The pilot study illuminates the transformation that mobile technology has brought to the learning experience during visits to a new city. The study also highlights ways in which the mobile device can serve as a dynamic learning environment that is activated and controlled by learners, for exploration and learning. The wide array of tools and applications available to learners, all under the “umbrella” of the mobile device and the choice of this technology as the sole learning environment for exploring the city,
suggest that the mobile serves as an on-demand personal learning environment, an ad hoc PLE for the visit. Effectively, learners are taking an active part in designing their PLEs [Hen 10] by selecting and utilizing dynamic components based upon their contex- tual needs and preferences, as they emerge in real time.
The mobile, serving as an ad hoc PLE, supports a serendipitous learning process. Learners do not need to, and often chooses not to preplan their visit, because of their reliance on the perpetual connection to contextual sources of information and to their own communities. This ad hoc PLE supports dynamic learning processes with exten- sive opportunities for immediacy that is needed both for the learners’ changing needs as well as due to the city’s static and always changing nature. With no predetermined plan and no expert to lead the way, learners are in control of the learning process; live concerts, parades, traffic jams and essentially everything that happens in the city, is injected, in real time, into the exploration process. Though a single interaction may seem trivial, this ad hoc PLE essentially connects discrete learning interactions onto a comprehensive personal learning experience [Ala 11], each interaction may lead to several potential trajectories and a final learning path can only be sketched aftermath. With a feeling of control over their environment, largely due to the availability of resources and the social support received through the mobile PLE, learners are free to fully experience the city without worrying about getting lost. Learners undergo a truly serendipitous and immersive learning experience by engaging in authentic, contextual learning interactions. Personal points of interest that were not likely to appear in an expert tour book, now become meaningful learning activities as they are shared and interacted upon, thus changing the level of granularity of learning and increasing the array of potential learning triggers.
Learners are continually engaged in social collaborative learning activities such as responding to comments, tagging previously shared items or adding titles, these activ- ities lead them to virtually revisit previously shared discoveries and view them through the diversified eyes of the community. Revisiting past learning experiences allow learn- ers to engage in reflective and ultimately more profound learning experiences [Die 07; Sha 07].
Due to their reliance on communal contributions, learners become increasingly aware of the notion that their own activities can hold more than just a personal value, realizing that their contributions resonate and can be of benefit to other learners in a virtual community. It can be said that through their own activities learners come to realize that they are a part of a dynamic collaborative knowledge construction process and that they are not just consumers of knowledge, but are also assigning meaning, sharing with the virtual community and changing the balance between contribution and receipt of information [Kre 07; Sca 06].
In conclusion, a visit to a new city is a highly intensive and condensed exploratory experience that may serve as a microcosms and a reference point for demonstrating the potential of the mobile as an informal learning tool. The mobile device has trans-
RuthiAladjem,RafiNachmias
formed the experience of serendipitous urban exploration and the ways in which learn- ers interact with their surroundings and construct knowledge by serving as a powerful ad hoc PLE. Serendipitous learning processes could potentially be directed, with the support of the mobile PLE, to revolve around disciplines and areas that are relevant not only to informal, but also to formal learning objectives (such a History or Language Studies).
Finally, when considering the city of the future we envision a city visit as a truly personalized learning experience, we believe that urban planners and stakeholders should consider the need to cater for “mobile tourism” not only by making sure that an internet connection (WiFi) is freely available everywhere but mostly by planning mobile services that take into account and accommodate the personal needs of visitors inter- ested in exploring and learning about the city.
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ContaCt dEtails Ruthi Aladjem
Tel Aviv University School of Education Knowledge Technology Lab E-Mail: [email protected]
Prof. Rafi Nachmias
Tel Aviv University School of Education
AntonyE.Ratcliffe