Take a moment and think about how mobile technologies have improved your life.
Possibily you're staying in touch with family and friends by posting status updates and uploading photos on Facebook. Maybe you're saving money by finding the gas station in your area with the lowest gas prices. You may be using small, precious moments of free time to make reservations at a restaurant in town and then having your phone give you turn-by-turn directions to get there.
Mobile learning isn't really about the technology or the device, and it shouldn't be a primary mechnaism to deliver e-learning courses. Rather, think of mobile learning as a way to provide your children in school, employees or customers with the right content at the right point in time. Consider ways to maximize the devices' unique attributes to augment and extend the learning process.
The tablet, a bridge between the smartphone and the laptop, includes wireless Internet browsing functions, potential cell phone functions, GPS navigation and location services, video camera functions and a battery life of 3 to 10 hours. A subset of the tablet is the e-reader, such as the Kindle, used primarily to store and read blogs and books.
Step back for a moment to when you were in school. Remember how heavy your book bag or backpack was from all the books that we had to lug around? Luckily for students today, they can carry around a virtual library on their mobile device. They can highlight text, take notes, view others' comments, and search the book for a specific phrase. The use of e-books, tablets and smartphones for personal reading, entertainment and personal or professional development is mostly a good thing.
Advocates say new technology may allow teachers to better target students' individual academic levels and learning styles, and engage students who often are bored by the more traditional style of teaching. For example, teachers can watch students writing essays in real time and shoot one a note if she failed to write a proper introduction and another a separate note if she used improper punctuation. Moreover, they say, students need technological skills to compete in today's economy.
Leslie Wilson, of the Michigan-based One-to-One Institute, a nonprofit that helps districts implement programs that assign a digital device to every student, said students must learn to be "creators and producers, not regurgitators and consumers" of information, and technology can hasten those skills. She said laptops, tablets and other such devices can benefit students if they are chosen with student achievement in mind.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2013
Brenda J. Enders: Manager’s Guide to Mobile Learning (Briefcase Books Series)
John Agno: Ask the Coach