Distance learning:

Mobile technologies have become a necessity for distance learning, and many students have borrowed devices from their schools to continue learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Herold (2021) reported that "the district purchased 30,000 Chromebooks, distributed thousands of mobile hotspots, adopted a new learning management system, and worked with city and state officials to help build fiber-optic networks in neighborhoods around the city" in order to support distance learning. Additional distance learning options have emerged, such as “Elevate K-12 (which) offers districts certified teachers who live all over the country, but run synchronous classes that can be livestreamed anywhere. … A little over half the company’s current clients are fully remote, while the rest are mostly hybrid.” (Herold, 2021).

The mobile experience:

EduVenture adds value to in-person field trips with “inquiry-oriented field trip-based learning in the natural environment ... (it is) an open-access ambient learning system for educational researchers and practitioners to create digital GPS-supported ambience-aware materials for facilitating learners to conduct outdoor, self-directed field trip-based learning” (Jong, 2020). Students can access the learning materials in the field using mobile phones or tablets.

The world in the classroom:

Virtual field trips are an increasingly popular way for young students to see the world, via on-screen or interactive experiences (see example platforms here). Regarding Google Expeditions, Park (as quoted in Minnick, 2019) states, “The Expeditions team works with schools to provide immersive experiences within the classroom. Something like placing planets in the middle of the room or creating a virtual model that shows the anatomy of the human body, can really make a learning experience special.”