Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners

Preface

Mobile learning is an exciting and important movement, in our opinion. We, the authors, are not in-service teachers. We are all employees at SAS Institute, a prominent statistical software company. We work on Curriculum Pathways, educational software that SAS provides for free to any educator. We work closely with teachers in the development of this web and mobile content, and our research and work provides us with an altogether unique perspective. We, like scores of educators, researchers, developers, legislators and thought leaders think that mobile learning holds tremendous promise for our educational system, with the potential to unlock a new world of educational opportunities to today's kids.

We know, foremost, that to have quality educational apps that improve education, developers need teachers, and teachers need developers. This symbiosis is vital to the field of mobile learning, yet we find little written on the topic. In our development practice, feedback from in-service teachers is so valuable, and frequently leads to new features or new apps being created. If there is one takeaway from this book, it'd be that developers and teachers, though their education and talents are likely very different, should work together to make mobile learning tools that accomplish the goals of today's classroom. We believe that mobile learning holds true promise for improving the educational system, the economy, and the future success of our country. But make no mistake; actually ...