The K-12 Digital Learning Institute is taking the innovation of mobile learning at ACU and applying that knowledge to the classroom in order to impact others globally, locally and individually.

Five years after the creation of the Mobile Learning Initiative, ACU’s campus is beginning to see the full impact of mobile learning on the many aspects of learning.

Dr. William Rankin, Honors Fellow and professor of English, said the technological advances of the world are creating a shift in teaching.

Rankin said when they began conducting conferences, they expected colleges and universities to be interested in the learning initiative, and they were surprised to find the massive numbers of K-12 educators who were interested in the program.

“The reason for that interest was that K-12, in the US and globally, is realizing that there are fundamental shifts happening, not just technologically, but there are fundamental shifts happening pedagogically, in how you teach and how you learn,” Rankin said.

Rankin said the system of learning is changing, just as it did when the printing press was developed.

“For, say, the last 800 years, teachers have been the deliverers of information. But, we now have information that not only moves very freely, but we also have information that is quickly findable. So the question is, ‘Do the teachers need to continue delivering information?” Rankin said.

Rankin said the new job is for teachers and students to work together to evaluate information and to create with what they have gathered. He said he thinks they need to build and create things with the information we have on-hand and teachers need to be guides for students rather than delivers of pure information.

Rankin, who has worked with schools and technological development programs in over 30 countries, said he has seen this new teaching role working out in several different programs.

“What we’re seeing happen all over, is teachers stepping out of the role of delivering information and into the role of guiding student creation with information,” Rankin said.

The department of teacher education is in the process of developing programs, within their own teaching at ACU, in Abilene’s schools and other school districts, to help perform this role change.

Michelle Faerber, technology integration specialist for the department of teacher education, said the K-12 Digital Learning Institute and the teacher education department’s focus on technology is helping them to move more effectively into a modern way of teaching.

The K-12 Digital Learning Institute, a summer program focused on professional development with educators from around the country (specifically Texas), has helped share ways that technology can impact teaching.

Faerber said one of the blessings of mobile learning has come through AT&T’s gift to the department of teacher education.

“Most of our local partners are working with iPads that we have been able to give to them through the AT&T gift,” Faerber said.

She said the teachers who come to the program in the summer are able to develop teaching strategies and apply them in the classroom.

“They teach each other too because they explore with these programs throughout the year. We keep up with them throughout the year, and we’re very present at Reagan Elementary, Ortiz Elementary and Taylor Elementary. We’ve got a lot of student teachers there, and our faculty is constantly on campus,” Faerber said. “What we hope is that technology is no longer a separate entity, but it’s just a full integration. ”

Faerber said the Mobile Learning Initiative has been helpful in the development of the K-12 Digital Learning Initiative and the two have been able to share information and resources, work together and collaborate on new learning techniques.

“We’re kind of all in this together, it’s not just one department or the other,” said Faerber.

Individually, the Mobile Learning Initiative and the K-12 Digital Learning Institute are also changing the ways the teacher education department approaches learning with their teacher candidates.

Melanie Catteau, senior elementary education major from Dennison, said she has seen the impact of mobile devices when applied to teaching as a part of her education program.

Catteau is student teaching and said working with technology like the iPad really helps teach younger students in a way that is helpful and entertaining.

“I love it,” said Catteau. “The students are engaged because it’s technology that they don’t have at their house. They are so engaged that they have their own and it’s amazing how well they can work them.”

Catteau said students are excited to learn and can experience lessons in a different way because every student has an opportunity to learn in his or her own way and at their own pace.