In Global Peace Through The
Global University System
2003 Ed. by T. Varis, T. Utsumi, and
W. R. Klemm
University of
Tampere, Hameenlinna, Finland
Global Learning and Virtual Mobility
Jose Silvio
UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education
in Latin America and the Caribbean - IESALC -
Mobility and communication
are essential for satisfying several needs associated with learning, working,
socializing, political participation, entertainment and other activities. People have become more mobile and more
communicative since the development of the Internet and the technologies
involved in the process of computer-mediated communication (CMC). We use to think in terms of geographic
and social mobility, but now we must also consider "virtual mobility",
which is a product of CMC and navigation in cyberspace. The main objective of this paper, which
is a part of a larger research and development project, is to discuss the uses
of virtual mobility and the CMC as instruments to create and develop better
conditions for a permanent and flexible learning, without barriers, for a more
mobile workforce, and to promote the cooperation of universities, corporations
and governments in this task.
Lifelong learning has become an essential mission of these organizations,
in a society that needs people with constantly renewed knowledge, and more
equity in the access to digital technologies, in order to achieve a better
management and global distribution of knowledge. In the first section, I define the different types of
mobility (geograhical and social), the new concept of virtual mobility, its
relationships with the other types of mobility, and its significance for
lifelong learning and working.
Then, I analyze selected experiences in which the CMC and virtual
mobility have been used for lifelong learning of the workforce and a better
distribution of knowledge, specially those resulting from cooperative projects
involving universities, enterprises and governments. The paper concludes with proposals and strategies to achieve
a better distribution of knowledge through the CMC and virtual mobility, and
the articulation of virtual mobility with other types of mobility in lifelong
learning.
Mobility is everywhere. The human being needs to move to perform
activities to satisfy basic and secondary needs. We move for working, eating, learning, entertaining,
etc. The satisfaction of human
needs cannot be accomplished by staying in the same geographical environment,
even in the most primitive societies.
The evolution of human societies brought new needs, societies became
more and more complex, and the human being felt the need to struggle against
distance and time to satisfy these needs.
The development of international trade and cultural exchange was
responsible for the appearance of this need. Mobility became a need in itself, and after satisfying it we
can then achieve other goals associated with other needs. That is the reason why we invented
ships, cars, planes, and built all kinds of communication devices.
Mobility implies a change of
place from one point to another in a given space, usually geographic space, but
there are other types of space.
For the specific objectives of this paper, I shall distinguish three
types of space: geographic,
social and virtual.
Geographic space is the physical space in which we live and to which
we refer as our place. Our
location and movements in geographic space can be described and measured in
terms of coordinates: latitude and longitude. This space has been defined and studied by geographers, but
it has also been the concern of sociologists. Human society is based on a geographic space. The first sociological definitions of
communities characterized them as social groups sharing a common culture and a
common territory. There is a
complex interaction between the human being and his environment. The movement of people from one point
to another of this space is called geographic mobility.
Sociologists study this space as far as it influences and is influenced
by - but does not determine - the behavior of human beings.
Social space is very different from geographic space. It is defined and delimited by the set
of human relations resulting from the social interaction between human beings. Every person has a position (or status)
and functions (or role) in a social space. He or she participates in several social groups during his
life, to perform diverse types of activity: working, learning, entertaining,
social, religious and cultural participation, etc. We cannot see and touch social space as we see and touch
geographic space, but it exists as mental representations of the sets of social
interactions between human beings, and as part of our immaterial culture. For example, a social group is a set of
persons sharing common values and cultural patterns and who interact between
them more than with other persons belonging to other groups. Examples of of social groups are a
family, a group of co-workers, co-students, a group of friends.
Geographic mobility and
social mobility can occur
independently of one another or at the same time, and one type of mobility can
influence the other. For example,
a person can move from one city to another (geographic or spatial mobility) to
undertake new professional activities of a higher socioeconomic position
(social mobility) or he can move geographically without altering his social
position and role.
We can also move in social
space in two ways, horizontally and vertically, and the types of social mobility
resulting from these movements are called, horizontal mobility and vertical mobility, respectively.
In horizontal mobility, we
change from one social environment to another without changing our hierarchical
position in the two environments.
An example is when I move from one job to another in a different
organization, of the same hierarchical position, or moving from one University
course to another in the same subject area. Vertical mobility involves a change in the social position and possibly functions, of a
person in a social space. One
example is the promotion of a person to a higher degree in his professional
career. Education is one of the
most used channels of vertical mobility.
