MOBILE FUTURES GOING BEYOND 3G

Mobile futures going beyond 3G

Mobile futures going beyond 3G

Introduction

As a university student, your major or discipline is like a full-time job. You spend your days in class, and after, your nights are spent studying away in the library or working in the computer lab to finish your final thesis. Unfortunately, studying isn't the only thing you have going on in your life and you can't be restricted to your classroom, library, and computer lab. Instead, you need the mobility to move all over campus and all throughout your city, taking a steady Internet connection everywhere you need to be.

A major dilemma facing educational debate in the current era is centred on our ability as educators to reconceptualise teaching and learning spaces. From the reflective phase of the 1990s when observers turned to philosophers and critical theorists like Foucault (1970; 1997), Bourdieu (1993) and Lefebvre (1991) for guidance, educational thinking has moved on towards a critical need to find practical solutions for educational processes. The emerging power-space relationships that exist in the digital age of information and communication technologies require radical new thinking to avoid reactive responses in our Universities that do little to build bright innovative and challenging futures for young people. To put this issue in more blatant terms where educational institutions and Universities remain bounded by the same traditional thinking regarding their physical and structural appearance it seems pertinent to suggest that we are likely to see a continuation of the current 'behavioural problems' reflected in truancy, verbal and physical abuse, poor attitudes and low performance. At the time of writing these are major electoral issues in the United Kingdom where the new Blair Labour government has advocated more powers for Universities to implement strategies that will stimulate greater social responsibility for University including respect from pupils and parental responsibility for teaching their children 'respect'.

It seems ironic that this seemingly conservative platform is coming from a Labour government. However, looking to Scandinavian countries where radical social reform is widely recognised we can see evidence of even more draconian measures to ensure community responsibility for children's behaviour. In Sweden, for example, parents lose benefits and can be fined through the tax system for failing in their duties to teach their children about their community responsibilities and social respect. There seem to be in these actions two major issues. The first is the immediate need to reinvigorate the traditional idea of University and bring children back into the community of learners. Perhaps this does require broader societal debate about roles and responsibilities of parents as well as Universities. In the Australian context liberal thinking and acceptance of difference have been fundamental to states' curriculum development for the last decade. Hence, to suggest restrictions and/or enforce compulsory University and responsible parenting would seem somewhat antithetical or too far in the future for a reasoned discussion. The other major issue relates to the content and delivery of curriculum (Robertson, 2004).

The 3G network enables you to take your academics ...