thoughts on mobile learning

Thoughts on mobile learning:

Using mobile technology has become much more common in recent years in school classrooms.
In my opinion there are a lot of qualifiers than go along with using mobile technology like tablets, for learning. Some examples of qualifiers are using for "guided learning" which requires the teacher to actively supervise the learning in their classroom. This is important because technology, no matter how advanced is not a suitable replacement for interactive guided learning. Apps and programs that attempt to replace the classroom teacher lack the ability to motivate students when there are so many ways to be distracted. Speaking of getting distracted, tablets and other connected devices have so many ways to get off task. With high levels of distractibility, what is keeping kids accountable for actually learning the lesson? These are just some questions that can come up, ad should be addressed by proper implementation for using technology in the classroom.

Just like safety standards for science laboratories, similar standards should exist for using mobile technology in the classroom. Assuming those standards and qualifiers exist, then such mobile learning can be massively beneficial. Just as having actual experiments in science classes provides hands on experience that can give understanding above and beyond reading about the subject in a book or hearing a lecture on the subject. Mobile devices can provide a new medium of interaction, can keep the discussion active even after class. they can provide better ways for students to collaborate, and bring new information that is subject relevant at the students discretion to add to the overall learning process, and broaden the scope.