Chapter 4: The Emergence Of Ubiquitous And Pervasive Learning Cultures

“The world’s new global cell phone culture is giving us the power to communicate with anyone, anywhere at anytime.”

—Wang Jianzhou Chairman and CEO, China Mobile Ltd.

A new learning culture seems to be emerging in our universities. A culture that is increasingly more collaborative and takes place anytime and any-where. This culture can be observed as a pervasive and ubiquitous learning culture that is being made possible through wireless communication infrastructure, which allows for this culture to emerge.

It can be observed almost universally that societies place a tremendous emphasis on the use of wireless-communication infrastructure. Regardless of the level of development, societies throughout the globe are moving toward a more mobilized, networked infrastructure. This infrastructure, coupled with the associated mobile information and communication technologies, allows for many qualities of mobile communication and interaction. As a result, new forms and modalities of learning and collaboration are emerging because of this infrastructure and the ways individuals choose to use the associated tools that use this infrastructure. This emergence can be observed in the establishment of pervasive and ubiquitous learning environments and communities that harness the power of various network-enabled technologies to shape a new quality of learning that is independent of constraints of time and location. We stand at a juncture of new possibilities.