Location-based learning is not new. It aims to involve people with their local community as a primary resource for learning, and benefits them by focusing on problem-solving abilities and higher-level thinking skills. With the widespread availability of smartphones and tablets, location-based learning is massively extended by the integration of mobile technologies.

In this session you will explore how mobile technologies provide a new and exciting way of integrating storytelling and augmented reality with location-interaction to deliver learning in an authentic, meaningful, and personal context. You will discover how the addition of gaming techniques encourage players using their mobile device to explore, discover, and ultimately learn more. You will examine the factors that strategically influence the quality of mobile learning design.

In this session, you will learn:

• What location-based mobile learning is
• How location-based mobile adventures can provide authentic, meaningful, and personal ways to learn
• How location-based mobile adventures can deliver new stories about people, local history, and the natural environment
• How location-based mobile learning can transform learning into experiential practices

Audience:
Educators, learning and training coordinators, and novice and intermediate designers, developers, managers, and tourism specialists.

Technology discussed in this session:
Web-based game-maker platform, Mobile Learning Academy, and several mobile learning tours and games from an iPad.