The value of mobile technology in teaching and learning

It could be argued that the use, and misuse, of EdTech varies considerably between individual educators and the institutions they work in (Henderson, 2014).  

At an institutional level, the particular mix of learning management systems, data-shows, interactive whiteboards, student voting systems,   and so on, will be pretty much unique; a solute arrived at after a concoction of (in)expertise, leadership predilections and digital trends has been boiled dry by the bunsen burner of budgetary constraints. It may or may not have a positive impact on students’ learning.  

This kind of heterogeneity is inevitable; the EdTech experience of any individual student is pure happenstance. Ironically, it could be argued that, where we do see more digital homogeneity is not in specialist education technology but in the devices chosen and used by student population itself; their mobile Tech. Here, there exist rich possibilities to nurture inclusive learning communities and to positively impact on progress using technology the students are familiar with and with which they already participate in digital society.     

Mobile Tech pretty much falls into the following three categories (Naismith, Lonsdale, Vavouls and Sharples, 2006):

Telecoms: Smartphones

Computing: Tablets Notebooks and Laptops

Digital community: Social media and Apps

What they have in common is versatility. 

Subject content, and its attendant educational discourse, can be untethered from a physical location - the classroom, or lecture theatre - and relocated onto the mobile device (Wylie,2014) . Many millions of educators and students routinely do this. 

Handled well, the benefits are manifold. 

The digitisation of text books and course content material - ebooks like Apple’s iBooks (Apple, 2014) - allows for easy mobile access to print and video media for students. Costs are lower, students and educators can manipulate data and content in a variety of ways, making it more interactive. This promotes inquiry-based learning, with demonstrable results in progress for all kinds of students, and is particularly beneficial for those with learning or behavioural difficulties as Apps designed for their needs proliferate. 

Assessment and feedback routines can be also easily incorporated using customisable educational Apps, (Apple currently has over 75,000 of these.)  

Student productivity can also be boosted. I often hear school students (less so college students) bemoan the fact they must produce their most critical pieces of coursework and examinations by hand, on paper! Google Apps enables students to produce documents, spreadsheets and powerpoints that are created and stored online for free. Sharing results with the educator via email makes for a slick, paperless submission, marking and feedback system (Neilsen,2014).    

It’s fun and engaging.

However, a few caveats must be addressed for this to be fair appraisal of mobile Tech in education.

Individual students and educators have differing levels of digital literacy and equipment. Some subject specialisms lend themselves less towards mobile digitisation than others; practical chemistry on the iPhone anyone? Plagiarism and plain old misuse can also plague these projects, rather like street crime mars our great cities. 

At its centre though, is the student’s direct experience of education and the applicability of that education to the ‘real world’ of work and culture and mobile digital technology is finding universal application in all these areas. 

Apple, 2014. Ipad in education. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/uk/education/ipad/ibooks-textbooks/ Accessed 04 December 2014].

Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G. and Sharples, M., 2006. Report 11: Literature review in mobile technologies and learning.[pdf] Bristol: Futurelab. Available at:http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/lit_reviews/Mobile_Review.pdf Accessed 04 December 2014].

Neilsen, L., 2014. A few of my fav EdTech things in 2014: [online] Available at:< http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/fav-five-free-resources-of-2014.html> Accessed 05 December 2014. 

Wylie, J., 2014. Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms: [online] Available at: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742 [Accessed 04 December 2014]