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Where is the M in Interactivity, Collaboration and Feedback? (created for the [|Wireless Ready] event in Nagoya on March 29th, 08.)
If: ¨ The individual is always ready to be a ‘learner’ and to turn the environment into a site for learning. Continually in a state of incompletion and moving towards completion (dynamic); mobile not only physically but conceptually. The whole world has become ‘curricularised.’
 * Mobility = fluidity = negotiation (of meaning) > creation of knowledge
 * Mobility implies a sense of incompletion
 * We are talking Mobility in the sense that :

then what is the impact of all of this on:   **INTERACTIVITY?**

//Feedback from group discussion at Nagoya://

INTERACTIVITY SPEAKER: Briefly, we talked about our interpretation of interactivity, whether that entails mobile phone, a computer or combination of both; and we also discussed regional culture. This man’s from Okinawa and it seems that students that take trains or possess or they have .mp3 player or something we’d like to use but perhaps in Okinawa they drive to work and a lot of the students don’t have .mp3 players. MICHAEL: Okay. Did you talk at all about the idea of interactivity //versus// interaction? INTERACTIVITY SPEAKER: No, we didn’t. MICHAEL: Okay. So interactivity for you was about devices or was it about communication, or was it both? INTERACTIVITY SPEAKER: I think it was both, I think we agree it’s both. MICHAEL: And I guess I want to raise this point. In the early days of computer‑aided language learning, interactivity was about drag-and-drop or following the cues on a CD, all of which was valuable at the time. I guess what I’m suggesting that interactivity should be more about is that communicating with people, fellow students and teachers, using these devices. Now, I know that’s a really kind of – it’s almost glib to get one brief comment from one group on a huge topic but, just for the purposes of the recording and keeping to a schedule, we’re going to move to someone down here in the middle group who looked at collaboration

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 * COLLABORATION?**

//Feedback from group discussion at Nagoya:// There’s a couple of things that are really interesting. We talked a little about the nature, the dynamic of collaboration, what kind of collaboration or is collaboration genuine collaboration, all those kinds of things going on. Definitely the need for more of it in the classroom. But I think what we’re concerned about is that it’s sort of these individuals trying these things in their classroom rather than having collaboration between teachers and kind of school-wide thing, and what we feel is that unless we get administration on board – ultimately the people who are going to give us teachers assessment – it’s kind of sort of the norms of individuality within Japan ....., a test-based culture, may be working against the interests of collaboration. MICHAEL: Okay. For the people in Second Life who may not have heard that, the comment was that certainly here in Japan the emphasis – and I’m sure it’s not just Japan – but the emphasis is on a test-based culture where ultimately, at the end of the day, your marks and your successful exit from that course is based on the grade you get at the end, not how well you collaborate. As good as we all know that may be, another point was made or implied that collaboration’s actually a very difficult thing to do and it needs to be taught and modelled.

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 * FEEDBACK**?

Over here on my right, feedback. Any comment from over there, please? FEEDBACK SPEAKER: Okay. MICHAEL: Okay, thank you. FEEDBACK SPEAKER: We touched on feedback regarding how feedback could possibly be process-driven rather than results-driven, and traditionally we probably agree that feedback traditionally has come from the instructor where we’re trying now to have it ..... ..... peer-based. MICHAEL: Okay, good. Short and important point: that feedback be process‑driven and not content‑driven so it’s not the end result, it’s what’s happening along the way; and that it might be more appropriate – I keep using that word ‘appropriate’ a lot – but in this model to have students providing feedback to each other more than feedback coming from the teacher.

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And, (enter your response here)
 * HOW AND WHERE DO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ACQUIRE THE SKILLS TO OPERATE EFFECTIVELY IN THIS TYPE OF MOBILE** WORLD?

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