Transition from e-learning to u-learning: Innovations and personalization issues

Use of mobile and sensor technologies in learning has emerged as a growing research area, and has given rise to a lot of research that takes advantage of learner's location, environment, proximity and situation to contextualizing the learning process. The adaptivity and personalization in these scenarios have taken a new meaning by bringing authentic learning much closer to holistic learning by seamlessly integrating physical objects available in the learner's vicinity with virtual information in real-time. Such ubiquitous environments not only break the barriers for education by widening the access to those who cannot come to a physical classroom but also increase the richness of the instruction by integrating multiple sources of instruction, contextualization and real-time location-aware learning, hence overcoming the limitations of classroom learning. This paper focuses on various contexts that arise in such environments where seamless immersion of formal and informal activities and interactions has potential to contribute to the learning process.