history of mobile learning - mlearn 2007 doctoral consortium oct 2007

A Short History of Mobile Learning

and some issues to consider

Mike SharplesLearning Sciences Research Institute

University of Nottinghamwww.nottingham.ac.uk/lsri

Visions of Mobile Learning, 1963

As Antarctic glaciers went it was a fairly large one…The sad masses of rock were heavily scarred where the ice flow had once rubbed them, for in this year of 1994, the glacier was smaller than it had been even a century ago. Jed grinned up at his father. “Now for a bit of real work,” he said.“You don’t know what real work is,” his father smiled. “When I was a boy, back in the nineteen-sixties, I’d have been at school at your age… in those days, anything you wanted to learn, you had to get into your own head. We didn’t have miniputers in those days. Computers had been invented, and they were getting smaller, but it wasn’t until the great developments in microtechnology in the seventies that portable computers were made”.

‘The Thing Under the Glacier’, Brian Aldiss, Daily Express Science Annual,1963

Visions of Mobile Learning, 1963Instinctively [Jed] switched over to his miniputer to review the situation. It was a simple thing to do. Many of the parts of the miniputer were synthetic bio-chemical units, their “controls” built into Jed’s aural cavity; he “switched on” by simple neural impulse. At once the mighty resources of the machine, equal to the libraries of the world, billowed like a curtain on the fringes of his brain…Its “voice” came into his mind, filling it with relevant words, figures, and pictures.“…Of all continents, the Antarctic has been hardest hit by ice.”As it spoke, it flashed one of its staggeringly vivid pictures into Jed’s mind. Howling through great forests, slicing through grasslands, came cold winds. The landscape grew darker, more barren; snow fell.

The Thing Under the Glacier, Brian Aldiss, 1963

‘Micro-ear’ invisible earpiece

‘Micro-optical’ high resolution display

‘Brain-gate’ neural interface

Visions of Mobile Learning, 1972

“Zap, with a beautiful flash and appropriate noise, Jimmy’s spaceship disintegrated. Beth had won Spacewar again. The nine year olds were lying on the grass of a park near their home, their DynaBooks hooked together to allow each of them a viewscreen into the space world where Beth’s ship was now floating triumphantly alone.”

Alan Kay, A Personal Computer for Children of all Ages, Proceedings of the ACM National Conference, Boston Aug. 1972

Visions of Mobile Learning, 1972“Jimmy connected his DynaBook to his class’s LIBLINK and became heir to the thought and knowledge of ages past…It was like taking an endless voyage through a space that knew no bounds.”

Mockup of Dynabook

Xerox Alto computer

IBM 370 computer

HP 35 calculator

The Dynabook• Carry anywhere device• No larger than a notebook• Weigh less than 4 pounds• Flat panel display, quality

similar to a book• Dynamic graphics• Store at least 500 book

pages, or several hours of audio

• High bandwidth communication

• Connection to wireless global network

• Rechargable batteries• Cost under $500

Kay, 1972

Evolution of Hardware, Software and Communications

1970’s Dynabook ideaAlto

Smalltalk

1980’s Xerox StarApple LisaApple Macintosh

C++

1990’s Windows PCsLaptop PCsPDAs

Java

2000’s Wireless PDAs

ArpanetEthernet

TCP/IPAnalog cellular radio

Worldwide webDigital cellular radioWireless LAN

CORBA Bluetooth

Education design for the Dynabook

• Personal• Highly interactive• Learning through play• Collaborative learning• Informal learning• Dynamic simulations• Anytime anywhere learning

Evolution of learner-centred education

1970’s Discovery Learning

1980’s Situated learningConstructivist learningCollaborative learning

1990’s Problem-based learningLifelong learningSocial-constructivist learning

2000’s Informal learningContextual learningAmbient learning

HandLeR: Handheld Learning ResourceSharples, Corlett & Westmancott, 2002

• University of Birmingham• Personal learning aid

– Field trips– Multimedia note taking

• Camera• Wireless and phone link• Pen input• Capture notes, organise as

concept map, share with other students HandLeR:

