Graham Brown-Martin, founder of the UK based research group Handheld Learning, recently posted an interesting article in which he proclaims the demise of the PDA and forecasts a comparable downfall for the desktop and laptop PC. He suggests that the mobile communications industry has driven the final nail in the PDA’s coffin by providing more ways of connecting to the Internet beyond traditional Wi-Fi. It is precisely this broader approach to connectivity that makes mobile communicators appealing learning tools.

Brown-Martin suggests that devices that do not offer multiple means of connectivity present a number of challenges to mobile learning. He writes, that “the type of wireless infrastructure designed to support lap/desktop computers, that are in limited number and relatively static, are less reliable when every learner has a device that is highly mobile, i.e. roaming from place to place both in and out of the building. A further challenge on infrastructure is the bandwidth of the connection that the building has to the outside world. Even a 1000 M/bit/s link will be challenged when servicing a school with 1000 learners. Finally, there is the question of what happens when the learner is outside the school gates on field trips, at home, etc. Where does the connectivity come from to deliver on the promise of anytime, anywhere learning?”

He goes on to assert that mobile communicators prove to be more promising for effective mobile learning because, “in addition to Wi-Fi capability, many devices come with mobile broadband connectivity based around 3G and HSDPA standards providing users with high-speed broadband access directly to their device without taxing the school infrastructure or requiring complex configuration settings to get online.”