M-learning(mobile learning)

M-learning or mobile learning is defined as "learning across multiple contexts, through social and content interactions, using personal electronic devices." A form of distance education, m-learners use mobile device educational technology at their time convenience.

There are many different types of m-learning -

•Communication through SMS between two mobile phones, whereby one can send or receive text messages of 160 characters.

•Extended form of SMS – MMS (Multi-Media Messaging Service). In this technology, text messages and graphics both are included.

•WAP enabled mobile phones that can access the Internet through deploying protocol of international standard.

•Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices that function like mini PC compatible machines, like Palm OS or Pocket PC Mac OS.

•Bluetooth facilitates PDA message sharing from one mobile device to another.

•MP3 file format for compression and sharing

•PDA CAMs

advantages

·         Provides Easy access: Mobile learning provides easy access to learning anyplace, anytime, making it more convenient to learners. Learners have the advantage of spending their time spent on traveling, between meetings or during weekends focusing on the subject they want to learn.

·         2.Facilitates Collaborative Learning: mLearning encourages collaborative learning, allowing learners at different locations to get in touch with their peers or others teams to discuss and learn. Social learning is a happening trend which creates a sense of competition and cooperation, which will lock the learners’ attention towards the course.

·         3.Boosts Learner engagement: Training at the workplace mostly consists of verbal and desktop communication, but adapting mobile learning can bring several opportunities to engage the learner on a digital and social level outside of the work. This new dimension will erase the sense of boredom in learners’ mind about the course.

·         4.Encourages Self-paced Learning: No two learners are the same. Each one has his or her own way of understanding the content to learn. With mobile learning, learners are now able to learn in their own style, at their own pace. In a classroom scenario, occasionally, there will be a few learners who wouldn’t have understood the concepts clearly but hesitate to ask for a re-explanation. In mobile learning, nobody knows or cares how many times you revisit the course, which gives you the freedom to do it until you have understood it all.

·         Address all learning styles: Mobile learning can fit different learning styles as it allows learners to do the following

Reading

Learning through videos

Listening to podcasts (Audio)

Research on the Internet

·         One can access lessons, video clips and audio libraries from anywhere, including public places and moving buses and trains.

·         Interaction with fellow students and instructors will be a great help. It is an accepted fact that learning is made easier when information is shared and questions answered through a sort of combined study. This helps several students to work together on assignments even while remaining at far-flung locations.

·         Portability is a very big plus, as a PDA is compact and very lightweight, and enables a student to take notes or enter all types of data directly into the device.

·         It is a fact that most handheld devices are more affordably priced than larger systems, and already a major percentage of the population owns them.

•        Flexible hours of learning are indeed a great boon as students can access the system anytime 24-7 and from any location. What is more, teacher support can now be expected even outside classrooms and other learning environments.

•        Each student can learn at his or her own pace - some student may be slower learners. The students who pick up things fast need not waste time going repeatedly through basic lessons.

·         Yet another blessing is a huge saving in the cost of learning materials and also commuting expenses.

Disadvantage

·         Connectivity could be a miss:mlearning is supposed to happen anywhere, during your commute to office, while you’re travelling to attend a meeting out of town, or even when you are on vacation During these times, there may be some connectivity problems while uploading and downloading the information because of poor or totally absent mobile network signals

·         Device Compatibility: Just because your new authoring tool is good at converting any content to HTML5, it doesn’t mean your course is gonna look great on every mobile device out there. With the easier availability of manufacturing resources, tens of varieties of mobile phones are coming into the market every day. Your learners may possess a mobile device that may or may not support the type of content you develop. In addition to the cost of these devices, there are monthly data charges from mobile network providers that your learner needs to pay. So downloading large content not only takes time, but also costs a lot.

·         Feature-rich mobile, a distraction: While accessing the course through mobiles, if the learner gets a call, SMS, or social media updates, they are bound to get distracted.

·         There is the definite inconvenience of size, as the student has to learn while hunched over the small screen of a mobile phone and PDA.

·         There is no denying that the storage capacities of PDAs are limited.

·         Anyone who has a mobile gadget knows that the short battery life and frequent changes of batteries are a great nuisance.

·         Add to this the absence of a common hardware platform; this makes it extremely difficult to develop content for use by all.

·         Devices may become outdated quickly and students have to keep combating obsolescence.

·         There is limited wireless bandwidth and chances are that it may further decrease with the number of users ever on the increase.

·         In the M-Learning venue, students are incapable of printing, simply because it requires a network connection. This is obviously not feasible in a number of real-life situations.