Mobile Learning Reading

It is great to see some new books on mobile learning. Recently there was a lot of buzz about Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training edited by Mohamed Ally (March 2009). I had read a couple chapters and got back to it this last week on my Kindle while travelling.

While useful, I was disappointed that most of the examples were from the early and mid-2000’s.

Having followed and participated in mobile learning since 1996, I see very clear stages and believe that we should now be looking forward at the potential of this very powerful opportunity.

We began with standalone devices (PDA) that could be connected to a single computer for a single person. Once these devices were combined with a cell phone, communication opened up. With today’s capabilities to seamlessly move from cellular to Wi-Fi, collaboration opens many more doors. Location-based context and tagging, sensors and feedback, recognition and specialized apps now open up our imaginations and provide powerful learning opportunities not even available on a desktop.

There are three new books just published that appear to be current and looking ahead. I have just started reviewing them, but wanted to share in case you are looking to add to your reading lists on mobile learning:

• New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education from the University of Wollongong includes faculty development, specific discipline examples and design principles. This is available as a free PDF download.
• Mobile Learning Communities: Creating New Educational Futures by Patrick Danaher, Beverley Moriarty, Geoff Danaher, a Routledge publication covering communities, along with other topics such as globalization, lifelong learning, multiliteracies, and sustainability; concluding with creating new educational futures.
• Researching Mobile Learning: Frameworks, Tools and Research Designs from Peter Lang Publishing Group, which sets out the issues and requirements for mobile learning research and presents efforts to specify appropriate theoretical frameworks, research methods and tools.

What have you found? What are you reading about mobile learning? Please share in the comments.

Busy Week for Mobile Learning

Where do I start?

This week I went to Washington DC for a couple days, so have been trying to get through all the updates that weren't otherwise posted on mLearnopedia.com. I haven't read through all of the following, but wanted to share these great resources.

• Stanford University started an iPhone Application Programming course this week and has made the slides and video available through iTunes U here. You can subscribe to the new lectures which are posted each Wednesday and Friday for this ten week course.
• A new 320-page book entitled “Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training” edited by Mohamed Ally and published by Athabasca University is available for sale or as a free PDF download. (Click on eBook for the PDF download.)
• The International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) has released issue Vol. 3, No. 2 (2009) with some very interesting papers. The objective of the journal is to publish and discuss fundamentals, applications and experiences in the field of interactive mobile technologies in learning and teaching as well as in industrial and other applications. There is no fee, but you will need to register.
• The abstracts from the 3rd WLE Mobile Learning Symposium: Mobile Learning Cultures across Education, Work and Leisure in London, UK, on 27 March 2009 have been posted.
• Weeding through all the joke posts on April 1^st, I am glad that I didn't miss Tom Kuhlmann's blog titled “Here's What You Need to Know About Mobile Learning.” It definitely is a lot of fun!
• For an overview of all the major mobile stats, check out Tomi T Ahonen's post “The Size of the Mobile Industry in 2009,” a short overview of major stats.
• AT&T announced its second annual Big Mobile On Campus Challenge, a national higher education contest for mobile application development with a $10,000 Scholarship award available. “The contest recognizes innovative and creative mobile applications that enhance academic performance, build campus community and help to improve campus operations.” There are three categories: mobile learning, mobile identity and student system integration.

Lot's of reading for the weekend and beyond...

Kindle on the iPhone

Last week I met with a great group from a middle school in San Antonio, TX, about mobile learning. The conversation came around to school in the future and I mentioned "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns" by Clayton M. Christensen. I did not have my Kindle with me, as I usually don't carry it unless I will be on an airplane for a long flight. (No I don't have the new version of the Kindle, or I may have been carrying it with me.)

In any case I could not remember some parts that I had marked with a highlight.

That won't happen again; as of this morning I downloaded the new free Amazon Kindle application to my iPhone and within seconds I had access to the books I had purchased from Amazon and could now view them on either device -- and sync them between each other should I read on the iPhone and want to continue on the Kindle or vice versa.

The scrolling is to the right or left -- not up or down and there are options to change the font.

I do use my Kindle for reading PDFs rather than to print them to paper, but Amazon did not have those to transfer. Now that would really be great. For now I definitely will look more favorably to purchasing more books on the Kindle.

Is this mobile learning? Perhaps not, but I would consider it mobile performance support and a very useful and exciting development.