2012 ltdc mobile learning presentation 10 08-12

“Mobile Learning”
John Martin, PhD
johnmartin@wisc.edu

engage.wisc.edu ARIS (arisgames.org)
Monday, December 17, 12

Hi.

the true centre of correlation of the school subjects
is not science, nor literature, nor history, nor geography,
but the child's own social activities.

“My Pedagogic Creed” by John Dewey. School Journal vol. 54 (January 1897), pp. 77-80.


We’ve known what motivates people for a long time. But we haven’t been able to do it. When the end of child labor laws
landed hundreds of previously-working kids in classrooms with one teacher, the management model was a reasonable
coping method. And “school isn’t supposed to be play. It’s supposed to be hard.” (We learn the most by playing, and
sometimes play very hard!)


Remember this guy? He had something to say about computers as revolutionary learning tools.


That was Seymour Papert. In the 1980s, he said that computers could revolutionize learning, but not until every learner
had one. One computer per classroom was like having one pencil per classroom. How useful would a single pencil,
shared among 30 kids be? Would they each learn to use is as naturally as we now do?
— how many of you have your own computer?
— more than one?
— one in your pocket or purse? (If so, please turn off the ringer)


You’re not alone. As our “dumb” phones’ service contracts expire, we replace them with computers that, incidentally,
make phone calls. I don't need to tell you that smartphones are amazing. In fact, the "phone" part of them is increasingly
less important
— how many have smartphones?
— does anyone spend more time on it “phoning” than “non-phoning” (texting, Facebook, Twitter, MP3s, web, etc.)?

so, what is “mobile learning”?


Existing Education | Mobile Learning
Centralized Peer-to-Peer

Uniform Personalized

Just-In-Case Just-In-Time

Audience as Consumer Distributed Production

Authority Social Capital

Institutional Relational


From this table we can see how the paradigms and epistemologies of a society are manifest
within a media.

access

to

information
people
databases

anywhere, anytime



So at 2:10am, when my dog needs to go out, I can learn something about the stars while I wait ...


And I can chart my sleep at night. Then I can share on Facebook, so all my friends can understand why I’m tired and
grumpy.


Many of these arguments and conversations happen with others, of course. They’re not designed by a pedagogue for
"anytime anyplace" learning. They emerge situationally in the "here and now".

A good learning environment is in many ways the opposite of this Time cover. It’s dirty and there are things — real
things— to mess with, and real problems to solve, and real people — people that you care for, if even for a moment —
to interact with.

Place-Based Learning


SITUATED EMBODIED LEARNING: So it's not about a creating learning activity to fill a GENERIC time and place, but
about creating activities for SPECIFIC times and places — or, and this is my angle — creating activities that put them in
specific places and situations and environments where they want to engage in learning activities. That's a different
angle, I think, than the angle taken by a lot of folks who look at mobile learning. It's very temporal and geographical.


"One sees the environment
not just with the eyes,
but with the eyes in the head
on the shoulders of a body
that gets about" (Gibson 1979: 222)




"One sees the environment
not just with the eyes,
but with the eyes in the head
on the shoulders of a body
that gets about" (Gibson 1979: 222)
with^others



1. People expect to be able to
work, learn, and study
whenever and wherever
they want to.

2. The technologies we use are
increasingly cloud-based, and our
notions of IT support are
decentralized.

3. The world of work is increasingly
collaborative, driving changes
in the way student projects are
structured.

4. The abundance of resources and
relationships made easily
accessible via the Internet is
increasingly challenging us to
revisit our roles as educators.

5. Education paradigms are shifting
to include online learning,
hybrid learning and
collaborative models.

6. There is a new emphasis in the
classroom on more challenge-
based and active learning.

Some of you may have read this... Let me address their “Six Trends” and tie them to what is becoming known as
“mobile learning”

Technologies to Watch (2012)


My doctoral research focused on these three, working with Kurt Squire and the Games+Learning+Society research
group (you may have read Jim Gee’s book on “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” — if
you haven’t, please do!)

AR Game Mechanics

Play on location


It went like
this...

AR Game Mechanics

Play on
handheld

Play on location


It went like
this...

AR Game Mechanics

Trigger game
objects
Play on
handheld

Play on location


It went like
this...

AR Game Mechanics

Trigger game
objects
Play on
handheld

collect clues and
objectives Play on location


It went like
this...

Noah: “If I lived in the
Greenbush and could go back
in time, I would try protesting
to the city one last time. Or
maybe I would even do
something heroic like running
in front of a bulldozer or
chaining myself to my house
so they couldn’t destroy my
home.”


