Digital learning has been slow to take off, in part because computers and smart phones lack features that can truly make technology-assisted learning engaging, interactive, and widely available. Tablets are poised to change all that. Their size, price, touch-based interfaces, and endless flexibility make them perfect for use in K-12 classrooms. However, the few educational apps developed to date have not taken full advantage of the tablet's educational potential. The reason for this has been a lack of communication and mutual understanding between K-12 teachers and mobile app developers. The authors of Mobile Learning have identified this critical gap and have written this book to bring teachers and developers together in conversation.

Teachers, education leaders, and developers alike need to get on the same page when it comes to the opportunities and challenges of educating students in a digital world. Dozens of interviews with -service educators, along with decades of development experience and thorough academic research, form the basis for the ideas presented in Mobile Learning. Readers are introduced to the possibilities that mobile devices offer in both traditional and informal learning environments. The authors' rich discussion of how students learn creates a synoptic view of the contemporary educational landscape, allowing readers to orient themselves in ways that will be of the greatest benefit to today's students.

Without a clear definition of what makes a good mobile education app, we risk subjecting students to technology for technology's sake. Countless educators have already made this mistake, striving to bring mobilelearning into the classroom without a clear sense of what makes mobile learning work.In this book, the authors–a team of educational software experts at SAS–develop a framework that will orient app development and provide teachers with a way to gauge whether current and future apps meet their students' needs.