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M-learning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
M-learning, or "mobile learning", now commonly abbreviated to "mLearning", has different meanings for different communities. Although related to e-learning and distance education, it is distinct in its focus on learning across contexts and learning with mobile devices. One definition of mobile learning is: Learning that happens across locations, or that takes advantage of learning opportunities offered by portable technologies.
The term covers: learning with portable technologies, where the focus is on the technology (which could be in a fixed location, such as a classroom); learning across contexts, where the focus is on the mobility of the learner, interacting with portable or fixed technology; and learning in a mobile society, with a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support the learning of an increasingly mobile population.
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- 1970's and 1980's
Alan Kay and colleagues in the Learning Research Group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center [PARC] propose the Dynabook as a book-sized computer to run dynamic simulations for learning. Their interim Dynabooks are the first networked workstations.
- 1990's
Universities in Europe and Asia develop and evaluate mobile learning for students. Palm corporation offers grants to universities and companies who create and test the use of mobile learning on the PalmOS platform. Palm Education Pioneers project.
- 2000's
The European Commission funds the major multi-national MOBIlearn and M-Learning projects.
Companies were formed that specialise in three core areas of mobile learning.
- Authoring and publishing
- Delivery and Tracking
- Content Development
Conferences and trade shows were created to specifically deal with mobile learning and handheld education, including: mLearn, WMUTE, and IADIS Mobile Learning international conference series, ICML in Jordan, Mobile Learning in Malaysia, Handheld Learning in London, SALT Mobile in USA.
Over the past ten years mobile learning has grown from a minor research interest to a set of significant projects in schools, workplaces, museums, cities and rural areas around the world. The mLearning community is still fragmented, with different national perspectives, differences between academia and industry, and between the school, higher education and lifelong learning sectors.
Current areas of growth include:
- Location-based and contextual learning
- Design of physical spaces (including campuses, conferences, hotel lobbies, cities) to support learning with a mixture of mobile and fixed technologies
- Social-networked mobile learning
- Mobile educational gaming
- "Lowest common denominator" mLearning to cellular phones using two way SMS messaging and voice-based CellCasting (podcasting to phones with interactive assessments)
The scope of mobile learning includes:
- Children and students using handheld computers, PDAs or handheld voting systems in a classroom or lecture room.
- Students using mobile devices in the classroom to enhance group collaboration among students and instructors using a Pocket PC.
- On the job training for someone who accesses training on a mobile device "just in time" to solve a problem or gain an update.
- Learning in museums or galleries with handheld or wearable technologies
- Learning outdoors, for example on field trips.
- The use of personal technology to support informal or lifelong learning, such as using handheld dictionaries and other devices for language learning.
Technical challenges include:
- Connectivity
- Battery life
- Interacting with small devices
- Displaying useful content in small-screen devices
Social and educational challenges include:
- How to assess learning outside the classroom
- How to support learning across many contexts
- Developing an appropriate theory of learning for the mobile age
- Design of technology to support a lifetime of learning
- Tracking of results and proper use of this information
Most personal technologies can support mobile learning, including
- Personal Digital Assistant, in the classroom and outdoors
- Tablet PC UMPC mobile phone, camera phone and SmartPhone
- Learning Mobile Author, e.g. for authoring and publishing WAP, J2ME and SmartPhone
- Personal audio player, e.g. for listening to audio recordings of lectures
- Handheld audio and multimedia guides, in museums and galleries
- Handheld game console, modern gaming consoles such as Sony PSP or Nintendo DS/Wii
Mobile phones as medium have become a new cultural phenomenon in the modern society.Cell phones are no longer just phones- they are GPS tracking devices, video and cameras, wireless Internet connections, and pocket calculators. Mobile phones are the primary key related to the three new media trends 'convergence', 'globalization' and 'pluralisation'.
Convergence provides an integration of information technology and communication networks, in which mobile technology is built and a new social practice is formed in the digital environment. A range of wireless technologies and applications are being developed and adopted through the Internet and computer-based digital media, and hence the mobile telephone is invented and used for communication. Therefore, mobile phones play and important role in the process of media transformation that is still often referred to as ‘convergence’. [1]
Media globalization has been made possible by the ongoing changes and developments in information and communications technology. Wireless technology such as the WAP mobile phone allows internet access. Companies such as Nokia using the Multimedia Message System (MMS)have recently developed various ways to deliver texts, audio clips and digital pictures via mobile phone handsets.[2] Therefore, mobile phones have the ability to talk and walk at the same time in a ‘global village’.
Mobile phones bring a new media trend pluralisation that is; digital communications technologies produce variations in information resources across places or groups. For example, Nokia offers a ‘lifeblog’ application for its mobile phone users; it allows consumers to keep an organized multimedia diary of the items they collect with their mobile phones, and post them straight to their blog.[3] Due to the camera phone is networked, sending pictures with email from mobile phone in the wave of the hugely popular online photosharing site ([1]) where users can post their photos online, organized by keywords or tags, for the public or just friends. Therefore, with the development of convergence and globalization, pluralisation is naturally produced by mobile phones in the hardware or software platform.
- Attewell, Jill (2005) Mobile technologies and learning: A technology update and m-learning project summary. Technology Enhanced Learning Research Centre, Learning and Skills Development Agency. London: Learning and Skills Development Agency.
- Brown-Martin, G., Brown, D., Knight, J., Crowne, S., Shawki, T., Pedro, F., Prensky, M., et al Videocasts from Handheld Learning 2007 Conference.
- Devinder Singh, Zaitun Abu Bakar. Mobile Learning in Wireless Classrooms (2007) International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organizations (IJMLO).[2]. Wireless implementation of a mobile learning environment based on students' expectations
- Heppell S., Brown D., Richardson T., Pittard V., Parkin T., et al Presentations and podcasts from Handheld Learning 2006 .
- McConnetha, Doug (2007) Mobile Learning in the Classroom. Research paper on the use and effectiveness of using mobile phones for learning with college students using a commercial m-learning platform. West Chester University. Delivered at SALT Conference in Arlington, VA. August 2007.
- Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G. & Sharples, M. (2005) Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning. Report 11, NESTA Futurelab. Bristol: NESTA Futurelab.
- Sanregret, Bob (2006) Report and presentation on Mobile Learning: A Reality. Mobile learning, testing, survey Framework. Delivered at ELearning Developers conference in July 2006 in Orlando, FL and August 2007 in Malaysia.
- Sharples, M. (Ed., 2007). Big issues in mobile learning: Report of a workshop by the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence Mobile Learning Initiative. Nottingham, UK: University of Nottingham, Learning Sciences Research Institute.
- Smith S. Alt-N Mobile Learning 2007 Paper published by Alt-N which looks at different methods by which mobile learning objects might be created for handheld devices and some of the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Paper was first presented at Handheld Learning 2006.
- Teachers TV. Mobile Phones, Mobile Minds. Television documentary broadcast in the UK concerning the use of mobile phones in schools for learning purposes.
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