Instructional Technology
Conference 2007

Title: Truly Anytime, Anyplace Learning - Mobile Computing

Name: Jason Caudill

Audience Level: all

Audience: faculty, instructional technology specialists, general

Length: 1 hour

Abstract:
Mobile computing has made the world of online learning more accessible from more
locations than ever before. By developing an understanding of the hardware and
networking technology that is involved in mobile learning, practitioners can begin to
integrate mobile learning applications into their course designs or even create mobile
curriculums. Attendees to this session will gain an understanding of the mobile
computing components that contribute to making mobile learning work.

Description:
As online learning continues to grow its attribute of providing anytime, anyplace learning
is finding an increasingly appreciative audience among online students. Unfortunately,
traditional online learning designs are not really anytime, anyplace educational solutions.
They do provide students with considerable flexibility in comparison to traditional class
environments, but the need to use a computer that is connected to a network seriously
limits where and how students can access their instructional information. To address this
deficiency, the next component of online learning is emerging as mobile learning
(mLearning).
mLearning is perhaps best defined as electronic learning (eLearning) utilizing a mobile
electronic device. Mobile devices are broadly categorized as electronics that can fit into
a pocket and include mobile phones, MP3 players, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
All of these devices offer unique functionalities that provide for the use of different
mLearning applications, each of which may have different applications in a learning
environment. Closely related to the mobile hardware available for mLearning is the everincreasing
availability of mobile networking technology that links these hardware devices
to networked resources.
This session will define the technologies that comprise mLearning and also discuss
mLearnings uniqueness in, and separation from, eLearning. Following these
descriptions, different applications of mLearning media and the hardware and networking
resources linked to these media will be presented, along with examples of how each
media format may be best used in an instructional environment. By understanding the
variety of mLearning technology as well as how the technologies overlap and support
each other in an integrated eLearning environment it is possible to properly apply these
technologies either to support or supplement traditional instructional methods or to
comprise an entirely mLearning based curriculum.

Session Type: Lecture/Presentation

Contact information/affiliation:
Jason Caudill
PhD Student in Instructional Technology
University of Tennessee
790 N. Cedar Bluff Rd. Apt. 414
Knoxville, TN 37923
865-470-8535
jason@jasoncaudill.com
www.jasoncaudill.com