Korea Goes Mobile Learning in 2015 – As We Predicted! (Sort of)

Elliot: Someone in Korea has been reading our District Administration column!
Cathie: How do you know that?
Elliot: Well, Korea just announced that they will provide a mobile learning device for each child by 2015 and they will require all educational materials to be in digital form and thus accessible on the MLDs.
Cathie: Yes, we did predict that by 2015 every child in the U.S. would be using an MLD…
Elliot: And Korea scooped us!
Cathie: Hmm.. It appears that Korea has been experimenting with mobile learning devices since 2000, in fact.
Elliot: And, it isn’t clear what device will be selected – it appears that Korea is leaning towards a tablet-sized device.
Cathie: Well, then, Korea hasn’t been reading all our prognostications and analyses since we have consistently come out in favor of smarthphone-sized devices since those devices are truly portable – not “carry alongs.”
Elliot: By using the cameras and audio recording capabilities in their MLDs, students can easily link abstract ideas from the classroom to concrete objects in their everyday world outside the classroom.
Cathie: Remember that Dave Whyley, in his learning2go mobile learning project in the U.K. pioneered that idea.
Elliot: And Dave just told me about the “Ladybug Survey” a new school-community project his students have just completed that showed again the powerful impact that portable MLDs can have on learning.
Cathie: While we may sound like broken records, that specific value of truly portable MLDs is definitely worth repeating. 
Elliot: And maybe Samsung and LG, two of the world’s most powerful mobile manufacturers who both just happen to be located in Korea will come up with a yet another form of MLD that preserves the mobility of the smartphone…
Cathie: … and preserves the increased screen real estate of the tablet. I have no doubt that those two companies can and will do just that!
Elliot: And I am sure that behind the scenes Samsung and LG have pushed their country’s educational leaders to make what is clearly the right decision – to move Korea’s educational system into the 21st century.
Cathie: Why aren’t America’s leading tech companies pushing America’s educational leaders towards mobile learning?
Elliot: Oh boy! That topic warrants more than a short blog posting…
Cathie:  Wrong! It is a short posting given all that our companies aren’t doing.
Elliot: Right on!
Cathie: Right on?
Elliot: Sorry, I’m an old hippie…
Cathie: Right on both accounts…
Elliot: She’s back!!