Social Implications of Mobile Learning in Global Learning Environments

Abstract

This chapter critiques six example case studies of global mobile learning projects using social networking tools to discuss the social implications of mobile learning in global learning environments. The researcher argues that supporting global mobile learning projects via the establishment of the projects as collaborative communities of practice of lecturers and students provides a rich environment for fostering pedagogical transformation from a focus upon teacher-directed content to student-generated content and student-generated learning contexts. The collaborative and communicative affordances of mobile devices coupled with Web 2.0 social software provide powerful tools for nurturing and sustaining global learning environments across the boundaries of time and geography. Lessons learned from the six projects between 2008 and 2012 illustrate the potentially transformative impact upon pedagogy of mobile learning used within the context of global learning environments.