This document discusses two distance learning courses at the University of Leicester that used iPads. It describes the course design, number of students, materials, and digital literacy instruction provided. It considers whether mobile learning can facilitate deep and collaborative learning. Student feedback indicated the iPad app was useful and frequently used. The document concludes mobile learning can successfully transform distance education by building in interactions and modeling digital literacy skills.

1. www.le.ac.uk
iPads in distance learning: learning
design, digital literacy, transformation
Terese Bird
Learning Technologist & SCORE
Research Fellow
Institute of Learning Innovation
University of Leicester
Transformations Photo by DG Jones on Flickr

2. What shall we talk about?
• The distance learning courses using iPads
– Description
– Learning Design
– Digital Literacy
• Big questions:
– can learning on-the-go and in short bursts
constitute deep learning?
– Is it feasible to study and engage in academic
research using an electronic device rather than
paper resources?
– Can mobile devices facilitate collaboration to
the benefit of the learner?
– Can we assume or require a certain level of
digital literacy on the part of students in order
for mobile learning to be effective?
• Conclusions and future plans
Photo by Barbara Willli on
Flickr

3. Peacekeeper-student’s coffee break during long-range patrol

4. Two MA distance learning courses
JISC Places: http://www.le.ac.uk/places-mlearn
Course Learning
Design
Student
Location
Number
of
students
Course
material
iPad
instruction
Digital
Literacy
Criminology
Security, Confl
ict, &
International
Development
Group 1st
attended
7Cs
Learning
Design
workshop
http://tinyur
l.com/yf2mw
cj
Conflictz
ones
(Iraq,
Sudan,
Nigeria)
18 per
cohort,
2 intakes
per year
Professional
course app,
Blackboard,
Amazon
books
(vouchers)
Helpsheet:
How to
download
course app,
top 10 apps
to use
Education
International
Education
One
Education
academic
did all
Anywhere
(Canada,
Korea)
10 Instructor-
created
ebook, Bbd
Email
instructions
to get ebook

5. http://www.olds.ac.uk

6. http://tinyurl.com/7cs-toolkit

7. • Criminology iPad app http://tinyurl.com/qg8zlfw

8. • Education ebook – free Apple iBooks Author
http://tinyurl.com/pstkkyd

9. ‘Top Ten Apps’
• Goodreader or iAnnotate PDF for reading and annotating pdf documents
 now Notability
• Twitter
• Pages – word processing opens Word documents and saves back as Word
documents
• Dropbox– 2GB of free storage space in the cloud.
• Evernote– take notes on iPad or any computer, save them in ‘the cloud’.
• Instapaper– saves websites so they can be read offline.
• Audiotorium– records sounds and allows you to takes notes.Kindle app –
lets you purchase ebooks from Amazon and read them on your iPad.
• iTunes U app– use great, free learning resources from iTunes U, keep
them organised.
• Blackboard Mobile Learn– provides access to the University’s Virtual
Learning Environment.---------
• YouTube – free video worldwide
• iBooks – free e-book reading app, supports multimedia in ebooks
• Podcasts – free app to organise and play audio files
• Skype
• iBrainstorm

10. Academic use of mobile device
• electronic reading and note-taking (pdf, epub)
• sharing resources with others, curating, discussing (Twitter)
• word-processing on device
• working with cloud storage
• web reading offline
• capturing live event by sound plus notes
• consuming, collecting, storing multimedia learning material
• Connecting with VLE
• videoconferencing with other students and tutors
• brain-storming, spider-diagramming

11. “Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use information
in multiple formats form a wide range of sources when it is
presented via computers.” (Gilster, 1997)
Koole’s FRAME Model (Koole, 2009)
Skype
Goodreader, iTunes U
Mobile Digital Literacy

12. Student feedback – Criminology
(Nie, Bird, Beck, Hayes, &Conole, 2013)
Very useful
67%
Useful 25%
Not useful
8%
Usefulness of iPad
Very useful
Useful
Not useful
Everyday
50%
A couple of
times a
week 42%
A few times
a month 8%
Frequency of using iPad and
app
Everyday
A couple of times a
week
A few times a month

13. Transformation of distance learning
• Being in the military I needed a course I could study
literally anywhere.
• The innovation of Leicester in taking distance
learning forward into the 21st Century made it an
obvious choice.
• “For me, the course app is suitable based on the
nature of my job which demands me to always be on
the move. Print could be very bulky for me to move.”
Student comments

14. Can learning on-the-go be deep?
• In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found
that college students who studied a list of 40
vocabulary words in two different rooms — one
windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a
view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than
students who studied the words twice, in the same
room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a
variety of topics. (Smith, Glenberg, &Bjork, 1978)

15. Can learning on-the-go be deep?
• ‘Spacing’ study is more effective than ‘massed’ study
(Kornell, Castel, Eich, &Bjork, 2010)

16. Is it feasible to study and engage in
academic research using an electronic
device rather than paper resources?
Is “The course App is easily accessed, it is pre-structured
and organised. I find it a logical progression and a great
guide to complete a unit by using the course app. If it
was not available I would use the blackboard as opposed
to print, again as it is easier to access view. I travel quite
a lot for work making the use of iPad ideal.”
“I much prefer reading from paper than from computers.
App is no 2 because it is so immediate and easy to
use.”feasible to study and engage in academic research using an
electronic device rather than paper resources?

17. Can mobile devices encourage
collaboration to the benefit of the learner?
Koole’s FRAME Model (Koole, 2009)

19. Can we assume or require a certain level of
digital literacy on the part of students in
order for mobile learning to be effective?
It’s best not to.
But not necessary to reinvent the wheel….
refer them to Apple instructions where
possible.

20. Conclusion: Successful digital literacy prompts
• How to get started with iPad
• Apple instructions
• What to do if something breaks
• ‘Top apps to try’ AND WHAT DO THEY DO
• From learning design, build in interaction and model
this – discussion boards, Twitter, Skype
• Discuss apps with each other

21. The way forward
• Criminology – every distance learning programme in
Criminology will use iPad and apps from 2014
• Education – will continue to use iPads and “we have
big plans”
• Medicine – One iPad per Medical First Year – we
produced a new Top Apps for Med Students

23. References
• Gilster, P. (1997). digital literacy (1st ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• JISC. (2011). Mobile Learning infokit / Home. Retrieved August 22, 2012, from
https://mobilelearninginfokit.pbworks.com/w/page/41122430/Home
• Koole, M. L. (2009). A Model for Framing Mobile Learning. In M. Ally (Ed.), Mobile
Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training (pp. 25–50).
Edmonton.
• Kornell, N., Castel, A. D., Eich, T. S., &Bjork, R. a. (2010). Spacing as the friend of
both memory and induction in young and older adults. Psychology and
aging, 25(2), 498–503. doi:10.1037/a0017807
• Nie, M., Armellini, A., Witthaus, G., &Barkland, K. (2010). Delivering University
Curricula: Knowledge, Learning and INnovation Gains — University of Leicester.
Leicester. Retrieved from http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-
research-alliance/projects/duckling
• Nie, M., Bird, T., Beck, A., Hayes, N., &Conole, G. (2013). Adding Mobility to
Distance Learning. Leicester.
• Smith, S. M., &Glenberg, A. (1978). Environmental context and human
memory, 6(1972), 342–353.