Reading through reports of mobile learning projects, I find more questions than answers regarding my intended framework. To establish whether a setting is dependent or independent, one has to know what 'setting' stands for. Location can mean many things; it can have a geographical connotation or perhaps be more about demographics.
A mobile language learning project in Japan could only work there because of the very high percentage (99 percent) of students using their mobile phones for e-mailing (at very low costs, compared to the US & Europe). Does that make it setting dependent? The same project could be used anywhere but would require a lot more preparation and additional funds. What exactly is 'setting' when context is everything? (Sharples, 2008).
Same with devices. Is a mobile learning project considered 'device dependent' if it can be used on a mobile phone only? Or should this be narrowed down so that it's 'device dependent' if it can only be used on e.g. a Nokia n900?
Of course the element of didactic dependency/independency is even more complicated. How is didactics defined?
There's a contradiction in the notion of 'Ad Hoc & Mobile Classrooms'(Chang et al, 2003). 'Ad Hoc and mobile' points to setting independency, while 'classrooms' indicates didactic dependency, purely from its terminology. The teacher and pupils are provided with all learning aids they have in a normal classroom setting. It's like a snake biting its own tail because if the setting is the same in both mobile and normal classroom, then the project is setting dependent.
Looking into different ways of categorizing next, very interesting insights there.
