Kinetic Learning In Context

Digital-physical fusion creates new ways of learning through emotion and movement and create new relationships among learners and their communities.

Real World Application

The community becomes the classroom
Ubiquitous computing and wireless connectivity, embedded in physical environments, will turn physical places into aware contexts—environments that recognize people, information, and activities, and then respond appropriately. As place-based information becomes more accessible, educational services will be customized to place, making learning increasingly visible in the community.


The built environment becomes instrumented and responsive
Sensor-based technologies that currently track resources and manage logistics, will also be used to monitor and manage the complex, interacting environments of daily life including homes, workplaces, and schools. With ubiquitous wireless Internet access, location-based information, and displays everywhere, schools become adaptive learning environments that respond to the changing needs of administrators, students, and their families. Facilities management becomes a strategic function, working collaboratively with those involved in curriculum development, technology integration, and pedagogical objectives.


Public places become personal spaces
This decade will become the decade of information in place— geocoded data will be linked through the Internet and accessible through a variety of mobile tools from cell phones and PDAs to augmented-reality devices (like eyeglasses). The result will be an increasingly first-person view of places, where rich streams of personalized media “redraw” streets, storefronts, schools, and community locations. Educational content and curriculum will become context-specific, aligning personal learning needs with places.


Learning gets physical
Digital–physical fusion enables the community to truly become the classroom. Learning has always had a physical and emotional component that has been minimized as computers isolate students from each other, teachers, and the real world. Now technology enables mediated immersive learning. Students learn while moving through real environments with the mobile technology—so their cognitive apprenticeship involves not only their brains, but also their bodies in informal learning environments.