Horizontal and vertical mobility can occur at the same time, or in
different points of time, and one type of mobility can influence the
other. For example, a person can
move from one organization to another or change from one type of activity to
another (a staff member of an organization can become an entrepreneur working
on his own) (horizontal mobility) to occupy a post of a higher degree in a
professional scale (vertical mobility).
Social mobility involves
also a change in our network of social relations and cultural patterns, and is
a mental representation. We cannot
see people moving from one point to another in social space as we do in
geographic mobility. However, we
can see the cultural symbols and material objects indicating that the person
has moved horizontally (from one organization to another) and/or vertically (a
new office related to a higher level managerial post to which he has been
promoted).
Finally, a person can move
to live (temporarily or relatively permanently) from one city to another to get
a higher-level job and to a different enterprise. In this case, all kinds of mobility have taken place: to a
different city (geographic mobility), to a different organization (horizontal
social mobility), and to a higher-level job (vertical social mobility).
The development of the
traditionally called "information and communication technologies" and
large telematic networks like the INTERNET, created new possibilities and new
phenomena. It is now possible to
move from one place to another in a new space called virtual space or cyberspace, without moving geographically, and to do things of
many kinds, anytime, anywhere: the human dream of defeating space and time is
now almost possible, thanks to a new type of mobility called virtual
mobility enabled by computer-mediated communication.
Before considering virtual
mobility and its relationships with other types of mobility, let us consider
the characteristics of the family of concepts describing the processes to which
it is closely related: virtuality and the virtualization process.
Usually the
"virtual" is considered as opposed to the "real". Virtual is something existing in our imagination, distinct from the real or physical world, composed of material objects, or "atoms" instead of bits (Negroponte, 1995). But the French philosopher, Pierre Levy (1998), does not think the same way.
According to him, there exists a continuum starting in the "possible" and the "virtual" and ending in the "actual" and "real". These are
different situations in which we can find a given object, material or
immaterial. For Levy, the virtual is not opposed to the real. It can
have a reality in itself. If not, what is the meaning of what we know as "virtual reality". For example, everybody agrees that the
language is real, it exists in the real world. But we cannot see and touch the words or sentences, we can
only see and touch the written symbols representing words which in turn
represent ideas, concepts, feelings, actions, etc. The language has a virtual existence, or remains possible,
there exists a certain number of possible words that we can use to express an
idea or describe a situation. When
we talk or write, the language passes from a virtual situation to an actual situation
and it becomes real for the persons involved in a conversation or a reading
activity. We can also represent
the language numerically in a computer when we write using a word
processor. The electronic document
is a virtual representation of a set of symbols, and it becomes real or actual
when we open the document and it appears in our computer's screen.
We can also represent a
University campus by digital numbers, including all its components: classrooms,
laboratories, libraries and other elements of the campus, relevant to the
teaching, learning, research and management processes. When I participate in an online course,
I am realizing the representation of the University. Actually, when I enter a virtual campus, it becomes real for
me, as a digital or numeric representation of a physical reality. This is the basis of the term
"virtual reality", which is not a contradiction but a real
possibility, because a virtual reality can become a reality, when I recover it
from a hard disk of a computer, from a computer connected to an organization's
Intranet or from the Internet. A
more detailed discussion of virtuality and virtualization in higher education
can be found in Levy (1998) and Silvio (1998 and 2000), respectively.
On the basis of these
concepts, I shall define virtualization as a process and a result at the same
time. It is the process by which I
represent by digital numbers data, information and knowledge related to
material or immaterial objects, phenomena and objects that we can find in the
real world, and that can be reproduced in our computers through computer
mediated communication. And I will use the words of Michael Dertouzos to define the main principles of the virtualization process and computer mediated communication, called by him the "pillars" of the information society:
"Once we accept that a huge number of physical things, events and actions can be described by information, we are only five steps away from understanding the true underpinnings of the Information Age its five pillars:
1.
Numbers
are used to represent all information.
2.
These
numbers are 1s and 0s.
3.
Computers
transform information by doing arithmetic on these numbers.
4.
Communication
systems move information around by moving these numbers.
5.
Computers
and communication systems combine to form computer networks. Computer networks are tomorrow's information infrastructures, which in turn are the basis of the Information Marketplace"
(Dertouzos, 1997:53-54 and 317).
