Strategies for Developing Mobile Location-Based Learning Activities by Teachers

Strategies for Developing Mobile Location-Based Learning Activities by Teachers

Hagit Meishar Tal (Holon Institute of Technology, Israel)
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 11
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8106-2.ch005

Abstract

This chapter analyses the educational activities created by teachers on an online game generator, Treasure-HIT. The analysis focused on two main components that exist in every game: (1) the location clue, which leads the players to the different stations of the game, and (2) the station task, which the players have to perform when they reach the right station. This qualitative research was based on content analysis of the activities accumulated on the system's server. A total of 112 games were analyzed, including 1272 clues, 1005 stations and 1862 station tasks. Five types of location-dependent tasks were identified: identifying information found on site, camera documentation, receiving an answer from someone on site, physical activities dependent on the location, measurements using a mobile phone, and leaving a personal mark.
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Introduction

In recent years, smartphones have become popular learning tools (Prensky, 2005). The mobility of wireless devices produces new learning opportunities. The main one is “location-based learning”, namely, learning depends on the place and context in which the learner is situated. In our current study we utilized Treasure-HIT, a free platform for teachers to create treasure hunts that use smartphones in order to locate stations and manage learning activities in each station (Kohen-Vacs, Ronen, & Cohen, 2012). Users can develop location- based learning activities using Treasure-HIT. The aim of this study was to examine what strategies the teachers developed in the creation of mobile location-based learning activities on this platform.

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