Research on mobile learning is currently making a shift from practice-orientated research to theory building, often focusing on theorising communicative and discursive practices. In this context, an emerging tendency in theory building is to consider experiences related to the learners’ life worlds, agencies and cultural practices, in out-of-school, informal contexts.

To understand personalised, learner-centred learning from a cultural perspective, practitioners need to explore these life world contexts in terms of the learner’s personal lifestyle, socio-economic status, experiences and interests. The challenge for practitioners is to learn from the learners’ agencies, to critically reflect upon the changing cultural practices that emerge from the use of new technologies, and to integrate the assets that young people acquire in leisure contexts into successful learning experiences in formal contexts such as school, higher education and work.

One of the pedagogic aims of such a cultural ecology of mobile learning is to build new links, or to strengthen existing ones, between the different contexts in a learner’s life with the aim to provide continuity for learning, to minimise the risk of failure, and to nurture lifelong learning.

As learning with mobile media is increasingly less bound by specific locations, occasions, contents and individuals, and as research on mobile learning can increasingly accommodate a growing diversity of experiences and findings, this symposium aims to address different audiences, with a focus on education professionals and practitioners from school, work and leisure. All are invited to participate in an exchange of experiences and ideas.

The symposium will focus on mobile learning theory and practice in education, work and leisure and will address the following themes:
• Learning across contexts
• Cultural approaches to mobile learning
• Status quo, visions and conjectures

Interdisciplinary approaches and thematic crossovers, both in theory and practice, are particularly welcome. Work in progress and international contributions are encouraged.