Towards Mobile Learning Support for the Transition from School to the Workplace

Abstract

This paper analyses the requirements for supporting young people in placements, who are using a mobile widget framework. Placements are a way to smoothen the transition from an educational system into working life, that allow young people to connect the competences they have developed in formal education with professional practices. The wide adoption of mobile devices among young people suggests seeking for a mobile learning solution for supporting learning processes during placements. Widget based PLEs introduced attractive concepts that were adapted to work with mobile devices. This paper discusses three perspectives on aspects that influence the application of mobile technologies for workplace based learning. Each of these aspects adds a requirement for the development of a mobile learning solution. Given to the special nature of learning during placements, the paper identifies four challenges for future research.