M-LEARNING AN OPPORTUNITY TO REACH DIGITAL LEANERS

March 29th, 2022

• Within the framework of the research project entitled “IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE ESTRATEGIAS DE APRENDIZAJE MÓVIL Y SU EFECTO EN EL DESARROLLO DE COMPETENCIAS COMUNICATIVAS EN INGLÉS EN DOCENTES DE LA USTA, SEDES BOGOTÁ, VILLAVICENCIO Y DUAD”, professors Martha Isabel Ramírez, Herberth Mendieta Ramírez, Katherin  Rodríguez Silva (USTA Bogotá) and Yomaira Angélica Herreño-Contreras (USTA Villavicencio)  gave a talk about m-learning as an opportunity to reach digital learners.  The talk was held online on March 29th, and was attended by more than a hundred students located all around Colombia and who are enrolled in the EdS degree in Education and Pedagogy from Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina (Bogotá).

• The talk aimed at raising awareness of the necessity of becoming acquainted with m-learning as a pedagogical strategy to boost learning, and  comprised issues such as the benefits, opportunities, and challenges it may pose for both teachers and students.  It also provided attendees with a brief historical background and insights on m-learning based on previous research studies, theory on the topic, as well as with key concepts concerning the roles of teachers and students in classes mediated by m-learning. Finally, it is worth highlighting that the talk is part of a series of workshops and training sessions intended to guide teachers toward the application of m-learning in their own English learning process.  Likewise, it is expected to be replicated at USTA Colombia as a manner to contribute to the institutional foreign language policies.

M-LEARNING: EDUCATION IN CONTEXT

May 2nd, 2022

• Within the framework of the research project entitled “IMPLEMENTATION OF MOBILE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS IN ENGLISH AMONG TEACHERS AT UNIVERSIDAD SANTO TOMÁS IN BOGOTÁ, VILLAVICENCIO, AND DUAD”, professor Herberth Mendieta Ramírez started leading the course “Mobile learning: Education in Context”. This course is an appealing introduction about how to implement m-learning strategies in the Colombian educational context.   The first class was held online on May 2nd, and was attended by approximately 60 students who are located in varied Colombian regions and currently are enrolled in the EdS degree in Education and Pedagogy from Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina (Bogotá).

• The first session aimed at familiarizing the participants with m-learning strategies as a manner to empower students to decide what, where and why they want to learn meaningfully. Indeed,  m-learning  promotes active participation among students. In this case, the Nearpod platform was used as a guide to help teachers create interactive lessons and class activities by using students’ devices while they engage in an engrossing class. Thus, professor Herberth Mendieta Ramírez presented how to use this tool in a synchronous class and also displayed  the advantages of using this app as a strategy to include a wide range of mobile devices when designing a lesson. Attendees  became aware of the importance of including m-learning strategies in their own teaching contexts.  Finally, 45 students uploaded their learning evidence on the Schoology platform.

M- LEARNING: 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLIED RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

May 22nd, 2022

• On May 22nd professor Yomaira Angélica Herreño-Contreras participated as a speaker in the 4th International Conference on Applied Research in Education. This year the conference was the scenario for the presentation of new advances and research results in education, e-Learning, English and Foreign Language Teaching (ELT/FLT), Learning and Teaching. Academicians from different countries such as India, Italy, Israel, United States, Georgia, Japan, Greece, Uruguay, Spain, South Africa,  and Colombia, among others joined together to discuss how they are developing e-learning strategies in their corresponding field of studies.

• Professor Herreño-Contreras made a presentation entitled The Role of  MALL for Building the Next Generation of e-learning.  She talked about the needs analysis conducted in order to design a pedagogical proposal intended to respond to the university foreign language policy and standards of communicative competence for its staff, and also displayed the initial analysis of data derived from a survey conducted as a strategy to gather information about teachers’ perceptions of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and their acquaintance with mobile learning as a pedagogical strategy to foster EFL and autonomy.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: FODEIN RESEARCH PROJECT

May 31st, 2022

• Within the framework of the research project entitled “Implementation of mobile learning strategies and its effect on the development of communicative skills in English among professors from branches USTA, BOGOTÁ, VILLAVICENCIO, and DUAD”, professors Katherin Rodríguez Silva and Martha Isabel Ramírez presented a podcast about the FODEIN project preliminary results during the first fourth months of application. The broadcasting was held on May 31st, 2022 by means of “La Caja de Pandora” radio program, whose director is Angela Bonilla at Escenario Radio Station.

• The podcast started with the FODEIN project’s presentation in order to contextualize and familiarize the audience with m-learning, its advantages and challenges. Likewise, m-learning applications were presented and how they could be used in pedagogical contexts. Researchers pointed out the main pedagogical challenges regarding m-learning.  Furthermore, the positive impact was also highlighted and the high level of participants’ satisfaction using m-learning strategies during these preliminary results. This FODEIN project comprises one  experimental group consisting of USTA Colombia professors and another control group with students enrolled in the EdS degree in Education and Pedagogy from Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina (Bogotá).

• Additionally, researchers presented the events in which they have participated internationally such as the 4th International Conference on Applied Research in Education in Rome - Italy on May 22nd.  Finally, the broadcast finished with the invitation to explore the website and also to participate in the teaching training course, which will start next month in June.

• If you want to plunge yourself into this interesting episode, please click on the button below.

