Learning, Teaching and ...
the Web.

Textbooks are a great source of reliable information and ready-made activities, but the content they provide are not particularly engaging for students. Leveraging the instructional potential of web-based resources increases student engagement, exposes them to authentic content, and engages them in collaborative activities, triggering critical thinking & creativity.

M-learning

Mobile learning is a relatively new phenomenon and the theoretical basis is currently under development. Most theories of pedagogy fail to capture the distinctiveness of mobile learning, because they are theories of teaching, predicated on the assumption that learning occurs in a classroom environment, mediated by a trained teacher. Instead, any theory of mobile learning must embrace the considerable learning that occurs outside the classroom and is personally initiated and structured.

Mobile learning has been clearly defined as any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not in a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies(O’Malley et al., 2003).
Mobile learning refers to the use of mobile or wireless devices for the purpose of learning while on the move. Typical examples of the devices used for mobile learning include cell phones, smartphones, palmtops, handheld computers, tablet PCs, laptops and personal media players.

Though the first instances of incorporating mobile technology into education occurred in the 1970s, the rapid evolution of mobile units into powerful multifunctional devices, such as Smartphones, has prompted an increased interest in harnessing the power of m-learning in an educational context.
A Smartphone is a mobile phone with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a feature phone, and might include advanced features such as: portable media players, digital cameras, video cameras, GPS navigation units, high-resolution touchscreens, and web browsers that display standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized sites(Cobcroft, R., Towers, S., Smith, J., and Bruns, A., 2006).

    Literature review

  • Within behaviourist learning paradigm. Learning is thought to be best facilitated through the reinforcement of an association between a particular stimulus and a response (drill and feedback). Mobile devices, in particular, can enhance the behaviourist learning process; that's, the use of mobile devices to present teaching materials/content specific questions (stimulus), obtain responses from learners (response), and provide appropriate feedback (reinforcement) – provide ‘drill and feedback’ activities, fits within the behaviourist learning paradigm.
  • Within constructivist learning paradigm. Learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based on their current and past knowledge(Bruner, 1966). Mobile devices provide a unique opportunity to have learners embedded in a realistic context at the same time as having access to supporting tools, when instructors give learners an environment in which to participate in the learning process, and the appropriate tools to work with that knowledge. So, each learner carries a networked device which allows them to become part of the dynamic system they are learning about.

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