title: Informal mobile learning in nurse education and practice in remote areas--a case study from rural South Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the proliferation of portable digital technology, mobile learning is becoming increasingly popular in nursing education and practice. Most of the research in this field has been concentrated on small-scale projects in high income countries. Very little is known about the ways in which nurses and midwives use mobile technology in remote and resource poor areas in informal learning contexts in low and middle income countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To address this gap, this study investigates whether nurses use mobile phones as effective educational tools in marginalized and remote areas, and if so, how and why.
  
  
  METHODS
  In rural South Africa, 16 nurses who attended an advanced midwifery education program, facilitators and clinical managers were interviewed about their use of digital mobile technology for learning. Techniques of qualitative content analysis were used to examine the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several rich "organically-grown", learning practices were identified: mobile phone usage facilitated (1) authentic problem solving; (2) reflective practice; (3) emotional support and belongingness; (4) the realization of unpredictable teaching situations; and (5) life-long learning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that mobile phones, and the convergence of mobile phones and social media, in particular, change learning environments. In addition, these tools are suitable to connect learners and learning distributed in marginalized areas. Finally, a few suggestions are made about how these insights from informal settings can inform the development of more systematic mobile learning formats.
authors.affiliation: learning.lab/Institute for Information Systems, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: http://www.fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pimmer
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Desmond Clarence Building, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban 4000, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Electronic address: brysiewiczp@ukzn.ac.za.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brysiewicz
authors.affiliation: learning.lab/Institute for Information Systems, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: http://www.fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Linxen
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Desmond Clarence Building, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban 4000, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Electronic address: walters@ukzn.ac.za.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Desmond Clarence Building, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban 4000, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Electronic address: chippsj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chipps
authors.affiliation: learning.lab/Institute for Information Systems, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: http://www.fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gröhbiel
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D018961:Educational Technology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education; D011247:Pregnancy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012424:Rural Population; D013019:South Africa
keywords: Distance Education; Educational technology; Mobile learning; Mobile phone; Nursing Education; Rural health; Ubiquitous learning