 My name is Mohamed Ali and I'm a professor at Athabasca University in Canada. Welcome to the Mobiles for Development course. Some of you will be completing the module overview of mobile learning and which will cover mobile learning and education. The objectives that you will cover in this module are define mobile learning, describe policies for mobile learning, identify mobile learning technologies, describe the benefits of mobile learning, describe mobile learning initiatives around the world, describe recent research in mobile learning, describe strategies for implementing successful mobile learning, describe the role of the teacher for successful mobile learning, describe the future of education with mobile learning, and describe your role as a teacher in the evolving nature of education in a mobile world. So here's a nice short definition of mobile learning. It's learning using information and communication technologies in mobile contexts and this is an international definition that will stand in the future because it's very general because technology will change in the future. So the question is why mobile learning? Many, many countries, many organizations are getting into mobile learning. So why mobile learning? Students can learn when they're alert, which means they can learn anytime of the day. Different students have different peak time for learning. So with mobile technology, they can use technology to access learning materials anywhere, anytime. It encourage lifelong learning, which means anyone regardless of age can access mobile learning materials using the technology. You can reach learners in remote locations who do not have access to schools or libraries. They can use the mobile technology to access information and access course materials. Students learn in context. So they learn in their own environment, which means they can apply what they learn right away. And different cultures have different values, different environment, so they can actually apply it in their own environment. They create the special needs, so people who are disabled, for example, have limited mobility. They can use the mobile technology in their own community to access information and learning materials. Educate females. Some females stay in their community to take care of families, other responsibilities. They can use the technology to access learning materials from their communities. So they don't have to leave the community to go to major cities. And be used to engage the lost youth. And these are the young students who drop out of schools. Either they're bored at schools and they're not motivated to continue, but they use mobile technology. So why not get them to use the technology to learn, to access information, to interact with each other? And very important, educate the displaced due to natural and human disaster. We have many natural disasters such as earthquake, tsunami, etc. When people are displaced, they can continue to learn if they have mobile technology, which means they can access learning materials from anywhere. Also, we have many human disasters, for example, wars. And when people are displaced because of wars, then they can access learning materials using mobile technology. So these are some very important reasons why we need to use mobile learning in education. In terms of accessing education, mobile learning improve access for new generation of students because the new generation of students, they're very comfortable using technology. And they expect learning materials to be delivered on mobile technology. So we have to make sure we prepare our courses for delivery in mobile technologies. There's increasing use of open education resources where resources are available for free or at minimum cost that people can access with their mobile devices. With the technology, students can talk to each other, peer-to-peer tutor in so they can help each other if they have problems. And again, they use the technology to communicate with each other. Also digitization of information and learning materials. What we are seeing today is materials are becoming electronic. So it's moving away from print to electronic. And who knows, eventually, all learning materials will be electronic. So if you have your learning, your courses in electronic format for delivery on mobile device, then students can access the materials using their mobile technology. So yes, we need to have policies for mobile learning so that we give access to everyone, make sure that everyone can download learning materials under mobile technology. So it's very important to set policies. We need to conduct research on mobile learning. Mobile learning is a pretty new field. And there are limited research conducted. So we need to conduct more research on mobile learning. And we need to get teachers involved in the research. We need to implement successful mobile learning. So whatever we develop and implement, we have to make sure it's successful. And this is one way to make sure that we motivate others to accept mobile learning. We have to show that it's successful. So it's very important to implement successful mobile learning. There are many, many mobile initiatives around the world. Countries are given students tablets so that they can use their tablet computers in the schools so that they can access the internet. They can access course materials while they're in school or while they're at home or while they travel. So what's the future of education in mobile learning? What will education look like if everyone has a mobile device? We have to make sure as educators that our courses are online. Our courses are available for students to access using the mobile technology. Here's some things that you should consider as you complete the module on mobile learning and education. Are we ready for education in the pocket? So other sectors of society, for example, the banking sector, people can use the mobile devices to do their banking. So we call it banking in your pocket. Are we ready to deliver education and mobile, education in the pocket? Teachers must be involved in developing and promoting mobile learning. Because of the flexibility, mobile learning can be used to educate all age groups. So it doesn't matter what age a person is, they can actually use the mobile device to access the information, the learning materials anywhere at any time. We need more research to allow teachers to implement mobile learning successfully. Mobile learning is new. So if we have research, which means we will find out what are the best practices, we can share that with teachers so that they can implement mobile learning. The teacher must be involved in mobile learning and the learning should be learner-centered in order for it to be successful. Because the teacher will be involved with the students when they learn with the technology, they will become a facilitator, a tutor for the students. And access to open education resources using mobile and ubiquitous technology will revolutionize education and change the world. And I think teachers, educators have a major role to play so that we have education for all around the world. Thank you.