Mobile Learning

A new, innovative web application called ScanR turns your mobile phone into a mobile scanner. You take a picture of a whiteboard or document, and it will convert the image into a PDF file, which it then emails to you.

In the case of documents, it will even convert the document into formatted, searchable PDF text – much more useful than a JPG image of a document. And when you take a photo of a whiteboard, even at an angle, the service will make the final image clear and bold on a crisp white background. Both of these applications are ideally suited to electronically saving learning content for distribution to students; or for students to record their own learning content for their own reference. I’ve tried it out and can attest that the results are very satisfactory.

You can sign up using a mobile or email account at http://www.scanr.com/. The service is currently free, and the company advertises they will always maintain a free service.

Andy Ramsden, a Learning Technology Advisor at Bristol University in the UK recently posted up a great guide for educators designing podcasts. It contains a number of practical tips, gathered from practical experience, and is available as a three page downloadable PDF file from his mobile learning blog.

Auckland University has successfully implemented a first-in-the-world, SMS-based “learning on demand” service for its students.

The “StudyTXT” service, operating since October 2005, provides small amounts of information to students which can be stored on their mobile phones for later recall – the contemporary equivalent of study flashcards. The service is free to all Secondary and Tertiary education providers in NZ, so the only cost to students is the SMS call cost – about 30-50 cents a download, with students taking advantage of cheap off-peak rates to swap notes by phone.

Original news source at Computerworld.