1. dossier m-learning
GROUPE COMPAS

2. the questions
why mobile?
why learning?
the chapters of the dossier
facts about mobiles
definitions of mlearning
the concepts and comments
exemplary cases & bibliography

3. why m?
quantity & quality
“One and a half billion people, all over the world, are walking around with powerful computers in their pockets and purses.
The fact is they often do not realize it, because they call them something else. But today’s high-end cell phones have the
computing power of a mid-1990s personal computer (PC)-while consuming only one one-hundredth of the energy. Even
the simplest, voice-only phones have more complex and powerful chips than the 1969 on-board computer that landed a
spaceship on the moon.” (Prensky, 2005)
“These facts, and the range of computer-like functionality offered by top-of-the-range devices, are leading some observers to
speculate that many people in the not so distant future will start to see the mobile phone as an alternative to a PC. For
example Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the Palm Pilot, was recently quoted (Stone 2004) as saying, ‘One day, 2 or 3 billion
people will have cell phones, and they are not all going to have PCs … The mobile phone will become their digital life’.
Clearly, neither view is likely to be completely objective, but the fact that the debate is happening is an indication of how
powerful and sophisticated mobile devices are becoming.” (Attewell, 2005)
practices
“As the citizens of the world use mobile technology to complete everyday tasks and to socialize with friends and colleagues,
they will demand access to learning materials using mobile technology. Also, other sectors of society such as business, are
allowing citizens around the world to use mobile technology to complete everyday transactions. Hence, education and
training have no other choice but to deliver learning materials on mobile devices. ... Rather than acquiring another
technology to receive learning materials, people throughout the world will want to access learning materials on their
existing mobile devices.” (Ally, 009)

4. facts about mphones

5. facts 2008
mobile phones
over 4 billions = 61% penetration rate
(number per 100 habitants)
1998 = 0 mp
fixed telephone lines
1.3 billions = 19 %
internet
6.7 billions = 23%
broadband
(fixed) = 6.1% ITU. Measuring the Information Society The
ICT Development Index 2009
mobile = 5%

6. astonishing growth
This is not only faster than any other technology in the past, but the mobile
phone is also the single most widespread ICT today
The number of Internet users, on the other hand, has grown at a much slower
rate, in particular in the developing world, where at the end of 2007 only 13 out
of 100 inhabitants used the Internet. Fixed Internet access in developing countries
is still limited, and, where available, often slow and/or expensive. High-speed
(broadband) connections are rare and mobile broadband, while increasing
steeply in high-income countries, is still insignificant in most developing
countries.
Access to the Internet via mobile cellular networks has grown rapidly with the
increasing availability of IMT- 2000/3G networks and enabled devices, including
mobile handsets and data cards that allow users to access the Internet over the
mobile cellular network using their computers.
ITU. Measuring the Information Society The ICT Development Index 2009 (p.
1)

7. mphones distribution
developing regions
39.2% penetration
(2007)
64% of the world’s
subscriptions (2007)
44% (2002)
28% Africa (2007)
4% (2002)
the highest mobile
growth
but the lowest rate

8. reduction of mdivide
Since growth rates continue to be strongest in those regions where
penetration is relatively low, the mobile cellular divide is expected to be
reduced further over time. (p. 3)

9. internet access
fixed & mobile broadband/subscriptions
60% in the world (2007)
55.4% in developed countries (2007)
12.8% in developing countries (2007)
internet
0.2% fixed broadband in Africa (2007)
23% in the world (2007)
0.9% mobile broadband Africa (2007)
55.4% in developed countries (2007)
12.8% in developing countries (2007)
5% in Africa (2007)

10. minternet
With limited availability of fixed networks in many developing countries, where
wired access is often restricted to major urban centers, it is difficult to provide people
with fixed broadband access. However, mobile broadband has a major potential to
expand the availability of
high-speed Internet access, especially given the spread of mobile cellular networks and
their wide population coverage. This is also supported by the growing use of
mobile phones for data applications (SMS, MMS, m-commerce and m-banking), the
rise in the number of countries that are launching IMT-2000/3G networks and the
increased use of data cards that allow people to use the IMT-2000/3G networks to
connect their computer to the Internet. ITU estimates that by the end of 2008, there
were close to 335 million mobile broadband subscribers.

