Mobile Learning

The topic of easy-to-use, reliable wireless access to the internet came to the fore today, so I thought I should write about it.  I heard from a number of people on our Yammer social network that they believed that our institution’s wireless service was difficult to connect to and only available in scattered areas around the campus.  That this appeared to be the opinion of the majority (with some exceptions) caused me considerable concern, as in my opinion, student wireless access should be considered priority infrastructure for any self-respecting further/higher education organisation.

From a teaching and learning point of view, campus-wide internet access - or even access that targets social and learning spaces such as refectories, libraries, lecture rooms and labs - is what truly blends together online and face-to-face learning.  It means that while they’re on campus, a student can access their online learning just by turning on their netbook or iPhone.  They can contribute to class online discussions while eating lunch or access their readings before class, using the technology they already have with them: their laptop, netbook, or other wi-fi capable mobile device.

Some of you may be thinking “can’t students just go use a computer lab?”  To some extent, they can.  However, most students don’t choose a library or computer lab as their preferred environment for group projects or study groups unless they’re forced to.  In most of those locations, there are restrictions on noise levels, food, drink, physical access, and software installation/configuration.  If students can get together at a campus cafe or in a refectory to work together, they will.  By way of example: every day the refectory at my university is full of students working together, because that is their preferred space to do so.

But they can’t get internet access there - not without an apparent struggle.  I work in an office just above the refectory, and one of my colleagues (in the same office) reports that there’s no signal.  Even if they can get a signal, the process of actually logging in and getting network access is difficult or impossible for the apparent majority.

Then, of course, there are all the affordances of the internet that could be brought into learning situations.  Students can look up definitions or supporting materials in lectures, using a wiki to collaboratively create lecture notes, or blogging an experiment or other learning experience, live from a student lab.

For mobile learning - and even for flexible learning - at any educational institution, equipping formal and informal learning spaces (such as social spaces) with fundamental enabling technologies like wireless internet access has to be at the top of the priority list.  It even makes sense from a budget point of view, as every laptop a student brings in and uses takes pressure off the student labs.  This, in turn, reduces the amount that has to be spent on standard-image, admin-locked, physical lab computers… and frees students to use their own computers which can be configured to best support their particular program of study.  That’s what I call win-win!

I attended the Apple Mobile Learning Roadshow last week, held at Sydney’s Maritime Museum; and I know other M-Learning bloggers will be interested to hear about this event.  It was attended by well over 150 people, and a glance over the name badges indicated that most attendees were from the higher education sector.  All attendees were loaned an iPod Touch 16GB to use during the seminar:

The device was pre-loaded with a number of “apps” (applications/software) that supported learning, most of which were “connected” (i.e. they used or required an internet connection) rather than standalone, and it was a good chance to play with a few new ones (such as this Molecular Modelling app) that I haven’t seen before.

As a designer myself, I happen to love love Apple products - but I am no “fanboy”.  I love the quality, ease-of-use, flair for innovation, and sophisticated, minimalist industrial design that Apple have built their reputation on.  However, in my original evaluation of the iPod Touch (written a full year before the Apps store was released), I was dissatisfied with the device’s lack of certain content creation tools (camera or audio recorder, for example) and its closed proprietary architecture.

Over the past couple of years, Apple have done a great deal to redress these initial shortcomings.  The launch of the Apps Store late last year meant that developers all over the world could finally create ways to use the iPod Touch and iPhone that (I’m sure) nobody at Apple could have envisioned, and opened up these devices for customisation to the needs of users - and learners.  Some of the new apps have helped overcome the shortcomings of the original devices, such as adding advanced recording (and uploading) capabilities to the iPod Touch, and improving the capability of these mobile devices to support constructivist pedagogies.