THE GREENBUSH — In 2005 I worked with some sixth-graders who had, the previous year, studied a neighborhood in
Madison, WI that had undergone "urban renewal" in the 1960s — the heart of it was bull-dozed.

They interviewed old residents, became friends with them, and a few of them created "The Greenbush Game" in which
you play a young Jewish resident in 1959 who runs around the neighborhood doing errands.

Start

1 17 16 15

Greenbush Game 2 1
(2005) 8-9 6-7 5 2-4
10 17
16
3
15

Samuel

11 14
4 14
12 13

5 13
3/27;

6-7 8-9 10 11 12


The neighborhood is gone, but sidewalks remain where streets used to be. So you run errands, and as you walk, the
game beeps and you see houses and storefronts on screen, and have conversations with virtual people, and hopefully
get them to sign a petition to stop the plan for urban renewal (It’s in Madison, Wisconsin — there must be a protest).

The strength of the activity is not in seeing grainy lo-res pictures on a sun-glared screen, or in having virtual
conversations, it’s in actively participating in a story, thereby making that anonymous space a personal place connecting
other’s experiences to your own experience (this one!). It's about looking up from the image of a garden in front of a
house, and seeing that there's a parking lot there now. What was lost? Was it worth it? Why or why not?

http://vimeo.com/45840959

Situated Documentary

1 minute

Folklore

50 sec

Graphic Design Narrative Design Game Mechanics

Video Editing Interviewing

Promotion Iteration

Photography Playtesting

Event Planning Javascript

Project Management Archival Research Arduino

But process and collaboration

Boolean logic to iterative user-centric prototyping

http://arisgames.org/server/services/v1/samples/
jsWebBackPack/index.html?gameId=4363


Lab Safety http://vimeo.com/45840959

50 sec

Fibers

30 sec

smart objects


Mixed Reality Connecting physical and virtual


Show ARIS Gong Video

Sneak Peek: Situated Learning in Action
The Sod House

MHS has expertise in designing experiences

WWI Bomber Crash
Tornado Room

No what if we could have this quality of experience but with a mobile to provide an individual
path and status

Sneak Peek: Situated Learning in Action
The Iron Mine

MHS has expertise in designing experiences

WWI Bomber Crash
Tornado Room

No what if we could have this quality of experience but with a mobile to provide an individual
path and status

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Start
!
!
24 8
1
Saving 8
2
Lake Wingra 23 7 9
(2007-09) 9
3
! 10 !

11 6 10
22 5
12 4
16 13
24 17 15 14 11
21 23
22 18
19
!
21 20 !
20 12

!
19 18 17 16 15 14 13

! !

GAMES TO TEACH. For four years after that, I was part of a grant that looked at place-based games for middle school
kids. We focused on Science, Scientific Thinking, Civic engagement, reading, and persuasion. "Saving Lake Wingra"
was a 10-day curriculum centered on a 2-hour place-based experience on an urban lake, where kids in teams of three
(environmental historian, landscape architect, and watershed ecologist) are tasked to study the lake and make a
recommendation for its future.

7
8

1

2

3
6

4
5

B
o
W
Montgomery Lataya Pete Julia A


As they move through the area, players meet up with all sorts of virtual stake-holders — a jogger, a condo developer,
picnickers, an anthropologist, people fishing, people removing invasive species, a surly old man on a "pleasure drive"
8 The Mills Lot Landing notes, and
— each with their Lake opinion and Company isolated the marsh agenda for the lake. The kids observe, take across from W
own Forest Land each making a case for their
go back to their classroom rest of the lake. Now,on that very along
from the and research based turtles nest experiential, situated experience.
and just upstream from the bridge is a pr
und the shore, and redwing blackbirds are abundant. that provides access to the Gardner M
n (across from the parking lot). The UW-
eight 7 Wingra Creek Dam & Portage lie along Wingra provides many additional educational r
of Drive. Wingra Creek is a drainage ditch running to about Lake Wingra and the surrounding
Lake Monona, with flow controlled by the Wingra
Dam. During periods of high water, Lake Monona 9 Gardner Marsh (natural area -- no ca

• Different NPCs will talk to you, depending
on what role you are playing. Pass the PDA
7
to the appropriate player.
8

1

2

3
6

4
5

B
o
W



on what role you are playing. Pass the PDA 7
8
• Try to ﬁgure out their points of view, the
agenda that they're pushing, and why.
1

2

3
6

4
5

B
o
W



8
1
• Look for evidence (that they give, and in
2 your own observations) to support or
refute their claims.
3
6

