A moving experience

Whilst reading David Crystal's book 'Txting: the gr8 db8' yesterday, I came across the txting expression 'a3' which apparently means 'anytime, anywhere, anyplace'. It sounds like the strapline for a glitzy advert from the 1980s for Martini - 'anytime, anyplace, anywhere, there's a wonderful world you can share'. In other words, you can totally get off your face anywhere and at anytime, so just go for it. Whilst the glamourisation of hard liquor and drunkenness is not something I'm likely to espouse (No, really? - Ed), I can appreciate the sentiments of the 'a3' notion when it comes to learning. In particular, technology mediated learning has never been so 'a3' as it is right now. Smart mobile technology, touch screens, context aware systems and fast access to the Internet are just a few of the features that are drawing us ever closer to the holy grail of ubiquitous learning (u-learning).

But why on earth do we need a3 learning? Is it because we are all so busy that learning has to occur on the move, or in shifting contexts? Is it due to our increasingly nomadic lifestyles? Is it perhaps because learning informally is becoming more and more vital in our everyday lives, and must become more achievable beyond the bounds of the traditional institution? I believe it is all of these ... the context of learning is changing because our lifestyles are changing.

Several years ago I adapted the work of the late Professor Dan Coldeway (I had the pleasure to meet him on one solitary occasion when I was invited to speak at his university in South Dakota in 2002). Dan's quadrant model of 'same time, different place' contexts was quite simple, but very useful in visualising all the possible combinations of locations and times in which learning could take place. I mapped a variety of tools and technologies over this model, and it allowed me some thinking space to help me to see all of the possibilities of technology mediated learning. I called it the martini model. That was over a decade ago. Time has moved on and so has the technology. And so, I might add, have our expectations. We now carry extremly powerful little devices in our pockets which we can use to access information, communicate and discover, while on the move. Although a3 learning is not fully with us yet, due to constraints in bandwidth, patchy provision, variable cost and some human factors, it is on its way, and it won't be long, I predict, before students will be able to experience seamless, transparent learning that does not vary in quality, wherever they are, and at whatever time of the day or night. It shouldn't matter where we are or what the time it. We should be able to access the same resources wherever and whenever we are. Equivalent experiences should produce equivalent outcomes. Think I'm wrong? I'm waiting for your comments...

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