Even though we had discussed this in class before, I was surprised by the amount of projects that focused on mobile technologies. Within my research of media that focused on disease prevention and education, I came across so many projects that were specifically using mobile technologies as the platform for information disbursement.
Because this seems to be such an important platform for learning I've been curious to know what type of learning theory mobile technologies support. I quickly looked up some information regarding learning theories:
| Learning Theory | Activity Type |
| Behaviorist | Activities that promote learning as a change in learners’ observable actions |
| Constructivist | Activities in which learners actively construct new ideas or concepts based on both their previous and current knowledge |
| Situated | Activities that promote learning within an authentic context and culture |
| Collaborative | Activities that promote learning through social interaction |
| Informal and non-formal | Activities that support learning outside a dedicated learning environment and formal curriculum |
| Learning and teaching support | Activities that assist in the coordination of learners and resources for learning activities |
It is fairly easy to see how mobile technologies could support many of these theories of learning. As an example, feedback from the mobile device provides reinforcement that supports the behaviorist theory. Mobile devices also support the collaborative learning theory by providing a different means of online collaboration. Online discussion boards, for example, can be a substitute for face-to-face discussions. Mobile learning also takes the learning outside the classroom and by default embeds the learning into students' everyday lives, thus emphasizing the value of mobile technologies as a means of supporting informal learning theories.
While my research in this area is far from extensive, mobile technologies seem to fit quite easily in the context of learning and are obviously a great way of transferring information as almost half of the worlds population currently owns some type of mobile device. The introduction of other mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone make mobile technologies an even more viable option for learning as individual developers can provide material that supports learning. Where institutions were the only medium for educational content before, now any individual can participate in developing content for these more open devices.
I am curious to see what other devices or mediums for mobile technologies emerge in the upcoming years that further transforms the way we see mobile learning.
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