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Our approach to understanding mobile learning begins by describing a dialectical approach to the development and presentation of a task model using the socio-cognitive engineering design method. This analysis synthesises relevant theoretical approaches. We then examine two field studies which feed into the development of the task model. 3. The socio-cognitive engineering approach to systems design Socio-cognitive engineering (Sharples et al 2002) is a coherent approach to describing and analysing the complex interactions between people and computer-based technology, so as to inform the design of socio-technical systems (technology in its social and organisational context). It extends previous work by providing an integrated framework for socio-cognitive system design that incorporates software engineering, task engineering, knowledge engineering and organisational engineering.

A society which is mobile, which is full of channels for the distribution of a change occurring anywhere, must see to it that its members are educated to personal initiative and adaptability. Otherwise, they will be overwhelmed by the changes in which they are caught and whose significance or connections they do not perceive.' Dewey (1916, p. 88) When John Dewey wrote Democracy and Education, the industrialised world was undergoing a huge technological and social disruption. Railways and paved roads had enabled mass travel, wireless communication had bridged the Atlantic, and a mechanised war was being fought across continents. Today, we are experiencing similar social and technological disruption, with the Internet and mobile technologies providing global access to information and mobility of knowledge. Ten years ago a school in Russia teaching English had no access to contemporary language sources; now it has the worldwide web. Five years ago, a farmer in rural Kenya had no communication with the nearest city, now he carries a mobile phone. We live in a society in which the "channels for distribution of change" are carried with us as part of daily life. Every era of technology has, to some extent, formed education in its own image. That is not to argue for the technological determinism of education, but rather that there is a mutually productive convergence between the main technological influences on a culture and the contemporary educational theories and practices. Thus, in the era of mass print literacy, the textbook was the medium of instruction, and a prime goal of the education system was effective transmission of the canons of scholarship. During the computer era of the past fifty years, education has been re-conceptualised around the construction of knowledge through information processing, modelling and interaction (Duffy & Cunningham, 1996). Now, as we enter a new world of global digital communication, it is no surprise that there is a growing interest in the relations between mobile technology and learning. What we need, however, is an appropriate theory of education for the mobile age. Many theories of learning have been advanced over the 2500 years between Confucius and the present day, but almost all have been predicated on the assumption that learning occurs in a school classroom, mediated by a trained teacher. A few educational thinkers have developed theory-based accounts of learning outside the classroom, including Argyris (Argyris & Schön, 1996), Friere (Freire, 1996), Illich (Illich, 1971), and Knowles (Knowles & Associates, 1984), but none have put the mobility of learners and learning as the focus of enquiry. Our aim is to propose a theory of learning for a mobile society. It encompasses both learning supported by mobile devices such as cellular (mobile) phones, portable computers and personal audio players, and also learning in an era characterised by mobility of people and knowledge (Rheingold, 2002) where the technology may be

Abstract:A multimedia CD makes an impressive resource for the scholar-researcher, but students unfamiliar with the subject-matter may not always work so effectively with such a resource. Without any narrative structure, how does the novice cope? The paper describes how we are investigating the design features that 'afford' activities that generate learning: What are the design features that encourage students to practise the role of the scholar? What encourages them to explore, but also to reflect on their analysis of the data they find? What kind of learning takes place when students are allowed to explore at will? The paper goes on to compare the learning experiences of students using commercial CDs with those using material with contrasting designs, in an attempt to identify the design features that afford constructive learning activities. It concludes with an interpretation of the findings, comparing them with work in related educational media, and situating the findings in the context of a conversational framework for learning. Keywords:Narrative, hypertext, non-linear, learning. Interactive materials:The MENO (Multimedia, Education and Narrative Organisation) Project has further information about the research presented: http://meno.open.ac.uk/meno/default.html A demonstration of the Galapogas CD-ROM evaluated will be added shortly. Commentaries:All JIME articles are published with links to a commentaries area, which includes part of the article's original review debate. Readers are invited to make use of this resource, and to add their own commentaries. The authors, reviewers, and anyone else who has 'subscribed' to this article via the website will receive e-mail copies of your postings.commentaries. The authors, reviewers, and anyone else who has 'subscribed' to this article via the website will receive e-mail copies of your postings. Laurillard, et al. IntroductionThe work we describe here is a collaborative research project deriving initially from a series of projects and theses focused on how students learn through multimedia. The MENO project (Multimedia, Education and Narrative Organisation 1 ) was designed to develop our understanding of the form and function of narrative in educational interactive multimedia programmes. The research question concerns the fact that educational media, such as lectures, books, TV programmes, are all narrative in form, and for good reason. Narrative provides a macro-structure, which creates global coherence, contributes to local coherence and aids recall through its network of causal links and sign posting. The structure provides a linear dynamic using a variety of structural cues, such as headings, textual signposts, and paragraphing, to allow learners to maintain their plans and goals. It has both cognitive and affective impact, performing an essential organising function for the learner by shaping the creation of meaning from texts of all kinds. Narrative is fundamentally linked to cognition and so is particularly relevant to the design of multimedia for learning.C...