According to these
principles, the term virtual mobility can be defined as a representation of physical mobility, which takes
place in a virtual space, called cyberspace, that implies no movement of persons in a geographic
space. However, taking into account Dertouzos' "pillars", the information and the objects represented by them "move" electronically from the computer center of one university or enterprise to another located in different places in the geographic space. Virtual mobility
is mobility of "bits" instead of "atoms".
In her book, Sylvia van de
Bunt-Kokhuis (1996), analyzes the implications of faculty mobility in the real
world and in cyberspace, or what she calls the "academic
pilgrims".
"Increasingly, international mobility of faculty members, here
called real mobility, is supplemented or replaced by virtual mobility, and
facilitated by the use of electronic multimedia. Virtual mobility means the collaborative communication
between a faculty member and his/her counterpart(s) mediated by a
computer. More often, these
meetings will be interactive and take place across national borders and across
time zones" (van de Bunt-Kokhuis, 1996).
Now we are conceptually
equipped to consider mobility and its significance to the Internet. The European Union has adopted the
term, and virtual mobility is considered an instrument for internationalization
and also for the integration of Europe.
Virtual mobility is at the heart of open and distance learning (ODL)
projects of the European Commission.
The first initiative promoted by the European Commission involving
geographic mobility and internationalization of learning was the ERASMUS
project. Launched in 1987, the
ERASMUS Programme supports, promotes and stimulates cooperation between
European universities, by exchanging students, exchanging staff, developing
joint curricula, and developing intensive short courses. In 1996, a virtual counterpart and
complement of ERASMUS was created: the ERASMUS Virtual University project,
which attempted to complement through virtual mobility the geographic mobility
stimulated by the parent ERASMUS programme (EVU, 1996). However, the Erasmus Virtual University
had a very short life and the project was abandoned. Its website is still open on the Internet (www.csis.ul.ie/vuniv/ERAShome.htm),
but it has not been updated since 1996, the year in which the project was
launched.
Nevertheless, the ERASMUS
Virtual University has at present a follow-up in the project VirtUE (Virtual University
for Europe). The VirtUE project
has been set up as a pilot action for the launch of a European Tertiary
Distance Education Network based upon classical universities, open
universities, technology providers and telecommunications operators. During the two-year project, which
started in 1996, three models for network-based educational services were set
up and tested: Virtual Class, Virtual Campus, and Network of Distance Education
and Training.
Other projects of the
European Commission based on promoting and using virtual mobility as an
instrument for lifelong learning have been implemented as components of the
SOCRATES Program. The Coimbra Group network, which is a network of 33
traditional universities from 18 European countries, is one of the networks
that have been working to introduce ODL concepts in traditional
universities. They have received
European funding for various projects that enable students and staff to gain
experience with virtual mobility.
Two important examples are the HUMANITIES project and the VirtUE
project. The pilot phase of the
HUMANITIES project started in 1995 and involved 26 Coimbra Group
universities. It aimed to
introduce a structure for virtual mobility through telematics-based distance
learning. The model chosen was characterized as a hybrid' model, meaning that distance education components are integrated within a traditional classroom-based course. In 1996, a continuation of this project
was approved by the Commission; more universities and enterprises specialized
in open distance learning were drawn into the project.
Another project already
executed is the VSM (Virtual Student Mobility Project). The VSM project is also part of
SOCRATES, and had a two-year duration - from 1996 to 1998. Its overall intention was to provide
the non-mobile EU students with the opportunity to become virtually mobile by
creating six cross-cultural virtual learning environments on the Internet,
which the students from the participating universities could attend. The courses were taught differently in
different EU cultures so that students may be exposed to up to six different
European cultures. Another aim of
the project was to evaluate the organisational obstacles to using its approach
to ODL and how they may be overcome.
The results of the project showed the power and drawbacks of virtual
mobility in lifelong learning. All
institutions involved in the VSM project gained a lot of experience in the
potential and drawbacks of electronic teaching and co-operation. The ability to exchange students
virtually and the possibility of using technology in teaching as probed by the
VSM project are two matters that have important implications for all
institutions. However, as the VSM
project showed, virtual settings require close co-operation and co-ordination
and hard work both pedagogically, technically and administratively (Dalgas,
1999).
In a different context,
separated from the SOCRATES program, the project "Virtual Mobility and
Distributed Learning (VMDL)," was also another project involving the
concept and practice of virtual mobility, within the framework of the European
program, Human Capital and Mobility (HCM). "The objective in this case was to study the efficiency
of different modalities of working at a distance with researchers with an
accent in the construction of human networks through technology". The project lasted only one year in
1995 (REVER, 1996).
