what do we mean by mobile learning?

niall winters

what do we mean by mobile learning?

quick overview

conceptual understandings

mobilities & ant

apply to an example

implications

http://mlearning.noe-kaleidoscope.org/projects/index.php

what’s goin’ on!

location-based activitiesgamescollaboratione-sciencedata collection and analysisnew technologiesschools/home boundarieshistory, geography etc.adult education

where are we pointing?

“innovation in a social context” marcelo milrad

“technology creating new conditions for learning” ulrich hoppe

“mobile society”mike sharples

how to do it?

lots of very interesting and successful projects

what counts as mobile learning?

conceptual understanding

mobile technology

learners

info

mobile technology

learners

info

socio-technical interaction

(mobilities // social as spatial form // context)

mobilities

{learners, information, technology} (urry, 2000)

complex interactions & interdependencies

viewed as different abstract spaces

regional, network & fluid (law & mol, 2003)

spaces (ant)

object acting in space

student

PDAs

teacher

network

x

learners

relations

fluid

x

y

z

regional

characteristics of fluid space

boundaries are not fixed

what makes it work is adaptability

variable in regional and network space and fixed in fluid space: can only exist because of variability

however, there is a core of stable configurations so that is remains the same object: continuity is maintained

example: social tapestries

http://socialtapestries.net

mobile app as fluid objectfluid objects are customizable, adaptable

fluid objects are transferable between contexts

learning occurs through multiple changing relationships

change occurs slowly over time (continuity)

fluid objects can shape and be shaped, engendering different learning possibilities

conclusion

what is meant by mobile learning?

reconceptualised as learning the leverages the interplay between the mobilities of people, objects and information in fluid space

implications

one: mobilities are central. how are they to be designed for? how do we support the interaction between mobilities?

two: mobilities combine to produce new learning experiences

three: understanding the ways in which the network of associations change in mobile learning