The world in our hands: enhancing the
power of mobile emerging technologies to
transform learning
Dr. Mar Camacho
Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain)
Colloque international Mobile Education &Mediation
Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle |
Paris, 5th-6th December 2013

emerging technologies
…Are reshaping the nature of education
…Hold great potential for increasing
the access to information as well as
promoting learning.
…Are transforming classrooms into more
engaging, collaborative and productive
learning environments in which
instructions can be customized to
student’s specific needs, interests and
learning styles…

emerging technologies
more personal – networked - fun more interactive – spontaneousshorter in duration - to the point
- for instant use- engaging users
to contribute and share …

At the time that a distinct learning
culture emerges, in which learners take
mobility and context-awareness as
departing point and become more visible
as innovators, creators and producers
they develop new skills, attributes and
literacies enabled by mobile devices
that offer them further possibilities to
extend their learning and link the use
of social media to their own context and
interests.
(Kukulska-Hume, 2010)

Digital natives, but digitally
competent?

More self directed, less top-down
Better arrayed to capture new information
inputs
More reliant on feedback and response
More inclined to collaboration
More open to cross discipline insights
and creating
their own “tagged” taxonomies
More oriented towards people being their
own individual nodes of production
Pew Internet Project, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29575505@N08/6466580353/

… y diferentes formas de comunicación

The NMC Horizon Report: 2011

m-learning phases
focus on devices 90s
focus on learning outside the classroom
focus on the mobility of the learner

…
is not just the miniaturization and convenience of
portable computing, but is transforming how we
conceptualize and interact with computing and our
environment, communicate, and create and manipulate
information (Cheney, 2010; Pachler, Bachmair, & Cook,
2010).
… is about ubiquitous social connectivity, instant
information access, and enhancing how we view the
world through digital augmentation (Cook, 2010).
… is empowering for learners, who can become content
and context generators within authentic learning
environments (Herrington & Herrington, 2006, 2007)
rather than simply consumers of transmitted content
in classrooms.

Source: @jokay

emerging technologies to
watch
… Within the next12
months

#mobile apps
Defined as the fastest growing
dimension of the mobile space in higher
education right now, with impacts on
virtually every aspect of informal
life,and increasingly, every discipline
in the university.

Top apps functions
• Games
• News/weather
• Maps
• Social networking
• Music
• Entertainment/food
• Banking
• Sports
• Shopping
• Movies
Info updates
Communication
Learn about interests
Destinations
Work tasks
Purchases
Extra info about event
Health

The relevance of Mobile Apps for teaching,
learning
and
creative
inquiry
in
Higher
Education
becomes
evident
when
designing
project-based
workshops,
geo-localization
activities or using storytelling techniques to
explore place and community.

#tablet computing
Higher Education institutions are
seeing them not just as an affordable
solution for one-to-one learning, but also
as a feature-rich tool for field and lab
work, often times replacing far more
expensive and cumbersome devices and
equipment.

#m-URV

• To design and pilot test
the mobile phone
supporting functions to
enhance teacher
development
• To develop short training
courses and workshops,
supporting resources, and
interactive functions
that are appropriate for
the commonly used mobile
phone in the local
context.
• To explore the
institutionalization
mechanism to provide
sustainable content
development

Actions:
• Content creation w/ mobile
devices
• Empower pre-service teacher’s
with training regarding the use
of mobile devices for T and L
(UNESCO, 2012)
• Create training courses
addressed to teachers on the
pedagogical use of mobile
devices.

#m-activities

#geolocalization
#AR & QR
#show & tell w/ a cell
#mstorytelling
#scavenger hunts
#podcasting

www.guardian.co.uk

#challenges
oEconomic pressures and new models of
education are bringing unprecedented
competition to the traditional models
of higher education.
oDigital (and mobile) media literacy
continues its rise in importance as a
key skill in every discipline and
profession.
o3. Institutional barriers present
formidable challenges to moving
forward in a constructive way with

#questions
oHow will institutions respond to
students bringing in their own
mobile multimedia communications
devices? BYOD
oHow can institutions manage the
tension between informal networked
learning and formal institutional
learning?
oWhat types of mobile learning are
appropriate and cost-effective for
colleges, universities and the
workplace?

… and some #conclusions
1.- There is the need to envision the
transformation of teaching and learning
for 21st-century skills and citizenship,
including emerging mobile technologies.
2.- There is a growing emphasis in
higher education on non-traditional
learning models, which is further fueled
by the integration of mobile and emerging
technologies.
3.- Education paradigms are shifting to
include mobile learning, at the time that
there is new emphasis in the classroom on
more challenge-based and active learning.

Merci
mar.camacho@urv.cat |
twitter.com/marett