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and subjective states while engaged in cognitive
tasks. With m-learning further opening the lines
of communication between professors and other
classmates, understanding if it helps facilitate some
of the challenges of distance education, such as
learners having a sense of connectedness, needs to
be explored. Fozdar and Kumar (2007) surveyed
students to determine their perceptions on the
effectiveness and preferences of m-learning. The
survey results indicated m-learning could be used
to improve student retention and enhance teaching
and learning because students and teachers have
access to each other and course material anytime,
anywhere. An advantage of incorporating mobile
devices in educational environments is that it pro-
vides students an opportunity to have a sense of
community and be connected to their classmates
and professors. However, the feeling of being “too
connected” becomes a concern of students. Dis-
tinguishing the appropriate frequency of contact
is important to keep students engaged however,
not overwhelmed. Invading privacy or intruding
on students' downtime becomes a concern, thus
emphasizing the need to find the balance.
The pedagogy in many developed countries is
still teacher-centered however, there is a concerted
move toward more interactive student-centered
instruction; a goal of new projects such as Re-
sponsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE)
(Borau et al., 2009). The ROLE consortium
consists of more than a dozen respected research
groups and companies. Major funding for this
initiative is provided by the European Commis-
sion. This study of responsive open learning
environments is composed of a systems view of
learning environments, which also addresses m-
learning technology.
Reduced Learning Cycles (Just
in Time [JIT]) Knowledge
The rate at which knowledge may be obtained
under suboptimal learning conditions (emergency
and high stress situations) can be enhanced by
on demand JIT customized student-centered and
contextual instruction. Mobile devices have the
potential to become a mirroring, metacognitive
or guidance tool (Romero & Wareham 2009).
Integrated intelligent agents that are conducive
for learning environments and instruction mate-
rial are possible because of the computing capa-
bility of modern and future mobile devices. An
implemented JIT based learning model has the
potential to bolster levels of user engagement in
m-learning environments.
future m-Learning frameworks
Mobile Learning and Open
Learning Environments
Engaging new users of m-learning technology
in developing countries has become a research
point of interest. Future research of mobile learn-
ing environments implementation is needed to
minimize factors that may impede successful m-
learning deployments. Mobile technology use has
the potential to spur mass education initiatives in
developing countries. One reason is that the pen-
etration of Internet enabled mobile device usage
significantly out paces Internet enabled desktop
usage in many of these countries (Borau, Ullrich,
& Kroop, 2009). Though the mobile technology
aspect shows a positive trend, pedagogy and in-
structional delivery methods are not as modern.
eReader Improvements
Display improvements and enhancements that
include more than 16 gray levels of contrast, is a
major challenge for eInk display (EPD) technol-
ogy. eReader display technology is suitable for
text only documents (Kao et al., 2009), though
figures and images may be displayed with lower
fidelity than the original non-converted images.
This limitation may reduce reader satisfaction
and may impede increased levels of m-learning
student engagement. New research encompasses
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