Are you doing m-learning now?
Day 1 – What, when, where and how are you doing m-learning now?
I use my smart phone mostly for communication: voice calls and email. Occasionally, I will get info from the web, check Google maps, or use one of the apps like the qrcode scanner. I have plenty of minutes and 6GB of data transfer. I do have an iPad so I am using that actively now as my pen and paper replacement. I use my iPad: at every meeting (Evernote is my best friend), at professional development sessions, for creating documents, messaging, social networking, tweeting, communicating, and so on. My smart phone is often used in tandem with my iPad as a wireless access point.
If I did not have an iPad, I probably would be using my smartphone (android) much more for m-learning and other tasks.
I do not know if this is m-learning exactly, but if I am shopping for a non-clothing/non-food item that is perhaps over $50, I will use my smart phone quite heavily to look up reviews while I am in the store. For example, I recently purchased a new wireless router/switch for my home. It seems every few months, there are new router makes and models on the shelves… there is no possible way to keep up with the features and improvements. So, I narrowed down my choices to three units, searched Google for “wireless router review” and I read the cnet and pcmag reviews (pros and cons are most helpful) for the three units I was considering. It took approximately 10 minutes (maybe not even that long…) to compare the features and prices and make a decision that I was happy with (BTW-bought a Netgear N600 which has worked flawlessly).
Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
David William Price 11:29 pm on November 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Your use of your smartphone to access reviews is a great example of “performance support” or accessing information where you need it, when you need it.
The promise of mobile is to break down a lot more information into small pieces for quick consumption when you need it. One multinational creates bite-sized refreshers for their professionals to watch on their Blackberries just before going into client meetings.
That same company made a strategic decision not to try to conduct standard e-learning on their mobiles or to assess users who used content on their mobiles. Their focus is performance support… an area that may be worth a lot more thought. How can we re-conceptualize traditional classroom-based education into a roaming, performance-supported educational experience?
Instead of learning about physics in a classroom, why not learn physics in the real world with performance support from a mobile as a guide… and also a source for collaboration and mentorship via text and voice and maybe even voice chat?