Mobile Learning for Lifelong Learning
projects in the Italian context
Luciano Seta*, Davide Taibi*, Giovanni Fulantelli*, Marco Arrigo*, Onofrio Di Giuseppe*, Manuel Gentile* and
Gianluca Merlo*
*Italian National Research Council – Institute for Educational Technologies
Via Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 – Palermo (Italy)
{luciano.seta, davide.taibi, giovanni.fulantelli, marco.arrigo, onofrio.digiuseppe, manuel.gentile, gianluca.merlo}@itd.cnr.it
Abstract
In this paper, we describe the state of the art on the use of mobile
devices for lifelong learning initiatives in Italy. The paper is based
on the research work done in the framework of the European
project MOTILL (MObile Technologies in Lifelong Learning:
best practices). Some exemplary projects on lifelong learning
involving mobile technologies in Europe have been identified and
analyzed according to three dimensions: management, pedagogy
and policy. In this paper we report on the Italian context as
emerged by the study of the three Italian projects.
Keywords
Mobile learning, lifelong learning, mobile learning projects.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper will be devoted to discuss selected mobile
learning experiences in the Italian context. This discussion
was one of the outcomes produced during the European
project Motill (MObile Technologies in Lifelong Learning:
best practices). This project was aimed to construct a
common framework involving educational research centers
and the principal public and private agencies, engaged in
the sector of learning and training, to support the use of the
mobile technologies in the Life Long Learning (LLL)
context.
The main aspects related to the theoretical and
methodological approach developed during the MOTILL
project are out of the scope of this paper. Instead, some
specific questions that characterize the implementation of
mobile learning initiatives in the Italian context will be
highlighted. The importance to contextualize any discourse
about mobile learning is central to this paper. This
statement has many fundamental implications. For
example, it means that mobile learning cannot be examined
without taking into consideration political and socio-
economic situation, global and local educational policies,
diffusion of specific technologies as well as competences
and skills to use them properly.
Therefore, mobile learning will be analyzed against the
“ecological landscape” of educational policies (Weaver-
Hightower, 2008) in Italy. In particular this approach
requires identifying actors, relationships, environments and
structure, and processes involved in the constitution of any
complex ecosystem. Starting from three real experiences of
mobile learning, examined during the MOTILL project, we
point out some components characterizing the ecology of
educational policies in Italy.
In the framework of the MOTILL project, the Institute for
Educational Technologies of the Italian National Research
Council has selected three mobile learning projects in Italy,
by means of structured interviews with the project
coordinators. Interviews have been structured in such a way
to gather data on 3 analysis dimensions: management,
pedagogy and policy; 18 key features for the three
dimensions have been identified by the research team of the
MOTILL project. Finally, ethical considerations have been
analyzed too.
In this paper, the data gathered during the interviews will
be interpreted in an ecological perspective (Firestone, 1989;
Ball, 1998; Cash et al., 2003; Barab and Roth, 2006;
Weaver-Hightower, 2008): for each mobile learning
experience, we describe the specific niche within an
ecology that the experience has contributed to define and in
which, consequently, it has to be situated.
Consequently, it will be possible to point out some
considerations about relevant educational policies carried
out in the Italian national context.
2. THREE MOBILE LEARNING PROJECT
IN ITALY
The use of mobile technologies in formal, not formal, and
informal educational contexts is a relatively new topic in
the Italian landscape, and this is in contrast with the fact
that these technologies are deeply pervasive in the Italian
social panorama. Often, in newspapers, these technologies
have been discussed in relation to unfair and bullying
behaviors, or to the diffusion, thanks to the activity of text
messaging, of peculiar shibboleths between adolescents
(Caron and Caronia, 2007). But rarely, one can read
something about opportunities offered by mobile
technologies in education and learning (Traxler, 2010).
This situation defines a peculiar ecology in which predation
relationships prevail. The main actor, the student, is
considered principally as a potential prey, and mobile
technologies as the predators. Often, the agency, that is the
power to act within ecology, seems reserved to technology,
and the prey is described as unable to resist to the power of
that.
In this landscape, some processes are activated from
educational agencies, such as schools, academics, VET
(Vocational and Educational Training) centers, and from
policy departments, at national, regional, and local level.
Regarding to this, a double movement can be observed.
The first movement is conservative, it is aimed to preserve
the environment, reducing resources consumption, and
using technology as a facilitator. The second movement is
addressed to conversion and adaptation, the rationale is the
necessity to cope with a dramatic change; here the
technology is deemed as a lever able to push the
educational system in a new direction.
This double movement characterizes a plurality of
educational policies aimed to integrate ICTs in learning
processes. This justifies also the tendency to think of the
use of mobile technologies such as an opportunity to tackle
some relevant problems in the Italian educational
landscape: Italy's poor performance in various indicators of
educational achievement (Polesen, 2010); the long lasting
permanence of students at Italian universities; the new
migratory wave in Italy.
The three mobile learning projects discussed in this section,
have been conceived with the objective to tackle exactly
these three different issues.
