Mobile Learning



Mobile learning

There is an increase use of wireless technologies in education all over the world. In fact, wireless technologies such as laptop computers, palmtop computers and mobile phones are revolutionizing education and transforming
the traditional classroom-based learning and teaching into anytime and anywhere education. The term „mobile learning” or "m-learning", is not a new one. It describes learning of the learners' not defined location or when he or she uses the benefits of mobile technology when learning. Mobile learning was previously limited to laptops, but today it mainly refers to smart phones, tablet PCs or mobile gaming and entertainment consoles. The strengths of mobile learning lie primarily in the use of learning programs not dependent on time or place, that are in the extremely efficient use of the available time. Periods of idle time between customer meetings or waiting times at airports can be used to access learning modules. Therefore, the vision behind this is the learning is to get what you want, where you want and when you want. Mobile learning importance has increased since the beginning of the twenty first century.


The history of computer assisted language learning (CALL) can be traced back to the 1960s but modern computer technology together with the internet have revolutionized the ways in which computers can support language learning (Warschauer, 1996). One of the case studies reported by Warschauer is that of a group of  Bulgarian students who traditionally did not have access to the English speaking world. The class was studying contemporary American short stories and used a variety of technologies to assist in this process. E-mail communication was set up with a group of TESOL students from America so that they could ask questions about the language and cultural references. In addition concordance software was used to explore some of the expressions from the texts in a greater range of English language. The American students also made recordings of the texts so that they could be used to improve the Bulgarian students' listening skills (Meskill and Rangelova, 1995).Mobile learning in contrast is a much recent development and represents a more personalized style of learning.


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