Engaging Students with Mobile Technologies to Support Their Formal and Informal Learning

The Added Value Of Mobile Devices

It is undeniable that mobile devices give added accessibility to resources. Information which once required access to a library, classroom or even an office with a computer, is now available in your hand anytime and anywhere you want it (McFarlane, 2009). Learning materials can now be constantly updated in real time. Students can access the latest version of these at the time and place relevant for them. Learning can even be delivered “just in time.” Instead of preparing a complete set of knowledge (a book for example) and sending it only when the whole picture is set up, mobile technologies allow us to send small pieces of knowledge, as soon as it is available, as soon as the student needs it to progress. Does this herald a revolution in educational delivery analogous to that which the mobile phone brought to our idea of using the telephone?

Mobile devices also facilitate access to internet services and social networks, so they have the potential to increase our students’ exposure to information about almost any topic under the sun. This could mean business topics, items of personal interest, or languages, where exposure almost certainly increases listening comprehension and vocabulary. Interpersonal communication, whether with friends, colleagues, professors or total strangers is also facilitated. However, this huge increase in quantity of information and interpersonal contact may not be matched by an increase in quality.