11. non-educational existing practices
developed countries
• vocal communication, SMS, internet,
radio, TV, podcast, video (seeing,
taking), pictures (seeing/taking),
internet, emails, voice recording,
agenda

12. non-educational existing practices
developed countries
• Augmented reality
• Handheld augmented reality U. Graz
• Savannah
• Create a scape

13. non-educational existing practices
developing countries
• exchanging - receiving money
• mpesa Safaricom

14. non-educational existing practices
developing countries
• communicating, even with no money
• please call me

15. non-educational existing practices
developing countries
• setting up a business or making money
• village phone
• pedal phone
• Selling airtime as currency
• call box Cameroon
• mobile phones in Kenia
• hello Africa
• mobile revolution African (Kenya)

16. non-educational existing practices
developing countries
• asking for advice
• question box
• AMIS: connecting farmers in Cameroon

17. non-educational existing practices
developing countries
• texting, chatting, sharing
• MXIT free instant messaging for portable phones (GPRS/3G) and
PCs, developed in South Africa
• MXIT Swatziland

18. from non-educational to educational:
innovation by colonisation
the MXIT case in South Africa:
big diffusion between children and teenagers
big troubles with parents and teachers
Meraka Institute invents a maths application
• Dr. Math or Maths for MXIT, that is: Using MXIT to learn (2007)
• Imfundo Yami Imfundo Yetho
• the growth of a virus: “Although this project originated at one school, “word of mouth” advertising (also
known as “viral” advertising) where learners told their friends about the MXit contact ensured that the
number of learners grew and the geographical location of the learners spread throughout the
country.” (Butgereit, 2007)
• but no evidence about results: “At the time of writing this paper, we do not have any hard numerical data
on whether any of the participants in Math on MXit actually increased their marks in mathematics or
not.” (Butgereit, 2007)

19. mlesson: multiple practices
portable phones are at the centre of multiple practices, including economic practices
diffused practices are not necessarily the same in developed and developing countries, in rural and urban
regions
observing developing countries and rural regions is not a mere corollary action for the understanding of the
mobile innovation, but a necessary condition

20. mlesson : innovation
m seems to illustrate a trend: when an existing, diffused technology meets a need, new
practices seem to spread quite naturally
remember that innovation is not the same as invention:
invention = a new idea
innovation = new ideas that are applied in practice, and successfully
so, what about innovation as colonisation?
hypothesis: the fact that technologies are just there, and that they are part of a net of
existing practices, is a facilitating condition for transforming invention into innovation
suggestion: exploit existing practices (as MXIT) for introducing educational applications
prediction : the mobile phone will beat OLPC machines for spreading mlearning in
developing countries

21. madvantages
Advantage of a technology which:
is there yet, and almost everywhere
is (potentially) multi-modal
is part of a net of existing practices

22. mphones characteristics

23. technologies & products
mobile phones - low cost handset gamephones
PDA standalone Nintendo DSI
HP iPaq Sony playstation portable PSP
PDA phone
RIM Blackberry • phone
• 1G: voice
Nokia N-Series T
• 2G: SMS + media content
HTC Touch
• 2.5 G: higher data rates, internet
Palm Pre
• 3G: higher data rates, high bandwith
internet
smartphone
Iphone

24. market
• "Compared to the second quarter of 2008, global sales of mobile phones were down about 6.1 percent.
This was the third consecutive quarter that fewer mobile handsets were sold worldwide when compared
to the previous year. But analysts noted that the decline was at a much slower pace in the most recent
quarter compared to the first quarter in 2009, in which the drop was 9.4 percent. Still, demand for
smartphones remained high. And sales in this category actually grew 27 percent compared to the same
quarter a year ago. For several quarters now, smartphones have represented the fastest growing
segment of the mobile market, and this has been in spite of a global recession. Analysts believe the trend
is the result of many consumers waiting to upgrade their phones, and those who do upgrade are
gravitating toward more sophisticated smartphones. ... As the economy picks up again, low-cost cell
phones are also expected to sell well over the next few years. Market research firm Juniper Research
predicts in a recent report that low-cost handset shipments will increase by 31 percent in 2014. And as
smartphone sales also increase, Juniper says that the high end and low end of the cell phone market will
dominate, with these two categories accounting for 79 percent of the mobile devices sold by
2014. Meanwhile, sales of midrange devices are expected to fall more than 41 percent during that
period." CNET, 2009

25. limits and problems
screen: too small
batteries: short life
platforms: too many
cost: too high (in developing countries)
no internet (in developing countries)
resistance (teachers and parents of developed countries)

26. the future
Sixth sense
Samsung pico projector phone
Samsung crest solar

27. hot issues
the future of TEL: telephone or computer (OLPC)?
outsiders (developing countries, lifelong learning, school
drop out)
mobile phones in the classroom: distraction or help?
repression or exploitation?
a risk for health?
context-responsiveness
augmented reality

28. why learning?
(why this quantitative condition should affect the world of education, or represent a new horizon for learning?)
because mphones are more and more like computers
because they are mobile,
in the sense of anytime, anywhere
in the sense of allowing fluid practices between technologies
in the sense of allowing fluid practices between technology and the context of the
real world
because they are communication devices allowing collaboration between peers and
between learners and educators

