Learning without strings: exploiting mobile technologies for flexible learning

The need for desks on which to put desktop computers and for laps on which to use laptop computers seems an unnecessary constraint for the virtual class. The concept of flexibility in learning is central to the virtual class and that is going to require mobile learning solutions. The current generation of mobile devices give us Internet and world wide web access: the next generation will have greater bandwidth and will be able to support multimedia. This paper draws upon experience of mobile solutions in business and training, to explore the potential of current and future mobile technologies and the business drivers for mobile communications, and to explore the spectrum of mobility in an educational context. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all learners are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are flexibility of time, of place and the pursuit of their individual learning programme.