M-LEARNING AS A STRATEGY TO REACH DIGITAL LEANERS

• On June 6 professors Martha Isabel Diaz Ramírez, Katherin Johanna Rodríguez Silva and Herberth Alfonso Mendieta Ramírez presented an online talk concerning the relevance of mobile learning to reach digital learners. The talk was the preamble of the course “m-learning strategies to foster EFL communicative competences” and included the attendance of teachers from different faculties at USTA Villavicencio. It aimed at raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities derived from the responsible and academic use of mobile devices and digital technologies in the classroom. Furthermore, they also referred to some threats that the digital world may pose to the educational field and daily life issues.

• The talk is part of a series of academic events related to the research project entitled “Implementation of mobile learning strategies and their effect on the development of communicative skills in English among teachers at Universidad Santo Tomás in Bogotá, Villavicencio and DUAD”, which is currently being conducted by the research groups DRIE (Doing Research to Improve Education) from USTA Villavicencio, and USTA Learning from USTA Bogotá. Along the presentation 21 teachers had the opportunity to participate and to interact with the researchers not only by asking questions but also by participating in an interactive questionnaire through a mobile tool called Quizizz designed to motivate participation and to verify comprehension.

"FOSFERING TECHER´S COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN

ENGLISH THROUGH MOBILE LEARNING"

• Last July 3rd professors Herberth Alfonso Mendieta Ramírez and Katherin Johanna Rodríguez Silva, who belong to the International Center of Foreign Language and Culture from Universidad Santo Tomás, conducted an online talk regarding the implementation of mobile learning strategies to foster teachers’ communicative competences in English.  The talk took place on the portrait of the 5th International Conference on Research in Education held in Munich-Germany during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of July. The event included the attendance of participants, speakers and experts from different countries around the world, all of them involved in academic research aiming to exchange information, socialize experiences and research results about various aspects of specialized and interdisciplinary fields. This event also provided the lecturers an extraordinary opportunity to network, share ideas, and present preliminary research results to a worldwide community.

• The talk was part of a series of international academic events related to the FODEIN 2022 research project entitled “Implementation of mobile learning strategies and their effect on the development of communicative skills in English among teachers at Universidad Santo Tomás in Bogotá, Villavicencio and DUAD”, which is currently conducted by the research groups DRIE -Doing Research to Improve Education- from USTA Villavicencio, and USTA Learning from USTA Bogotá. During the presentation 13 guests had the opportunity to participate and to interact with the researchers motivating an academic discussion on the topic.

DEVELOPMENT, ADVANCES AND FINAL STEPS: - FODEIN RESEARCH PROJECT

September 26th, 2022

• Within the framework of the FODEIN research project entitled “Implementation of mobile learning strategies and its effect on the development of communicative skills in English among professors from branches USTA, BOGOTÁ, VILLAVICENCIO, and DUAD”, professors Yomaira Herreño from Villavicencio and Herberth Mendieta from Bogotá, recorded a radio program about the development, advances and final steps of the project carried out from along the year 2022. The broadcasting was held on September 26th, 2022 by means of “La Caja de Pandora” radio program, whose director is Angela Bonilla at Escenario Radio Station.

• The podcast started with a contextualization about the importance of mobile learning in the current processes of education and its benefits as a didactic strategy that promotes learning. Likewise; during the radio program, researchers exposed relevant information about their experience implementing the project and commented on some results and findings. Researchers also pointed out the main pedagogical challenges regarding m-learning, mentioned some authors and theory that supported and consolidated the data collected and gave a brief insight of conclusions.

• During the program researchers had the opportunity to speak about the courses implemented with teachers at Fundación Universitaria del Area Andina and Universidad Santo Tomás, in which a total of 30 teachers were trained and introduced into the methodologies provided by mobile learning. The result was that they all recognized the possibility to use mobile devices for academic purposes in their classes not only to promote motivation but to foster the teaching and learning of a foreign language.

• Additionally, researchers also presented the national and international events where the project has been socialized with the academic community to mobilize knowledge and to generate an impact on the topic of mobile learning. They finally invited the audience to use mobile devices academically.

PARTICIPATION XIII INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON RESEARCH IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES (CIILE)

• In the portrait of the The XIII International Colloquium on Research in Foreign Languages ​​(CIILE); held in Veracruz – Mexico, and organized by the Faculty of Languages ​​of Veracruzana University from September 21st to 23rd, professor Herberth Alfonso Mendieta had the outstanding opportunity to present the results of a research process entitled “Promoting ELT through mobile assisted language learning -MALL-”. The academic presentation focused on how to implement a methodological and didactic strategy in order to motivate a group of about 100 university teachers from different areas of knowledge to learn and/or to strengthen their English language skills through the mediation of mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, ipads or computers using a series of online resources and apps specialized in language acquisition such as Duolingo, Voice of America Learning English, Lyrics Training and Word Reference. The results pointed out the benefits to include a MALL methodology in the classroom due to it increased motivation, improved language skills, fosters autonomy and guarantee a happy and enthusiastic learning.

• Professors Katherin Rodríguez and Martha Isabel Díaz successfully participated as speakers in The XIII International Colloquium on Research in Foreign Languages ​​(CIILE) which was organized by the Faculty of Languages ​​of Veracruzana University in Mexico on September 22nd, 2022. They presented a talk entitled “m-learning for Promoting Autonomy in Language teaching”.  The presentation was about m- learning benefits achieved by two groups of professors from two different private high institutions. The speakers also shared the data collection instruments such as entrance tests, forums, perception surveys, and participants’ artifacts. The results highlighted that research participants were able to become more conscious about their own professional practice through self-directed learning. Furthermore, participants, during the project implementation were able to feel confident using m- learning strategies not only for academic growth but also for using them in their own professional environment in order to contribute to the students’ learning as future professionals.