Gone are the days when education was restricted to a closed room with student and teacher interacting and sharing information. The knowledge shared was restricted to the limited resources available and the information which the faculty carried with them.
With the evolution of mobile tablets and smart phone, the medium of information sharing improved a lot. Traditional approach did provide more personalized impression; however, with the limitation of restricted information, it was surely a constraint and a catalyst for the change.
Although, technology is not the single driver of education transformation, it is certainly a key influencing factor. Education is under lot of pressure to change because of a number of factors.
With increase in access to information and vast production of knowledge, mobile technology offers access to unlimited information from different sources across the world. This removes the limitation of restricted information.
The shift away from teaching in a classroom to an increased focus on learning happening informally throughout the day offer less stress and ease of getting information. The best part of mobile learning is that they support anytime, anywhere learning. Because they are personal and always at hand, they are perfectly fit to support informal learning. Infact, mobile is bridging the gap between formal and informal learning environment.
With blurring boundaries between learning, working and living, mobiles learning support skills development across multiple fields and provide job opportunities.
Mobile learning improves critical thinking and communication which is extremely important skill required in the job market.
The world outside schools and colleges are changing at a fast rate, where technology determines how people are communicating, socializing, playing, doing business and exchanging information with each other. This change is putting in lot of pressure on static nature of education inside the schools and colleges. Mobile devices are easy-to-use and its uptake is already huge and expected to grow even more. Large numbers of mobile apps are bringing content to mobile devices and offering learning on the go.
Apart from this, social media is also playing a huge role in changing the way people communicate, share ideas and information. Young generations are now living online and using mobile for everything. According to some reports mobile app usage has increased by 115% among smartphone users and most of the time these apps are used for messaging. From an education standpoint, we should include socialness in learning experiences. We must prepare young minds on how to navigate the mobile learning space.