2.1 MoULe
The MoULe (Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning) is an online
environment for collaborative learning; by integrating
smart phones and portable devices, it enables educational
activities based on the exploration of a geographical place.
The system includes specific functionalities to search and
access information spaces, to communicate and to annotate
places according to their geographical coordinate. Data
stored in the system are enriched by the information
concerning geographical localization, so that the system
provides users with information specific to the place they
are visiting. Teachers can use MoULe to design educational
paths, monitor users‟ activities in real time, and evaluate
quantity and quality of interactions among users (Arrigo et
al., 2007).
This technological environment is aimed to support high
school students using context sensitive handheld devices in
collaborative knowledge construction. The mobile
technologies have been used as tools able to sustain
students' creative work, while they are engaged in informal
activities. So, technology emerges as a new resource in the
educational policy ecology; it provides a suitable help to
tackle the problem of the poor performance in the
educational achievement, moving the focus from school to
context, from the individual to the group, from the
scholastic curriculum to experiences in real life.
The transition between formal and informal learning was
promoted by the design of experimental activities
alternating onsite and classroom learning, and by the
learning environment created which was accessible through
the use of both mobile devices and computers. During these
learning experiences, the students can discover different
sources of information, different ways to extract, elaborate,
construct and store the knowledge. This transition, from a
mere notional knowledge to a situated learning experience,
is probably one of the most important transformations
needed or students to support their learning throughout a
lifetime.
This is also evident in the pedagogical approach that
authors have adopted in designing the technological
environment. In fact, the informants have declared:
In this project a model for mobile Knowledge
Building Process was defined; on the basis of this
model. According to the social constructivism
paradigm, knowledge is not transferred from
teachers to students, but is the result of
collaborative activities.
As result of this learning experience, the students acquired
competences in using online educational tools, particularly
applications which promote processes of collaborative
knowledge construction and improve their abilities to work
in a group.
The political objective is also corroborated by the
informant‟s consideration:
The MoULe project provides teachers and schools
with tools which enable them to exploit the
educational potential of onsite learning activities.
In the context of the MoULe project, the practice of the
mobile learning has had an impact on the distribution of the
roles within the class, new social ties are been established
during the experience, and students have found new ways
to learn and work. This project seems to claim new political
actions needed to spread similar practices in wider
contexts, creating networks between different schools,
integrating learning activities with other social and cultural
initiatives. A new educational policy landscape will have to
settle down because the necessity to introduce new
technological tools at school could be taken into account to
obtain a greater involvement of students and also to verify
the didactic efficacy of these new apparatuses.
2.2 Federica
Federica is the e-Learning of the University of Naples
Federico II, it was developed to offer free access to the
academic knowledge of the university, with the free offer
of educational materials and a structured guide to the
enormous informative patrimony already available in
Internet. The interface of the web learning portal of
Federica use a modular approach that combines simplicity,
flexibility and high technological quality. Using this portal
students can consult study materials for university courses
in e-Learning (also available in podcast format), at any
time, with extraordinary wealth of contents organized in
training modules with different media format. The intention
is to provide better support to students in gaining access to
university knowledge content, in particular, this support is
targeted at students who are behind with their studies, to
those off campus and to foreigners. Federica has received
more than two million hits in its first year, an indication of
a significant user base, has not linear effects on the ecology
of learning at university.
If the initial objective of Federica was to involve people in
university education and to make knowledge within the
university easily accessible to all, now this platform makes
university courseware knowledge accessible not only to
students enrolled in courses but to everyone. Informants put
on evidence that considerable interest in Federica has been
shown by working professionals, postgraduates and young
people interested in having access to a university.
Moreover, students using platform come from different
areas and regions, from Albania, ex-Yugoslavia, Greece,
the Middle East.
So, if at the start of the initiative the aim was to focus on
the local territory, then this was followed by the natural
evolution of Federica towards international users because it
aroused interest in various regions of the world in
university courseware.
Federica initiative seems to boost emergent processes;
these processes are characterized by the appearance of new
ecologies in which old problems look for new solutions. To
manage such processes, different levels of policy have to be
involved, and so it is not strange that:
The initiative has been strongly promoted by the
dean of the university in order to reorganize and
improve the structure of e-learning at the
university. Right now local politicians, are
showing a lot of interest and involvement and are,
working to support the initiative financially as
well as politically.
Regarding the use of mobile technology, this varies from a
soft approach, via audio podcasts, designed more for the
dissemination of academic content, to a more sophisticated
approach This was designed mainly for interactivity, via a
web interface and smartphone, e.g. iPhone or similar, that
has a higher cost and is more commonly used by
professionals workers than by students. The intention is to
introduce the student to the use of mobile technologies in a
progressive manner, allowing even those who are
economically disadvantaged to be able to use low cost
resources.
