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ActionTrack Learning by Experience

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Reflection on Webinar: Action Track – Learning by Experience
Attended on: 1st August 2014
By: Dr Jhuka Holm and Maija Loikkanen

Another interesting webinar that i got to attend during the three day MMVC 14 was about Action Track an innovative tool for android tablets and smart phones, developed by a Finish company called TAZ Team Action Zone. It was a very interesting session, I got the opportunity to ask questions from the presenter, was a very engaging and interactive session.
It allows the creation of both location based and location independent learning experiences. It can be used to create different types of games, interactive stories (users can be part of the stories, and their decisions impact continuum), create puzzles etc. Teachers could create their own personalized lessons and exams. The tool could also be used for classroom training, remote training etc.
My understanding is that it allows the creation of both indoor and outdoor activities, which could be evaluated using any method; an activity is a template which can include text, images, audio or video combined in any form to achieve a certain target. These images, text, audio or video could be captured using any device and then inserted into the activity.
I explored the website, found effective use in the education field. I think teachers could use it to create activities for early years, a simple example teachers could create a story to introduce learners to numbers from 1 to ten, learners could move through different stages in the story, attempt different sums in the story, teachers could add comments to help move to different levels, or add differentiated feedback, give rewards etc .Learners will get an opportunity to learn through play. Teachers could develop some really innovative and challenging tasks for learners using this tool.
There were no issues downloading, was easily download on the smart phone. The interface seems simple but needs to be explored. I have requested the team working at TAZ to share a video tutorial demonstrating the use of this tool in schools particularly in early Years. Since we have introduced tablets in early Years, this app could be useful for them. I need to download and install the app on the tablet to further explore it.
One of the challenges at the moment is to identify specific areas/subjects where this tool could be used. We could initially start with any one subject like Math’s and select few core objectives from a few lessons and try to develop games/puzzles to meet those objectives. The type of activities that could be created needs a thorough working on part of the teachers.
Second challenge would be to see if the app works fine on our tablets. It needs to be determined whether both teachers and learners have the required skills or need training.  
Question: How to design activities for younger learners using actiontrack? Where will the data be stored? How will this data be accessible? How could this be effectively integrated into our curriculum? etc

Find below two examples of the sort of activities that could be created using actiontrack admin tool. Learners will download the app on mobiles or tablets and access the activities created by the teacher using admin tool. The best part is even learners could be engaged in creating interesting activities for themselves, but these needs to be explored further. I am looking forward to a detailed discussion with the TAZ team, have been in touch through email and the interaction has been extremely meaningful.
 


Details can be found the website: http://www.taz.fi/?lang=en


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