Handheld Learning Resource

C:\Multimedia Files\video\TW-3.AVI

HandLeR project

MOBIlearn• Worldwide European-led

project• 24 partner organisations across

Europe, Israel, US, Australia• Focus on learning outside the

classroom • Scenarios

– Art gallery– First aid– Work-based MBA course

• Trials of Art Gallery scenario in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence and Nottingham Castle Gallery

• It’s the learner that’s mobile• How learning is interwoven with everyday life• Mobile learning can both complement and

conflict with formal education• The importance of context, constructed by

learners through interaction• Ethical issues: privacy, ownership

MOBIlearn: what we know now that we didn’t at the start(Final project meeting informal discussion)

3 C’s of Effective Learning• Construction

– Successful learning is constructive process (Brown & Campione, 1996) that involves seeking solutions to problems and relating new experiences to existing knowledge

• Conversation– Central to learning is conversation, with teachers, with other

learners, with ourselves as we question our concepts, and with the world as we carry out experiments and explorations and interpret the results (Pask, 1976)

• Control– Learning is most successful when we are in control, carrying

out an active and continuing cycle of experimentation and reflection (Kolb, 1984)

Mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: EduNova• MCSCL developed by

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

• Wireless handheld computers

• Tested in schools, teacher training, university students

• Significant differences in learning outcomes

• Trials in other countries including UK (Wolverhampton)

S 2

S 1 S 3

S 2

S 1 S 3

S 2

S 1 S 3

Computer-supported

collaboration

Mobile computer-supported

collaboration

Face-to-face collaboration

T eac h er 'sP o c k e tP C

1 . The te ac he r do wnlo ads theac t ivi ty f ro m the pro je c twe b s i te to his P o c ke tP C .


S tu d en ts 'sP o c k e tP C s

2 . In the c las s ro o m , the te ac he rtr ans m its the ac t ivi ty to thes tude nts us ing the M AN E T.

3 . The c o l labo rat ive ac t ivi tyis launc he d by the te ac he r andthe s tude nts are as s igne d tote am s that wo rk c o l labo rat ive ly.


S tu d en ts 'sP o c k e tP C s

4 . W he n the c las s is f in is he d, the te ac he r 'sP o c ke tP C c o lle c ts the s tude nts ' wo rk.


5 . The te ac he r do wnlo ads the data c o l le c te d o ntothe s c ho o l 's P C and analyze s i t . Addit io nal ly , thisdata is avai lable , whe n uplo ade d, o n the Inte rne t .

4. The teacher can monitor and discuss the individual and group learning activity.

¿Qué son los ácidos nucleicos?

Cadenas de ADN y ARN formadas por 4 nucleótidos Cadenas de aminoácidos unidos en distintas secuencias

No sé

Cadena de monosacáridos unidos por enlaces glucosídicos



No sé




No sé


¡¡Pónganse deacuerdo!!

OK


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No sé




No sé




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¡¡CORRECTA!!

OK

¡¡CORRECTA!!

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¡¡CORRECTA!!

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PI: Personal Inquiry• Support for inquiry science learning

between formal and informal settings, KS3

• School for introducing and framing issues, and planning inquiries

• Outside, home and science centres for semi-structured investigations

• Construction– Students design the methods of

inquiry

• Conversation– In classroom, at home, with peers,

with experts

• Control– ‘Scripted’ inquiry learning (dynamic

lesson plans supported by mobile devices)

19741997

2002

2002

20032004

2005

2006

Big Issues in Mobile LearningKaleidoscope European Workshop, Nottingham, June 2006 • What is mobile learning?• Does mobile learning work?• How do you evaluate mobile learning?• How do you resolve the tensions between

informal mobile learning and formal school learning

• Who should own the technology, and the learning?

history of mobile learning - mlearn 2007 doctoral consortium oct 2007

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