Hi everyone, this is Hengtao Tang, a Chinese student at Penn State. Now I am pursuing my PhD degree at Learning, Design, and Technology. This is my second year here and I feel so happy to be enrolled in the same class with you all here.

Mobile learning is one of my research interests. With the integration of mobile devices into our daily life, learners are allowed to gain knowledge and sustain interactions almost anywhere we want to, such as museum, arboretum, aquarium, and etc. Furthermore, mobile devices usually support so many advanced technologies such as augmented reality (AR), game dynamics, and etc. and they will enrich the learning content and also add interests to the process, especially for K-12 or pre-school education, mobile learning is considered a useful tool to motivate kids to move forward and explore their interests. Finally, mobile learning sheds new potentials on adult education and professional development. Adult learners are normally buried in the piles of to-do lists at work and sometimes have to take care of the whole family, which makes them own scarce time to attend to school face-to-face. However, mobile learning allows those adult learners to connect to the class anytime and anywhere.

Mobile learning brings new hope for us those mobile learners but each learner group and learning environment has its own features or demographics. To better clarify and understand the essence of mobile learning, more literature review and research are awaiting me to complete. Up to now, I am more interested in mobile learning in K-12 and pre-school education and I do hope more research on mobile learning can better motivate kids and help them improve learning in an interactive and interesting way. I was now preparing for a research based on how game-dynamics on iPad apps improve kids’ reading. Previously, I also conduct a research concerning QR code in the curriculum. Those research experiences with mobile learning further stimulate me to get more engaged in the research. I hope I could accumulate a solid theoretical foundation and also envision me the research skills for mobile learning in kids and family settings. Last but not least, I am also interested in mobile learning in community settings and adult learners. If time permitted, I would like to learn more from the course and you all.

Hope we can have a fantastic and productive journey on INSYS 597A !

Hengtao