This inquiry reports the findings of a systematized review of recent studies concerning the affordances associated with implementing mobile technology in outdoor learning.The emergent employment of mobile technologies in education worldwide adds new layers of complexity to the field of outdoor learning that require a better understanding.The purpose of this review is to summarize and critically interrogate peer-reviewed studies that explore the use of mobile technology in outdoor learning activities, and to identify gaps in current research. Taken collectively, the 33 reviewed articles mirror the dualism that is present within the field. Whilst some studies show that the portability and accessibility of mobile devices offer new opportunities for outdoor education, others point at issues of complexity, safety, and loss of experiential quality. The findings highlight three principal strategies that offer meaningful ways to overcome the tensions between technology and teaching and learning out-of-doors: mitigation, intentionality, and adaptation. The review thus offers a deeper understanding of the ways in which outdoor learning programs can effectively integrate mobile technology to overcome the nature-technology dichotomy.

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Situated within the context of the changing nature of teaching and learning in a postdigital context, this paper aims to theorize the mediating impacts of mobile technologies on outdoor learning experiences. Technological mediation is arguably a vital, yet often neglected, aspect of pedagogical practices. Today, the increasing employment of mobile technologies is not only changing the practices of outdoor education, but also challenging the traditional values of the field. This paper calls the predominant view that technology places a barrier between learners and the environment into question and offers a novel theoretical perspective. Inspired by postphenomenological mediation theory, the paper proposes a tri-polar technological mediation and outdoor learning framework. The framework offers a deeper understanding of the different dimensions of the mediating impacts of mobile devices on the relations between learners, their peers, and the natural environment in the outdoor classroom.