Mobile Learning and Teacher Education: Researching Mlearn Pilot Development

MLEARN, a European Union (EU)-funded project, is exploring and promoting teacher development of mobile learning practices in four member states – the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) (England), Greece and Italy. This paper details the ways research findings have both fed into and been elicited from this pilot, supporting development and implementation of a teacher education programme for in-service teachers, focusing on mobile learning through appropriate pedagogic uses of mobile or handheld technologies. The research has focused on three dimensions to date: how contextual backgrounds for the programme can be considered and provided; a training needs analysis of trainers and teachers involved in the pilot; and gathering initial outcomes from teachers and learners after involvement in teacher education events and some one to two months of pilot uses in classrooms. The paper considers implementation outcomes to date, and what the next steps will be.