2.3 Ensemble
The main objective of the ENSEMBLE project is to test
innovative and multi-modal training approaches to support
integration and active citizenship for young and adult
migrant groups in accordance with the 2003 Progress report
about Democratic values, participation and active
citizenship education. New mobile communication tools
represent strategic instruments for increasing and
improving the participation of populations at risk of
exclusion, regardless of differences of age and education.
The participation of adults and young people in the
ENSEMBLE project emphasizes the use of open, flexible
and innovative learning methods responding to learners'
needs and current habits (use of mobile phone and
podcasts).
This project is strictly linked to an ecological political
landscape, fixed at European level. In fact, the general
background of the ENSEMBLE project proposal is
provided by the European immigrant integration policies
and by the recent Communication "European i2010
initiative on e-Inclusion - to be part of the information
society" in which the Commission underlines the role of
ICT in providing the conditions for everyone to take part in
the information society by bridging the accessibility,
broadband and competence gaps, accelerating effective
participation of groups at risk of exclusion and improving
the quality of life.
In the last five years this landscape has been established in
various documents, and the European Union underlines the
relevance of the media which has considerable
responsibility in its role as an educator of public opinion.
At national level, the management of the educational policy
for integration has been an increasing issue of last few
years. In Italy, the national Parliament has ruled the
phenomenon of immigration by means of various laws:
starting from 1986. In this paper, we cannot examine the
educational policies arisen from these laws (Ponzo, 2009,
table 1 at p. 18), but it is important to highlight as the
ENSEMBLE project work over a very relevant problem: if
at current time now the immigrant students between 15-24
years old are only the 9% of the total, in the 2050 they will
be the 38% of the total (Cipollone and Sestito, 2010, p. 32).
The ENSEMBLE project proposes a new approach to this
topic using mobile devices. The rationale is that the steadily
increasing availability of these devices, their versatility and
mobility are heightening interest in the use of such
instruments in disadvantaged contexts, where the Internet
connection is not available, but there are mobile phones; in
fact, low-cost mobile devices offer opportunities for
reducing inequalities at a global level.
ENSEMBLE intention appears to want to establish an
environment where cooperative relationships prevail, this is
obtained by combining the development of an innovative
didactic methodology with the use of very common mobile
technologies.
The experimentation has been undertaken in two different
areas in Europe: the town of Prato in Italy, and the district
of Yvelines in France, on a sample population of different
national/ethnic origins. The practice was mainly initiated
by municipalities, since these stakeholders were already
making big efforts to foster social inclusion of immigrants.
The target group of the project were students of 13-15 years
old (second generation immigrants) and the students‟
parents (first generation immigrants).
Informal learning is present for both the target groups:
students and adults. Actually, adult learning occurs almost
entirely on an informal basis. Specifically for young
students, MP3 devices allow young students to move from
formal learning strategies in the classroom, towards
informal learning opportunities occurring outside the
school. Regarding to this, informants declared:
Further investigation would be necessary in order
to evaluate the role of these informal learning
moments in the whole learning process; in
addition, these informal learning occasions are
strictly related to something occurring in a formal
educational setting, and are sometimes dependent
on the activity performed in the classroom
The transition between formal to informal learning
moments is a key pedagogical idea in ENSEMBLE. In this
way, the project wants to stimulate processes of adaptation
and conversion. In these processes the change can be
dramatic and actors have to adapt to these altered
environments.
3. CONCLUSION
The relation between mobile technologies and lifelong
learning in Italy seems to push educational policies in
direction of a peculiar ecological landscape. In particular,
technologies and methodologies can cooperate to create a
environment where new processes can emerge
spontaneously. These processes could boost a dramatic
change by means of the overcoming of traditional
boundaries between formal and informal contexts for
learning.
In this perspective, the researchers involved in this field
have underlined the opportunity to introduce the ICTs at
school as tools to face some relevant problems that are
slowing economic and social development. In this paper we
have analyzed three Italian mobile learning projects and we
have highlighted that each project was aimed to face a
specific difficulty: poor performances of students in
problem solving and in creative thinking (MoULe); long
lasting period of permanence at university (Federica);
integration of immigrants at school (ENSEMBLE). The
choice of the specific problem to face is not random; it
reflects a specific vision about technologies such as
facilitator or as lever in a cooperative relationship.
However, the educational context in Italy is also
characterized by others problems. For example, inequalities
in performances between geographic areas, lack of a
quality assessment system in education, scarcity in adult
literacy; and different ecologies have been proposed to
cope with them. The theory of human capital (Becker,
1964; Cipollone and Sestito, 2010), for example, introduces
a more competitive environment, in which the policy
makers have to manage the scarcity of knowledge
resources, the distribution of incentives, and the control of
the quality of the whole educational system, for example by
means of introduction of some international system for
assessing skills and competences.
This paper is aimed to better understand the opportunities
offered by the mobile technologies in lifelong learning.
Regarding to this, the main suggestion is the when a new
technological and methodological environment is designed,
it is extremely important to take into consideration the
entire ecological landscape, evaluating also the national
educational policies that the use of mobile devices can
encourage.
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