Trend Impact (Navigate 4.1.1)

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As schools, both traditional and virtual, struggle to keep up with the changing technological pace of society and education, mobile learning will become more important than ever.  Any classroom teacher can attest that phones, tablets, and ipods seem to have become extensions of the hands of teenagers, and in order to meet our students where they are (in a literal sense), we need to embrace mobile learning if we plan to reach our students.

More and more teachers are adopting the "flipped" model in their classrooms, where students consume the necessary information at home and participate in discussions and hands-on activities in the actual classroom.  This hybrid approach lends itself to mobile learning because students will be able to access the information and content easily through their devices.  With mobile learning, teachers can link to readings, PowerPoint or Prezi slides, podcasts, or other forms of content that students can access with their device.  The convenience of this approach is appealing, too, as teenagers will have a more modern way of consuming information and teachers will be able to spend more time practicing application in the classroom.  

Making content available via a mobile device, formatting that content and being careful to include media and information that can be accessed on a phone or tablet, is one challenge that educators will face as mobile learning becomes more ubiquitous.  Another obstacle to mobile learning could be cost.  While it may seem that every single teenager has the newest model of iphone, the reality is that many teens do not have the money to afford the technology or internet access that would be required to participate in mobile learning.  To address this problem, schools may need to implement needs-based programs that would supply the devices and internet access to those students who can not afford them.

Mobile devices are much better equipped for consuming content (reading, watching videos, listening to podcasts) than they are for producing content (writing papers, making a Prezi, etc.), so it's important for educators to be aware of the capabilities of the devices when designing a course and creating assignments for that course.