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The use of mLearning during a course on Greek mythology helps allow students to relate their own knowledge and ideas to the ancient stories that they may believe have no significance on their lives.  Step 5: Predictions, could be aided by having students construct a google doc with names categorized by similarities.  Many Greek names are similar and the creation of lists would help the students to organize the plethora of similar names.

Students could then add what they know about a character and see if there is a reason the names are similar.  As google docs can be edited it could be changed throughout the course to narrow down each set and character.  This would help student engagement because they would not be overwhelmed with a large list of names, but be able to see the posts that others make.  I would also send them the link to Hercules (Disney) where Phil lists the heroes that end in -eus to help them think about potential similarities.

To make this activity palatable to the students I would have to:

1: make sure that the school supports google docs, or find another program that is comparable.  Students would also have to have a device available to them, if not they could discuss in groups and edit collaboratively.

2: ensure that each students is using a different colour of font, so that when they are marked I can distinguish how many contributions people are trying to make.  This way students would know that they have to try in order to receive a mark, so that the assignment was not simply forgotten.  Without setting a reward (ex: a mark) many students lack the incentive to complete assignments.

3: decide on what is appropriate content for the discussion and disclose it with the class.  I would monitor the students interactions to make sure that no one is cyberbullying others for “stupid” ideas.  I would maintain control of who could access the site and if any inappropriate behaviour occurred the student would be removed and not be allowed to complete the assignment with the group.  The student would then have to complete the entire assignment without the helpful comments on the document.

Speaking of godly figures and rewards at the end:  The tale of Demophoon where Demeter tries to steal the child’s loyalty while his parents stop her actions.

Confronting a godly challenge to receive the reward of your little brother, while under a time constraint, and receiving help from others. Sounds like it belongs with this topic.

Tags: Education, greek myth, hercules disney, labyrinth, mLearning, Projects, school classroom, technological tools, Technology