30. definitions of mlearning

31. a domain of e-leaning
Mobile learning is a special domain
of e-learning made possible by mobile
technologies: portable phones, PDAs, “The evolution in education and training at a distance
can be characterised as a move from dlearning (distance
smartphones, and in general what is
learning) to elearning (electronic learning) to mlearning
called ‘handheld devices’. (mobile learning).” (Keegan, 2003)
As computers, mphones make digital
contents accessibles, to a greater
number of people than computers do. “Cell phones are not just communications devices
sparking new modalities of interaction between people;
Doubting of the potential of mphones they are also particularly useful computers that fit in
for learning is equivalent to your pocket, are always with you, and are nearly always
questioning the role of computers in on. Like all communication and computing devices, cell
phones can be used to learn. So rather than fight the
education and learning. It is perfectly trend of kids coming to school carrying their own
understandable for digital natives. powerful learning devices—which they have already
paid for—why not use the opportunity to their
educational advantage?” (Prensky, 2005)

32. at the essence: mobility
But theories of mobility go beyond the technological aspect, and also beyond the
mobile device.
Mobility is rather a set of practices that start to expand in our lives: practices that
make us access content and knowledge from different devices at different places
and times, to pass with fluidity from a formal way of learning to informal ones,
differently distributed in the city or perfectly portable through handheld devices.
Hence a new place becomes available through the web site which is consulted
before, through the GPS which locates us on place, through information gathered
via internet phone while on staying, or through variously uploaded programs that
are accessible via phone; through messaging with experts or friends; through
contents accessed at various fixed points of the new location; these contents stay
available on the way back, and they are enriched by notes taken on place.

33. a theory of mobility
Mobility is synonymous of fluidity of practices. “patterns of social interaction [that] are dynamically reshaped
and renegotiated through our everyday activities significantly
freed from spatial, temporal and contextual
constraints” (Kakihara and Sørensen, 2002, p. 1760).
At the level of education and learning it is this “research attention should be directed at identifying those
fluidity, rather than technology itself that should be simple things that technology does extremely and uniquely
addressed, and this with the aim of exploiting practices well, and to understanding the social practices by which those
made possible by technology and technology only at its new affordances become powerful educational
best. interventions.” (Roschelle, 2003, p.268)
Mobile technologies are not bound to one specific “Research into mobile learning then becomes the study of how
method and educational approach (say constructivist or the mobility of learners, augmented by personal and public
situated), but rather fits with all those educational technology, can contribute to the process of gaining new
practices that require a personalized, situated, authentic knowledge, skills and experience. The challenge here is to define
and informal form of learning. the role of pedagogy and theory in this process.” (Kukulska-
Hulme, A., Sharples, M., Milrad, M., Arnedillo-Sánchez, I.
& Vavoula, G., 2009, p. 22)

34. informal learning
anytime, adult learning
disaffected learners
anywhere life-long learning
autonomous learning
developing countries
learning freed from specific & rural regions
and dedicated learning
contexts:
i.e. formal contexts of everybody
learning or the classroom,
time constraints,
infrastructures

35. “Mobile learning is unique in that it allows truly anywhere, anytime, personalised learning.” (Attewell, 2005)
“Mobile learning through the use of wireless mobile technology allows anyone to access information and learning
materials from anywhere and at anytime.
As a result, learners have control of when they want to learn and from which location they want to learn.
Also, all humans have the right to access learning materials and information to improve their quality of life regardless of
where they live, their status, and their culture. Mobile learning, through the use of mobile technology, will allow citizens
of the world to access learning materials and information from anywhere and at anytime.
Learners will not have to wait for a certain time to learn or go to a certain place to learn. With mobile learning, learners
will be empowered since they can learn whenever and wherever they want. Also, learners do not have to learn what is
prescribed to them. They can use the wireless mobile technology for formal and informal learning where they can
access additional and personalized learning materials from the Internet or from the host organization.
Workers on the job can use the mobile technology to access training materials and information when they need it for
just-in-time training. Just-in-time learning encourages high level learning since learners access and apply the
information right away rather than learn the information and then apply the information at a later time.
Educators and trainers are empowered since they can use the mobile technology to communicate with learners from
anywhere and at anytime. At the same time, educators and trainers can access learning resources from anytime and
anywhere to plan and deliver their lessons.” (Ally, 2009)

36. pervasive information
embedded technology
fluidity
possibility of passing from
one application to another
and from one technology to
another, from the phone, to
blended
the computer, to an
information point learning

37. external scaffolding
personalisation
context
learning where you are,
immersed in the real
context, situated between
objects, people, that can
out of the
enter into the process of
learning box

38. communities of practice
peers
direct relationship with
teacher,
anonymous
communication communcations,
reminders
learning from peers & tutors
in formal and informal
conditions,
asking questions, social
constructivism,
communities

