While the discussion on mLearning continues, the fact remains that learners are initiating activities themselves to enhance their personal learning experience. From educational apps to mobile friendly readers, learners are beginning to take advantage of technology to enable their learning.
So what are we waiting for?
The mobile learning marketplace has commercial options that allow many institutions to implement for growth with minimal risk of major capital. While there is validity in adopting and implementing generally accepted technologies and methods, the problem is that while educators wait, the students may already be working, playing, and learning without supervision.
Starting small and scaling up
The call to action is to initiate a mobile learning activity in your classroom in a small way and scale gradually. Using the existing devices, look at making and distributing simple highlight points or flashcards for your lesson. Ask your students to review these over the week whenever free. Based on these simple tasks you’ll get an idea of how mobile learning can and cannot be used in your classroom.
Next you can ask for recommendations from your students themselves on the educational apps they like and already use. Look for mobile learning tools that enable delivery of content so it can be accessed by students once the content has been delivered to the device.
Delivering learning experiences
A perfect example of delivering value through mobile devices is a course in natural science where an assignment required students to take a picture of a specific leaf and post it in an online environment. Prior to mobile learning the activity required two devices to accomplish, a camera and a computer. The new reality requires a quick picture and potentially instantaneous upload into the system.
Utilizing mobile devices for learning is about delivering learning experiences and about an eco-system of connectedness and engagement. Taking advantage of these opportunities means delivering meaningful one-to-one learning experiences like never before.