Mobile learning in eHealth: Increasing learning options by supporting the mobility of learners in developing contexts

The chapter describes increased options for learning in health education through supporting the mobility of learners using appropriate mobile devices in particular in developing contexts. The literature indicates that mobile learning in health education is increasing but that much of the potential still needs to be realised. Mobile learning in health education is not limited to developed environments, as 'leap frogging' of traditional technology to mobile platforms has occurred in developing contexts due to poor regional infrastructure and emerging liberal marketing deregulation. Personas have been developed and informed by current literature, case studies and mobile learning developments at Charles Sturt University to reflect the potential of mobile learning in health education. We argue that the mobility of the learner, supported by mobile devices increases options for health professional education, and particularly in developing contexts in a number of areas: accessing learning materials; performing learning tasks; participating in learning interactions; performing assessment tasks; accessing learning support; and evaluating teaching. We used personas to describe the affordances of mobile learning. Mobile learning is not unproblematic and ranges of ethical, educational, technical and general issues in developing contexts are therefore highlighted in the chapter.