Go and Learn

Instant Help

It seems like whenever I’m shopping for toothpaste someone beside me calls a fellow brusher. It’s as if our independent shopping skills have vanished, replaced with an opportunity to get instant help.

Cell phones and text messaging tools provide us a chance to get immediate guidance because we can instantly engage people who have information we want. And it's not all about toothpaste and toilet paper. When I was in the hospital with my first kidney stone my husband called my mother to learn what kind of stone she had to help the doctor address my pain. Salesmen everywhere seem to call some mythical sales manager to see if they can work a better deal.

I receive on-the-spot coaching requests from clients who are in meetings and want perspective on how to proceed. “Hank is on a power-trip again,” began a recent message from a Blackberry. "Can I tell him he’s an ass or do I need to find out what's motivating him first? You know I hope you’ll say the former." My client was doing more than asking for my assessment; she sought support and a bit of a distraction during a meeting causing her stress. She suspected how I would reply so she didn’t need to contact me. It was the act of reaching out and knowing someone was there for her -- in that moment -- that helped her most of all.

Real-time Reflection

Reflection is core to lasting learning. When you look back, you can compare approaches on how to proceed. In this way, mobile technology can serve as an extension of your memory, storing what’s happened and providing a place for review.

A European colleague takes a cell phone with both a camera and ample note-taking space on his daily bicycle ride to work. Along the path he stops and takes pictures, and even jots down observations. As soon as he arrives he add in the main ah-has from the ride. He turns his pictures and comments into fresh ideas for articles, presentations and blogs.

A stay-at-home dad in my playgroup documents his toddler daughter’s major milestones with a digital camera so that his wife learns about "the moment Mia made a play omelet" when she comes home from work. Together, they all reflect on the new things their daughter did and can learn more about her development and interests. Really big moments can also be sent via cell phone to mom at work for instant learning and enjoyment.

The old standbys also work. A small notepad like a Moleskine has endured centuries as a place for sketches and observations. A portable recorder (or a cell phone call to a voicemail system) can hold voice-delivered notes about a meeting or reminders for something you shouldn’t forget. Any sort of portable capture device can transport what you’ve just experienced or remind you what’s up ahead.

Iterative Interaction

While my examples so far have been informal, formal learning options work too. Princeton Review now offers vocabulary-building musical podcasts ("Vocab Minute") for SAT prep or anyone seeking to expand their words. The same company offers drill and practice questions over cell phones text messaging, ranging in topic from geometry and chemistry to critical reading. After selecting an answer you receive feedback and explanation. Each day several new questions get sent to your phone, and parents of the would-be college-bound student can review their teen’s progress.

Mobile learning need not be ad-hoc either. When a board I sit on welcomed a half-dozen new directors we created a mobile treasure hunt to help acquaint them with the organization, fellow board members and the local area. Three teams of four received hastily-drawn learning-treasure maps before a self-guided tour of the corporate campus, a local shopping area and a park. As they came across each clue identifying a person, place or thing, they used cell phones, text messaging tools, and cameras to capture what they found. Two teams even collaborated to find a missing clue. By the end of the day they felt more connected and knowledgeable than in participation on any other board.

Students in a Winnepeg high school math class reflected on their learning experiences by recording podcasts they called podcapsules. Their recordings included advice for themselves on how to improve learning when they go off to college and apply their lessons to the real world.