We have also interregional
initiatives promoted by the EU with the United States of America, like the
ATLAS Project. Atlas is a project that aims to
increase the cooperation between European and USA universities. Five European and five North-American
research-based engineering schools participate in the project, developing an
international student exchange programme and a virtual learning
environment. The duration of the
project was from September 1996 to July 1999. The main actions of the project included, virtual mobility
through the use of open and distance learning (ODL) courses and new
technologies, across-Atlantic student exchange, targeted study packages, and
development of credit transfer systems.
What can be said about the
effects of virtual mobility in lifelong learning? Let us come back to Sylvia van de Bunt-Kokhuis who have also
studied this topic:
"The data indicate that faculty members of higher rank
and those having technical backgrounds, and who are senior staff members, and
men travel more frequently than others do. It is shown that most obstacles specific to real mobility,
are absent in cyberspace. At the
same time new challenges and constraints may occur in the virtual world. The technical facilities may be
limited, resistance may occur among senior faculty members to work with new
technologies, and conventional curricula may not be applicable to the online
academic environment. Future
universities probably have a higher output if there is a high real and virtual
mobility rate. Through virtual
mobility, the real collaborative links become even more efficient. Real mobility is an added value to virtual
mobility and vice versa. The crux
of virtual mobility in a global setting is how teaching content can be
transferred into different cultural contexts, the so-called portability of
content. A one-dimensional
universal style in teaching does not exist, in the sense that it wouldn't
matter whoever you teach and whatever you teach. On the contrary, the cultural context of the student and the local content requirements do matter....The learning culture varies from country to country. A virtual learning community
may reflect a physical learning community. At the same time virtual learning communities also create
new cultures limited by the technological possibilities and social norms. In a world-wide outreach of teaching,
online content is required that is sensitive to different cultural values and
learning styles. To create a good
atmosphere in a virtual learning environment, one should agree about cultural
sensitive factors such as availability and proximity, the increased
responsibilities and the individual needs of the online student. Online teaching is not a solution for all and there may occur cultural pitfalls....Virtual communication is much more informal and students work more independently" (van de Bunt-Kokhuis, 1996).
What significance does
virtual or physical mobility has with respect to lifelong learning and
working? The problem of empowering
the mobile user with the possibility of computing and telecommunications has
been studied long time ago by producers of hardware and software, and resulted
in mobile devices like laptop computers and handheld computers. Physical mobility is now supported with
mobile computing hardware and software, which serves the needs of learning in academic
and entrepreneurial settings.
We are really moving towards
a "mobile learning era" according to Empowering Technologies:
"The evidence is overwhelming that mobile
learning is beginning to take hold:
…
Over 50 percent of all employees spend up to half of their time
outside the office.
…
More than 75 percent of all Internet viewing will be carried out
on wireless platforms by 2002.
…
Mobile devices will outnumber landline PCs by 2002 and exceed the
1 billion mark the following year.
…
More than 525 million web-enabled phones will be shipped by 2003.
…
Worldwide mobile commerce market will reach $200 billion by 2004.
…
There will be more than 1 billion wireless internet subscribers
worldwide by 2005."
(Empowering
Technologies, 2001).
These movements are also affecting
the academic world and the traditional learning setting of the territorial
universities. Oblinger and Rush say that....
"....mobile computing can be a powerful strategy for transforming the learning environment that some institutions are looking at these mobile computing programmes as a way of being able to expand the interactivity that they have amongst students because they have such high numbers of students who work off-campus. Students
today are generally older, many have families, and they can't cluster in the
student lounge anymore and chat.
They need to be able to collaborate and interact on their own time and
from different locations. So it's
that societal context that I think has changed more so than anything else. The other major audience that colleges
and universities are seeing is the adult learner. They certainly don't have the opportunity to come to campus or to stay on campus and have the typical dialogues and discussions you'd find in the student lounge. Mobile
computing technology gives us another set of tools and provides some additional
flexibility that we have not had in the past. And becomes really important when you think about adjusting to students' lifestyles.... The transformation caused by student mobile computing is about much more than just computers.
It is about people, processes, and technology" (Oblinger and Rush, 1998).
