UNDERSTANDING M-LEARNING

AUTHOR- R.VIJAY 1ST M.COM CA, MAHENDRA ARTS & SCIENCE COLLEGE,KALIPATTI
CO-AUTHOR- A.NASHEER 1ST M.COM CA, MAHENDRA ARTS & SCIENCE COLLEGE,KALIPATTI

Abstrack:
The article seeks to clarify the meaning of mobile learning by applying its key concepts
to learning experiences in post-school education. In other words, it seeks not to discuss
one fixed meaning of mobile learning but to disassemble the basic components and
provide an interpretation of the model in the context of higher education. The article
argues that in order to comprehensively understand and define mobile learning, we
should from the outset separate its key components and arrange them under three
different concepts. The first concept relates to the mobility of the technology. The
second concept hinges on increased learner mobility. The third concept examines the
mobility and dynamism of the learning processes and the flow of information. The
article concludes that knowledge in the modern world is transformed by the
development of revolutionary technologies in society.

Keywords:
Mobile learning, Mobility, Mobile technology, Mobile learner, Design, Instruction,
Higher education, E-learning

Introduction:
The evolution of handheld portable devices and wireless technology has resulted in
radical changes in the social and economic lifestyles of modern people. Today, many
technological devices are produced in portable form and people have become
accustomed to them. These devices are reshaping users daily lives in different ways. But
the development of digital technologies has so far been limited to social communication
and few people have regarded mobile learning as a core pedagogical activity in higher
institutions of learning. Although this model has been used as a minor adjunct to
learning activities such as lectures and assignments, it is still not the primary mode of
delivery in higher education. Currently, the instructional technology transmitted by
means of mobile technology is mainly social and, to a lesser extent, economic.

The Definition:
The foregoing observations can help designers to understand the position and
significance of mobile learning in the context of higher education. It is possible to argue
that the portability and mobility of these technological devices have had strong

implications for the meaning of terms that had been extensively defined in existing
literature. Using the mobile device as a signifier, the concepts of mobility can be divided
into three significant areas:
mobility of technology, mobility of learner and mobility of learning especially in higher
education landscape.

The studies should evaluate each of these technology models on the six major dimensions of
distance education provision:
1. The provision of course content to off campus students
2. The provision of feedback to off campus students
3. The provision of student support services to off campus students
4. Links to the WWW and other resources
5. Student to student interactivity
6. Student to tutor and institution interactivity.
BENEFITSOF M-LEARNING (Elias, 2011; Crescente and Lee, 2011):
1. Relatively inexpensive opportunities, as the cost of mobile devices are
significantly less than PCs and laptops
2. Multimedia content delivery and creation options
3. Continuous and situated learning support
4. Decrease in training costs
5. Potentially a more rewarding learning experience
6. Improving levels of literacy, numeracy and participation in education amongst
young adults.

Mobile is Growing Faster than Ever:

The advancement and distribution of an increasingly powerful telecommunications
network has brought about an age of unsurpassed mobile growth. With over 4 billion
mobile phone users globally as of 2012 and 66% of those users accessing the internet
through mobile devices at least once a day, the rapidly increasing interest from tech
innovators in mobile capabilities comes as no surprise.i
Driven by improved software, hardware, and the changing habits of mobile users, the
opportunities for training and education via mobile devices has increased significantly,
demanding the attention of eLearning experts. The continuous proliferation of personal
smartphones and tablets with advanced web browsers has created an incredible

environment for growth. Like all industries tethered to the rapidly evolving nature of
technological innovation, the eLearning community must, and indeed does, embrace
mobile learning, or mLearning.
In this guide, we present the following:
1. Exploration of the conceptual meaning of mLearning
2. Analysis of the definition through device, context and elements of design
3. Support and discussion of mLearning capabilities
4. Discussion of the technical qualities of development and design
5. How eLearning and mLearning are mutually beneficial

E-learning vs M-learning:
The term mLearning has traditionally been defined under the pretext of a devices
perceived physical capabilities. That is, mLearning has been equated with any eLearning
module that can run on a portable device.
Author of Defining Mobile Learning, John Traxler, suggests that this definition is left
wanting. Such definitions and descriptions of mobile learning are perhaps rather
techno-centric, not very stable and based around a set of hardware devices. iiTraxler
argues that this method of defining draws attention to mobile learnings technical
limitations rather than promoting its unique pedagogic advantages and characteristics.iii
In essence, this general definition barely scrapes the surface of mLearnings actual
meaning; implying mobile learning is a mere function of portability within an eLearning
spectrum. To create truly engaging and effective mLearning, designers and developers
alike must explore mLearnings possibilities in its entirety. This requires moving beyond
the superficial definition and examining mLearnings attachment to device capabilities
in conjunction with learner context and design elements, all of which are essential
factors in defining mobile education and its distinction from eLearning.

