Wandering: A Web-based platform for the creation of location-based interactive learning objects Miri Barak a, * , Shani Ziv b,1 a The Department of Education in Technology and Science, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel b Wandering ltd., Tel-Aviv, Israel article info Article history: Received 22 August 2012 Received in revised form 20 October 2012 Accepted 24 October 2012 Keywords: Learning objects Location-based services Mobile technologies Pedagogy abstract Wandering is an innovative web-based platform that was designed to facilitate outdoor, authentic, and interactive learning via the creation of location-based interactive learning objects (LILOs). Wandering was integrated as part of a novel environmental education program among middle school students. This paper describes the Wandering platform’s structural architecture and an evaluation study that was conducted among grade nine students (N ¼ 102) who participated in the innovative educational program. Our goal was to examine students’ learning outcomes and experiences while creating LILOs’ and providing comments. Findings indicated high motivation among students to use Wandering, not only for completing their school assignment, but also for contributing to the community. Despite the fact that the tagging and commenting tools could have been used more efficiently by students, more than one third of the LILOs received an excellent grad. In addition, our findings indicated that Wandering is a good platform for enhancing 21st century skills, including: engagement with others, personalization, control release, and change adaption. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the past decade, the understanding of the importance of integrating ICT and Web 2.0 tools for enhancing students’ meaningful learning was signified (Annetta, Cheng, & Holmes, 2010; Barak, Ashkar, & Dori, 2011; Barak, Herscovitz, Kaberman, & Dori, 2009). Today’s learners frequently find themselves in learning and working environments that are constantly and dramatically changing. Emphasis on what students can do with knowledge, rather than how many learning units they acquire, has become the essence of skills named the 21st century skills (Griffin, McGaw & Care, 2012). In the past few years, advanced technologies are integrated into our daily life and they have become an important tool for collaboration and knowledge construction; however, it is still unclear how educators view the use of these applications and whether their use requires new skills for learning and working. This paper introduces ‘Wandering’dan innovative educational methodology and technology that seamlessly integrates web applications with mobile technologies (http://thewandering.net). Wandering is designed to facilitate outdoor, authentic, and interactive learning through the creation of location-based interactive learning objects (LILOs). Wandering enables students to leave the four walls of their classroom and “wander” around, while exploring new information and interacting with the environment and with each other. This paper presents three main sections. The first section provides an up-to-date literature review on location-based services and learning objects. The second section introduces the Wandering platform, its structural architecture, and its educational methodology. The third section presents an exploratory study that investigated students’ learning outcomes and experiences while using Wandering for creating LILOs. This study is the preface of a large research project that investigates out-of-classroom learning via smartphones and its effect on students’ meaningful learning. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ972 4 8293883; fax: þ972 4 8295634. E-mail addresses: bmiriam@technion.ac.il, bmiriam@tx.technion.ac.il (M. Barak), shaniziv100@gmail.com (S. Ziv). 1 Tel.: þ972 5 26130250. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Computers & Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu 0360-1315/$ – see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.015 Computers & Education 62 (2013) 159–170