Introduction
Every
day the share of mobile Internet and the number of users of mobile devices are
increasing. Such changes are quite conditioned. Nowadays everyone is striving
for convenience and mobility in all spheres of life. However, mobile devices
would not bring so much benefit without special add – ons-mobile applications.
The importance of mobile applications in education is growing, and the main reason
for this is the opportunities they provide: joint work of students on tasks
during the lesson and in extracurricular activities, file exchange, organization
of distance learning and interaction with parents.
Today
a lot of people have access to a connected mobile device. Every person has
access to the Internet from a computer and a mobile device. Mobile technology
is changing the way we live and it is starting to change the way we learn. The
use of portable computing devices (such as IPADS, laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs and
smart phones) with wireless networks enables mobility and mobile learning,
allowing teaching and learning extend to spaces beyond the traditional
classroom.
Few
years ago our school received two mobile classes “Apple". Apple's mobile
class based on iPod media players is a unique mobile solution that allows you
to deploy a language lab in a matter of minutes in any audience and does not
require expensive communications. It was my class that became the first lucky users;
we got about 25 mobile iPod devices. At the time of admission, each of the
devices already had programs and applications for learning English and
additional equipment .This greatly increased the desire of our students to learn
English, because this learning becomes more interesting, you can work with
certain applications that you need. Students have the opportunity to learn a
foreign language on their own. Applications embedded in the iPod, make it
possible to study grammar separately, listen to English literature for
developing hearing and understanding spoken or solving listening tasks. Any
student who has ever used such a device can say that such training is much
easier and more interesting than the ordinary teaching.
Mobile
learning involves the use of mobile technologies, either alone or in
combination with other information and communication technologies, in order to
learn anytime and anywhere. Learning can take many forms: we can use mobile
devices to access educational resources, communicate with our friends, teachers
and relatives, or create content, both inside and outside of classrooms. Mobile
learning also makes easier communication between schools and families. Our
teachers and parents can discuss school problems on-line via Skype or in the
special forum.
Let's
focus on specific forms and methods of implementation of mobile technologies in
the educational process.
The
first (and most common) way is to use a mobile phone as a means of access to
the global network. It is possible to organize access to specialized sites
containing electronic training courses, tests, practical tasks and additional
training materials (drawings, photos, audio and video files). It is also
possible to exchange e-mail for educational purposes and instant messaging
programs as “Viber”, “What’s Up?” versions which exist for mobile phones. Thus,
at all stages of training, there are many opportunities for the transfer of
information materials to the student, as well as control of the entire learning
process and help in solving problems.
The
second way of possible use of mobile phones for training is the use of special
programs for cell phone platforms that are able to open and view office program
files, such as Office Word, Power point, Excel. Thus, having such files in the
memory of the mobile phone that contain training information, you can view
their versions, adapted specifically for the phone screen, with convenient
scrollbars, suitable font and user-friendly interface. Also, the source of
information can serve as video and audio files, programs, players for which are
in each phone of the last years of release. Especially valuable is this
opportunity for those who want to learn foreign languages – there are a huge
variety of audio courses and audiobooks, including files of different formats
and lengths.
Another
way to use mobile phones or IPods for learning is to use specialized
e-textbooks and courses that are adapted to be viewed and run on students '
mobile phones. In our IPods we have special program which allow us to read a
lot of e-books during the lessons.
It
is also possible to implement training programs in the game shell, using the
graphics capabilities of phones, but the implementation of such applications is
quite complex and time – consuming process. As a result, the writing of
electronic textbooks and subject testing programs for mobile phones seems to be
a more promising direction. There are a huge number of special applications for
mobile phones, such as calculators of varying degrees of complexity (simple,
scientific), office programs for mobile phones, applications containing various
tests with answers (for example, for psychologists), etc.
Mobile
applications.
To
date, the most common and affordable are Apple's iPhone smartphones and smartphones
on the Android mobile platform, which differ from conventional mobile phones
with a sufficiently developed operating system. Installation of additional
applications can significantly improve the functionality of smartphones
compared to conventional mobile phones.
The
importance of mobile applications for education is growing not only because of
their accessibility and attractiveness in terms of new technologies, but also
because of the opportunities they provide. Currently, a huge number of mobile
applications, starting with children's ABC and ending with paid applications
for self-study. My favorite application, on the basis of which our mobile
learning on iPod takes place at school, is called LINGUALEO. It is very
convenient and effective, because it combines both serious methods of study and
the game. Each of the techniques is divided into levels of training from
beginner to advanced user. This application we use for about a year and many of
our students began to receive some necessary and additional knowledge of
English. I make a list of the most popular applications among my friends and
classmates:
1.
Microsoft Applications (Word, Excel, Power Point, OneNote, OneDrive).
Convenient
mobile versions that allow you to process information, even when there is no
computer at hand.
2.
Google apps (Drive, Mail, Play Market, Google Maps, Google Earth).
Quick
access to your files, easy interface to download the necessary applications.
Interactive satellite maps online. Virtual globe
3.
Online library (Aldebaran, Samolet, Litres, Liter etc.)
On
some resources it is possible to download or read a book online, a large
selection of works in various genres.
4.
GeoGebra.
A
free, cross-platform dynamic math program for all levels of education,
including geometry, algebra, tables, graphs, statistics, and arithmetic, in one
easy-to-use package.
5.Applications
for learning English (Duolingo, Lingualeo, Polyglot, Puzzle English, Tutorial
in English. They give the opportunity to learn English on their own.
Advantages and disadvantages of using mobile
applications.
When implementing any innovation, you need to be
prepared for the negative side, so let's consider both the undoubted advantages
and negative aspects of mobile learning. Thus, the undoubted advantages of
using mobile devices and technologies in the educational process of the school
are: quick access to authentic educational and reference resources and programs
at any time and in any place; constant feedback from the teacher and the
educational community; taking into account the individual characteristics of
the student - diagnosis of learning problems.
The negative aspects of mobile learning in the
first place should be attributed to the complexity is not so much technical and
financial, as administrative and organizational nature. Firstly, it is
difficult to convince both teachers and the administration of schools that this
form of training helps to optimize the educational process, because the tasks
are carried out on devices (phones), which are usually prohibited in schools
and universities for use in the classroom.
Conclusion.
In
conclusion, I would like to say that mobile applications greatly facilitate
learning and increasingly show the desire of students to education. The use of
mobile applications in the learning process is one of the ways to increase the
motivation of learning. Mobile applications help to realize the main human
needs-communication, education, self-realization. The introduction of mobile
applications in the educational process is designed to improve the efficiency
of lessons, free the teacher from routine work, as well as to diversify the
feedback forms.
Literature
used:
How
to make e — learning understandable" - Michael Allen.
E-learning
opportunities in development- I.N. Meshcheryakova.
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