It is worth mentioning the
specific experience of the University of Minnesota at Crookston (UMC), which is
one of the first institutions called "Thinkpad" or
"Notebook" University in the United States. The Chancellor, Donald Sargeant, describes the barriers
faced by the University as regards computing facilities:
"Historically, UMC's approach to meeting student computer needs had been one of placing computers in specialized classrooms, laboratories, the library, and in dormitories....(and)....There were significant barriers to continuing to support this multi-platform environment: students were tied to a space and the hours of the day which this space was available was restricted....; Faculty also competed for access to the limited computer laboratory time....; most of the computers and software in the laboratories were outdated....; there were usually a few empty seats in all classrooms each hour of the day....; there was a growing need for student use of computers outside the classroom....; there were not enough funds in the budget to address the growing technology needs...." (Sargeant, 1997).
....and the solution was to empower the users, students and teachers, with mobile computing:
"The solution chosen by UMC was to purchase mobile
notebook computers and provide them to all full-time students as part of their
tuition and fees. This solution addressed each of the above barriers and provided additional benefits: nearly all faculty incorporated technology into their courses and began to rethink teaching and learning, current technology was significantly advanced; out of classroom learning was enhanced by 24 hour student access to faculty, technology, software, and networks, financial resources were available to purchase current technology throughout the institution; since all students and faculty have mobile notebook computers, they bring their personal computer to the classroom, which assures that the desired software and files are present. Every classroom essentially becomes a computer laboratory. ....The notebook computer is becoming the classroom of the future" (Sargeant, 1997).
At present, at least in some
institutions of the USA, Europe and some developing countries, this movement
led to the development of a strategy of teaching and learning using mobile
technologies. These new kinds of
higher learning are the expression of a paradigm shift, of a way of thinking,
feeling and acting about teaching and lifelong learning and about the way to
generate, store, transfer and exchange data, information and knowledge. New terms emerged as a result of these
strategies like m-Learning, which stands for "mobile learning". But there is a close relationship
between m-Learning and m-Working with virtual learning, now identified as
e-Learning. The idea behind
m-Learning is to have the possibility of learning combining physical and
virtual mobility, with devices or Information Appliances (IA), which allow
people to access virtual services and resources through the Internet for
learning and working. As Clark
Quinn says:
"The vision of mobile computing is that of portable .... computation: rich interactivity, total connectivity, and powerful processing....The average mobile device will be a small handheld computer with a personally chosen suite of applications...., fully networked, with a microphone and a speaker....and would have a slot to plug in additional capability (for example, a camera). It would either
have an advanced browser or a dedicated learning application as one of the
software packages installed" (Quinn,
2000).
What is the relationship of
mobility and virtuality in the learning environment or the "m" with
the "e" in learning?
According to Clark Quinn....
"....m-Learning is the intersection of mobile computing and e-learning: accessible resources wherever you are, strong search capabilities, rich interaction, powerful support for effective learning, and performance-based assessment.
E-learning independent of location in time or space.....Soon there will be essentially no distinction between m-Learning and e-Learning. When we have seamless wireless
networking, the power of a present-day supercomputer in our Internet Appliance,
high resolution full color screens at any size we prefer (or integrated into
our visual field through special glasses), and flexible input from pen to
keyboard, the distinction between desktop and mobile will disappear. And that day is not far off, so this is
a relatively short-lived distinction!" (Quinn, 2000).
Quinn describes the future
as follows:
"In the longer term, as we realize that learning should
move from an organizational function to an individual necessity, m-Learning
will likely move from a hosted service to device-resident applications we can
carry with us wherever we go.
Eventually, the learner will not know, nor care, where the learner model
is kept, where the content resides, nor how the communication is handled. This will happen as cost drops, product
power improves, and design takes into account a wider range of learning styles
and lifestyle needs. And that will
be true mobile learning" (Quinn, 2000).
Lifelong learning is one the
main missions of universities and a real need for the entrepreneurial sector in
a society which becomes more and more dependant on human knowledge as a
production factor. The World
Conference on Higher Education, organized by UNESCO in 1998, was very clear on
this aspect (UNESCO, 1998). On
this context, the role of e-Learning and m-Learning is crucial. We live in a world of mobile learning
or working. The mobile worker and
the mobile student seem to be the new targets of lifelong learning
strategies. We have seen that
everything will be mobile in the future.
Carol Weiss says that:
"These mobile workers, linked
to their offices by cell phones, laptops, and handheld devices now comprise 40%
of the knowledge workforce and span an ever widening career spectrum: sales,
service, engineering, consulting, medicine, law, accounting, and insurance to
name a few. They are on the road,
working closer to the customer, and telecommuting from home and all other
points between the corporate office and the client environment" (Weiss,
2001).
