Critical Mass of Mobile Web for learning?

Two recent reports from Cisco and Nielsen Mobile give strong evidence that the mobile web is starting to reach the momentum to make it a highly attractive medium for doing business on. I've been looking at the impact for business on the 3 sheep site (Critical Mass for Mobile Web and Mobiles Fourth Channel Revenue) but what about education? Does it really matter for learners, researchers and educators that the mobile web is becoming the place to "do business".

Absolutely, the Nielsen report in particular considers why the growth is possible and some interesting trends are picked out. There is a growth in unlimited data packages, which is removing the high cost image of surfing the mobile web. Also, the power of the mobile phone is growing. 3G connectivity is becoming a standard feature on consumer as well as business phones. This means a faster web experience. Mobiles like the iPhone, Motorola RAZR range and the Nokia N range series are all being used by consumers to access the mobile web. Whilst these remain expensive devices for now it will only be a short time for the technology features to filter across to less expensive devices.

For the learner this means increasingly the power of the web is in their pocket. They are not reliant on a schools, colleges or universities connectivity, nor on their home broadband. It doesn't get much more personal than this. A device in your pocket with access to your social networks, professional opportunities, leisure and business activities. And learning?

The mobile web is still struggling for acceptance. At the turn of the centuary it underwent a false start with WAP, which was over-promised and under-delivered. There are also some danger signs today, many adverts promise the whole web on your phone and whilst technically true the reality is that sites and services that are not designed for the mobile experience are often disappointing, difficult to use and slow to load. Even the Apple iPhone development site offers reams advice to developers as to how to optimise the mobile experience. Most the biggest players on the web today offer specific mobile interfaces to their services. These include the likes of Amazon, Ebay, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, the BBC and so on. Designing and developing for mobile services requires attention to specific details one of my previous posts links to a lecture I gave on the subject.

However the investment in design and development results in services that are fast loading, easy to use and perhaps most important of all focused on the mobile medium. Those web service providers that look for the short cuts to do the work for them are selling their users short because so much will be transmitted that is not needed. Mobile and Desktop Web services should compliment but not entirely replicate each other.

This was the philosophy behind my research and design of Hairdressing Training for mobiles, which was the first service of its kind for NVQ students. I made sure I focused on developing a service which partnered the desktop service but did not rival it, they are different tools for different jobs.

Since then I've been a consultant on two Molenet projects (Stockport and Trafford Colleges), which have been using a variety of mobile phones to connect hairdressing students to the learning materials. Although a short project the results have been encouraging. All students have access to the learning materials without having to wait for a salon computer (if one is available). The learning is with them at all times. One student even told me how the materials were helping to bridge a gap between her workplace salon and the college, since the salon manager had never seen the materials she was being taught with. This she felt had opened lines of communication and improved her learning.

Hairdressing Training materials on mobiles and the Molenet work is just one example of how the rapidly increasing access to the mobile web can help learning. As costs fall, availability and the power of the devices increases then so too will the opportunities. The education system needs to make sure it is adapting now. The students it will be servicing in a short time will be able to manage many aspects of their lives on their mobile phones, will their learning be one of them?