Building Mobile Social Presence for U-Learning

Mobile learning environments are human networks that afford learners the opportunity to participate in creative endeavors, social networking, organize and reorganize social contents, learner-created cognitive space, and manage social acts anytime and anywhere through mobile technologies. Social interaction with mobile technology is very different from Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) or Web 2.0 networking technologies. Effective mobile interaction focuses on social-context awareness by integrating location-based technology, which is unique to mobile technology, not easily found in other types of commuting. This chapter proposes a model for mobile social presence consisting of four dimensions: enriching social context-awareness, managing location-based communication, personalizing multilayered interactivity, and optimizing digital and social identities. Under each dimension there are a few suggested strategies or tips to assist educators in integrating them into their mobile instructions to enhance the mobile-social presence of learners.