What do you mean by mobile learning?

Mobile phones, personal digital assistants and any other technology that frees us from the desk and a power socket can now be included in the mix of how learning may be delivered. Mobile learning is about taking traditional lessons and making them work with these devices.

When mobile learning was first being developed we used to talk about ‘just in time, just for me’ which seemed to sum up the very personal nature of mobile devices and the fact that they did not rely on the learner being in a classroom at a given time to learn.

Why would anyone want to have lessons on their mobile phone?

The whole concept of being in a classroom to learn is changing and it is a little more than just mobile phones. There is a growing range of portable and hand-held computing devices as well as more lighter, smaller laptops that means learners of all ages and locations are wanting to access the learning they need when it suits them - the ‘just in time, just for me’ has morphed into ‘I want to know what I need to know on this device, at this moment, in this location’.

The big change for educators is that where they may have previously provided a 200 page manual to their students, they must now break down the contents of that manual into files that are small enough to transmit easily by means of mobile communication networks.

How are teachers dealing with those sorts of changes?

Some teachers are being brilliantly innovative in embracing the way in which new and emerging technology adds opportunity for them to make their lessons more engaging for their students. Others are struggling to cope with the huge array of software and hardware and feel a bit intimidated by having to make radical changes to their lessons.

One of the things I do with all those teachers with whom I work is try to break it down into something they can deal with in small steps. I have had the most success with digital story telling. This is a very effective process of taking still photos, adding your own voice and turning the whole thing into a movie that can be shown on any device from a mobile phone to a television screen.

Teachers discover that this is not a big step for them to take. Still photos, their own voices and a very simple computer program are all things that do not threaten them. Once they are comfortable with this they are then more confident to try something more adventurous.

Students just love it – they can submit assignments by means of digital story telling rather than having to write or type them! It also means that the teacher has to look at a whole heap of movies instead of reading a whole pile of papers, so everyone is making progress!

We have had online learning for some time, how is this different?

One of the biggest problems we had with the introduction of online learning was that it was pushed on teachers and students without a lot of consideration for the medium itself. Some even believed that it was a covert effort to reduce the number of teachers needed!

Many of the early online learning offerings were just the same manuals and books converted into digital format that meant, instead of reading from a book, the student was now required to read the same thing from a computer screen. Online learning got a bad name and many teachers actively avoided anything to do with it.

With mobile learning we have learnt from this experience and we have had a good look at the way the mobile devices work and the way in which users interact with their devices. We have then designed instruction to work in the same way so we have more learning games, quick quizzes and digital stories that can be watched as movies.

The take up and engagement of students using mobile devices has been stronger because the learning is reaching them the same way as their leisure activities on those devices.

What sort of devices are we dealing with?

Initially it was mobile phones and a lot of effort went into texting, then the next generation of phones came out with more visuals and the ability to transmit images. Alongside that came the advent of personal digital assistants (PDAs) which had more computing capacity, much larger screens and included phones and so it was possible to offer learning by means of more sophisticated games.

Now we are seeing a closing of the gap between mobile phones and PDAs but we still have a dizzying array of operating platforms that we do not have with computers, where there is just Apple or PC. We are also seeing some real progress in smaller and smaller laptop/palmtop devices with full function computers small enough to be dropped into a handbag.

Every day brings a new development or innovation in terms of hardware so those involved in mobile learning are working hard to make sure the teaching to be delivered is interesting and in a small format so that it can easily reach whatever device is next on the market.

What is holding mobile learning back?

There are probably two key things that, if solved, could mean that we do not even need to talk about mobile learning as though it was something that needed to be identified on its own.

The first is communications. Genuine mobility is reliant upon fast, reliable communication no matter where you are located. Imagine the tourism and business advantage to those cities or regions that are smart enough to install free wireless access to the internet for anyone in their area?

The second is battery technology. While all other aspects of hardware have evolved and developed at an amazing rate, battery technology continues to lag behind. We are all still bound by very limited times between having to charge our devices and, as they increase in functionality and screen resolution, demands on the battery increase.