The Implementation, Deployment and Evaluation of a Mobile Personal Learning Environment

The application of ICT to learning, the Web 2.0 trends and the widespread use of technologies such as mobile devices make it necessary to provide new solutions to satisfy the needs of learners. Such solutions should treat the students as the centre of the learning process.The students should be able to decide which tools they will use to learn, and the learning institution must consider the behaviour of students in such personal learning activities independently of the location where learning activities are carried out. In addition, learners can choose the type of devices they will use with special attention to mobile technologies. The work described in this paper proposes a service-based approach to defining mobile personal learning environments that facilitates communication with institutional learning platforms.Such an approach is implemented as a proof-of-concept and evaluated via a pilot study to demonstrate that such types of mobile learning platforms are feasible and can increase students’ motivation to help them learn.