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Inventing and re-inventing identity: Exploring the potential of mobile learning in adult education

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Abstract

This article explores the potential of mobile learning in adult education with a particular focus on identity formation and self-representation. It draws on the mobile learning experiences implemented within MyMobile–Education on the move, a European project (2010–2012) whose main purpose was to develop guidelines for mobile learning in adult education. This was achieved through a series of national workshops aimed at testing the use of mobile devices as cultural and learning resources for identity (trans)formation by and social empowerment of adults. In this context, the article addresses two particular cases: workshops conducted in Italy and Britain. It begins with a discussion of the concepts of adult education in relation to mobile learning and identity formation, and then moves to an analytical description of the workshops, exploring participants’ self-perceptions and productions. Based on this exploration, it concludes with a reflection on the extent to which adult learners’ participation in the mobile learning experiences that the project designed for them supported the formation and development of their identities; it also offers some recommendations for future research in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Florence, Via Laura, 48, Florence, Italy

    Maria Ranieri

  2. Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL, UK

    Norbert Pachler

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  1. Maria Ranieri
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  2. Norbert Pachler
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Correspondence to Maria Ranieri.

Additional information

The study was carried out within the MyMobile–Education on the move (www.mymobile-project.eu) project 2010–2012, partially funded by the European Union as part of the Grundtvig programme. We gratefully acknowledge the work of our colleagues Ben Bachmair, Judith Seipold, Isabella Bruni, Katja Friedrich, Daniel Zils, Catherine Geeroms, and Paul de Theux, which contributed significantly to the ideas contained in this article and on which parts of it draw (see Friedrich et al. 2012).

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Ranieri, M., Pachler, N. Inventing and re-inventing identity: Exploring the potential of mobile learning in adult education. Prospects 44, 61–79 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-014-9294-1

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