A mobile learning framework:

Research on the introduction of ICT in education (Salomon,1990;
Welch&Brownell,2000) has shown that it is effective only when developers understand

the strengths and weaknesses of the technology and integrate technology into
appropriate pedagogical practices. To address these concerns, an application framework
is proposed for m-learning. This framework consists of two levels of research and
analysis. First, is the mobile connectivity which focuses on the applications and
technology used by commercial establishments to extend electronic commerce and
second is the e-learning, which focuses on the use of Internet and other ICT in
education.

Mobile learning in higher education :

The most important yet sophisticated concepts for designing instruction in this context are
identifying the technology, learner and learning material as well as mobile technology such
as portable devices. It also involves identifying learners who are nomadic and able to
understand and interpret learning materials. In general, mobile learning or m-learning- can
be viewed as any form of learning that happens when mediated through a mobile devices,
and a form of learning that established the legitimacy of nomadic learners (Alexander,
2004)

Mobility of learning:
Researchers and practitioners ofmobile learning are engaged in pioneering experiments
for transmitting the full content of higher learning to students by means of mobile
cellular devices. Walker(2007) points out that the advantages of mobile learning are not
dependent solely upon the ability to use a portable and wireless communication device
successfully. He argues that the kind of learning experienced by mobile owners is unique
because it is received and processed with in the context in which the learner is situated.
The context is utterly individual completely different from the rigid outlay of the
traditional classroom or lecture room, and the computer laboratory.

Application evaluation:
The two major goals for evaluating our application were to:
1. observe the usage of this application in a classroom setting with students and obtain
student feedback on our m-learning applications, and
2. determine the student opinions on the role and value m-learning applications, in general,
after participating in our study.
Therefore, the evaluation process was broken into two phases. In each phase students
were shown how to access and use our application during a class session and were
instructed to use the application for next few weeks of the semester. This was followed
by two attitudinal surveys: inphase one the emphasis was only on student satisfaction

with our application, while in phase two the emphasis was on student satisfaction and
their general perceptions on the role of m-learning in
higher education.

Custom Solutions:
Sometimes the features that off-the-shelf tools provide just arent enough. Unfortunately,
often a project vision needs to be scaled back to keep within the capabilities of the
authoring tool. Instead of dumbing-down the product, however, consider pure custom
development.
In the past, that largely meant developing a custom eLearning course using Adobe Flash.
Nowadays, however, it more likely means creating a custom piece using HTML and
javascript. HTML5 isnt so much a necessity, HTML4 (a spec thats been finalized for
years) often works just fine, though its fun features arent as developed as HTML5, and
multimedia will require a web player, which many mobile devices just wont support.
It really comes down to the requirements of the courseware youre developing.

Conclusions:
In conclusion, the authors define mobile learning as any type of learning that takes
place in learning environments and spaces that take account of the mobility of
technology, mobility of learners and mobility of learning. Since mobile learning is
spreading rapidly and likely to become one of the most efficient ways of delivering
higher education instruction in the future, it has become necessary to examine its
implication for the design of teaching and learning. The uses and applications of
mobile learning have multiplied indifferent contexts even though the eventual
consequences of the proliferation of this medium are not yet entirely clear, either to
designers and practitioners
themselves or to researchers. .

Reference:
Alexander, B. (2004). Going Nomadic: Mobile Learning in Higher Education. Educause
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King, J. P. (2006). One Hundred Philosiphers: a Guide to World's Greatest
Thinkers(2ndEd.), UK: Aplle Press.
Derrida, J. (2006). Writing and Difference(A. Bass, Trans.), London & New York:
Routledge.