Mobile Learning

About Mobile Learning
Mobile Learning is relatively new in the field of TEL, and therefore it has different meanings for different communities.  For our interdisciplinary research group, it means learning:

• with portable technologies, with a focus on the technology (which could be in a fixed location, such as a classroom);
• across contexts, in which the focus is on the learner, using portable or fixed technology;
• across locations and transitions, focusing on learning in a mobile world and on the mobile society.

We seek to understand people and technology in constant mobility, and to design learning that supports them.  Of primary interest to us is how practices at home, on the move, and in the classroom can be reconciled into a powerful environment for learning. 

Achievements to date
We have an active website (http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/group/mlearning/) and have organised two major events — the Big Issues in Mobile Learning Workshop (June 2006) and the Beyond Mobile Learning workshop for the Alpine Rendezvous (January 2007) — as well as contributing to the Virtual Doctoral School.

Through discussions at symposia and workshops, including the “Big Issues in Mobile Learning Workshop”, we have identified critical issues and challenges relating to the field, and outlined key research questions. These have been published in a report from the workshop (Sharples, M. (Ed.) (2006) Big Issues in Mobile Learning: Report of a workshop by the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence Mobile Learning Initiative).  We also have compiled, in collaboration with the Kaleidoscope group Philosophy of Technology Enhanced Learning, a list of resources.  These provide a foundation for framing some of the issues central to mobile learning theory, research and development.

Contributions to the field by the end of December 2007
 Our priorities for this year are to:

•  consolidate and develop the mobile learning community within Kaleidoscope, through a recruitment drive and an active website providing a resource and forum for the community;
• make formal links from the special interest group to other national and international mobile learning organisations, including the Handheld Learning Forum, and the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAML);
• provide resources for the Virtual Doctoral School, including a web-based module on mobile learning;
• develop shared resources for research, including a shared bibliography and an inventory of research projects;
• contribute a mobile learning activity to the Kaleidoscope symposium;
• contribute to the sustainability of Kaleidoscope by forming a durable European Mobile Learning special interest group (if possible, as a chapter of the International Association for Mobile Learning).

The benefit of Kaleidoscope
Within Kaleidoscope there has been significant interest in mobile learning and contextual learning; we were able to bring these together, integrating a number of perspectives and research backgrounds.  Moreover, Kaleidoscope has enabled us to identify areas of convergence with the field of TEL, specifically with Kaleidoscope initiatives concerning inquiry and collaborative learning.

Issues to address in the future
In Europe, there exists the belief that technology in education is still largely tied to the desktop computer; however, digital technology can offer much more than that.  What is needed is a mobile learning environment that is dynamic and adaptable; we must bring an integrated approach to learning, and create an innovative educational framework that includes new mobile technologies. We also need to understand how to support learning across contexts, including home, school and the workplace. More generally, we need to understand how to enable effective learning for an increasingly mobile society.   

A message for European policy makers
Mobile learning is increasingly important as our society becomes more mobile.  Europe’s youth is developing a mobile culture in which they are in constant communication and developing informal networks.  We now have an opportunity to build a mobile culture for learning. We cannot assume that learning in the future will mainly be limited to classrooms; we must find ways to integrate learning across different contexts, and to support children and adults through a lifetime of formal and informal education.

A message for the general public
Mobile learning is not just about small devices and the latest technologies.   It is about being able to learn wherever you have a need or curiosity, and to integrate that knowledge with other learning experiences.