Much of the Mobile Learning Roadshow explored the various apps that have been created for the iPhone and iPod Touch (including the two linked above).  It turns out that some universities (such as Stanford and Duke universities) have gone so far as to create customised iPhone apps for accessing various aspects of student life, including courses, campus maps (working with the iPhone’s own GPS) and university information. I can see these working well to engage students and provide them with support at (quite literally) their fingertips.

In my opinion, the Apps Store made the iPod Touch and the iPhone significantly more viable as an m-learning device: I could even go so far as to say that the ability to customise and add functionality should be a central tenet of practically all digital devices aiming for lifestyle ubiquity and flexibility.  Since m-learning ties in heavily with concepts of ubiquitous learning, convenience, flexibility and personalisation, I’m sure you’ll understand my initial concerns with the iPod Touch and the iPhone, prior to the opening of the Apps Store.

Some of the Apps that are currently available for supporting learning are really good.  The capacitive multi-touch screen of the iPod Touch and the iPhone are perfectly suited for interacting with 3D models and detailed diagrams, and one developer has managed to fit *all* of Wikipedia into an App that can be used offline on an iPod Touch or iPhone.  Such applications can be particularly valuable for reference, revision, learning from instruction, or for learning activities based on exploration and investigation of existing resources.

The major gripe I have with these learning resources, of course, is not with the resources themselves (which, as I said, are terrific), but with the equity and interoperability issues that accompany most advanced personal learning tools on expensive proprietary platforms.  In a mixed educational environment, there will always be students who cannot afford an iPod Touch or iPhone, making it unethical to mandate the use of these Apps for learning in situations where the same application cannot be used via some other platform to provide equal opportunity and equal access.  Unlike personal computers (which can be made available via “student labs”), it’s not *usually* possible to have “public access” iPods to correct these equity issues; and mandating that *all* students purchase an iPod Touch (for example) will never be met with enthusiasm by those students who can least afford to meet that particular institutional requirement; with even less enthusiasm when some students discover they only have one class each semester that actually *uses* the things; and with dismay when they realise that they bought an iPod Touch this year, but are required to upgrade to the latest version of the device next year to keep up with the latest Apps and/or university standards.

The other gripe I have with the Apps model is that Apple gets to be judge, jury, and executor of all applications that want to be on iPod Touch and iPhone devices.  As Cory Doctorow correctly states in this blog post, that means that it can impose its view on what should or should not be available as an App, and represents a restriction to the freedom of software and, potentially, of thought.

Personal gripes aside, things have certainly progressed a long way for the iPod Touch and iPhone.  While the presenters wouldn’t comment on the issue, I’m personally very optimistic that the next generation of iPhones and iPod Touch devices will come complete with the core functionalities lacking in the current and previous iterations of the hardware (e.g. video recording and MMS), which will make them so much more useful for all kinds of constructivist learning activities centring around learner created content and the sharing of content.

Moving right along, the presentation also looked at iTunes U, a content distribution model for iTunes targetting the higher education sector.  iTunes U allows podcast content to be distributed to university staff and students allong organisational lines - for example, restricted to a class, a department, a faculty, to anyone in the university, or to the world at large.  Stanford University recently made big news all over the world by making its content on developing apps for the iPhone public via its iTunes U presence.  The course received well over a million hits and generated considerable publicity for the university (and for Apple!).  It’s a good example of what can be done in higher education to show off great ideas and opportunities and attract students and industry attention alike.

One recent interesting development in mobile learning has been the creation of mobile interfaces for Online Learning Environments.  Here at the University of Canberra, I’ve been investigating one particular extension for the University’s new Moodle-based learning environment: the free and open source Mobile Learning Engine (MLE).

MLE provides a mobile interface to Moodle in two different ways.

