Mobile learning and higher education

Abstract

Digital media changed teaching and learning and are continuing to do so. The spread of mobile devices and mobile internet opened up further potential and pushed mobile learning into the universities. New technologies like cloud computing, learning analytics and augmented reality promise new mobile learning solutions. With the rise of apps, access to learning content and information is always and everywhere at students' fingertips. This ubiquitous availability leads to a variety of learning scenarios-seamless, contextualized or personal learning. They can be grouped into four categories according to their dependence of place and time; learning independent of place and time, situated and authentic at concrete learning places, application at presence teaching, usage in distance learning respectively virtual presence. In this article, the current situation of mobile learning in higher education is discussed and mobile learning offers of nine top universities are compared exemplary. There are two main findings: first, universities lack behind developing scalable didactical concepts for mobile learning, but second, they use to transfer e-learning solutions or prolong face-to-face learning scenarios to mobile devices. Hence an entire alteration did not occur so far. However mobile learning will continue to intrude everyday life at universities and keep transforming the way we teach and learn.