Further Development of the Context Categories of a Mobile Learning Framework

Building on the literature theorizing mobile learning, Frohberg, G th and Schwabe (2009) provide a framework that has been developed to review and categorize mobile learning projects published before the end of 2007. Analyzing projects according to six factors, one of which is context, they consider the use of four categories (independent, formalized, physical, and socializing) to be a robust means of classification. This short paper examines the contexts they identify and considers whether any of them can adequately categorize our own mobile learning project, an SMS text messaging based simulation. We then suggest the need for a fifth context, that of the virtual, to develop the scope of the framework and adequately categorize our project.