4
5

B
o
W



8
1
3 • Use that evidence later (in a few days) when
you make your own claims.
6

4
5

B
o
W



8
1
3 • Use that evidence later (in a few days) when
you make your own claims.
6
• They all have opinions (some more than
one), and will try to persuade you.
4
5

B
o
W



The Mystery Trip


MYSTERY TRIP. Additionally, for the past 17 years I've helped run a deep woods camp in Maine. For my dissertation,
in 2006 I had a group 11-13 year-old campers write a loose narrative to structure a 4-day trip in the woods and
mountains surrounding the camp. For the next 3 years campers “played” that narrative for that trip.

lake Trip Goals
mtn
1. Fill four day trip
(Tue 9am - Fri 2pm)
swamp mtn 2. Camp at different
site each night

3. Explore as much land/
streams diversity as practical
mtn
4 miles

4. Low impact / Stay out
mtn of heart of Wildlands
(wildlife only)
mtn
5. Be Safe

lake 6. Have Fun

mtn

4 miles


Basically, it goes like this: campers canoe across the lake, start hiking up a mountain, and as soon as they're far
enough out of sight of camp that they can't really know better, the "communicator" that I gave them starts buzzing...

You left camp about an hour ago. The hike is going well. You feel a buzzing in
your backpack. You take out your Communicator, and read a message from
the Assistant Director...

Photo by 2008 Mystery Trip Group

and I tell them how camp's been invaded, and I escaped after a struggle, and I'm not sure what's happening, and they
should consider staying off the main trails because the invaders are coming after them too!


It’s John. His face is
scratched and bloody,
battered and bruised.
After you left, camp was
overrun by men in green.
We tried to fend them off.
There were five of them on
Noah at one time, and Addie
took out eight or so, but the
sheer numbers overcame us.




It’s John. His face is It’s John. His face is
scratched and bloody, scratched and bloody,
battered and bruised. battered and bruised.
After you left, camp was I’m not sure why they attacked.
overrun by men in green. Head up Great Pond Mountain.
I’ll try to communicate with you
there. Stay out of sight, and off
There were five of them on the open faces — and don’t
Noah at one time, and Addie take the main trails; I think
took out eight or so, but the they’re monitoring them.
Go! and be careful!




It’s John. His face is It’s John. His face is
John Martin, looking
scratched and bloody, scratched and bloody,
really really tired.
battered and bruised. battered and bruised.
After you left, camp was I’m not sure why they attacked. They’re setting up some kind of
overrun by men in green. Head up Great Pond Mountain. base station here. There’s all
I’ll try to communicate with you sorts of radio gear.
there. Stay out of sight, and off
If you can get to one of the
There were five of them on the open faces — and don’t
nearby peaks, you might be
Noah at one time, and Addie take the main trails; I think
able to intercept a transmission
took out eight or so, but the they’re monitoring them.
with your Communicator.
Go! and be careful!



1. Camp is under attack!
lake mtn 2. Stay off trails!
5
4 6 3. What we know...
4. Camp here.
swamp mtn
Enemy is transmitting.
7
Capture signal.
protected wildlife area
5. Signal garbled.
streams Must triangulate.
3 mtn
s 6. Camp here.
mtn 8 Get signal.
2
mtn 7. Get signal.
13 10 8. Will decode.
11 1 9
9. Camp here.
lake Decoded!
12 10. Avoid snipers! (s)
s mtn
11. Get stashed canoes.
Head to middle of lake.
12. Transmit anti-signal.
13. Mission accomplished!


And what is a simple 13-page story turns into an epic adventure because they’re given 16-square miles of unstructured
space to “fill-in-the-blanks”

narrative motivated bushwhacking

JB15: You think that you don't want to
go on the trails because the other
camp would be there waiting for you...


So for 4 days they do essentially the same hike that we've sent boys out on since 1921 — but now they're invested in a
story!

And because they're playing this "behind enemy lines" type role, they don't just follow the trail mindlessly talking about
girls and baseball until they come to a junction.

greater understanding of place

JB16: I learned that trees aren't
actually that spread out; they're a lot
closer together [logged and replanted
years ago]; and there are a lot more
animals out and stuff. We saw a
porcupine climbing a tree on GPM.


But instead every step becomes a decision between thorns (raspberries!) or hornets or swamps or cliffs or mosquitoes
or sun or shade or vistas (lookouts!) or cover or anice place to stop and have their PB&J lunch.

And they pull the map out, and learn to use a compass and landmarks, and debate about directions, and help each
other over logs, and do all the things that we dream of teaching them!

greater understanding of self

ZM4: There was some hard
bushwhacking, which I thought was
kind of fun actually [because of] the
fact that you're the ﬁrst person who's
ever traveled along these paths. And
jumping from rock to rock at times ...
I'm like "Whoa! Don't fall down that"
Of course Jake was really tired and
was following me, and I didn't want
him to fall in it.


