Via Scoop.it – E-Learning-Inclusivo

Twitter community has spoken. This week I´ve got many retweets of articles related to mobile learning. Benefits, predictions for next year and how to develop a mobile learning strategy were undoubtedly the hot topics.   So, my tweets retweeted and the fact that I attended a great webinar organized by Float Mobile Learning encouraged me to think about a blog post (my first “post” in English :)) on those articles.   Why mLearning? Our context is rapidly changing. Every day, we experience the continuous advancement of technology, a tremendous growth of mobile devices market and the need to be connected everywhere, every time. The convergence of all these factors have led us to experiment and adopt new ways to access information and distribute content and also, have transferred the “mobilemania” to educational institutions and companies alike.   The Float Team predicts that “mobile learning will [soon] get its own identity, emerging on its own without being [just] eLearning on a mobile device.” The challenge now is to start considering mLearning as a great opportunity towards personalized learning, higher productivity and relevant interactions, rather than as a simple extension of eLearning.   Noteworthy benefits It´s evident that mLearning can contribute a lot to enhance ubiquitous learning possibilities. Among all the benefits that Marcus Boyes has cleverly listed (see references), mLearning seems especially suited for:   Learning on the job as it offers just-in time content and resources.   Peer Collaboration.   Concept Reinforcement or, as Boyes calls it, “speedier remediation”.   “Supported decision making and so better professional judgements (Boyes, 2011).”   Some pieces of advice To successfully embrace mLearning in organizations some aspects deserve careful considerations. Alicia Russell, director of Northeastern’s Educational Technology Center, stays that a mLearning strategy needs to “begin with a vision that ties mobile learning to your institution’s academic plan or vision.” On-going research to “prioritize needs related to mobile learning and begin to develop resources, including examples of best practices, success stories, case studies, lists of applications, or explorations of future directions (Grush, 2011)” is also essential. And last but not least, when working on mLearning projects, it´s necessary to reshape content in terms of duration, activity types, and layers of interactivity.   All in all, mLearning has started to arouse great interest due to different factors. Do you think that mLearning will boost education and training in the near future? Please, share your comments.    References Marcus Boyes (2011) 24 Benefits of Mobile Learning http://bit.ly/tVlRCn Mary Grush (2011) Creating Your Institution’s Mobile Learning Strategy http://bit.ly/s3Tnzy The Float Team (2011) A Look Back at our Predictions for Mobile in 2011 http://bit.ly/rWPaJC Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2664