Do 21st Century Students Dream of Electric Sheep?

A mobile social media framework for creative pedagogies

Abstract

Students sometimes appear to be 'asleep' and are often updating their Facebook status during seminars and lectures. We argue this is the equivalent of counting electric sheep. Student brainwave activity measured during traditional lectures has been shown to be similar to that while watching television and significantly lower than that exhibited during any form of activity including sleep (Mazur, 2012). Mazur found that introducing interactive activities in lectures significantly increases brain activity. In this paper we explore the potential for mlearning to enhance student interactivity and collaboration both in the classroom and in authentic situated learning contexts. We partnered with Vodafone New Zealand and Auckland Transport to provide our students with an iPad Mini, and 4G connectivity, to enable student-generated research projects. The students' brief was to design an enhanced experience of commuting via public transport in Auckland City. Thus the research investigates how mobile devices can be used enable interactive learning environments.