Not because WE are teaching them, but because we put them in a story that motivates them to venture off the beaten
path, take smart risks, and work together.

unfolding narrative intensiﬁed experience

AW13: On a regular trip you just want
to get to the next campsite, but on
this you have to get to this mountain
to stop the radio signals then you have
to go to this one and that one. ... so
you could ﬁnish the game and see
what happens next.


And eventually they finish the story, save camp, and are welcomed as heroes!

Make Your Own!

Event Event Event Event

Event Event

Event Event
Map of Area

Event Event

Event Event
Guiding Problem


STRUCTURED DISCUSSION: In the program, I threatened that this would be a structured discussion, so I’m about to
discuss the latest mobile learning project I’m involved in, ARIS. And while I talk about ARIS, you think of a place-based
story. Use this template as a starting point. Here are a few ideas....

State Street Design


Map out cool places along a street

surve illance

Be subversive. My colleague, Jim Mathews’, high school students figured out how to get across their HS grounds without
triggering any surveillance cameras.


Map out local graffiti

parking

Direct people to the best free parking spaces (except your secret spot)


Find cheap food


or places to do forbidden things


Document how a neighborhood is changing


Make a mobile suggestion box to report problems and ideas, and email Facilities & Planning and building manager with
the specific location of the problem (burned out lights, icy sidewalks, vandalism, etc.)

Ok. Keep thinking while I talk about the cool project I’m involved in now...

arisgames.org
G o t h e re n o w !
• Open Source
• Server-based
• iOS (via App Store)
• Narrative-centered
• Create, pickup, drop items
• Uses A/V capabilities
• GPS + QR Codes
• Add modules - e.g., bird call,
ﬁeld guide, Bike Box


ARIS: David Gagnon is a whiz kid programmer and colleague, who, in 2008, saw the work we were doing for place-
based games using the MIT Outdoor Augmented Reality platform (now called MITAR), and he made an iPhone app as a
class project. I jumped on the team and we’ve been developing it since.

It is open source and free. It is robust, solid, and has a pretty slick drag-and-drop editor (seen in this slide).
We would love to grow the community of users and developers, so please join us in developing on it!
And if you know a smart Android developer, we'd love to see it ported.

H enry
Mall
His tory


The example from the previous screen is a recent example of a project to highlight the range of amazing science done
at UW-Madison over the years...

hid answer in
the bushes. but how do
squeak! show ya later we catch the
poop?!
I’m a feces
bucket!

Ate something There are mice squeak!
wrong. Gotta all over my
poop. cenotaph!

I’m a
preventing SCID
magical time
(boy in bubble
talisman!
diesae)

Strange force knockout

ﬁeld of some
mice developed here.
And escaped!! Collect
them all!
squeak! kind
why am I here?
and half invisible?
Got
varmit
problems?


To tie it all together, we wrote a highly fictionalized “get the ghost from the past back home” story that highlights a lot of
the fun and quirky bits. Here’s an overview of some of the “events” and characters involved.

ROB OTS!


Another example of a game that simply gets people to move through an environment is “Robots!”


There are no big learning goals in this “getting warmer; getting colder” game to find these road-striping robot stickers in
Madison streets. It just gets players to be more aware their environment. (UPDATE: I saw one in Chicago too! They’re
part of an art project called “Stickman” and they’re in cities all over the world!!! Google it!)

Dow Day!


Our most developed experience is “Dow Day” — based on riots that occured in 1967, when students at UW-Madison
who were protesting the Vietnam war found out that Dow Chemical, makers of napalm, were recruiting on campus.


The player takes on the role of a student newspaper reporter whose job is to cover the riots.


He gets the assignment from his editor,


Interviews different folks (legislator, recruiter, protesters, police, etc.) to get their perspectives,


Moves through the actual place that the riots took place in,


And compare now to images and media from the actual event.


It’s a powerful portal to a place


where, 40-some years ago, protesters were beaten and arrested.

Mentira


MENTIRA. At the University of New Mexicon in Albequerque, Julie Sykes and Chris Holden created a hybrid approach
(virtual and real) for teaching Spanish, through a Situated Soap Opera that brings the students into local communities to
learn the language.


an amazing story unfolds!


There’s a group of developers in Spain doing some cool stuff around a huge complex. It’s called Birdmovil, and they’ve
got film clips from activities in tha past ...


as well as contemporary photographs. It looks like a cool place, though I haven’t been there yet.

