Mobile learning: Where is the niche?

The paper explores how the mobile technology can be appropriated as a tool to mediate learning in the "sweet spot" where meaningful mobile learning (m-learning) occurs. The author proposes examining m-learning under two intertwined conditions of (a) the properties of the context that enable the effectivities of the mobile technology, and (b) student capabilities and interpretations to take learning actions. When these conditions are met, the mobile technological tool is deemed to be appropriated at the "sweet spot" that involves the three interacting elements of affordances of the device, the context and student positive interpretations and actions. This "sweet spot" is termed as the "niche" for m-learning, and learning taking place in the spot is termed as "niche m-learning" in this paper. Five individual students' use of the mobile technology for learning in a university has been traced and examined for one year. Various qualitative data were collected and triangulated for the data analysis. The research findings show that niche m-learning resulted from the three interacting elements. Discussions are made and conclusions are drawn.