However, the application of
e-Learning combined with m-Learning strategies to educate these m-Workers is
not an easy task:
"e-Learning would seem to be the ideal
solution to keep the mobile workforce continuously educated. Yet, for the mobile worker, e-learning
does not come easily, nor is it easy to design. Their mobility, their time, their access to technology, not
to mention individualized content and presentation requirements, are unique
issues that must be met in order to provide them with a successful learning
experience (Weiss, 2001).
How are we educating these
workers at present? Weiss says
that the current situation is inadequate:
"Currently, learning for the mobile worker
is provided in several ways, including traditional classroom settings,
computer-based learning, and web-based online learning. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, all types of
learning delivery work some of the time for some of the people, in some
cases. But now the means to provide learning on demand to any mobile worker anywhere at anytime is beginning to take shape....For the mobile worker, though, this is not always achievable due to lack of uniform and consistent access to the online university. For the mobile worker, web-based learning needs to be available online or offline.....For mobile workers, their learning environment changes as they move from place to place....As they move about, their technology changes from personal digital assistants (PDAs) to laptops to cell phones to desktops.
Sometimes they are connected to the Internet and sometimes they cannot
be connected. Ideally, mobile
workers want their learning to keep up with them no matter the medium, the
time, and no matter whether they are connected at the time or not. Their fast-lane work environment requires a take it and go' approach to obtaining their learning" (Weiss, 2001).
What could be the future of
lifelong "e" and "m" learning:
"As mobile devices and the much-touted
wireless world evolve, the proving ground for these technologies is likely to
be in the hands of the mobile workforce.
To a great extent, mobile workers are on the front line of the new
economy. By meeting the challenges
of their unique learning requirements, we will no doubt be defining how we all
may someday live in a world where the lines between working and learning are
gone" (Weiss, 2001).
Another trend worth to note
is that the mobile learner and worker will possibly be less and less attached
to physical links with computers in network's environments. The "wireless" hardware and
software, which have proliferated specially with the development of handheld
computers and cell phones capable of network connection, are the best
example. Therefore, people want to
be more mobile, to have access to knowledge anytime, anyplace and in any kind
of situation without any kind of attachment. That is they need to be and need to be m-Citizens,
m-Learners, m-Workers, e-Learners and e-Workers, armed with wireless handheld
computers connected to wireless networks through wireless communications
links. Can we also speak about
w-Learning and w-Working, for "wireless learning" and "wireless
working"?
The
needs of a growing mobile workforce are driving the convergence of wireless and
handheld technologies to continuously develop new devices. The
present world is a world of Es and Ms, e-Learning for Electronic Learning and
m-Learning for Mobile Learning, and it seem that the Es and the Ms are closely
related in their origins and development and future and work together towards
that future.
The prefix "e" (for electronic) is now widely used to accompany all words describing activities that we can perform using digital technologies and telematic networks: e-Learning, e-Working, etc, like the prefix "cyber" (cyberspace, cyberschool, cyberenterprise, etc) this one to describe organizations in which those activities are performed. At the same time the word "virtual" is also part of the new "cyber-jargon" of the information society. But there is another one very related to the topic that I am discussing in this paper: "e-Mobility". E-Mobility stands for "electronic mobility" and it is now used to cover a wide array of mobility in several institutional areas of society and to perform several activities. It is the equivalent
to the virtual mobility concept that we have been discussing.
The issue of virtual mobility has been widely expanded, not only to embrace the virtual mobility of students but virtual and physical mobility in all kinds of activity, learning, working, to the point that this year the European Union is organizing a large Conference on the theme "e-Mobility", which stands for "electronic mobility", immediately before INET'2001 (from May 31 to June 1), in Göteborg, Sweden:
"This conference addresses how "e-mobility"
will impact upon European society and its constituencies. In particular, the conference brings
together multiple perspectives on e-mobility and its potential consequences for
sustainability in its widest sense (economical, social, cultural and
environmental). In this way, the conference will help to stimulate a European-wide debate on the future shape of a truly European information society....This high level conference will adopt a declaration addressed to the EU Heads of State Summit, Göteborg on the development of information society policy in general and research policy in particular. The conference results
will, moreover, provide input to the development of research agendas within the
Fifth and Sixth Framework Research Programme of the European Commission"
(European Union, 2001b).
