Mobile, Wireless, Connected Info Clouds and Learning

The Emerging Technologies - "Mobile, Wireless.." by Mark Van't Hooft discusses the use of mobile and wireless devices for learning. The article points out the today's wireless devices along with the endless supply of emerging 2.0 technologies allow people to globally access personalized and customized information that can be controlled, remixed and accessed as needed. This data can be called up in a variety of different contexts. The article likens this to storing "information clouds" that the user can access when and how they want.

Because the hardware (mobile tools) and the applications (software) are readily available to many consumers, this situation can make it much easier for learners to customize their own learning "on the fly." The article points out that this is currently happening informally, but there are issues with developing formal learning utilizing mobile devices. An examples is given, in which a museum allows people to customize their museum experience using mobile devices. However since learners can only use the museum's mobile devices, this limits the learner to use unfamiliar hardware that can only be used in a specific context. In addition, the article points out that formal use of mobile devices in schools can be difficult because of the ability to keep devices current.

When I first read through this article, I felt overwhelmed at the suggestions that students would use mobile devices to go off and be responsible for their own learning. This type of learning feels scattered and and ambiguous to me. However, after thinking about it, and looking at my own learning experiences, I realized, that mobile and wireless devices are really just another tool, that could be used to compliment and further customize more traditional classroom education. They are a tool that could allow for more streamlined, customized fieldwork.

I started to think about one of my most memorable college educational experiences. While attending a study abroad program in Vienna, Austria, I studied art history, with a hardcore drill sargeant-type instructor (Those from the 1970s, think: Paper Chase). The in-classroom instruction was very, very traditional. Students were questioned in class and berated when they did not get the answer correct. With my bad German language ability, the only thing that saved me in this class, was that I could study by taking the streetcar to the famous Kunsthistorische Museum, and look at the actual paintings that I was studying. In this way, I took responsibility fo customizing additional learning that allowed me to practice identification, and do well in the class. (I can still identify a Breugel, Klimt, and Kokashka. No problem)

This was 17 years ago (before cell phones really). But what if I had been able to use my iphone to plan my museum visit, based on slides I had seen in class that day? What if I could go to the museum and take notes and pictures using my iphone? OR what if I did not live in Vienna? - What application could I use that would allow me access to the museum content and allow me to to organize my studying, even though I could not actually go to see the pictures myself. When I think about utilizing these devices and applications in this context, I realize, again, that these technologies can be a way to organize and make data more specific, rather than more ambiguous.

While the author points our a number of barries to using open technologies, including privacy issues, copyright issues, etc., these again, are issues that are brought up by many of the articles on emerging technologies. While the issues may be evolving, instructors have always had to deal with guiding students on ethical issues.