The Design and Implementation of a Mobile Learning Resource

Abstract: The convergence of mobile communications and handheld computers offers the opportunity to develop technology that will assist individuals and groups to learn anytime, anywhere. We describe the theory-informed design, implementation and evaluation of a handheld learning device. It is intended to support children to capture everyday events such as images, notes and sounds, to relate them to web-based learning resources, to organise these into a visual knowledge map, and to share them with other learners and teachers. A working prototype system, for children aged 9–11, is discussed and evaluated, as an exemplar of personal mobile systems for life-long learning

Edgbaston,

The convergence of mobile communications and handheld computers offers the opportunity to develop technology that will assist individuals and groups to learn anytime, anywhere. We describe the theory-informed design, implementation and evaluation of a handheld learning device. It is intended to support children to capture everyday events such as images, notes and sounds, to relate them to web-based learning resources, to organise these into a visual knowledge map and to share them with other learners and teachers. A working prototype system, for children aged 9-11, is discussed and evaluated, as an exemplar of personal mobile systems for life-long learning. 1. Background Over the past ten years, educational researchers and practitioners, policy makers and politicians have mapped out a new landscape of learning as a situated and life-long activity. The defining features of contextual life-long learning (CoLL) (Sharples, 2000) are that: − learning is not confined to pre-specified times or places, but happens whenever ther