl.gov
Subject: [Technology 705]   Re: handhelds and cell phones
 
Thank you Tina, Susan, and David:

So what do other folks on the list think? Does this have legs? I think
most us see that there might be potential here, but what are the
drawbacks? The one I hear most is the size/viewing issue -mostly from
non-users. But I have to say as I walked down the aisle of the train
this a.m. and saw someone viewing a video on an Ipod, it looked pretty
clear and manageable to me. 




Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485



>>> <Tina_Luffman at yc.edu> 11/15/2006 12:45 PM >>>

Hi everyone,
 
Steck Vaughn has come out with a handheld GED Study Buddy. This tool
looks interesting for the new generation of students who are so geared
to play with Game Boys and other video game units. These handhelds use
cartridges for the 5 subjects of the GED exam. The cost is not cheap*,
but if a program has money, I am sure these little units will engage
younger students more than books. I have not seen any of these Study
Buddies other than in the catalog, so I cannot comment on the content.
 
*399/device, 50/cartridge
Thanks,
 
Tina





Tina Luffman
Coordinator, Developmental Education
Verde Valley Campus
928-634-6544
tina_luffman at yc.edu 


-----technology-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: -----

To: "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List"
<technology at nifl.gov>
From: "Mariann Fedele" <MariannF at lacnyc.org>
Sent by: technology-bounces at nifl.gov 
Date: 11/14/2006 09:32PM
Subject: [Technology 700] handhelds and cell phones

Hi Steve and all, 


Great question, although using handhelds is a promising practice I
haven't heard of examples of them in the adult literacy field. 
Does anyone on the list have experience using handhelds for instruction
with adult literacy students, with other student populations? 

Regards, 
Mariann 


From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Steve Quann 
Sent: Mon 11/13/2006 8:43 PM 
To: technology at nifl.gov 
Subject: [Technology 698] Re: Video games and education 



Hi Marian, 
This makes me think of asking if you or anyone on the list know if 
anyone is doing anything with handhelds, cellphones games or not. I
know 
David Rosen posted a site from England that was. Any signs of it in the

adult literacy field? 
Steve Quann 
World Education 


>>> "Marian Thacher" <mthacher at otan.us> 11/13/06 11:52 AM >>> 

I wanted to share this exchange from the California adult ed tech
mentor 
list, as I'm wondering if others are using or thinking about using
video 
games and web sites like Second Life in instruction. 

Marian Thacher 
Outreach and Technical Assistance Network 
P.O. Box 269003 
Sacramento, CA 95826-9003 
(916) 228-2597 
www.otan.us 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
In response to "merging games with learning", there is a website ([ 
http://www.brainmeld.org ]www.brainmeld.org) in which one of my 
professors 
from National University runs. It contains teacher guides to using 
certain 
games in the classroom. These guides contain state standards, goals and

objectives to using the games. My professor has published the teachers'

guide that I wrote for high school Economics. It's called "Create the 
Empire of your Dreams". There are teacher guides for younger students
as 
well. 
I thought some of you would enjoy looking through this website. 

Ronda Rafidi 

Marian Thacher <mthacher at otan.us> wrote: 

  
Has anyone played around with Second Life [[ http://secondlife.com/ 
] http://secondlife.com/ ]? It's a virtual world, totally constructed
by 
the 
"residents." Talk about social networking sites! I haven't really used

it, 
and I don't have time to figure out how to build a bunch of 3D stuff, 
but 
it sounds like great fun if you have time, and I've been watching for 
educational applications, so if you're interested in such things, here

is 
an article about a couple of education organizations that are actually

doing things like holding a virtual summer camp on a private island in

Second Life! 

The School of Second Life 
By Wagner James Au 

For those who grew up on computer and video games over the past thirty

years, it's no surprise that games have become a full-fledged 
educational 
tool, merging play with learning in a way that speaks to the digital 
generation's technical literacy. Adding heft to this development, the 
Federation of American Scientists recently published the results of a 
year-long study suggesting that games have the power to teach
analytical 
skills, team building, and problem solving on the fly. 

Among the most powerful platforms for game-based teaching is Second 
Life, 
a virtual world superficially similar to online role-playing games such

as 
World of Warcraft or Sims Online but embedded with numerous features 
that 
can make it an ideal pedagogical resource. 

Read the article at [ http://www.edutopia.org/1709 
] http://www.edutopia.org/1709 


---------------------------------------------------- 
National Institute for Literacy 
Technology and Literacy mailing list 
Technology at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/technology 

----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Technology and Literacy mailing list
Technology at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/technology 


----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Technology and Literacy mailing list
Technology at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/technology

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 6977 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/technology/attachments/20061116/c03e8461/attachment.bin