Back to the Future of Mobile LearningMike Sharples, Institute of Educational Technology

In 2002 I gave a presentation with the title:

“Personal Lifelong Learning Devices:Where will we be in the next 15 years?”

How far have we come in the 15 years since 2002, and how far could we still go?

PERSONAL LIFELONG LEARNING DEVICES

Where will we be in the next fifteen years?

Mike SharplesKodak/Royal Academy of Engineering

Educational Technology Research Group

University of Birmingham

2002 presentation

Mobile technology predictions

2000 2015

2002 Multimedia Communicator

•Colour multimedia handheld computer

•Mobile phone•MP3 player•Fast internet connection

•Under £300 Pogo

2002 presentation

2007 - First commercial phabletHTC Advantage X7500

£225 to £400 with 3G contract 

The pioneering British company Pogo Technology Ltd went into liquidation in 2003. It took four more years for a multimedia phone tablet (phablet) to be marketed

2000 20152006 Mobile Videophone

2002 presentation

2007 - Videophone

By Kalleboo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2975135

A mobile video call between Sweden and Singapore made on a Sony-Ericsson K800 (2007)

The ‘videophone’ on the previous slide was a mockup concept from Nokia

Mobile learning predictions

2000 2015

2003 Handheld Learning Device

Student learning organiserStudents on MSc in Human Centred Systems, University of Birmingham

2002 presentation

Mobile learning organiser

Our research in 2002-2004 with a prototype ‘Mobile Learning Organiser’ showed that students wanted anytime anywhere access to content, but preferred standard office tools to specialist educational tools such as a daily lecture and meeting calendar.

Corlett, D., Sharples, M., Chan, T., Bull, S. (2005) Evaluation of a Mobile Learning Organiser for University Students, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21, pp. 162-170.

2016 - Blackboard mobile

2016 - Blackboard mobile

2013 - FutureLearnLearning platform for free online courses that runs on mobile devices

25% of FutureLearn learners access courses on mobile devices

2000 2015

2004 Collaborative M-Learning

Handheld devices for collaborative learning

2002 presentation

Collaborative m-learning

Where?Orchestrating learners to collaborate with mobile devices is a challenge for teachers. Good pedagogy. Usable technology.Poor integration into the classroom.

2000 20152005 Location Aware Guide

2002 presentation

2004 & 2014 - Location-aware guide

CAGE location-aware guideMOBIlearn project, 2004

Ultrasonic beacons

Locatify Guide, 2014 Bluetooth beacons

Lonsdale, P., Baber, C., Sharples, M., Byrne, W., Arvanitis, T.N. & Beale, R. (2004) Context Awareness for MOBIlearn: Creating an engaging learning experience in an art museum. In J. Attewell and C. Savill-Smith (eds.) Mobile Learning Anytime Everywhere: A Book of Papers from MLEARN 2004. London: Learning and Skills Development Agency, pp. 115-118.

2000 2015

• Dinner party• Look up “Delia’s illustrated

cookery course” on handheld• Guide to choosing a dinner recipe• Wine advisor• Click to order over wireless link• Food and wine delivered to home

2005 Personal Learning Assistant

2002 presentation

2015 - Food and wine guide

Yummly - 2015 Wino the Wine AdvisorGoogle Play

2000 20152008 Wearable Learning

2002 presentation

2016 - Wearables for learning

Microbit programmable wearable

EdTech Magazine October 17th 2016

2000 20152009 Embedded Learning

Lab of Tomorrow

2002 presentation

2000 20152010 Ambient Learning•Ambient Wood (Equator project)

–A wood that teaches•MetaPark (BT)

–A walk through a park in contact with people in the virtual park

•AL project–Learning embedded in everyday objects, buildings, environments

2002 presentation

Ambient learningPeople in real world conversing with people online

www.Georama.comHigh definition mobile phone webcasts with live chat

2000 2015

2015 Lifelong Learning Assistance

• Lifelong learning organiser• Creativity tools• Worldwide collaborative investigations

• Guides and mentors• Contextual learning

2002 presentation

Lifelong mobile learning assistance

We still have a long way to go in developing personal and mobile tools for lifelong learning support

And some more predictions…

In 2005 we ran ‘Future Technology Workshops’ with adults to predict the future of mobile learning. Their two main predictions were…

Mobile learning beyond 2016

The Whisperer

Context-related information into an earpiece

Gives information about who you are speaking to, or the event you are watching

Mobile learning beyond 2016

The Whisperer

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meet-the-pilot-smart-earpiece-language-translator-headphones-travel#/

Context-related information into an earpiece

Gives information about who you are speaking to, or the event you are watching

Mobile learning beyond 2016

X-ray tablet

Transparent augmented reality

See into a landscape or a building

Understand its structure or function

Mobile learning beyond 2016

X-ray tablet

Transparent augmented reality

See into a landscape or a building

Understand its structure or function

“the next-generation iPhone will be clear — as in, completely transparent so that users can see straight through it — so that Apple can use it to power an augmented reality experience similar to the one offered by Microsoft’s HoloLens”http://bgr.com/2016/10/24/iphone-8-rumors-specs-design-

revealed-or-nope/

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