Going Mobile
Un-Tethered Learning, Anytime, Anywhere
Mobile Media Technologies and their Impact on Academic
Collaboration Beyond the Walls of the Classroom
An Action Research Project - Douglas W. Conrad
The Purpose: The purpose of this action research project was to discover the effect of mobile media technologies on the learning thought of as "informal", that happens in the spaces and times outside of the classroom. Current research has shown that the use of mobile media tools has begun to change our understanding of place. When we can communicate, collaborate and relate without the boundaries of time or space, our understanding of place or where we are grounded is altered. It is possible that this change can be leveraged by schools to incorporate the academic collaboration and knowledge building that happens beyond the walls of the classroom into the students' "formal" learning environment. The impact that mobile media technologies have in this space was the focus of this action research project. |
The Context: Much like the automobile that was first designed just to get us from one point to another, mobile media technologies are vehicles for communication, now much more defined by the value added to the journey of communication than merely just arriving at a destination. The context of this research was the impact of the mobile nature of our communication tools on education. Since the wide adoption of smartphones and tablets, these have been viewed as distractions in the learning environment. As we become less tethered to a physical place or time in our communications enabled by these devices, there is the potential for our knowledge building and information gathering to be more personal than ever before. |