Mobile formal and informal learning on the IOS platform

In this paper we will introduce the iStoodee, a Mobile Learning system developed at the Italian National Research Council - Institute for Education Technology, to support students in their learning activities during on site experiences. One of the main aims of the project is to explore and evaluate ways of using mobile devices to stimulate collaborative learning, in order to reduce the digital divide. The project focuses particularly on student mobility and on contextualized information. In fact, mobility means being in and moving around the places which are the object of study; while contextualization is very important because the student's geographical position changes the learning context and consequently the student's learning experiences. The iStoodee system includes a number of mobile learning tools to provide students with a formal as well as an informal learning experience. In particular, we have designed some tools for taking multimedia notes (text, audio and photo) and for accessing the MoULe system, as well as for accessing Facebook in order to socialize mobile learning experiences, share multimedia notes, expertise and/or create mobile student networks. Moreover, in the iStoodee project we use iOS devices, which are supplied with an AGPS system, in order to link all the activities carried out by the students with a specific location inside an area of interest. The goal is to track students during the whole collaborative knowledge building process, and reconstruct the physical exploration of their learning space.