Mobile learning design and development narratives

In today’s peer-reviewed academic research, particularly in the context of technology-mediated learning, the illuminating narratives of educational technology design and development teams are often lost (or, possibly, undervalued). Difficult to validate or generalize, these rich stories of creating and shaping tools that foster the learner experience through design represent the backbone of our field: the fusion of educational theories, pedagogical frameworks, interaction models, and research-based “ideas” for building transformational online and mobile learning opportunities. Design-based research, a methodology “premised on the notion that we can learn important things about the nature and conditions of learning by attempting to engineer and sustain educational innovation in everyday settings” (Bell, 2004), provides a foundation for sharing a glimpse into these intricate balances of pedagogy and design. However, the wider field of learning technologies has yet to embrace this paradigm within the realm of mobile learning environments. To this end, the following three chapters illustrate the challenges, complexities, and “a-ha” moments inherent within the mobile learning design process, focused through the lenses of the designers themselves.