day, most of us would be surprised at how many of them involve some type of digital tool. That’s because we of- ten take the technology for granted and focus instead on the task at hand. Despite the fact that digital technology will continue to develop and change in ways we cannot possibly imagine, current visionaries (e.g., Abowd & Mynatt, 2000; Roush, 2005, Thornburg, 2006) agree that future tools will be predominantly:
• Personal: Users increasingly expect one-to-one or
one-to-many access, and the ability to customize and personalize digital tools to meet individual, business, and learning needs.
• Mobile: Also known as always-on-you technol-
ogy. Mobility has become a more prominent part of our lives and is here to stay. Even though we interact with stationary technologies such as ATM machines, these are shared tools. Truly personal tools will have to be mobile to be useful for learn- ing purposes.
• Networked and connected to the Internet 24/7:
Always-on, wireless technology enables learners to access content and communication tools on
the fly as the need arises. It allows them to build
ad hoc networks locally, search literally a world full of information, and communicate with others near and far.
• Accessible: For mobile tools to have a global im-
pact in education, they need to be cheap and easy to use. Cost-effectiveness is being illustrated by the proliferation of cell phone networks in many poorer regions of the world, as it is cheaper to bypass wired computer networks and telephone landlines altogether. Mobile devices should also be easy to master so that the technology does not get in the way of learning.
• Flexible: Learners should have choices in the
tools they use and how and when they use them. This often means that a mobile tool is repurposed for a task it was not designed for, but works well just the same.
• Social: Our society is not only getting more
mobile, it is ever more social as well. The same goes for learning. Technology lets us interact and collaborate with others near and far. It allows us to create, share, aggregate, and connect knowledge in ways not possible before.
• Multimodal: We are living in a world that is no
longer dominated by printed text, but is increas- ingly multimodal. For education, this means that wireless mobile devices should support the consumption, creation, and sharing of different media formats including text, image, sound, and video.
• Contextual: Devices should be aware of their
surroundings, for example, via GPS, in order to provide learners with appropriate content and context based on their physical location. Besides, wireless mobile devices should provide learners with ways to create context for themselves as well as other learners.
In addition, digital learning content will have to be open content, as users have come to expect immediate, unhindered, and free access to digital information. Open content allows learners to search and browse ideas (not necessarily in linear or sequential fashion), aggregate and synthesize information, and make new connec-
tions. On the flip side, open content allows experts to
easily share what they know by putting it online for all to see (Breck, 2007).
Given all of these developments, future m-learning research should focus on how wireless mobile tech- nologies are changing interactions between learners, digital content, and technology, and how education will need to adapt to a world that is increasingly mobile and connected (van ‘t Hooft & Swan, 2007). How can we create the best possible tools for learning without the technology getting in the way? How can mobile technologies best accommodate and support active and collaborative learning? How does context affect learn- ing, especially when it constantly changes?
A
conclusIon
The last few years have seen a global explosion in the use of highly mobile and connected digital devices, and all indications are that this is a trend that will continue. As users turn to portable devices for their communica- tion, information, and entertainment needs, it is only natural that these same tools will be used more and more for learning.
Digital tools are increasingly mobile, personal,
connected, accessible, flexible, social, multimodal,
and contextual. These device characteristics, combined with changes in digital content, are allowing users to transcend traditional boundaries of space and time. Learners are more likely to be active and communica- tive, and use a variety of tools and resources. Contexts play an essential role as learners navigate both digital and real-world environments, often simultaneously so that one context supports learning in the other.
Finally, general perceptions of learning are changing drastically. Unfortunately, in educational institutions change is the exception rather than the rule and many classrooms resemble classrooms of a distant past. If for- mal education is to embrace the affordances of wireless mobile technologies to promote anywhere, anytime, and lifelong learning, then we need to reconsider the ways in which teachers teach and students learn in schools. It is the process that counts, not the location that it hap- pens in, and as long as educators hang on to outdated ideas of learning, schools will become disconnected further and further from the rest of society.
references
Abowd, G.E., & Mynatt, E.D. (2000). Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 7(1), 29-58.