In the future, we expect to have a new "equation of learning," which can be expressed as follows:
L = f ( V, H, M, W)
where: L = Learning
V
= Virtual
H
= Hypermediatic
M
= Mobile
W
= Wireless
This means that Learning
will be more and more Virtual, Hypermediatic, Mobile and Wireless, as well as
more diversified and adapted to very different social situations.
One of the best examples of
this equation and the concepts expressed here is perhaps the Global University
System (GUS) itself. This system
offers an environment where several initiatives of mobile and wireless higher
education related to community development at the local level can develop and
reinforce each other, and where this equation can become a reality, and local
approaches to learning can integrate and interact more efficiently. At present, several projects are
ongoing, within the framework of the GUS in the University of Tampere
(Finland), the Amazon region, the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking
Caribbean, Uganda and Malawi in Africa, and Yugoslavia. These efforts which will concentrate on
local universities to promote community development through mobile learning and
virtual mobility can also contribute to eradicate isolation and poverty in some
remote rural areas of the world (See Utsumi, Varis and Klemm, 2003).
Now I come to the end of my
considerations and I would ask myself, what actions, decisions, strategies
shall we undertake to achieve the goals related to geographic, social and
virtual mobility, e-learning, m-learning and m-working? My intention has not been only
informative. I would like to make
some proposals in this direction.
My first proposal is to
identify the problem that we are addressing, its nature, scope, significance
and implications. All the concepts
that I have examined can bring us the possibility of constructing a typology
to study e-Mobility associated with
e-Learning, m-Learning, e-Working and m-Working, and on the basis of such a
typology define and design strategies for action. I propose to develop a typology in which all actions and can
be placed and combining its categories I can have at the end a profile of the
problem or situation to solve.
The criteria of this typology
for the study of e-Mobility, m-Learning and e-Learning can be stated as follows:
1. Type of mobility
1.1. Geographic
1.2. Social
1.2.1. Horizontal
1.2.2. Vertical
1.3. Virtual (or e-Mobility)
2. Activity performed
2.1. Learning
2.2. Working
2.3. Entertaining
2.4. Socializing
2.5. Healing
2.6. Political participation
2.7. Religious participation
2.8. Cultural activities
3. Actors involved
3.1. End user
3.2. Intermediation actors
3.3. Telematic operators
3.4. Producers of content
3.5. Groups and organizations involved
3.5.1. Primary groups
3.5.2. Secondary groups
4. Social institutions involved
4.1. Education
4.2. Economic System
4.3. Political System
4.4. Cultural System
4.5. Family system
4.6. Religious system
4.7. Social system
5. Degree of virtualization of the activity
5.1. Totally virtual
5.2. Partially virtual
5.3. Dual
5.4. Mixed
6. Degree of mobility
6.1. High
6.2. Medium
6.3. Low
7. Technology used
7.1. Browsing
7.2. Information search
7.3. Communication
7.3.1. Synchronic
7.3.2. Asynchronic
8. Technological means used (Hardware)
8.1. Desktop computer
8.2. Portable computer
8.3. Handheld computer
8.4. Cell phone
8.5. Wireless network connection
9. Telematic services used
9.1. Web
9.2. Newsgroups
9.3. Mailing lists
9.4. E-mail
9.5. Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
10. Type of communication between actors
10.1.
Synchronic
10.2.
Asynchronic
11 Type of telematic resources used
11.1.
Portals
11.2.
Repositories of information
11.3.
Newsletters
11.4.
Journals
11.5.
Guides
11.6.
Learning Courses
12 Contents involved
12.1.
Classified according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) of UNESCO
13 Profile of end-users and other individual and
organizational actors involved
13.1.
Age
13.2.
Sex
13.3.
Marital status
13.4.
Nationality
13.5.
Socioeconomic status
13.6.
Formal educational level
13.7.
Other categories considered relevant
13. Type of actors
14.2. Individual
14.2.
Organizational
By combining this criteria
and giving values to categories we can identify a particular setting or situation
in which e-mobility or g-mobility (for geographic mobility) can be relevant for
strategies of action for e-Learning and m-Learning for the m-Worker or the
m-Student. A strategy can be
defined as a set of coherent and systematic actions to be performed to improve
the quality of knowledge of learners and workers, in terms of hardware and
software, and organizational and administrative support to be provided. In other words, I can be in a better
position to know what to do and how to do it to provide learning and working
anywhere, anytime, and through the appropriate means, technologies, services,
resources and actors available.
