But students today want mobile learning opportunities, because mobile technologies enable students to personalize their own learning experiences. The key, then, is showing educators and administrators that today’s mLearners—mobile learners—learn differently from students 50 years ago and have different learning needs.
“Mobile learners are really social—they have no walls and they will ask each other anything,” said Molly Valdez, virtual learning coordinator at the San Antonio Independent School District, during a TCEA 2014 session that focused on how to understand mobile learners. “This is the first generation that has a digital footprint before they’re even born,” Valdez said, noting that often, children’s first pictures are ultrasound images posted online by their parents. “Parents instinctively push their children toward technology for them to be successful, because it’s been the advancing piece in our own lifetimes.”
