I submitted two proposals for the ‘Mobile Learning: crossing boundaries in convergent environments’ Conference, taking place in Bremen on March 21 and 22, 2011 (see website and post): A poster to present the MoLeaP database, and a research paper for the theory strand. Both proposals have been accepted (see short abstracts below). Extended abstracts will be available in the book of abstracts before the conference.
The MoLeaP database is part of a project which I held from 2008-2010 at the WLE Centre, IoE, University of London, entitled ”And don’t forget to bring your mobile’. Informing educational target groups
about mobile learning opportunities.’ The research paper covers some of the results deriving from my PhD research; I’ll submit the thesis within the next few weeks.
MoLeaP – the mobile learning project database
This poster aims to introduce ‘MoLeaP – the mobile learning project database’, a service provided by the London Mobile Learning Group (LMLG; www.londonmobilelearning.net) via www.moleap.net. MoLeaP is a public and free-of-charge online database for education professionals interested in mobile learning practice underpinned by theory. Projects, applications, and resources can be submitted by users in order to make materials and experiences available to a broad audience and to encourage the implementation of mobile learning projects in different learning contexts, such as school/college/university, family, workplace, and/or everyday life to enhance the replicability of mobile learning projects, and to contribute to sustainability in teaching, learning and research on mobile learning. The database categories are basing on a conceptual framework of a socio-cultural ecology of mobile learning, and are deriving from a methodological framework for the description and analysis of mobile learning practice.
A critical perspective on mobile learning: Results of a heuristic analysis of the scientific process and a hermeneutic analysis of mobile learning practice
The educational and pedagogic research on mobile learning is about ten years old. Over this time the scientific process can be split into three phases, which reach from (1) research on practice over (2) the application of existing learning theories to (3) the generation of new theoretical and conceptual frameworks for mobile learning. With a view to the different lines of development within these phases, it becomes evident that there are e.g. attempts to not only understand what mobile learning is, but also to demand changes in the educational system. The latter refers not least to a process of democratisation of learners and learning that is about to take place.
Focussing on mobile learning practice, ambiguities and contradictions in the use of mobile devices in learning contexts appear. They are standing in contrast to what research on mobile learning suggests, e.g. ad-hoc use of mobile devices, collaborative learning, the crossing of conceptual and local contexts etc. On the other hand, practice also suggests the power of learners being able to create new learning spaces and concepts as well as implementing multimedia and multiple modes into school learning that are replacing the written text as dominant mode for learning.
The paper will outline the scientific process of the mobile learning field, with focus on the educational and pedagogic developments in mobile learning taking place in the UK and in Germany. The results deriving from this heuristic and hermeneutic analysis will be reflected critically in order to reveal to ‘pseudo’ changes and to ‘success stories’ in the use of mobile devices for learning, as well as to the potential of the discussion.