THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR MOBILE LEARNING APPROACH: TEACHING-LEARNING MOBILE MODEL (TLMM) FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL

During the last years, we have observed a rapid expansion in the possession and use of smartphones and portable devices in general, especially among the younger generation. These technological resources gather around them a great of previously separate applications in different formats, such as cellular, text messaging service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS), wireless Internet connection, capture/playback/editing of voice, images and videos, computer programs, access to social networks, among others. In turn, they differ from the static technologies from its portability, connectivity, mobility, spontaneity and immediacy of use, among other features. This phenomenon has attracted the attention of researchers in education, emerging to what has now been called mobile learning or m-learning. Despite its incipient development, theoretical research on this phenomenon threatens to disrupt the basis on which the teaching-learning practices lie today, mainly in the higher educational level. This article explores the state of the art in the research field of mobile learning, discusses some theoretical models that have been developed, and proposes a Teaching-Learning Mobile Model (TLMM) for the higher educational level. The TLMM, with the support of smartphone features, suggests the emergence of new forms of interactivity with bodies of information and new forms of social interaction between students and teachers, which directly impacts the development of teaching-learning processes. It is recognized the interrelationship between three main aspects: i) mobile technology (technical characteristics and applications), ii) students (forms for use of mobile technology, learning process, interactivity and interaction), and teachers (forms for use of mobile technology, teaching process, interactivity and interaction). A new scenario for the development of independent, creative, informal and continuous learning is observed, which overcomes the space-time barriers of formal education and assigns new roles and skills to students and teachers.