Mobile Web 2.0 Tools and Applications in Online Training and Tutoring

Abstract

Today, over six billion people have access to a connected mobile device and for every person who accesses the internet from a computer to do so from a mobile device as well. Mobile technology is changing the way we live and it is beginning to change the way we learn (UNESCO, Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/, 2014).

Mobile Learning (m-learning), referred also as “anytime and anyplace learning,” has evolved with the introduction of mobile and hand-held devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, notebooks, and tablet PCs, in teaching and learning, together with broadband and wireless data transmission. This greater connectivity creates opportunities for flexible, collaborative modes of learning, while supporting stronger links between learning at work, in the home, at school, and in the community.

As the main advantages of mobile technologies in education can be consider:

• spontaneity – learning activities take place when the learner feels ready, or can be used to fill “dead time”

• immediacy – learning becomes possible at the point of need, regardless of location

• increased access – learning resources can be accessed from the workplace and in the field, while traveling, during classes and lectures

• portability – communication with peers and tutors; and the capture, storage, and retrieval of information in multimedia formats are possible from one device at any location.

This chapter aims to present the new trends for education – mobile learning, through the outcomes of the Leonardo da Vinci project MobiVET 2.0 – Mobile Web 2.0 e-Training for Vocational Education Trainers (MobiVET 2.0, Retrieved from www.mobivet2.eu, 2014). The MobiVET 2.0 project aimed at filling the online training gap between the self-directed learners and VET trainers by developing mobile e-learning 2.0 knowledge and skills of the trainers thus turning them from in-class trainers to skilled online tutors (etutors).