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'In 2008, we (Dominic Mentor and Nabeel Ahmad) were in the same educational technology doctoral cohort at Columbia University's Teachers College, pondering issues of computer literacy and computer access that still challenge the educational realm. We realized that in many communities around the globe mobile phone ownership has helped people bypass some digital divide issues. From Africa and Asia to the Americas, rural, impoverished communities or those with limited computer literacy have affordable technology in their hands and use it to great effect. The technology of choice is the mobile phone because it gives people the ability to communicate and connect with friends and family, schedule appointments and reminders, and play games.

Dominic's focus on social connectedness through text message communication for educational and business purposes complemented Nabeel's exploration of mobile device effects in the workplace on learning and job performance. Normally, people would not think of mobile phones as suitable for education, yet both of us believed that mobile phones offered unique and ubiquitous educational opportunities. The onset of the mobile revolution saw many schools offering mobile computing courses where students learn to program for an iPhone or Android app. Despite this upswing of mobile programming courses, no graduate course yet covered the use of mobile phones for teaching and learning. We decided to create one.'

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