Originally posted by cbrumwell on January 29, 2016
In the Spring of 2015, ETC Press released Mobile Media Learning: Innovation and Inspiration, appropriately optimized for viewing on a tablet or smartphone. This book is particularly relevant to 565M in general and the Mobile Education thread of our Knowledge Mill specifically because of its emphasis on theory and frameworks and its practical examples. It is co-written by scholars Sean Dikkers, Chris Holden, John Martin and Breanne Litts who are all educational researchers in the United States.
The authors and contributors approach the topic of MML from the perspective of practitioners on the mobile frontier. The first chapter takes the form of a conversation between the writers. The second positions the theories relating to mobile learning historically from Sydney Papert to the present. Practical examples are presented in Chapter 3 as anecdotal first person accounts from educators who have designed their own learning projects using mobile technologies, including: MML platforms, connections to classroom use, summer programs, museum applications and augmented reality games designed for public audiences. The book concludes with an overview of prominent themes and forecasts of possible directions that MML may go in the future. The language of the book is refreshingly casual and non-academic by design. It is intended to reach a cross-section of like-minded educators from universities, schools and the community. I highly recommend it.
This resource is great, because big picture overviews and introductions always help give context (or a landscape) in which to place more detailed and nuanced investigations. The interdisciplinary approach makes it more likely to be well-rounded, and applicable to a variety of different educational approaches. I’d also be really interested to see what trajectories were outlined in 2016 and see how they have mapped out now. Are the challenges they identified for educators still the same? Are the learner benefits they identified still valid?
The book description should speak for itself from here on out
“This book is an inspirational message about what is possible and practical in the name of learning through mobile media. We present stories from a diverse set of educators, a microcosm of the landscape of mobile media learning.
Each author has found a way to create something new and beautiful in their own world. And though their results are exceptional, their surroundings are not. Most are not experts in high-technology, nor highly equipped. They get as far as they do by using what is at hand, in part by making use of accessible, free and open source software.”