XplanaZine

The demand for mobility in education is picking up. It is certainly outpacing the education mainstream’s ability to meet the demand and develop courses/systems that would allow learners to be entirely mobile and flexible.

Last week, Western Governors University (WGU) was granted its accreditation accreditation from four regional accreditation agencies. WGU is a virtual university, conceived by the governors of 19 Western states, and grants degrees based on subject competency rather than on course credits. Because WGU lacks a single physical presence, it is the only institution to be accredited by more than one regional agency.

Gartner predicts that the global e-learning market will continue aggressive growth, reaching $35 billion by 2005, as organizations work to keep their employees informed, their operations competitive and their training costs low (Gartner Group, “E-Learning: An Application Whose Time Has Come,” October 2, 2002).

Universities across the nation are placing more materials online and searching for the best solutions for crafting digital materials and creating learning environments that make sense both financially and pedagogically. From MIT’s OCW project to standard independent study programs, the online boom in Higher Education is picking up momentum at an aggressive rate.

Before universities succeed completely in moving to models for effective mobile education, however, they will need to make some changes in their assumptions and platforms that underlie the online teaching they offer.

Re-architect learning information so that is mobile and distributed. In spite of our efforts to place more learning material online, we are still crafting that material according to a model of the traditional classroom. We still have centralized information systems that require students to “travel” to a specific “location” to interact with mostly static material. Mobile users, however, require content that is flexible and mobile, content that can be delivered to them in their desired format regardless of where they are and what device they are using.

Build software platforms that are equal to new hardware technologies. Today’s portable computers can perform next-generation tasks while we are providing our students with last-generation activities and platforms. In order to reach the next level, we may have to abandon the current, lowest common denominator approach and begin expecting mobile learners to pay the extra price for their education by having the latest hardware.

Do a better job of anticipating future developments and responding to mobile users’ needs. Education has generally been a conservative beast and slow to respond to changes in technology and student interests (in spite of claims to the contrary). Web technology and evolving hardware are presenting wonderful opportunities for mobile learning but will be weak tools unless institutions and corporations alike embrace their potential fully.