We are the Greatest Showmen: Configuring a Framework for Project-Based Mobile Learning

Abstract

Little research has explored how mobile-learning technologies could be used by students to produce interactive artefacts during project-based learning processes. Following a design-based approach, we report on engagements spanning classroom and outdoor learning with students (ages 6-13) and teachers from three different UK schools and a summer school of Travelling Showchildren. Working within the time constraints of each context, we deployed a variety of configurations of a project-based mobile learning (PBML) framework intended to support the production of student-designed mobile-learning activities. We contribute insights gained from these engagements, including how mobile technologies can harness students' existing desire for independence and how they can be configured to leverage the physical and social attributes of place and community as learning resources. We argue for further exploration of the potential roles for mobile technologies within project-based learning, and contribute our PBML framework with recommendations for its re-configuration in response to contextual constraints.