In a previous post I wrote about a call for paper from Language Learning & Technology for their special issue on Mobile Language Learning.  I've been thinking about mLearning, MOOCs and Language Learning for a while as a potential dissertation topic (when I get started with PhD program anyways).  I was thinking that this would be a good place to start building a frameworks for mMOOCs (mobile massive online open courses) that have a specific focus on teaching language. Here is an initial title and abstract:


Title: 
The intersection of mLearning, MOOCs and Language Learning: A Framework for SLA using mMOOCs


Abstract:

In recent years Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), based on connectivist, and some times connectivist and constructivist, principles, have been the center of attention for educational researchers. At the same time the idea of mobile learning (mLearning), activities that allow individuals to learn through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries with them on a regular basis, has been continuously refined. Recent research has shown that the MOOC format is a possible pedagogical approach to mLearning based on synergies between these two approaches. This paper aims to examine MOOCs and mLearning, through the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and provide a framework for designing language learning MOOCs that are exclusively mobile.

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More of a description of the project for  interested research participants:

The above is a draft of what the team that works on this needs to submit as an abstract. Here is more of the logic behind it:

In Exploring the MOOC format as a pedagogical approach for mLearning (de Waard et al, 2011) it was determined that MOOCs and mLearning have synergies that enable them to work well together. Most MOOCs have been around the educational arena (learning about learning). What if we examined (among other things):

• MOOCs (through a literature review, and through our own personal experiences with MOOCs this year)
• Affordances of mLearning (JIT learning, multimedia, text etc.)
• Second Language Acquisition Theory

Then, we could create a theoretical framework for mMOOCs (mobile MOOCs) for the purpose of learning a language.

I think that concepts/theories/tools (just to name a few) such as the following can fit in:

• Slow-learning (Quinn, Change MOOC week 13 )
• Authentic Learning (Jan Herringon, Change MOOC week 14; various Second Language Acquisition Theorists)
• Peer Scaffolding (Vygotsky, Donato)
• Gamification (using services like foursquare for example)
• Mobile multimedia
• Rhizomatic Learning (Cormier)
• Connectivism (Siemens, Downes)
• Social Constructivism (Vygotsky)
• Learner empowerment/anti-banking model (Freire)