Middleton History


Jim Mathews created a Fictionalized Historical Inquiry for the town in which he teaches high school.


It includes shady characters who share secret maps and portals to past,


And a clock tower — er, portal— from 1856, with a secret code


that when entered into ARIS...


sends you back in time,


where things are the same, but also a bit different...


And you need to make your way through the new environment with what you have.

Have 10 Cents?
and
Answer = Yes

Don’t have 10 Cents?
or
Answer = No


in order to figure out what to do next.


And the paper helps you figure our the rest of the game, (right)?

So that’s the gamey/toury side of ARIS. There’s another side as well.

WeBIRD (Field Tool)


We’re also working on specialized Data Collection tools, based on ARIS, such as WeBIRD, which records birdsongs,
analyzes the spectrogram (Mark Berres’ algorithm), identifies birds, gives you more info on the birds, and documents
your sighting of the bird on Cornell’s National eBird database.

We can do this for invasive species as well, with a module developed for plant identification.

85


Oh, and it all exports to Google Maps and Earth, so you can have a bunch of students do their own thing, and come
back to the classroom and see and discuss the collective results.

Cra vens


If you don’t have iPhones or iPads with 3G, you can create iPod Touch experiences anywhere with wifi covereage.
The mapping feature helps create what I call “Inside-Out” place-based activities. Simply scan a code associated with
an object (in this example, a doll from Cameroon), and get transported (to Cameroon) via Google Earth or Google
Maps. With Google Maps, you can do more research later, and share what you’ve done with the rest of class.

ARIS Mobile Game Jam
APRIL 18-20, 2011
(Open to anyone, anywhere! Email for info!)

johnmartin@wisc.edu

engage.wisc.edu
glsconference.org
So if I got my timing close, we should have a lot of time left to bring this all back to you! What have you got for me?
We’re looking for ideas, fresh perspectives, challenges, and those “have you ever thought of?...” questions and
comments.

Check us out at arisgames.org
Get our free ARIS app from the iTunes App Store!
Email me at johnmartin@wisc.edu

Thanks!!

BONUS SLIDES!


AR Game Mechanics

Play on location

For a $3.5M 2005-2008 STAR Schools
grant with Harvard and MIT, my doctoral
research group made location-based
games using MIT’s Outdoor Augmented
Reality platform. It was prety cool stuff.

For a $3.5M 2005-2008 STAR Schools grant with Harvard and MIT, my doctoral research group made
location-based games using MIT’s Outdoor Augmented Reality platform. It was prety cool stuff.

AR Game Mechanics

Play on
handheld

Play on location



AR Game Mechanics

Trigger game
objects
Play on
handheld

Play on location



AR Game Mechanics

Trigger game
objects
Play on
handheld

collect clues and
objectives Play on location



We gave students real data, and
situated it in real places, with authentic
(and somewhat ﬁctionalized) problems.


We gave students real data, and situated it in real places, with authentic (and somewhat ﬁctionalized)
problems.

Classroom
Curriculum
Seven AR
Mad City Mystery: (CSI)
AR Games
Design Projects
Riverside Game: Land Use
LocalGamesLab.comabout ﬁnding chemical
MCM was
pollutants; in SSB they found ecoli in
goose poop made kids sick; SLW was
about urban design and land use in
Madison; Riverside did that in Milwaukee.
We found that good location-based
experiences situate learning; make data
South Shore Beach: (CSI) and problems meaningful.
Hip Hop Tycoon: Math
• Played by ~1000 students
• Games to teach Environmental Sciences, Social
Studies, Persuasion, Math
• 26 classrooms (urban, suburban, rural Wisconsin)
Squire, K.D., Jan, M., Mathews, J., Wagler, M., Martin, J., Devane, B. & Holden, C. (2007)
Squire, K., Mathews, J., Holden, C., Martin, J. Jan, M., Johnson, C., & Wagler, M. (forthcoming).

Martin, J., Mathews, J., Jan M., Holden, C. (2008) Mathews, J,. Holden, C., Jan, M,. Martin, J. (2008)
Jan, M; Mathews, J., Holden, C., Martin, J. (2008) Squire K.D. & Jan, M. (2007).

Saving Lake Wingra: Civics

MCM was about ﬁnding chemical pollutants; in SSB they found ecoli in goose poop made kids sick; SLW
was about urban design and land use in Madison; Riverside did that in Milwaukee.
We found that good location-based experiences situate learning; make data and problems meaningful.

2012 ltdc mobile learning presentation 10 08-12

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2012 ltdc mobile learning presentation 10 08-12