Supporting the learner: M-learning abilities to learning processes

A main characteristic of M-learning is that it facilitates informal flexible learning. The learner in M-learning situations owns a personal tool that allows him to learn when, where and how he wants to. In contrast to formal learning situations, M-learning promises to allow spontaneous learning. Given developments in the area of training and education where classroom based training decreases and the need for freedom in the learning process increases, M-learning can help bridging the traditional boundaries between theory and practice, classroom and work situations, and novice and expert practitioners. To make these promises reality, adaptivity is the key factor: the customisation of M-learning processes for individual learners or groups of learners and the ability to provide adaptive help to learners, coaches and developers. However, this requires more insight in the relations between learner characteristics and learning activities in M-learning. This study addresses the way in which learner profiles can support adaptive delivery of learning activities. Successively, we make an inventory of learner characteristics and learning activities, identify meaningful groups by means of an expert card sorting study, organise mapping sessions to realise the relations, and finally model the results. The final result is a heuristic model which describes the relations between learner characteristics and learning activities in M-learning. In the future this model can be used to improve design and development methodologies for M-learning and to experiment with different kinds of learning activities and adaptive learning using M-learning tools. The importance of this study is the focus on the development of a learner-centred model for improving a technology-based learning process.