1. It features a custom Java application, capable of running on the majority of contemporary mobile phones. Some testing on different handsets shows that this Java application run on different handsets and at different resolutions. The big advantage of a custom Java application as a mobile interface is that the entire interface is dedicated to accessing Moodle functionality, rather than trying to fit Moodle menus and commands within a web browser, with its own menus and commands.  As an example of how this simplifies things, the MLE interface has its own internal bookmarking system, which operates consistently between handsets.  By contrast, different handsets designed by different manufacturers each have their own web browser which implements bookmarks in different ways, making it very difficult to train a user in how to bookmark a Moodle page as the process is specific to their device.
2. For handsets that cannot install the Java application to access Moodle, a standard web/browser-based interface can be used to access MLE.  This provides a “fallback” for students wishing to access Moodle but unable to install Java, or, for example, using a friend’s phone to quickly check their online course materials.

Of particular interest to me is MLE’s implementation of “Mobile Tags” - a QR Code reader built into its Java client. While this doesn’t appear to work on my handset, it has a lot of potential in terms of supporting situated learning activities and linking realia and printed learning resources with online and rich media via mobile devices.

I’ve had a chance to play with our own implementation of MLE, and while it may need a little polishing, it’s well on the way to being an excellent product for mobile learning.

A number of educators have started experimenting with the use of first-person “Point Of View” (POV) video to record learning and assessment.  A hub of activity has begun at the EduPOV site, with a conference (AUPOV) planned for later in the year.

I’ve been interested in first-person perspective video for some time, as I can see it having many uses for learning (e.g. facilitating augmented recall of a learning activity), sharing experiences (particularly ones requiring special skills), and providing evidence for assessment. Here’s a concept photo I created (in 2006!!!) that illustrates where I thought POV might go… one day!

The video camera(s) (possibly one on each side for stereo spatial recognition) would drive the display of information that would be viewed on the transparent OLED lenses of the glasses - an advanced form of augmented reality.  At present, however, first-person cameras are limited to recording, rather than augmenting, vision. So my current EduPOV setup is considerably simpler than where I envision this kind of thing leading!

That’s a photo of my POV glasses, with the camera visible as the small dot on the shoulder of the glasses.  The camera is VGA quality (640×480) and also takes still photographic shots, with an 8GB memory capacity - that’s a fair bit of video, and more than can be recorded on its 2-hour internal li-ion battery.  I paid under US$100 for these, including postage, and the glasses also have a built-in MP3 player and FM radio; the lenses are hinged and flip up, and can be replaced.

I’m experimenting with these for a number of different learning activities at present:

• Augmented recall & reflection: learners can record learning activities in which they participate, and then play back the experience to absorb additional detail or to pick up on mistakes they may have made during the activity.
• Rich media creation: you’ve all seen the videos taken from the first-person-perspective of insane snowboard riders or rally car drivers.  POV can be used to record experiences that require special skills to “share” these experiences with learners or peers.
• “In Your Shoes”: The learner conducts a face-to-face role-play, for example, a client interview, with the OTHER person wearing the POV glasses.  They can then review the video of themselves, from the OTHER person’s point of view, to reflect critically on their own performance and to empathise with the other person’s perspective or impressions.
• Recording assessment: learners can record themselves demonstrating a competency, and talking through the process to provide an idea of what they’re thinking as they complete the task.  The video would then be uploaded to a site, LMS, or e-portfolio for an assessor or employer to view.  This could be used effectively for distance-based or online assessment of competency-based tasks.

How are YOU using POV (or thinking POV might be used) to enhance learning and teaching?

Hello world!

My absence from the edublogosphere (is it still called that?  Was it ever called that? :D) was noted by many of you, and on behalf of the curveballs that life threw me I would like to humbly apologise for the almost-one-year since my last post.

As old friends do, however, let’s catch up!  I hope very much that the year that’s passed has been kind to you and that you’ve been enjoying a happy and successful 2009 thus far.  This year has brought sweeping changes in my life, one of the most significant being a new job with significantly bigger possibilities for me to put into practice many of the ideas and possibilities for mobile learning that I’ve shared with you here over the last three years.

