Mo Learning

Mobile learning = mo learning. At least that’s what Teemu Arina has to say on the topic (see videos below).

Arina views the subject through the lense of learning spaces. Do we learn in cubes, or is learning open to the world — to the larger environments in which we actually find ourselves from day to day? Can mobile learning foster situated applicational learning better than more formal educational settings? From personal experience, I’d say “YES!”

While Arina focuses on the value of mobile learning as being in its ability to allow for greater social interaction, to connect people and ideas, to share conversations, and to connect the virtual world with physical contexts, I find myself turning instead to a different focus: mobile learning is real world learning. Situatedness really does have an impact on how well we can assimilate new information into our present schemas. And real-world contextual learning may allow for more authentic tasks and for the construction of new ways of thinking and acting, both socially and personally. Beyond this, at its heart all learning is mobile learning. People learn on the go. People learn as they are doing. In a way, traditional in-classroom learning could be considered one (limited) phase of mobile learning, because learning happens not only in the room itself, but in the hallway, in the dorm room, in the library, and on the way to work. People are thinking while they are being, and we are called human beings for a reason (one thing we know how to do well is be). While we are being we are becoming with the help of education (whether formal or informal). And becoming is situated across times and places. Learning spaces are living spaces and vice-versa.

One particular manifestation of mobile learning is learning while using modern mobile technologies (laptops, mobile phones, mp3 players, etc.). These tools help us to connect with other people and to situate our learning experiences in real world contexts. We are here. We need the knowledge here. We can apply the knowledge here. It seems an obvious conclusion that here is where we should learn. These tools bring our living and learning together here. Do we want people to learn only in a cube, or do we want them to be learning, to become in the here and now?

Life’s long lessons

Can Web 2.0 educational opportunities help to provide for lifelong learning pedagogies? Can learning and technology be transformative across entire lifespans using Web 2.0 tools? Here are several videos that address the issue of lifelong learning with Web 2.0 technologies (view the videos here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=54387335815818263&hl=en and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1201325526056291337&ei=iLclSbKTL4L8rAK_rfyICw&q=life+long+learning+Web+2.0).

While lifelong learning opportunities may be sponsored and facilitated by various Web 2.0 tools, does this mean that Web 2.0 tools are the answer to lifelong learning? Web 2.0 tools are not always easily learned, nor are they static or stable in their services. As technologies increase in complexity, the need to educate learners on how to learn in the digital age increases. Here’s a video on the problems and potential of Web 2.0 technologies in the area of lifelong learning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkEo_CZUek4 (view this video below).

What unique lifelong learning opportunities will the future Web (Web 3.0?) have to provide to users? Here’s a silly video that ties our world with the world of the Web (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=topeBoB-ApQ):

While this last video is just a humorous animation tying two worlds together, our real world and the Web 2.0 world are even more intimately combined. Web 2.0 two way communication, participation in communities of practice, social networking, and personal publishing are all useful lifelong learning supports that help users to always stay connected to learning opportunities. The world is open for life long lessons. And while the technologies will undoubtably change and evolve over time, still the inward human impetus to continue to expand knowledge and learning will reach into the future. Perhaps as the new Web becomes increasingly interactive, so also will all learning activities, allowing for more constructivist pedagogies to be implemented worldwide.

WoW Politics

I viewed a great video during election week that was both humorous and pointed. Here is the URL on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Kg-K7em20 (I’ve also included the video below). By the way, I found this video while reading www.Ubernoggin.com, a blog written by Sarah Robbins (Intellagirl), coauthor of Second Life for Dummies, and a social networking consultant at my place of employment (the IU Alumni Association).

The video was a series of interviews with World of Warcraft (WoW) players about their political stances regarding the upcoming election (it was made just prior to Obama’s election). World of Warcraft is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). In a virtual 3D world of wizards, elves, and orcs, players fight their way to attain supremacy over other lands, races, and/or beasts. View the video to get a glimpse of how these virtual worlds overlap with our own. (For instance, notice that warriors and priests overwhelmingly preferred McCain over Obama, something generally real in the real world as well). Do people project their real worlds into these virtual environments? Does their Avatar represent more about them than is normally supposed? What can we learn about education in virtual worlds from such a humorous video? Will students also project themselves and their ideologies onto their virtual selves, their worlds, and everything they touch? While possibilities for self-expression are exponentially expanded in these virtual worlds, such self-expression may be just that — self expression. Are these truly second lifes, or are they merely extensions of first lifes? Perhaps virtual world educational adventures may be more immersive and real-world than I had at first assumed.