5 THE FUTURE OF TEACHING
AND LEARNING WITH MOBILE
TECHNOLOGIES
The current trends in mobile computing
are towards devices that are even more
embedded, ubiquitous and networked than
those available today. The capabilities of
mobile phones, PDAs, games consoles and
cameras will likely merge within the next
five to ten years to provide a networked,
multimedia device that is always with you.
Integrated context-aware capabilities will
transform everyday activities by providing
the ability to capture details about the
time, location, people around you and even
the weather. The entire internet will
become both personal and portable.
Such technologies can have a great impact
on learning. Learning will move more and
more outside of the classroom and into the
learner’s environments, both real and
virtual. Learning will involve making rich
connections within these environments to
both resources and to other people. In
addition to consulting internet-based
resources on the move, learners will be
able to manage the administration of their
learning through consultations with their
personal diaries and institution-based
virtual learning environments. The ability
to instantly publish their observations and
reflections as digital media will empower
them to be investigators. Context-aware
applications will enable learners to easily
capture and record events in their life
to both assist later recall and share
their experiences for collaborative
reflection. Opportunities for distributed
collaboration and mobile team working
will be greatly enhanced.
The challenge for the educators and
technology developers of the future will
be to find ways to ensure that this new
learning is highly situated, personal,
collaborative and long term; in other
words, truly learner-centred learning.
Educators will need to adapt from a role as
transmitters of knowledge to guiders of
learning resources. Technology developers
will need to respond to concerns of
security and privacy while designing
devices and services that learners both
want and will pay for.
Whether they are welcome right now or
not, mobile devices are finding their way
into classrooms in children’s pockets, and
we must ensure that educational practice
can include these technologies in
productive ways. In the future, the success
of learning and teaching with mobile
technologies will be measured by how
seamlessly it weaves itself into our daily
lives, with the greatest success
paradoxically occurring at the point where
we don’t recognise it as learning at all. |
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