I’m now working as an E-Learning Designer at the University of Canberra’s Teaching and Learning Centre (”TLC” - I  really <3 its acronym ).  It’s a fantastic team and I’m absolutely loving it… and I’m also very much enjoying working on a university campus that’s full of life every day.  The University of Canberra recently implemented Moodle as its Learning Management System, and it has been warmly received by both academics and students alike.

In addition to an excellent online learning environment, there’s considerable interest in mobile learning at UC. My new team is currently investigating the possibility of making Moodle accessible via mobile devices, and a number of lecturers are already exploring podcasts and vodcasts.  One of the more exciting discoveries I made when I started here was the use of a tool called Votapedia, which allows teachers to get instant responses from students in the manner of “audience response systems” - simply using students’ mobile phones to dial a number and hang up.  Caller ID means that each student can only vote once… and the results can be instantly aggregated and displayed.  Best of all, because the call never connects, the system is free!

M-learning itself has taken off in a big way over the last year.  Most exciting to me was the sudden interest in the use of QR Codes in teaching and learning that has taken hold around the world.  I may have been the first to see the potential of QR Codes as a means of providing authentic, situated learning experiences way back at the start of 2006, and I’ve been thrilled by others who have taken up the idea and run with it.

The netbook is the another thing I’ve been getting excited about.  Highly functional, mobile computing became incredibly affordable during the last 12 months, and the shared “dream” of the Alan Kay’s Dynabook and Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC - with every learner equipped with a portable, digital learning platform - is edging ever nearer in developing and first-world countries alike.

Hmmm… that will do for a start!  But I promise to start writing here again regularly with some of the dozens of opportunities and possibilities that have come to light recently for mobile learning practitioners everywhere!

I’ve previously written about Winksite, a service that allows users to create free mobile websites using a CMS-like interface (simply switching on or off various tools and editing options).  Now there’s a new free mobile web site hosting and authoring service called Wirenode, which (instead of a CMS-like, “Web 1.0″ interface) uses a Web 2.0/AJAX interface to create mobile websites and integrate Web 2.0 services including Twitter, LinkedIn, RSS, image galleries, or other “widgets”.  The integration also works back into Web 2.0, with a Wirenode widget available for Facebook and Mobile Facebook.  Awesome!

Unlike Winksite, which is almost completely textual in both content and presentation, Wirenode incorporates media and interactivity, which may even be uploaded by the user, and there’s even an analytics tool for users who like to see how many visitors/students are checking out their mobile site.

It’s a terrific tool to help teachers or students create and present information in a mobile format, and a must-see for other educators interested in utilising mobile devices for enhancing and supporting teaching and learning.

(via Learning Elearning)

Tags: wirenode, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mobile, website, site, web, mobileweb, 2.0, web2.0, mobile2.0

Here’s today’s awesome m-learning find: a website where anyone can create a multiple choice quiz which is compatible with the vast majority of current mobile phones (it runs as a Java application, which most of today’s cellphones support).

The site is called Mobile Study, and the finished multiple choice quizzes can be downloaded to a mobile phone from a computer, by visiting a URL with a mobile phone browser, via an SMS message (a small allocation of free messages is provided for each account), or even by using a QR Code (which you should be able to do if you’ve been following my thread on 2D Barcodes!).  If you or your students prefer Social Web applications to mobile ones, it’s also worth noting that quizzes can be made for Facebook, and if a walled garden is your course approach of choice, yes, quizzes can even be imported into Moodle.

Given that there are a large number of ACT Innovative E-Learning Projects that have, as a component, various formative assessment needs, this site should prove to be extremely useful!

You can try out some of the sample quizzes here - they can be done online to give you an idea of how the quizzes provide feedback, or you can install the sample quizzes to your mobile phone for the full m-learning experience.

Happy quizzing!

