IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2005

DEFINING MOBILE LEARNING

John Traxler
University of Wolverhampton Wolverhampton, WV1 1SB, UK John.traxler@wlv.ac.uk

ABSTRACT Mobile learning is new. It is currently difficult to define, conceptualise and discuss. It could perhaps be a wholly new and distinct educational format, needing to set its own standards and expectations, or it could be a variety of e-learning, inheriting the discourse and limitations of this slightly more mature discipline. This paper is a preliminary attempt to address this issue of definition and conceptualisation, and draws on recent research examining case studies from the UK and elsewhere. KEYWORDS

Mobile learning;

1. THE STATE OF MOBILE LEARNING

There is considerable evidence to suggest that mobile learning is growing in visibility and significance. First, there is the growing size and frequency of dedicated conferences, seminars and workshops, both in the United Kingdom and internationally. MLEARN 2002 (Birmingham) and MLEARN 2003 (London, which attracted more than 200 delegates from 13 countries) were followed by MLEARN 2004 (Rome) in July 2004. Another dedicated event, the International Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Technologies in Education (WMTE 2002), sponsored by IEEE, took place in Sweden in August 2002 (http://lttf.ieee.org/wmte2002/). The second WMTE (http://lttf.ieee.org/wmte2003/) was held at National Central University in Taiwan in March 2004. Another notable event was the ICML International Conference on Mobile Learning: New Frontiers and Challenges, 5-7, March 2003, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (http://www.umcced.edu.my/conference/mlearn/). There are also a growing number of national and international workshops such as the June 2002 national workshop in Telford on mobile learning in the computing discipline with 60 delegates from UK higher education (http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/events) and the National Workshop and Tutorial on Handheld Computers in Universities and Colleges series held at Wolverhampton (http://www.einnovationcentre.co.uk/eic_event.htm) on 11 June 2004 and Telford on 12 January 2005, each with 95 delegates. Other European events have included The Social Science of Mobile Learning, in Budapest, on 29 November 2002 (http://21st.century.phil-inst.hu/m-learning_conference/), and the Workshop on Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing for Educational Communities: Enriching and Enlarging Community Spaces, Amsterdam, 19 September 2003 (http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~divitini/umocec2003/), part of the International Conference on Communities and Technologies. Second, there have also been a rising number of references to mobile learning at generalist academic conferences. Online Educa Berlin, the world's largest e-learning conference, annually attracts 1200 participants from over 60 countries. It includes mobile learning in its theme on Future Technologies for Learning; the latest one was held in December 2003 (http://www.online-educa.com/en/). Issues of usability and interaction with mobile devices are the focus of events such as the annual International Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, held in Italy in September 2003 http://hcilab.uniud.it/mobilehci/index.html; in Glasgow in September 2004 http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/~mdd/mobilehci04/).

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2. MOBILE LEARNING EXAMPLES

The practice of mobile learning currently exploits both handheld computers and mobile phones.

2.1 Mobile Learning Using Handheld Computers

Mobile learning using handheld computers is obviously relatively immature in terms of both its technologies and its pedagogies but is nevertheless developing rapidly. It sometimes draws on the theory and practice of pedagogies used in technology supported learning and others used in the classroom and the community, and takes place as mobile devices are transforming notions of space, community and discourse (Katz & Aakhus, 2002), (Brown, 2001) and the investigative ethics and tools (Hewson et al, 2003). The term mobile learning covers the personalised, connected and interactive use of handheld computers in classrooms (Perry, 2003), (OMalley & Stanton, 2002), in collaborative learning (Pinkwart et al, 2003), in fieldwork (Chen, 2003) and in counselling and guidance (Vuorinen & Sampson, 2003). Mobile devices are supporting corporate training for mobile workers (Gayeski, 2002), (Pasanen, 2003), (Lundin & Magnusson, 2003) and are enhancing medical education (Smordal, 2003), teacher training (Seppala & Alamaki, 2003), music composition (Polishook, 2005), nurse training (Kneebone, 2005) and numerous other disciplines. Mobile devices are becoming a viable and imaginative component of institutional support and provision (Griswold et al, 2002), (Sariola, 2003), (Hackemer & Peterson, 2005). In many of these cases, they give uniquely situated and context-aware learning experiences but in other cases they may be reaching remote or inaccessible learners and supporting conventional learning or conventional e-learning. There is developmental work that looks at the issues of extending standards to mobile learning (Shih, 2004), of delivering usable content in mobile devices (Kukulska-Hulme, 2002) and of supporting online mobile learner communities (Salmon, 2000). There is as yet little research that looks at how the dominant pedagogies of e-learning might translate into the mobile domain (Rudman et al, 2002), (Sharples, 2001), (Luckin et al, 2003) and not a great deal of work that moves beyond using technologies provided by the market-place to looking at ones underpinned by sound pedagogic theory (Rudman et al, 2003), (Lyons, 2003). The specifics of evaluation and ethical aspects of mobile learning are only starting to be considered (Traxler, 2004), (Taylor, 2003).

