Mobile Education
The term Mobile Education refers to learning on the go with your smartphone (DePaul University). Until recently, learning was not imagined to take place anywhere but within the walls of a classroom with a teacher at the front. Now, things are very different. As smartphone usage dominates our daily lives and tasks, it seems natural to leverage them as an educational tool as well.
There are many benefits to mobile learning or education. One of the major ones is access to information and the World Wide Web, 24/7 (Singh, 2024). You no longer need to be in a specific place or buy certain books. Another significant benefit is connectivity with peers, colleagues, and educators.
Example: Goosechase
One of the fascinating applications that truly embody the meaning of learning on the go is GooseChase. It is an interactive learning platform that lets educators design experiences like Scavenger Hunts so students can join from anywhere in the world and learn by interacting with the environment.
Once you download the application, you get the option to sign up or continue as a guest. If you sign up, it asks you for your email, a password, and username. Then you can share your location to see if there are any experiences happening near you or you can skip that and look for experiences yourself. You can either type in keywords to search for any particular kinds of experiences or if you already know which one to join, you can enter a code to join it. If you write something like scavenger hunt, there are many options that pop up. And once you join the experience, you can see existing teams that have joined and you can either create a new team or be a part of an existing team. And then you can start playing.
To create an experience over Goosechase, you need to login to goosechase.com, and then enter details such as name, description, location, and a password if you want to keep it exclusive.
When you successfully join an experience and the host starts it, you are able to see your missions and once you complete them, they move to the completed section. This helps you keep track of your progress. You also get notifications, just like other social media platforms, if you get likes or comments on your submissions. And your submissions show up as posts on a feed that can be viewed by others who have joined the experience so they can interact with your posts.