Mobile Learning Gangnam Style

Mobile devices have long been a bane for educators in the traditional classroom setting. When I first started delivering SAT preparation programs for Kaplan in South Korea a decade ago, my colleagues and I had to take extreme measures, and collect mobile phones from students at the start of each class. I was teaching in the Gangnam district of Seoul, Korea, in the early 2000's, where Korea's Miracle on the Han economic boon had produced an upper class wealthy enough to send their children to prestigious boarding schools in the US, and then to SAT prep courses back in Seoul over the summer holiday. This was Gangnam Style SAT prep, as the students had the latest LG or Samsung phones, carried to class in Gucci, Prada, or Louis Vuitton bags.

Alas, our program was still in a 20th century mindset, in which learning was best delivered by heavy books and lectures, and, as the subject was SAT preparation, the courses proved to be excellent cures for insomnia. If phones were not collected at the start of class, they would prove to be a welcome distraction to the laborious study of SAT vocabulary.

However, mobile devices have evolved from just communication gadgets to educational tools that had the ability to enhance learning in the proper contexts. iPads may have been viewed previously as a distraction in the lecture-hall, but Professor Jason Farman at the University of Maryland has experimented with using iPads in the classroom, and has found them to be useful in developing back-channel communication during lectures that engage the students more, and for taking learning outside the classroom with a GPS enabled history"treasure hunt". Other schools have taken mobile learning very seriously, even for primary school students in Singapore, where the Ministry of Education is funding a project that gives students Nokia smartphones with apps that encourage self-directed and collaborative learning. Learning technology companies, such as Blackboard, WizLearn, and Teamie, have all developed mobile applications so students and teachers can have access to learning while on the go. MIT has even opened a Center for Mobile Learning at its famous Media Lab, and this center will focus on research of mobile technologies geared for learning.

While the value of mobile devices in developed economies is under consideration, mobile learning has great potential in Africa. Even though smartphones with apps may be out of reach to many in Africa, educational content is still being delivered via text messaging services. This is helping to enhance literacy in regions where school books are expensive to buy, and sometimes impossible to ship. Mobile phones are also connecting children with tutors over text message chats, enabling distance learning in a continent bereft of good infrastructure.

Ten years ago, I would have spurned the use of mobile devices in the classroom, but as these devices have developed, so to has their educational promise. While there are some times when it's best for students to switch off the phone and pay attention, educators need to find creative ways to harness the learning tools that mobile devices, which are now almost inseparable from students, can provide.