Education Reimagined

"Responsive" and "Agile"

As we evolve from a state of crisis to a state of adaptation and long-term growth, we might see the value in this unprecedented opportunity to reimagine the educational system to one that combines the advances in digital and mobile technology and student-centered learning. Of course, while tech giants like Microsoft and Google were quick to see the COVID-19 as an opportunity, there is still something valuable in the potential advances in technologies have in supporting a more responsive and agile education system.

"This powerful shift to a learner-centered system will be amplified by technology and driven by education that is steeped in purpose and meaning" - Fullan, Quinn, Drummy and, Gardner

What does agile and responsive education look like? After reviewing the OECD's A framework to guide an education response to the COVID19 Pandemic of 2020, we identified three important pillars of an agile and responsive education system. This reimagined education system must:

  • Ensures the well-being of students and teachers.

  • Responds to challenges of equity.

  • Ensures continuity of quality education.

How do Mobile technologies support learning in a time of crisis?

In effect, digital and mobile technologies have the power to leverage education systems during a time of crisis. Learning can happen anytime, anywhere with the support of these technologies. However, it is important to remember that HOW these technologies are used to support the three pillars identified above is of most importance. It is more than just a delivery method, but a system that enables collaboration, communication, and connection, all while responding to the challenges of ensuring equity.

In the following subsections, we will explore the various available mobile technologies that have been used to support learning in a time of a crisis like COVID-19 and how they can be used to support a reimagined education system that is agile to a future crisis.

The mobile learning management system

Mobile learning management systems transform the traditional LMS into one that fits into the palm of your hand. They give more flexibility to learning and support Just-In-Time learning theories, where students can access information when needed, online or offline. The offline mode seems to be one of the key features of the mobile learning management system, making learning accessible at any time, without the usually required access to Wi-Fi. Below are a few examples of some well known LMS apps.

Mobile Content and Adaptive Assessments

After the pandemic, researchers compared higher education teaching practices pre-COVID and post-COVID, and after surveying 116 faculty across 2 countries, the authors found significant differences in teaching methods, assessment strategies and faculty readiness, while course content and technological support remained unchanged. Major changes included shifts from teacher-centric learning to self-guided student-centric learning by making asynchronous online learning possible where it previously was not, and more open assessment strategies that took student mental health, inequitable internet access, and the problem of academic dishonesty into account to afford students more flexibility in how they could demonstrate their learning. Faculty were also encouraged to reduce cognitive load in their lesson plans and increase interactiveness to promote more meaningful learning, and although some faculty resistance to online technologies for teaching and learning remains an issue, consistent support from institutional technology departments remains critical in ensuring successful technological adaptation and innovation in education. We explore some tools that we used in our transition to online learning further below, which we believe have the potential to promote innovation and have a meaningful long-term impact on how we teach and learn in the future.

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Adaptive Assessment

CK-12 is a not-for-profit American Open-Source platform available via browser and is both Desktop and Mobile accessible. Teachers can access the free "Flexbook" resource organized like a textbook, complete with text, video and interactive elements to help students learn concepts in the mode that suits them. AI-mediated Adaptive Practice assessments also help to differentiate learning to match the student's zone of proximal development, and teachers can customize any resource to better align to their curricular or class learning goals.

Screencast the lesson

XRecorder is a free screen recorder app available for Android. Users can create videos up to 5 minutes in length with or without an accompanying front-facing camera view. Teachers can record lessons pre-emptively to enable students to either learn from a distance or via "flipped" classroom models to maximize direct student support during in-person learning. In essence, screencasts make learning asynchronous where and when it can be, to make teachers more available for the human relationship inherent to learning.