A theory of Mobile Learning

According to Sharples et al, a theory for mobile learning should be tested against these criteria:
* significantly different from current learning theories
* account for mobility of learners
* cover both formal and informal learning
* theorise learning as constructive and social process
* analyse learning as personal and situated activity mediated by technology

This brings him to a tentative definition of mobile learning as 'the processes of coming to know through conversations across multiple contexts amongst people and personal interactive technologies'. Sharples puts the communicative interaction between learner and technology central. He regards learning as a conversational process of becoming informed about each other's 'informings', whereby the context is not a fixed shell surrounding the learner, but a construct that is shaped by continuously negotiated dialogue.

I like Sharples' notion of convergence of mobile technologies, which would demand a new learning theory and didactics. Look how New Learning and New Technology go hand in hand in this table:

New Learning / New Technology
personalised / personal
learner centered / user centered
situated / mobile
collaborative / networked
ubiquitous / ubiquitous
lifelong / durable

More on a theory of Mobile Learning by Sharples, Taylor & Vavoula next.

Affordances of mobile devices

Lai et al put didactics first by designing the learning script as well as the mobile device to facilitate experiental learning, thereby placing the device between technical setting and pedagogical practice.

This is a fierce move away from Ally-syndrome - they describe learning material as designed from the affordances of the device to be used! Lai tries to tackle the paradox of experiental learning: how can students in an authentic learning context be motivated to learn effectively without any careful design or guidance? In other words: authentic learning also needs a constructed setting and this could be achieved by technical (mobile) support to facilitate learning.

The term affordance originally refers to the relationship between an object's physical properties and the characteristics of a user that enables particular interactions between user and object (Gibson, 1977). In the same vein, educational affordances can be defined as the relationships between the properties of an educational intervention and the characteristics of the learner that enable particular kinds of learning by him or her (Kirschner, 2002).

Mobile technologies offer distinctive educational affordances:
* they 'afford' real-time information whenever, wherever - supporting learning flow and providing learning materials
* they 'afford' a rapid access interface for note & photo taking, for sound & video recording

These two characteristics of the artifact 'on hand' (i.e. a PDA), determine if and how a particular learning behaviour could possibly take place within a given context (Kirschner, 2002).

Will look at attempts by Sharples, Taylor and Vavoula to set up a Mobile Learning Theory next.