A Bright Future for a Most Practical Device

The first year wedding anniversary gift is “Paper.” It only seems right then that on our first wedding anniversary, my husband gave me a tool that allows me to do away with having too much paper: an Apple iTouch. The iTouch is very much like an iPod, but much more. I can store photo images, maps, visuals. I can watch videos and films. I can play an assortment of games, read my e-mail, use a number of helpful gadgets such as measurement tool, and ,of course, I can listen to my music and favorite podcasts. Lately my favorite use of the iTouch has been as a recipe box. With the help of a wireless connection I can look up my favorite recipes right in my kitchen without opening a book.

When the weather gets cold my thoughts start turning to gingerbread. We recently remodeled our kitchen and all our cookbooks are still in storage. Within a few seconds I had several recipes to choose from, but I settled for this one. I made a few adjustments and came up with this recipe:

Pear Gingerbread Cake

Pear Gingerbread Cake

Blend the following ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. all spice
• 1/8 tsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Blend together

• 4 tbsp. butter softened
• 1/2 c. brown sugar firmly packed

Add three eggs 1 at time. When well-blended add 1/4 c. buttermilk and 1/2 c. applesauce until fully incorporated. Pour into a buttered & floured baking pan and add pieces of a large Bartlet pear cut into 3/4 inch sections. Spread the pieces evenly around the cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  The cake is done when an inserted knife comes out clean.  Serve warm with apple butter as an accompaniment.

If I can research recipes or even knitting patterns with such ease on a mobile device, imagine how powerful such a device can be in the hands of an elementary student on a field trip looking for information on aeronautical devices, or high school biology students doing engaging field research on pond ecologies.

Internet connected mobile devices will become as ubiquitous as cell phones are today. They present users with the power of nearly unlimited access to information as long as they can connect to the Internet. So it seems that mobile learning, also known as mLearning, has a bright future.

Mobile learning activities easily promote constructivist learning in real-time. A learner can be posed with an issue and then research possible causes and solutions right on the spot.  In doing so they are actively constructing knowledge and reinforcing the behavior of independent learning.

Mobile learning also promotes “situated” learning. This type of learning is extremely powerful because it takes place in “an authentic context” (Future Lab, 2006). Finally, use of mobile learning devices in well structured learning activities promotes collaborative learning and work amongst students. An example I shared in an earlier post helps illustrate this. Students at a Boston school worked on solving a mystery about alien life using mobile learning devices to track their learning and access information. Students worked in teams with the devices to collect pieces of the mystery’s puzzle.

On the spot learning using mobile devices seems to be a natural next step for electronic learning in the classroom and outside of it. Mobile Learning truly has the potential for creating effective and engaged lifelong learners out of both children and adults.