As a cell phone user from Asia, I have been used to using cell phone extensively for all kind of things in my home country. But here in USA, there is not much I can do. For me this is surprising as this country has always been seen as the one that has better technology in electronics and telecommunications industries. As a cell phone consumer here, I find that more than the consumers, it is the network providers that are more powerful. In almost every class I have taken as part of my graduate studies here, the hot topic of discussion has been the state of cell phones in this country. However, I do not intend to research why such a state exists nor do I intend to research ways in which this can be changed.

I feel cell phones are extremely powerful means of communications because of the unique personal quality that they have. I also believe that cell phones can be used for more than just telephony and can be used to a great use in the field of education. In Japan and several European countries, cell phones are already being used for learning.  

In my research paper, I wish to find out how cell phones can be used for learning in America, where cell phones have penetrated in all demographics.

When I started researching on for mobile market research for America, I could not find much information. Unfortunately, there are not many researches conducted in this area in America. I found this one article in an online journal. From there, I found links to studies done in different countries.  

I plan to draw parallel from the studies conducted in different countries and see how much and how their findings are relevant to the American scenario.

1.) What Can You Learn from a Cell Phone? Almost Anything!: Marc Prensky

Authority: This article is published in: Innovate- Journal for Online Education (An Official Publication of the Fischer School) Volume 1, Issue 5 June/July 2005. It is a .info site and I am assuming that it is safe and authoritative.

Innovate is published by Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University. As the site informs -“The journal focuses on the creative use of information technology (IT) to enhance educational processes in academic, commercial, and governmental settings. Our basic assumption is that innovative uses of technology in one sector can inform innovative uses of technology in each of the other sectors.” 

Accuracy: The information is grammatically correct and the presentation is clear. The author is the article is Marc Prensky, Founder and CEO, Games2train. Marc Prensky is a speaker, writer, consultant, futurist, visionary, and inventor in the critical areas of education and learning.

Currency: The article was published in June/July 2005 volume of the journal. The article has not been updated since then.

Objectivity: I did not find any bias in the presentation.  All the facts were well presented.

Coverage: The information present is relevant to my research topic which is to figure out how cell phones can be used in the field of education. The article presents references to other relevant articles. The intended audiences are students and educators.  

Technical Aspects: The site is easy to navigate with appropriate layout. There are no pop up advertisements.

2) Mobile learning and social inclusion: focusing on learners and learning

 Learning and Skills Development Agency

Authority: This paper was presented at the international conference, MLEARN 2003, which was hosted in London in May 2003 by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). The role of the LSDA was to support post-16 education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a pdf document with all the articles contained in it.

Accuracy: The information provided is easy to understand and grammatically correct. It has been presented by Jill Attewell, and Dr Carol Savill-Smith, m-learning project, Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), UK.

Currency:  The article was presented in May 2003 

Objectivity: The article presents the research findings objectively.

Coverage: This article does a comparative study of its finding with researches conducted prior to 2003. I find the coverage relevant to my study because the target age group for this paper has been 16-24 which is same as the age group I am considering. Additional resources have been sited.

Technical Aspects: This is a pdf file and can be accessed used acrobat reader.  

3) Participatory design in the development of mobile learning Enviornments

Learning and Skills Development Agency

Authority: This paper was presented at the international conference, MLEARN 2003, which was hosted in London in May 2003 by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). The role of the LSDA was to support post-16 education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a pdf document with all the articles contained in it.

Accuracy: The information provided is easy to understand and grammatically correct. It has been presented by Karin Danielsson, Ulf Hedestig, Maria Juslin and Carl Johan Orre from Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden.  

Currency: The article was presented in May 2003

Objectivity: Since the article presents ideas of the authors, it really cannot be said if it is subjective.  

Coverage: The article has relevance as it also involves the design element in it. Additional resources have been cited at the end.

Technical Aspects: The article can be downloaded on the pc and read using acrobat reader.