Mobile Learning - No Pedagogy Required!

I've published a few blog posts at Litmos.com/blog over the last 3 months.  Most of the conversations around those posts occur in other places other than the blog, like Twitter, or Google+, or LinkedIn, etc. I started responding to someone in the comments today and realized it was getting very long and it would be better to share this thought as a blog post.

The following is in response to my blog post The Two Paths to Mobile Learning: 

I love academic journals...at times. But after 20+ years in the corporate world I've learned to take it in with a healthy dose of skepticism.  Actually, that's not true. I'm not skeptical of the research or the authors, but I do question the practical applications of these learning theories, models, and frameworks. And it bothers me that we put the technology as the focus point.

Despite the technology being the catalyst for changing everything, 21st Century Learning is about People, NOT technology. It's about the shift in power and control.

Pedagogy is defined (according to a quick Googling) as a method or practice of teaching.  Mobile learning is not about teaching.  Mobile learning is about...well...learning. What's the word for "a method or practice of learning"? Most of what the world learns via mobile devices is not created by people who studied pedagogical theories of mobile learning.  It's just common citizens sharing their knowledge with others.  Do we have a fancy word for that?

It may be important for some people to understand pedagogy, but in the corporate world employees and customers just want convenient access to the information they need to be productive: No pedagogy required. 

And in my experiences what you end up with then are two options: 1) existing content capable of being delivered via mobile devices, and 2) Specific learning content/experiences created with mobile device delivery in mind. In either case, no academic understanding of pedagogy is required...despite our best efforts to make it so.

Remember: Social media is a conversation. Give it a try.