Free as Birds Learning in the Cloud

IADIS International Conference: Mobile Learning 2013: Free as Birds Learning in the Cloud. 14 March 2013 - 16 March 2013, Lisbon.

The IADIS Mobile Learning 2013 International Conference seeks to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of mobile learning research which illustrate developments in the field.
Mobile learning is concerned with a society on the move. In particular, with the study of “…how the mobility of learners augmented by personal and public technology can contribute to the process of gaining new knowledge, skills and experience” (Sharples et al. 2007).

A growing understanding of the learning and instructional affordances of mobile technologies (alongside technological developments), have enabled the design and investigation of mobile learning experiences across contexts and dimensions of mobile learning. For instance, the literature in the field is rich in studies which investigate how learners move physical locations, utilising several devices/technologies, interacting with various social networks (perhaps across formal and informal learning settings), as they pursuit a learning path or event.
There is much appreciation of learning principles, such as contextual, situated, augmented and collaborative among others, particularly suited to mobile learning. There is a well of studies reporting on how these principles can be best applied in the field. There are also always new technologies being implemented in the context of mobile learning for example, ‘smarter’ phones, e-readers, tablet and augmented reality applications. However, the evaluation of mobile learning is an area that has lagged behind.
The mobile nature of mobile learners and the application of traditional evaluation strategies and tools, have often limited the scope of investigation to what can be observed by researchers or captured by external recording devices (such as video or sound). Thus, a challenge remains to understand what happens while learners are on the move.
The advent of cloud computing and learning analytics offer potential for exploring innovative mobile learning experiences and alternative evaluation strategies which may in turn, shade light into what learning happens in the move.