Exploring Theories of Learning and Teaching Using Mobile Technologies: Comparisons of Traditional Learning, eLearning and mLearning

This short paper explores relevant theories for mobile learning and teaching by contrasting it with the learning that occurs in the traditional, didactic lecture and in typical implementations of eLearning. It examines existing mLearning theories and explores these through one example of mLearning, student-generated vodcasts. The application of concepts such as student-centred learning, active learning, learning conversations, existing student practices with mobile devices and the affordances they offer reveal that mLearning, as exemplified by student-generated vodcasts, is fundamentally different from traditional face-to-face lectures and eLearning. However, it is also noted that not all mLeaming leads to better educational outcomes and that more emphasis needs to be placed on learner engagement and student centred learning as fundamental concepts of any mLearning theory