Alexander, B. (2004). Going nomadic: Mobile learn- ing in higher education. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 29-35.
Breck, J. (2007). Education’s intertwingled future. Educational Technology Magazine, 47(3), 50-54. Castells, M., Fernandez-Ardevol, M., & Sey, A. (2007). Mobile communication and society: A global perspec- tive. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cherry, S.M. (2003). The wireless last mile. IEEE Spectrum, 40(9), 18-22.
Computer Industry Almanac. (2005, September). China tops cellular subscriber top 15 ranking: Cellular sub- scribers will top 2B in 2005. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from http://www.c-i-a.com/pr0905.htm
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phones to outsell PDAs by 5:1 in 2006 [press release]. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from http://www.c-i-a.com/ pr0306.htm
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ference on mLearning, Cape Town, South Africa. Hamill, L., & Lasen, A. (Eds.). (2005). Mobile world: Past, present, and future. New York: Springer. HPC Factor. (2004). A brief history of Windows CE: The beginning is always a very good place to start. Retrieved October 12, 2004, from http://www.hpcfac- tor.com/support/windowsce/
Ito, M., Okabe, D., & Matsuda, M. (2005). Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Parika, J., & Suominen, J. (2006). Victorian snakes? Towards a cultural history of mobile games and the experience of movement. Game Studies, (6)1. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from http://gamestudies.org/0601/ar- ticles/parikka_suominen
Roush, W. (2005). Social machines. Technology Review, 108(8), 45-53.
Sharples, M. (Ed.). (2007). Big issues in mobile learn- ing: Report of a workshop by the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence Mobile Learning Initiative. Nottingham, UK: University of Nottingham, Learning Sciences Research Institute.
Sharples, M., Taylor, J., & Vavoula, G. (2007) A theory of learning for the mobile age. In R. Andrews & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Sage handbook of elearn- ing research (pp. 221-247). London: Sage.
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Vahey, P., Tatar, D., & Roschelle, J. (2007). Using handheld technology to move between private and public interactions in the classroom. In M. van ‘t Hooft & K. Swan (Eds.), Ubiquitous computing in education: Invisible technology, visible impact (pp. 187-210). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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key terms
GSM: Global system for mobile communications
(GSM) is the most popular standard for mobile phones providing higher digital voice quality, global roam- ing, and low cost alternatives to making calls such as text messaging. The advantage for network operators has been the ability to deploy equipment from differ- ent vendors because the open standard allows easy interoperability
Highly Mobile Device: Digital device that has high mobility, a small footprint, the computational and display capabilities to access, view, collect, or otherwise use representations and/or large amounts of data, and the ability to support collaboration and/or data sharing.
IEEE 802.11: Also known as Wi-Fi, 802.11x denotes a set of wireless LAN/WLAN standards developed by Working Group 11 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers LAN/MAN Standards Committee. The most common standards currently used include 802.11a, b, and g.
IR: Infrared. Electromagnetic radiation with wave- lengths longer than visible light but shorter than radio waves, which can be used for the short range exchange of data.
M-Learning: “The processes of coming to know through conversations across multiple contexts amongst people and personal interactive technologies” (Sharples et al., 2007).
PDA: Personal digital assistants are handheld computers that were originally designed as personal organizers but have quickly developed into full-func- tioning portable computers. They are characterized by a touch screen for data entry, a memory card slot, and various types of wireless connectivity for data backup and sharing.
Smartphone: A full-featured mobile phone with personal computer like functionality, including cameras, e-mail, enhanced data processing, and connectivity.
UMPC: Ultra-Mobile PC. Specification for a small
form-factor tablet PC.
WAN: Wireless area network. Linking two or more computing devices by way of radio-wave technology. Examples include wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), and personal area network (PAN).