Teaching and Learning

The impact of MoLeNET on teaching and learning has been assessed by research carried out by both LSN and institution based practitioner researchers leading local action research.  

The use of mobile technologies for teaching and learning can:

• Encourage and support learning at any time of day, in any location including in college or school, at home, in the workplace, on field trips and in transit
• Make learning more convenient, more accessible and more sensitive to learners’ individual needs and circumstances
• Enable teachers to maintain a supportive dialogue (synchronous and/or asynchronous) with learners regardless of their location and including learners who attend college infrequently
• Enable teachers to provide differentiated learning activities to suit different learning styles or preferences and different ability levels
• Encourage and support both independent (including discrete learning) and collaborative learning
• Support revision and help learners who have missed lessons to catch up
• Enable technological support for learning in the normal learning location (which could be a classroom) in contrast to the previous experience of learners having to go elsewhere to use computers
• Help to overcome the digital divide between those learners who have broadband access at home and those who do not
• Include formative assessment that is more enjoyable for learners than paper based activities
• Support assessment especially for work-based learners.  Tutors, assessors and learners have reacted very positively to the use of mobile technologies to support evidence collection and submission

However:

• Careful planning and preparation is required when introducing mobile technologies, particularly if large numbers of learners and devices are to be involved
• Staff training, support and time to experiment and plan is critical to success
• A differentiated approach tailored to needs of specific individual learners or groups and their particular context, rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy, will maximise the benefits of mobile learning
• Production of learning materials for use on mobile devices can be time consuming and a steep learning curve is involved for teaching staff
• The advantages of mobile learning are not fully realised if materials consist solely of existing materials simply converted to a format that fits onto a mobile device.  Starting from the lesson objective and establishing how specific mobile technologies can be used to enhance the delivery is recommended
• For summative assessment it is necessary to ensure that examining bodies are willing to accept evidence collected using mobile technologies
• Although some benefits have been reported after very short periods of mobile learning, many MoLeNET project managers believe that the full benefits of introducing mobile learning are likely to emerge over a timescale longer than one academic year