Journal 7

"Envisioning the Future of Education" by Mark Van't Hooft

As new technologies continue to arise in our world of education, we are seeing more and more changes in the way that students are being educated in today's society. Learning seems to have become more personal; however, collaborative, portable, and durable all at the same time through the use of mobile learning. What is Mobile Learning you ask? It is a way of learning through the use of a mobile device such as a phone or a laptop. And the difference between classroom learning and mobile learning is that it tends to focus more on the interactions between the learners and the technologies in which they are using. Two of the most important aspects of mobile learning are conversation, which promotes active learning, and contexts, which can be temporarily fixed but never stationary, since mobile learners are constantly moving from one location to another. Overall mobile learning gives learners more control, in the sense that they are in charge of what is accessed, created, and shared across the board. It is also beneficial in the way that it connects schools with the world.

Questions:
1. Would you use mobile learning in your own classroom?
Because it looks as though mobile learning is an up and coming thing, we can only hope to see it improve over time. This is why I would definitely consider using mobile learning in my own classroom, because I think that it would encourage students to be active learners, especially since mobile learning tends to put learners in control of whatever they may be accessing, creating, and sharing. I also think that it would be great in the classroom, because it allows schools to connect with other schools and share information in a variety of media formats at any given time.

2. In what ways would mobile learning create challenges in the classroom?
Because student learning is so different across the board, it might create problems as far as having different access levels to opportunities, experiences, and knowledge that can prepare students for a mobile learning environment. But regardless of how such challenges could and would be handled in a classroom, there will always be unequal access to various resources from school to school, and sometimes even from classroom to classroom.