The rise of the smart phone - impact on eLearning?

A recent article published on Tuesday 19 April 2011 in the Guardian (a UK newspaper) caught my attention - Young people 'would rather live without TV than mobiles or net' - as I thought we already knew that, and therefore didn't really think it was news.

Now, putting aside the rather hysterical title (and this is something that is addressed in the comments over at the Guardian), and the fact that TV can be accessed using mobiles and the Internet, the article does point to a rather interesting series of reports over at Ofcom (Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries) on 'Media Literacy'. In particular one series of reports on media literacy in children, one of which the Guardian article is based (UK children's media literacy), were of particular interest as today's children are tomorrow's university students.

The most recent UK children's media literacy report states that 12-15 year olds spend around 15.6 hours online per week, and that 35% of 12-15 year olds own a smart phone. What is also clear from the report is that Internet usage is still on the increase, and worryingly only 44% of 12-15 year olds who use search engines will ask critical questions about the information returned in the results, IF it is a site that they have not visited before.

What is particularly striking is if you compare the most recent report, published in April 2011, with the previous report published in March 2010. The 2010 report, which is less than a year old, doesn't even really mention smart phones, other than to include them in 'gaming devices', and prior to the 2010 report even 'gaming devices' were not even included.

So, what does this mean for eLearning and also the teaching of 'information literacy' at college/university level?

Well, I think it shows that students are getting more 'information literacy' savvy. They are clearly using the Internet, but that they may be too trusting of the information that is on-line. Therefore, as part of an 'information literacy' training at college/university students need to be made more aware that everything on the Internet is not true, so that the 44% of 12-15 year olds asking critical questions about websites they use is raised to close to 100%. However, the thing that educators really do need to think about is the rise of ownership of the smart phones, and the impact this will have on eLearning.

If, as the report suggests, 35% of 12-15 year olds own a smart phone, then what will this number be when these potential students start arriving at university in 2 to 3 years? 50%? 75%? I am not a betting man, but I would be willing to bet it is going to be at least double, that is 70%. And, if that is the case, then we need to start planning now, and thinking about how we can deliver our online material via not only desk/laptop computers, but also through the array of mobile devices that are going to become so ubiquitous across campus.

We do live in interesting times, and just as educators are finally getting to grips with eLearning, things go mobile and we are in the world of mLearning!

Image: The above image is of Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola taken in 2007. Dr.Cooper made the first private handheld mobile phone in 1973 using a larger version of the phone he is holding the photo - image link

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