39. other conditions made
available by mlearning:
personnalisation
(relative) autonomy

40. a theory of cognition
a theory of mobility (stemming from the
practices made possible or current by the
mobile phone) interrogates
theories of cognition as situated and
scaffolded
theories of learning as continuous,
multimodal, social

41. not a theory of education
a theory of education does not necessarily stand behind mlearning
practices:
one can choose mlearning because it enhances situatedness,
personalisation, socialisation, continuous learning, autonomy
one can choose to use mobiles because of the absence of alternatives
scenario rural areal of developing country with poor connectivity,
no computers, no teachers
one can choose to use mobiles because they are pervasive
scenario better integrating than fighting: since students in the
classroom have mphones, and use them for extra-learning
activities in classroom, or for cheating, let them be integrated in
learning activities

42. social advantages
no alternative
it is just there --> no need for further investment
it is always on --> no need to create a practice of use, just to inject new
practices in the practice, or to use the phone to answer other needs
than the one which are just addressed

43. references
Ally, M. (ed.), 2009
Attewell, 2005
Attewell & Savill-Smith, 2005
Kakihara & Sorensen, 2002
Keegan, 2003
Keegan, 2005
Kukulska-Hulme, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
Kukulska-Hulme, et al., 2009
Kukulska-Hulme & Bull, 2009
Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008
Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler, 2005
Kukulska-Hulme & Wible, 2008
Prensky, 2005
Roschelle, 2003
Sharples, 2005
Traxler, 2007
Traxler é Dearden, 2005

44. History

45. new wave of the 2000 EU
EU Leonardo da Vinci & Ericcson
2000-2002 From e-learning to m-learning - supported by EU Leonardo da Vinci
framework, coordinated by Ericcson Ireland
book of the project
2003-2005 Mobile learning; the next generation of learning - supported by EU Leonardo
da Vinci framework, coordinated by Ericcson Ireland
book of the project
2006-2008. The impact of new technology on distant learning students - supported by
EU Leonardo da Vinci framework, coordinated by Ericcson Ireland
book of the project
The role of mobile learning in Europe - supported by EU Socrates framework,
coordinated by Ericcson Ireland
books of the project 1 & 2

46. EU IST
2001-2004 Mlearning project - coordinator LSDA
Attewell, 2005
Attewell & Savill-Smith, 2005
2002-2004 MobilLearn
2009 Motill

47. in Europe
UK
Molenet - LSN
Learning with mobile technologies - LSRI Nottingham
Book (BECTA): Mobiles in secondary schools
Harthnell-Young, 2006
Handler - University of Birmingham
Uniwap - University of Helsinki

48. in the world
University of Wollongong, Australian Learning and teaching council
m-learning - investigation and application project
Stanford University
Nokia/Standford University mobile learning research - investigation, forum
Pocket school: exploring mobile technology for underserved children - application
project
Dunia Moja - application project
The World Bank
The use of mobile phone in deeloping countries in education - investigation
project

49. in developing countries
Motto Captura Denmark, Sensus Denmark, Unviesity of Stellenbosch
2007-2009 MELFA - literacy program
University of Pretoria, Nokia, Meraka Institute Helsinki, ...
MobilED - literacy program
Millee - literacy program India: english
Meraka Institute, South Africa
Dr. Math

50. the role of academia
• provide evidence
• proved value of mlearning
• provide conceptual analysis and
cognitive basis

51. how m-learning?
(how mlearning could affect the world of education, or represent a new horizon for learning?)
mlearning products
research & application projects
non-learning practices
developed countries
developing countries

52. adapting existing modules to
mlearning
• literacy & numeracy:
• m-learning project & toolkit
• school matters:
• wapeduc
• language:
• mobile ESL Athabasca

53. mixed formal and informal
• home (or else) + classroom
• Math4mobile
• museum + classroom
• My Art Space project

54. mixed media
• phone + tv + radio
• Fallakhair, et al., 2007

55. production
• creating content
• OOKL
• Dream catcher
• Create a scape

56. annotation in context
• taking notes, text or video/picture,
voice recording
• Kukulska-Hulme & al, 2009

57. communication & sharing
• distance collaboration
• Dunia Moja Project

58. basic communication
• asking questions
• question box
• Dr. Math
• receiving tips and reminders
• Brown, 2003
• administration, organisation
• Brown, 2003

59. ubiquitos sensing, context awareness
• geo-localisation
• Frequency 1550
• object recognition
• Beaudin, et al., 2007

60. tutoring or tutoring the tutor
• no teachers, or support to
unexperienced teachers
• text to teach
• millee
• mobilED

61. gaming
• games
• games for literacy programs
• millee

62. • the millee case of personalisation of contents on uses and habits of the target population
• observe how indian children play
• reproduce the games as digital games for portable phone