Field Activity and the Pedagogy of Simultaneity to Support Mobile Learning in the Open

Field activities are presented in this chapter as a mechanism for enacting learning in the ‘open’, either in response to formal disciplinary learning activities or to support those moored in informal learning practices. Field activity represents a disciplinary model found across the (field) sciences and throughout the humanities. Mobile technology has accelerated the process and potential for “coming to know” in the field by allowing the learner to engage multiple layers of meaning, social presence, time, and place simultaneously. This chapter identifies three continuums in which this simultaneous activity is taking place, continuums that emerged from the learning activities conducted in Helsinki, Jyvaskyla, Edinburgh, London, and Seoul: the serendipity-intentionality of learner orientation, the informal-formal activity structure and the initiative-seduction-sense of intervals continuum of human presence. All three speak to the variety of learner engagements that occur as a result of mobile learning and field activity. All three, although not exclusive, need to be considered when developing learning activity situated outside the classroom.