2.2 Mobile Learning Using Mobile Phones

Mobile learning also covers the delivery and support of learning using mobile phones and in the last five years, mobile phones have steadily assumed a place in further and higher education in the USA, the Far East/Pacific Rim and the UK (Garner et al, 2002), (Briggs & Stone, 2002), (Alsop et al, 2002), supporting distance learners and part-time students. There has also been a growing understanding of mobile phones potential for supporting learning (Attewell & Savill-Smith, 2003) and of the evolution of cultural life and social behaviour with the take up of mobile phones in many parts of the world (Plant, 2001). There is experience of using mobile phones to deliver educational content. One study looks at SMS in learning Italian (Levy & Kennedy, 2005), another at learning literature (Hoppe, 2004). There is also experience in using mobile phones to provide study support (Traxler & Riordan, 2003). This work shows that SMS can be used to provide support, motivation and continuity; alerts and reminders; bite-size content, introductions, tips and revision; study guide structure. Experts in online learning are mapping out how to transfer their support strategies (Salmon, 2000) to SMS and anticipate the gradual transition of any SMS service from operational issues, through tutorial and pastoral support, to fully moderated asynchronous conferences.

3. DEFINING MOBILE LEARNING

Mobile learning can perhaps be defined as any educational provision where the sole or dominant technologies are handheld or palmtop devices. This definition may mean that mobile learning could include mobile phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and their peripherals, perhaps tablet PCs and

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perhaps laptop PCs, but not desktops in carts and other similar solutions. Perhaps the definition should address also the growing number of experiments with dedicated mobile devices such as games consoles and iPODs, and it should encompass both mainstream industrial technologies and one-off experimental technologies.

m-learning vs. e-learning

ubiquitous static luggable mobile wearable pervasive PDA laptop PC
Figure 1.
Figure 1

tablet

phone

However any such definitions and description of mobile learning are perhaps rather technocentric, not very stable and based around a set of hardware devices. Such definitions merely put mobile learning somewhere on e-learnings spectrum of portability and also perhaps draw attention to its technical limitations rather than promoting its unique pedagogic advantages and characteristics (Figure 1). The uncertainty about whether laptops and Tablets deliver mobile learning (Figure 2) illustrates the difficulty with this definition.

m-learning vs. e-learning

e-learning
PC

m-learning
MMS SMS PDA smartphone
Figure 2

Tablet PC

laptop

Figure 2.

When we look at learning from the learners and users perspective, a definition of mobile learning becomes clearer. People use a variety of words to describe the nature of learning when it is mobile. Many of these characteristics are the core of what separates mobile learning (m-learning) from (tethered) e-learning (Figure 3) and we are beginning, just beginning, to see the emergence of a distinct mobile learning community.

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m-learning vs. e-learning

e-learning
intelligent personalised interactive

m-learning
spontaneous situated portable context-aware lightweight informal personal

media-rich institutional structured multimedia usable massive hyper-linked accessible connected

Figure 3

Figure 3.

If we look back at the examples described earlier, we can see these characteristics emerging. So there are core characteristics that define mobile learning and these characterize mobile learning as Spontaneous Private Portable Situated Informal Bite-sized Light-weight Context aware And perhaps soon Connected Personalised Interactive Examples of these attributes can be found across many or most of the recent trials, pilots and implementations of mobile learning but not in such a conclusive enough fashion to support a case that mobile learning is wholly distinct from (tethered) e-learning. Perhaps this will emerge as educationalists become more confident in exploiting and integrating the diversity of ways that mobile devices can interact with the outside world, including cameras and speech technologies. If it is to emerge, it will need to refer back to theories and accounts of for example informal learning, situated learning and bite-sized learning that have little connection with e-learning or other forms of technology supported learning. Incidentally this line of argument, namely that mobile learning is potentially a distinct phenomenon when defined in terms of learners experiences, also begs the question of whether some more traditional forms of learning are also mobile learning. But finally, once we look more closely we see some characteristics that separate and define different types of mobile learning experience (Figure 4). Latency is the waiting associated with a particular service (anyone booting up a Windows PC knows latency can be quite an overhead, anyone looking at their wristwatch knows it neednt be); mobile learning usability varies from reading and writing SMS text on a matchbox-sized device to something comparable to a desktop PC and mobile learning connectivity can vary from always-on to havent got any.

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m-learning vs. e-learning

usability laptop PDA PC

latency connectivity SMS

Figure 4 Figure 4.

Again, these apparently technical characteristics will probably have direct consequences for the nature of mobile learning (and teaching). Put simplistically, problems or limitations with usability or latency may inhibit models of teaching that concentrate on the delivery of content whereas problems or limitations with connectivity may hamper models of teaching and learning based on discourse and conversation. In more practical terms, the ability to exploit educationally the popularity of standalone downloadable games may favour a model of learning based around behaviourist practice-and-drill whilst the ability to exploit educationally any fashion for beaming or peer-to-peer connectivity may underpin a more conversational model of learning. These issues are discussed at greater length elsewhere (Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler, 2005).

4. CONCLUSION
This paper attempts to summarise the factors that will influence our understanding of mobile learning in the coming years. This understanding will itself influence the progress and direction of mobile learning and its perception and acceptance by the wider educational community. The definition and depiction of mobile learning as merely portable e-learning is a gradualist position which will ease its diffusion but weaken its contribution whereas the definition and depiction of mobile learning as something wholly new and distinct is a radical position that will make diffusion and acceptance more problematic but maintain its identity and coherence. What we have not considered here is the extent to which mobile learning could draw on discourses outside e-learning.

REFERENCES
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