M-Learning Project
Funded by LearnHigher
The M-Learning Project aims to identify current developments in mLearning in UK higher education and to assess the use and viability of learning objects delivered via mobile technologies.
"The current generation of young people will reinvent the workplace, and the society they live in. They will do it along the progressive lines that are built into the technology they use everyday – of networks, collaboration, co-production and participation. The change in behaviour has already happened. We have to get used to it, accept that the flow of knowledge moves both ways and do our best to make sure that no one is left behind"
(Green, H. and Hannon, C.(2007) Their Space: education for a digital generation. London: Demos).
Mobile learning – or m-learning - will soon reach a point where the necessary infrastructure (devices and networks) is routinely available and ready for exploitation. Teachers and lecturers need to be equipped with tools which are easy to use, flexible and time-efficient. These tools must encourage collaboration, conversation and participation and support structured delivery, assessment and progression.
Inexpensive mobile devices are beginning to contain advanced functionality such as GPS, while the 'standard' mobile phone now has a digital camera capable of recording both still and moving images at acceptable resolutions. The basic infrastructure is therefore in place for exciting new developments in technology-enabled learning, which have widespread application – taking them beyond niche and project-based applications into the mainstream.
Since 2000, mobile learning has moved from being a theory, explored by academic and technology enthusiasts, into a real and valuable contribution to learning. Mobile phones outnumber PCs 3 to 1 and have features such as web access and technologies like Java. Mobile phones and PDAs are no longer just for chatting and organising contacts and diaries, they are now pocket-sized computers and as such have the ability to deliver learning objects and provide access to online systems and services. The arrival of multimodal handheld devices such as the iPhone and the enabling of GPS are continually adding to these learning capabilities.
With such a ubiquitous tool the temptation to create mobile learning content is overwhelming. But research is still needed to determine and demonstrate the precise ways in which mobile learning can most effectively be introduced into the learning mainstream. The M-Learning project aims to address this.
The Objectives for the M-Learning Project are to:
1) Survey UK HEIs to ascertain current developments in mLearning in higher education in the UK to date, with reference to developments in other educational areas to identify future expectations from the next generation of students entering UK HEIs.
2) Develop and pilot two learning objects to be delivered and accessed via mobile devices. The two learning objects to be:
- Analyse This!!! online tutorial
- ASK, the Assignment Survival Kit
The following research methods will be adopted:
- Desk research – to identify current research and application of m-learning.
- Deployment of an online survey to learning technologists in UK HEIs to establish a baseline of current practice in the development and delivery of m-learning.
- Key informant interviews with schools to establish current practice in the development and delivery of m-learning and expectations for the future.
- Follow-up interviews/focus groups with key individuals to explore further emerging issues/challenges/examples of good practice.
- Development of two existing learning objects for delivery and access via mobile devices - hand held computers or smartphones.
- Evaluation of the use and viability with students of the two learning objects accessed via mobile devices.
The results of the use and viability of the two learning objects will provide detailed data on students’ use of mobile technologies which will inform development of further applications to be delivered via mobile technologies.
The project will be undertaken the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), in the Department of Information and Communications at MMU, in collaboration with the LearnHigher Mobile Learning (mLearning) Area Co-ordinator, Sylvie Steward, at Liverpool Hope University:
For further details about the M-Learning project, please contact the CERLIM team:
Jillian Griffiths, Research Associate: j.r.griffiths@mmu.ac.uk
Geoff Butters, Research Associate: g.butters@mmu.ac.uk
Jenny Craven, Research Associate: j.craven@mmu.ac.uk
CERLIM (Centre for Research in Library and Information Management),
Department of Information and Communications,
Manchester Metropolitan University,
Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamond Street West,
Manchester M15 6LL.
www.cerlim.ac.uk