Mobile Learning

                                                                  Mobile Learning

                    Mobile learning represents a way to address a number of our educational problems. Devices such as smart phones and tablets enable innovation and help students, teachers, and parents gain access to digital content and personalized assessment vital for a post-industrial world. Mobile devices, used in conjunction with near universal 4G/3G wireless connectivity, are essential tools to improve learning for students. As noted by Irwin Jacobs, the founding chairman of Qualcomm, Inc., “always on, always connected mobile devices in the hands of students has the potential to dramatically improve educational outcomes.

This paper, part of our Mobile Economy Project, looks at ways that mobile devices with cellular connectivity improve learning and engage students and teachers. Wireless technology is a way to provide new content and facilitate information access wherever a student is located. It enables, empowers, and engages learning in ways that transform the learning environment for students inside and outside of school.

                    As mobile phones, tablets, and other connected devices become more prevalent and affordable, wireless technology can dramatically improve learning and bring digital content to students. Students love mobile technology and use it regularly in their personal lives. It therefore is no surprise that young people want to employ mobile devices to make education more engaging and personalize it for their particular needs.  

Technology-rich activities can sustain high levels of student engagement and peer collaboration  compared to less technology focused activities. Educators need to figure out how to harness mobile platforms for instructional purposes and employ them to boost educational learning. A majority (52 percent) of students in grades 6-12 believe that having access to a tablet computer is an essential component of their ultimate school. Fifty-one percent of school administrators agree with these sentiments as well.

Key Features of the paper include:

• 1.Comparison with Other Nations
• 2.Challenges Facing U.S. Education
• 3.How Mobile Enables Innovation
• 4.Student and Teacher Engagement
• 5.Recommendations for Action
• what are the disadvantages of mobile learning?