Mobile learning and blended interaction

Veteran education theorist Michael G. Moore once wrote about three types of interaction. Learners interact, he said, with content, with their teachers and with each other. Other theorists subsequently expanded on this interactional triumvirate. Leslie Moller suggested a fourth kind of interaction - interaction with the interface. His proposal reflected not only the proliferation of computer technologies but also a growing interest in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and cognitive science.

The advent of mobile communication has expanded this taxonomy still further. In this post I explore how the use of mobile (cell) phones is liberating learners to interact in many new ways and in many different contexts. These are initial thoughts and I value your comments in shaping them into something less nascent.

Consider the benefits of learning while on the move. Once this could only be achieved using books. In previous posts I have argued that personal, handheld technologies such as smart phones, e-readers, tablet computers and games consoles enable mobile learning at the pace of the individual, in any place and at any time. Let's assume for the moment that we can connect to the Web from anywhere we are, and that everyone has a mobile device (This is far from reality, but humour me). This would represent a paradigm shift for education and a personalised learning revolution for every student.

Learners would not only be able to learn whilst traversing any environment, they would experience continuous, seamless delivery of content, interaction with their tutors and connections with their fellow students, or interpersonal interaction. They would also be able to interact with their environment and objects within it, known as extrapersonal interaction, and also with objects within their personal space such as the interface of their device - peripersonal interaction. What is inevitable is intrapersonal interaction. This happens in all learning contexts, because it is the internal dialogue students have with themselves as they assimilate knowledge, reason, analyse, evaluate and reflect on their experiences. The difference here though, is that mobile learners will be in a place of their own choosing, and will continue the internal self-talk whilst in total and perpetual contact with others. We can speculate that this internal interaction has the potential to be amplified through the mobile device to the network of others, across multiple interactions. What I am arguing for here is that the power of thinking (intrapersonal) can be amplified across the network provoking dialogue (interpersonal) while each member of that network interacts with their devices (peripersonal) environments (extrapersonal). What's more, I believe when using mobile devices, it is possible that these multiple interactions can be both blended and simultaneous.

I should also add that the advent of the smart phone brings with it the ability to transcend many of the previously insurmountable barriers to good interpersonal communication, including language and distance. There's a mobile app for everything, or if not, there soon will be. We are only just beginning to appreciate and comprehend the disruptive and transformational potential the mobile phone brings to learning.

Graphic by Steve Wheeler


Mobile learning and blended interaction by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.