Mobile learning

I'm collecting resources for a workshop on mobile learning. Although there are definitions and frameworks for "mobile" learning, those sounds very similar to non-formal learning and some of the work by Falk & Dierking on that free-choice learning.  Isn't mobile learning just free-choice learning on...well, your choice of pda?

Which leads to a big design problem. Unless you are at a school that gives everyone iphones, the student population is not using standard equipment. Although it seems like everyone has an iphone, I'll tell you someone who doesn't: ME. Why don't I join the modern age, you might ask?

The first reason is I don't need one.

I'm going to let that sink in. Oh, yes, I want one, but I don't need it. 90% of my day, I'm in front of a computer with dedicated internet access. Why for the other 10% of the time would I need the additional distraction?

The second reason is that I don't need the additional cost. The iphone itself isn't too expensive, but it would require a more costly data plan, that again, I just don't need.

And I'm sure that there are a lot of students out there, who for various reasons have made certain choices about the technology they have available to them at home. Sometimes it's not a choice, especially in this economy--they probably just don't have the money.

So we can't assume that everyone has an iphone, but there is a fairly high saturation of cell phone users. Except, there is mixed saturation of TEXTERS. danah boyd had a great post on this issue a while back, and how "all you can text" plans greatly facilitate an increase in receiving text messages.  Until very recently, I didn't know a lot of people who would be willing to accept my text messages (They accepted my phone calls, so it's not for the reason all of you are thinking!) One can also send very basic emails via text message that are not "data" but text messages. So that's handy. And with some ingenuity, for example using tips such as those offered by David Pogue's TED Talk, you can send a text to google and get local business listings. Just with a text message.

And though we can't assume that people have iphones, with their bloated service plans, many people do have ipods or similar mp3 player equivalents. And the newest ipods often play video, an mp4 format should do the trick in producing materials that students could download to view in their copious free time (hopefully not while they're driving). But at the same time, I can record video clips on my cell phone, but that format seems locked down and incompatible with other players (codecs be damned!). It would be great if I could also play mp4 on my cell phone, and maybe I can and I just need to test it out. But even if I could, would I download video lectures to my cell to watch? I'm not sure...

I started this post out by asking what a framework is for mobile learning and how does it differ from a concept like free-choice learning. Sadly, one way it differs is that in the title of a presentation, the mlearning concept is the one people want to hear right now. I'm also not confident that formal institutions of higher learning are ready to accommodate "mlearning" in its truest form. It requires a level of flexibility and a committment to what students really need and just-in-time learning that stands in opposition to carefully crafted learning programs defined by what others think students need. At a certain level this is appropriate, but for a lot of adult learners today, education needs to be accessible, flexible, and immediately applicable. The aspect of mlearning that gets most attention right now, it seems, is the pushing of content in a variety of formats, but the real power in mlearning would be the ability to collaborate and interact "anytime, anyplace." A lot of students don't have the resources, both time and money-wise, for engaging with their coursework in that way. At the same time, exploiting tools that students encounter every day so that students see all the artifacts we interact with as an extension of their lifelong learning process, would have real value.

What are your thoughts on what mobile learning is? What has worked well in providing flexible formats to students at your institution?