Mobile learning, sometimes called m-learning, is learning accomplished with the use of small, portable computing devices. These computing devices may include: smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and similar handheld devices. There is some debate on the inclusion of tablet and laptop computers. Often, wireless two-way internet connection is assumed as an integral component.

Issues in Mlearning

Mobile learning is enabled by the use of portable computing devices, such as PDAs, palmtops, smartphones, and tablet PCs, communicating over wireless networks. The use of computing in teaching and learning is being extended to spaces beyond the traditional classroom and, within the classroom, teachers and learners are gaining increased flexibility and new opportunities for interaction. Mobile learning is an Athabasca University key theme because this unfettering of teaching and learning with technology has the potential to enable learning experiences that are more collaborative, more richly contextualized, and continuously accessible.

So if the future is already here, where can we find it? It is around us. It is in the air-literally. Industry has been taking advantage of the fact that computers without wires allow new applications and processes. In addition to mobility, we can access the Internet any time, any place. New devices are creating digital content in increasingly friendly forms. Digital cameras hidden in phones and PDAs are blurring the lines between public and private spaces.

Mobile technology is changing the classroom in obvious ways. Wireless Internet access is often depicted by pastoral scenes of students gathered around the proverbial tree with their laptops. However, the scene not often shown is the nervous faculty member competing with the Internet for students' attention.

The implications of wireless are far reaching, and the effects on our learning spaces are profound. What will our learning spaces look like when our students are more comfortable being nomads rather than performing scholarly tasks in familiar, static environments? What will the effects be once location is negotiable or even rendered negligible?

There are some clues about the future. Moblogs (mobile Web logs) paint a picture of the future where anyone can (and does) contribute to the reflection of reality on the Internet. Others are using mobility to explore spaces that could not be accessed before. An arboretum can be mapped out so that researchers from remote locations can contribute to the cataloguing of it while others cache data and information trophies in obscure locations, giving clues for how to find them.

Other fields are benefiting as well. Social dynamics, in the form of directed mobs, are being mapped and tested. Smartmobs, groups that spontaneously show up at sites around town, coordinate to perform an action and then disband as quickly as they formed, leaving no trace of their existence.

How do these new social entities fit into a national plan for a cyber infrastructure? Smartmobs seem to introduce chaos into the system. On a lesser level, how do we respond to students who can move more quickly than we can? Social software is helping students organize discreetly. Alexander speculated that we will see learners swarm around a physical artifact-or possibly around a concept or topic. If this scenario comes true, what implications will this have for our faculty?

Along with virtual learning environments, the physical world will be mapped more exquisitely. The concept of every item in the world having a story and a history is both exciting and frightening. J.D. Spohrer envisioned a world board with distinct histories visible to students who cared to observe them. Imagine what you might learn if the historic buildings on campus "spoke" to you or if plants in the arboretum could "tell" you about their native habitat. This concept gives rise to the ultimate inquiry learning environment.

Technological changes to our physical and virtual environments present both opportunities and obstacles. How much will we be able to hold in our heads at any one time? We currently make decisions based on how much time a concept can captivate our attention. How will this change in an age of onslaught of information?

How can we be aware of a future that not only is inevitable, but is already being assembled? Alexander asserted that the best way to see the impact is to look around and realize that we are already deep into the future.