My second proposal is to
consider e-Mobility, e-Learning and m-Learning, as well as geographic mobility,
and all the activities described with the "Es" and "Ms"
prefixes, as contributors to social mobility and the quality of knowledge
and life in general. If e-Mobility, m-Learning and
e-Learning are regarded as ends or as ways to selling products or services at
the short term, that will indeed work and solve a short term problem. But if our aim is to improve the
quality of life and achieve a sustainable human development, we need to think
more strategically in the medium and long terms and to insert these variables
and categories in the framework of a new paradigm for thinking, feeling and
acting on the human being.
People do not learn and work
through electronic devices or move to learn and work only for the pleasure of
learning and working or the pleasure of navigating in cyberspace or moving in
the geographic space. Lifelong
learning is not an end in itself, but a social instrument to have a better
life. These activities can indeed
provide pleasure and satisfaction themselves, but the human being seeks other
goals to satisfy more complex needs.
We move in geographic and virtual space to move in the social space to
live better improve the quality of our lives. And all these involve social mobility, that is, to move
upward in the social ladder (vertical social mobility) and/or sideward in the
social platform (horizontal social mobility). When I learn a new content and change to a better job I am
moving socially upwards and improving the quality of my life. When I learn something and keep in the
same position but in a different and more psychological rewarding activity, I
am moving horizontally but improving the quality of my life.
Therefore, at the end, what
matters is if technologies for e-Mobility, m-Learning and e-Learning will help
the person to increase and improve social mobility and the quality of their
lives. Technicalities associated
with hardware and software and selling products and services to m-learners and
m-workers for them to e-learn and e-work, are also necessary and we should
invest time considering them seriously.
They are the instruments for social mobility and the quality of our
lives. Therefore, we need to show the user how technologies, services and resources associated to e-Mobility, e-Learning and m-Learning can help them be more socially mobile and how these "Es" and "Ms" interact to produce a desired result: a better quality of life in the context of a more human and sustainable development. The strategies derived from the use of
the above-mentioned typology, which need to be improved, should be oriented
towards these goals.
Can we affirm that social
mobility will be enhanced and improved as a result of all these movements in
geographic and cyberspace? This is
less evident. Social mobility is a
social phenomenon, and there is no evidence that the use of the Internet with
all the "Es" and "Ms" will automatically leads us to social
mobility and quality of life. One
of the dreams of social policy makers is to make people live in a socially
mobile society. This means people
having opportunities to move from one job or profession to another and from one
social class to another upward in the social ladder or sideward in the social
platform. Let us work to ensure
that virtual mobility and lifelong learning will achieve this goal.
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Author
Biographical Sketch
Jose F. Silvio, Ph.D. Program Coordinator Institute for Higher
Education in Latin America and the Caribeean (IESALC) P. O. Box 68394 Caracas, 1062-A Venezuela 582-286-0721-0516 Fax: 582-286-0326 E-mail: jsilvio@cantv.net |
|
Jose Silvio is currently the Program Coordinator of UNESCO's International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) based in Caracas, Venezuela. He is Venezuelan and became a member of UNESCO's international professional staff in 1980, where he worked for the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP) and the Division of Education Policies and Planning in Paris. Other career accomplishments include being a teacher and researcher at the "Universidad Central de Venezuela" (Central University of Venezuela) in educational planning, sociology of education and social research methodology. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, pursued graduate studies at UNESCO's International Institute of Education Planning in Paris, where he graduated as a Specialist in Educational Planning, and later received a Ph.D. in Education Sciences from the Graduate School of Social Studies (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) of the University of Paris. He later pursued a course in Informatics and Statistics applied to Social Sciences at the University of Paris VI and an Internship in Academic Telematics at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Areas of professional interest basically include academic network management, quality in higher education, and the use of informatics and telematics in higher education on which he has published numerous articles and papers. He currently coordinates IESALC's program on the use of new information and communication technologies in higher education. Two works on these topics titled, "Calidad, tecnologia y globalization en la educacion superior latinoamericana" (Quality, technology and globalization in latinamerican higher education) and "Una nueva manera de comunicar el conocimiento" (A new way of communicating knowledge), were edited by him and published by UNESCO. His most recent book is titled "La Virtualizacion de la Universidad" (The Virtualization of the University), published by IESALC/UNESCO. Others articles authored by him on similar issues have been published in scientific magazines and international conferences.