Personalization and Mobility Clause Samples

Personalization and Mobility. Learning in science centres and museums has been supported by electronic technologies for over forty years, since the first audio guides were developed – firstly reel-to-reel tape, then cassette and, now, digital systems (▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ and ▇▇▇▇▇▇ 2003). The introduction of digital technologies represents not simply a further enhancement in sound quality, nor merely the additional possibilities of multimedia. The key factor is the offer of a totally new learning experience, based upon apparently unlimited choice and freedom. Flexibility is crucial, enabling learners to select their own pathways and pacing. Underlying museums’ use of such approaches are both practical and philosophical perspectives. ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ (2000) has developed a ‘theory of lifelong learning’ mediated by handheld and wearable technology, considering hardware, software, communications and interface design. Devices must be: • highly portable, so that they can be available wherever the user needs to learn • individual, adapting to the learner’s abilities, knowledge and learning styles and designed to support personal learning, rather than general office work • unobtrusive, so that the learner can capture situations and retrieve knowledge without the technology obtruding on the situation • available anywhere, to enable communication with teachers, experts and peers • adaptable to the learner’s evolving skills and knowledge persistent, to manage learning throughout a lifetime, so that the learner’s personal accumulation of resources and knowledge will be immediately accessible despite changes in technology • useful, suited to everyday needs for communication, reference, work and learning • intuitive to use by people with no previous experience of the technology. Two approaches in current use are handhelds and wearables. Both offer the potential of an individualised approach to learning, differentiated – at least to some extent – by learner