It is interesting that the author of this article honed in on students with "shrinking attention span" to benefit from academic podcasts. And, who is pushing who? This is precisely why empirical research needs to be funded in order to determine, not speculate, the effectiveness of this so called "hip" mobile technology. Learning is very personal and technology is a "tool" used to deliver information to unique individuals for their learning. The beauty of mobile or ubiquitous learning tools is that students may use the "tool" at their own convenience. Perhaps colleges are now more aware of the type of learner who is enrolling in today's institutions of higher education. What is wrong with hitting "repeat?" Perhaps critics should consider their own life-long learning goals and study the science of cognition.
 

Professor Maag-

Thank you for sharing these excellent points! It is fascinating to watch the world react to mobile learning.

The goal is learning. It is all about enabling, enhancing, promoting, facilitating, accessing learning! As you write, it is through research that we can best discover the nature of the current students; their goals, their motivations, their comfort with technologies. Only through research, such as yours, can we find better ways to help learning take place most efficiently and effectively for the student.

ray