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When it comes to mobile learning myths and misconceptions abound. The mlearning domain is still new to many, so this confusion is to be expected. These myths are holding back widespread adoption of mobile learning in the workplace. Here is a list of the more common ones I come across. Also contrast with a list of myths we posted on this blog a couple of years ago.

By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can't solve extreme poverty and disease isn't just mistaken. It is harmful. That's why in this year's letter we take apart some of the myths that slow down the work. The next time you hear these myths, we hope you will do the same. 

"No one doubts that the brain is central to education, so the myriad products out there claiming to be based on research in neuroscience can look tempting." A good article on the facts and myths around brain based products and education.

"One of the most persistent myths about the copyright monopoly has been that it's needed to make money. This assertion turns out to be false for a very large number of observed cases, but the plural of anecdote is never statistics. So let's look at some sound statistical evidence for policymaking on this issue."

"Advocates of the learning style theory argue that instructors can achieve much better results when they take their student's learning style under consideration and create a course that best fits this exact style. The adversaries of the learning style theory say that this concept is misunderstood and not scientifically proven, and they argue that learning styles do make instructors understand what motivates and cerebrally stimulates their students, but they can't guarantee a successful outcome nor predict it. So where is the truth in that and where lies the Learning Styles myth?  "

"Kate Crawford of the MIT Centre for Civic Media goes behind the numbers to debunk five myths about big data."

"I was in a staff meeting at school last week where we were given a presentation outlining 10 common myths about copyright.  I thought it not a bad summary of what many teachers just assume to be true.  Ironically, I'm reproducing it below basically word for word as it was presented to me, but I'm told on good authority that the original creator has authorised its use for reposting."

"There is a myth, perpetuated for little more reason than it's sellable-fallacy, that kids are gravitating to Twitter and Facebook. From this point, numerous arguments have been made in the sub-culture Alan Lavine brilliantly described as "Edlandia" - a sharp and humurous hat-tip to Portlandia the TV show (relates to MOOCS). There is pervasive notion that the issues today are the same as those even three years ago. They might continue to sell this obsolete rhetoric to Edlandians, but kids are using very different networks - and here's why."

We tend to rewrite the histories of technological innovation, making myths about a guy who had a great idea that changed the world. In reality, though, innovation isn't the goal; it's everything that gets you there. It's bad financial decisions and blueprints for machines that weren't built until decades later. It's the important leaps forward that synthesize lots of ideas, and it's the belly-up failures that teach us what not to do. When we ignore how innovation actually works, we make it hard to see what's happening right in front of us today. If you don't know that the incandescent light was a failure before it was a success, it's easy to write off some modern energy innovations - like solar panels - because they haven't hit the big time fast enough. Worse, the fairy-tale view of history implies that innovation has an end. It doesn't. What we want and what we need keeps changing. The incandescent light was a 19th-century failure and a 20th- century success. Now it's a failure again, edged out by new technologies, like LEDs, that were, themselves, failures for many years. That's what this issue is about: all the little failures, trivialities and not-quite-solved mysteries that make the successes possible. This is what innovation looks like. It's messy, and it's awesome.

Flipped Classroom Analysis Review the following articles on the Flipped Classroom and iTunes U Real Flipped Classroom The Inverted Classroom Khan TED Thinking Myths vs. Reality The Flipped Classroom: A Full Picture Flipped Classroom Network iTunes U

Article to start discussion with the BYOD debate

"If students find NAPLAN tests too stressful, wait till they find out what it's like trying to get a driver's licence or a good job if they're illiterate, writes Jennifer Buckingham."

Based on US situation but still applicable to Australian situation. "Despite the increasing emphasis on technology as a learning tool in the classroom, many school districts still aggressively filter the Internet that teachers and students can access. While the federal Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires that schools filter for pornographic images, many districts are over-filtering, blocking sites that can be used positively for education. There are a lot of myths about how tight these required filters must be."

"A new research project by the Open University explores the much-debated concept of "the digital native". The university does this by making full use of the rich resource which is its own highly diverse student body. It concludes that while there are clear differences between older people and younger in their use of technology, there's no evidence of a clear break between two separate populations."

NBNCo's youtube channel where they bust a few myths about being a financial black hole, among other FUD...

"Why do we keep telling children that the law cannot protect them against severe cyberbullying? Time and time again politicians and the press claim that there is nothing police or parents can do if a child is being bullied on the internet, and that government needs to step in."

"Some educational myths just can't be killed. Case in point: the learning pyramid."