(via Ignatia Webs)

Tags: quiz, quizzes, assessment, jar, java, jad, mlearning, m-learning, mobilelearning, mobile, learning, mobile-learning, education, mobile study, mobilestudy, mobile-study, qr code, qrcode, 2dbarcode, 2d barcode, qr-code, 2d-barcode

I went to check out CeBIT Australia yesterday to spy out the latest innovations in educational mobile technology. There was lots of the usual - IT service providers, the word “solutions,” and booth-babes aplenty - but a few terrific new m-learning gizmos as well.

Having heard lots about their development overseas, I was particularly rapt to check out some pico-projectors in the metal… and what’s even cooler is that these ones are Aussie designed and made, with a release due later this year. The Digismart (from Digislide in South Australia) is a tiny “pocket projector” that displays a fluid, monitor-sized image on a screen a short distance away. The image below does it no justice, as it’s hard to see how small it is - the entire device is smaller than my hand print, and is certainly small enough for the technology to be integrated with mobile devices such as phones or media players in the future:

We had a go with projecting a Pixar short film on a screen, and while the brightly-lit exhibition hall made things challenging, DigiSlide are anticipating that the release model will be over three times brighter than the engineering sample on display.

I anticipate that picoprojectors like the DigiSmart will become very useful tools in the kit of mobile teachers and learners of the future, for sharing information and ideas on the go and for making teaching and learning more mobile and more rich.

Other innovators interested in DigiSlide’s technologies can check out their website at http://www.digislide.com.au

Tags: digislide, digismart, pico, projector, projectors, pico-projectors, picoprojectors, mini, pocket, mobile, led, australian, cebit, 2008

One of my favourite tech bloggers, iJustine (Justine Ezarik) posted a YouTube vid of her having a conversation with her alter-ego, “eJustine” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S1BnyY3RWc):

For those of you unable (or unwilling) to view the video, the scene is of iJustine coming across eJustine, who’s busily updating her Facebook, sending e-cards, and “maintaining her social network”. iJustine uses her iPhone to hook up with some friends who are going to eat out together and then head to a concert, while eJustine declines the invite as she has to keep up with her online “friends”.

Which Justine are you? eJustine, who’s digitally immersed and values her online and virtual relationships and channels as much - or perhaps even more - than her real-life ones? Or iJustine, who uses technology as an enabler - a tool to enrich her real life with authentic experiences and in-person relationships?

It’s particularly revealing that iJustine utilises her cellphone as her preferred technology platform: a digital tool that makes her mobile, and enables her to connect, communicate, reflect and share while she goes about her (real) life, rather than chaining her down away from the world.

And all of this goes to the heart of why I’m so interested in mobile learning.

Tags: ijustine, ejustine, mobile, cellphone, ezarik, education, technology, mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning

I’ve been following Dean Shareski’s blog posts on mobile learning this year. Dean’s ongoing experiences with learners using mobile phones as learning tools continue to demonstrate what’s possible when it comes to using the advanced capabilities of cellphones in learning contexts.

In Dean’s latest installment, he suggested that classroom teacher Carla Dolman be invited to do a session on her use of cellphones at the recent TLT conference. She brought along some of her students to help her, and between them they fielded the Big Questions so often asked by educators at any session on mobile learning:

Dean relates that not only did the students handle these tough questions, but they were even able to facilitate a hands-on learning experience, demonstrating to these educators how they shared files via Bluetooth. A favourite quote from the New Zealand film “Whale Rider” comes to mind, the scene where the tribal chieftain, Koro, addresses his granddaughter Paikea: “Wise leader, forgive me. I am only a fledgling new to flight”.

Dean’s hoping to create an online version of the students’ presentation, to share their insights with a wider, online audience. I’m anticipating it keenly. For the meantime, you can view this video of Carla and some of her students talking about their experiences with mobile learning in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhAH6nncCKw

Tags: mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, edtech, edutech, educational, technology, cellphone, cellphones, mobile, phone, phones, classroom, education, school, learning, teaching