Reshan Richards and I have been having an interesting conversation lately.  As is typical for us, it’s unfolding over the phone, via text, on Zoom, and sometimes while cramming noodles into our mouths.

To boil it down, we’ve been exploring the virtues of having mobility (like a mobile phone or other technology) vs. being mobile (moving your body, with its senses, around your town, your state, your country, or your world).

The former — mobile technology — allows you to search for what you are looking for; the latter — your own mobility, to whatever extent that exists — allows you to put yourself in a place to discover things.

When I start teaching my English class in a few weeks, I’m going to keep these ideas in play.  When do I want students to use mobile technology, when do I want them to use their own mobility, and what are the affordances and limitations of each when we are attempting to learn and do what we set out to learn and do?