A post-PC era?

Around about two years ago, Apple, IBM and a few other computer giants boldly proclaimed that the post-PC era was nigh. The world was going to go mobile and there was no way back. so, what's the score today?

PC sales have undoubtedly taken a big knock (and are expected to continue to fall in the long run). Manufacturers are avidly pushing tablets and smartphones into people’s homes, spurred by astronomical profit margins (potentially as high as 55.1%, compared to the <5% profit margins of desktops).

Many of the consumers who used their desktop computers to check e-mails and play MP3s at home realise that a smartphone or tablet will do this just fine. In addition, aggressive marketing campaigns have made some mobile devices a must-have fashion accessory (for instance, according to Design Milk, their new iPhone case is just divine). So the sale of tablets and smartphones is soaring, in detriment of desktop sales.

However, does this really spell the end of the desktop computer? Anyone who has battled with a trackpad for more than half an hour, attempted to type more than a page of text on an iPad virtual keyboard, considered the possibility of a hardware upgrade in a mobile device (you'll be lucky if you get to the iPhone's battery!), or tried to play anything more sophisticated than Angry Birds on a smartphone knows that the desktop computer is unlikely to be wiped out by a mobile device any time soon. Our computational needs are far too complex and varied to be successfully covered by a single device.

This raises an important point about mobile learning. Mobile learning will not replace more traditional pedagogical methods and media (and was never really intended to do so in the first place). Mobile Virtual Learning Environments and educational smartphone apps will not substitute textbooks or the relationship face to face with tutors. Instead, the strength of mobile devices in education lies in their capacity to allow students and teachers to complement the learning process (conceived in a broad sense), by addressing niche areas, such as:

-Reward-based approaches

-Asynchronous interaction

-Sporadic use / use of dead time

-Collaborative and group-based learning

-Exploration-based / self-learning approaches

When researching mobile learning solutions (and ICT-enabled education in general), it is easy for us to get carried away and confuse the medium for the message. This would be wrong – the focus should remain on learners and the totality of the learning process. Mobile learning is just a small part of a broader and more complex learning process. It will never cover all the educational needs of teachers and students, just like tablets and smartphones will never cover all the computational needs of all users all the the time.