JISC

Start date: 1 November 2004

End date: 30 April 2005

Funding programme: e-Learning Innovation programme

JISC theme(s): e-Learning

Landscape Study on the use of Mobile and Wireless Technologies for Learning and Teaching in the Post-16 Sector

We are beginning to see significant adoption of mobile and wireless technologies in further and higher education, in schools and the community, with an impact on teaching, learning, and in the connection between formal and informal learning, work and leisure. The technologies are extremely interesting for educators due to their low cost relative to desktop computers and the spontaneous and highly personalised access they give to the vast educational resources of the Internet. New educational activities also become possible. The impacts of the new mobile technologies need to be appraised, evaluated and made more widely known. Globally, especially in North America, Europe and the Far East, learning delivered or enhanced by mobile devices is now starting to make the transition from short-term subject-specific pilots to sustained institutional deployment, and it is important that in the UK we should become more aware of these developments and their implications. There is a real need to bring together what is currently known, what is envisaged in terms of future scenarios, and the implications for strategic institutional planning – and to present this in a way that a broad audience can understand.

Aims and Objectives

We will draw on the outcomes of the Pedagogy Strand of the JISC eLearning programme, including Helen Beetham’s review of e-learning models, the e-learning models desk study, the research study on effectiveness, and the report on Representing Practitioner Experiences through Learning Design and Patterns. Our approach to carrying out the study is to identify key themes and issues that have been surfacing in the literature and in various projects (e.g. design of learning spaces, personalisation, usability, interoperability, quality assurance, costs, staff development, etc.), agree which ones should be prioritised, and then to discuss those themes and issues with a number of experts and other informants through semi-structured interviews.

Specific objectives

Review the current state of use of mobile and wireless technologies in relation to learning and teaching:

• Nationally across the UK post-16 education sectors.
• Internationally, also in the post-16 educational context
• Highlighting examples of relevant innovative practice from the industrial and commercial sectors

Review the potential uses of mobile devices and wireless networks to promote new models of learning:

• Make explicit the new models of learning being promoted, linking through to existing work on pedagogical models in e-learning
• Explore what learning content is being developed for mobile and wireless platforms.
•  Highlight existing projects in this area across the post-16 context.
• Address inhibitors and the cost benefit metrics associated with this use of wireless and mobile technology.

Provide a strategic overview, showing where the use, or potential use, of these technologies fits within the strategic development plans and e-learning visions for institutions:

• What support may be needed for embedding the technology into future practice.
• Recommendations to the JISC on what future development work may be required in supporting institutions’ use of these technologies in learning and teaching.

Produce a summary report of key findings:

• This report will present a synthesis, drawing together the reviews of current and potential issues and the strategic overview, suitable for a range of audiences within the JISC community, including practitioners, researchers, support staff, senior managers.

Project Methodology

• Desk research (literature and projects)
• Personal interviews with experts/informants at a number of locations in the UK
• Telephone and email interviews with experts/informants nationally and internationally.

The literature review will draw on published case studies, conference and workshop proceedings, websites and work-in-progress, journal articles and the bibliographic database already assembled for the forthcoming book on mobile learning.The semi-structured interviews will be with practitioners and senior managers with experience of mobile and wireless technologies and with experts known for their views on future scenarios, and with those who develop new pedagogical models and new technical platforms. We will look at key institutional documents and interview institutional stakeholders.

Deliverables

• A review of current state of use of mobile and wireless technologies in relation to learning and teaching.
• A review of potential uses of mobile devices and wireless networks to promote new models of learning.
• A strategic overview, showing how these technologies fit within the strategic development plans and e-learning visions for institutions.
• A summary report of key findings for a range of audiences within the JISC community.
• A final report for the JISC, preceded by a draft for discussion.

Stakeholders

Key stakeholders are senior managers and practitioners in the post-16 sector, including all those who are involved in e-learning and who wish to inform themselves about current practice in the use of the latest mobile and wireless technologies. These stakeholders are also likely to be planning for the next stage in the use of learning technologies in their own institutions. 

Other information

This project complements the JISC project on ‘Case Studies in Wireless and Mobile Learning in the UK Post-16 Sector’ (2004), which involved interviews with participants from 10 institutions to find out how and why they are using a range of innovative and mobile technologies. A publication and CDROM (with video clips from selected case studies) is planned for 2005. This will combine the outcomes of the case studies and the landscape study.