The law of mobility certainly meshes with my own experience. I think you could say we arrived at a somewhat similar conclusion, but through a different route. Let me briefly explain.

In 2005, we launched http://www.chinesepod.com, using podcasting and other web 2.0 tools to help people learn Mandarin Chinese. It’s been tremendously popular. Our mantra has been to allow the learner to ‘learn on your terms’, a key driver in our innovation. The democratization that the web engenders, and the great shift in power towards the consumer, come down, we believe, to one thing: individual choice.

This movement towards flexibility, choice, etc, emerged from the on-demand nature of podcasting. By using an iPod to consume lessons, learners were free to do so whenever they wished. We took the notion of ‘on-demand-ness’ from there. Now, after almost 2 years we’ve come to the conclusion that full mobile consumption is an inevitable outcome.

Which is not to say that people are screaming out for ‘mobile-learning’. They’re not. Most consumers don’t have time to speculate/fantasize about ‘the future of learning’ but they give us constant clues that more freedom, more choice, and really being able to consume the content on their own terms will eventually mean mobile access. This still needs a couple of years, but we hope to lead the way in producing and enabling mobile learning content. (Much of the other work in this area is theoretical, rather than commercial.)

I look forward to reading your book when it comes out.

Ken Carroll