Mobile Learning

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.

Mobile Tools Extravaganza

In particular, it comes with tools and instructions to convert just about any video format (including DVD, and most codecs) to formats suitable for playing on most mobile devices: PDAs, iPod Video, Sony PSPs, even mobile phones. There’s an article on page 82 about how to shoot video to optimise it for mobile devices. And there’s an article on how to use a PDA as a wireless streaming media device, universal remote control, or wireless media controller.

Apart from Mobile Learning tools and resources, there’s also an article on page 75 on working with wikis – the start of a series of wiki articles to be featured in the next few editions of the magazine; and an article on web video sites (including social web /Web 2.0 video sites).

Tomorrow marks the start of the E-Learning Networks Online event, an online conference using synchronous and asynchronous tools to connect educators from around the country. This time, it’s about social networking (Web 2.0 tools) for e-learning.

Mobile learning is very much integrated into discussions, as many social networking tools (such as blogs, flickr, and youtube) allow users to update their pages remotely using just a mobile phone or PDA. Furthermore, podcasts provide another medium that has potential to be adapted to mobile contexts.

Registration is free (http://networksevents.flexiblelearning.net.au/), with sessions relating specifically to mobile learning including:

• Podcasting & Vblogging in Education Stephan Ridgway
• Mobile Learning Technologies Daniel Dacey
• Connected Learning: Contemplating the Mobile Read / Write Web Alexander Hayes
• Mobile Learning and the New Generations Jeff Hunter

…as well as a number of sessions on other social networking and Web 2.0 tools, technologies, and applications.

Toolbox Learning Objects Go Mobile

I’m moblogging this post from our Toolbox Champions workshop in Melbourne. We’re looking at some of the latest developments with the Flexible Learning Toolboxes. Some Toolbox learning objects can be converted into mobile learning objects (though this may require some development skills and knowledge). Here’s one example, using a horticulture Toolbox in a New Practices Project, that was done by TAFE Tasmania last year.

Flickr Moblogging…

I just connected this blog with my Flickr account, immediately turning it into a moblog. The Flickr site is capable of interfacing with all of the major blog protocols, including the WordPress protocol (used here at edublogs.org), allowing me to post images and posts to this blog from my mobile phone or PDA using email.

While the process of connecting up social web (Web 2.0) services in this way may be a bit more complicated that an out-of-the box moblogging solution like that at http://moblogs.co.uk, it’s a great solution for experienced bloggers who want more convenience and functionality, and the ability to post images directly to the web.

(This post was posted using the Flickr email blogging service).

Some researchers in the field of mobile learning refer to “ubiquitous learning” (meaning “everywhere at once”). They refer to the ability of a learning tool, resource or technology to be available to a learner everywhere they go – although it might only be deployable on a very specialised platform such as a PDA equipped with GPS (e.g. http://cnm.open.ac.uk/projects/prolearn/mobiles/m02.html). The paradigm for ubiquitous learning is that if you have the right gear, you can then access your learning anywhere.

It’s a nice idea, but the risk of “u-learning” is that many (if not most) “ubiquitous” approaches rely on data connectivity either via mobile phone (GPRS) or wireless data networking (802.11a/b/g), both of which require expensive hardware and considerable ongoing costs for mobile bandwidth. Unless the hardware is supplied to a group of learners, and the costs of connectivity are paid for, there’s a real risk that not everyone in a learner group will have the resources available to access the learning opportunity or resource, making for a potentially inequitable situation.

It’s for this reason that I prefer to focus on making learning resources deliverable to, and usable on, a range of devices (mobile or otherwise). For example, a video resource can potentially be viewed on a PDA, a Video iPod, a normal desktop computer, or even many mobile phones, making it accessible to a wide range of learners with varying preferences or opportunities. Bearing in mind the strong similarities in human, technical and pedagogical best practice between mobile (m-) and computer-based (e-) learning, I like to think of “ME-learning” – a learner-centric approach to the deployment of flexible learning, in a way that makes it accessible, cross-platform compatible, and equitable in terms of its ability to be used by learners of widely varying socio-economic statuses and digital literacy levels, on the widest possible range of delivery platforms, both computer-based and mobile.

By making learning opportunities accessible on a wide range of platforms, a ME-learning philosophy facilitates a personalised learning experience (the “ME” in ME-learning), such that a learner can access learning on their choice of preferred mobile device, or on a normal desktop computer if that was the preferred or only available option.

Ultimately, the best solutions will combine both U and ME approaches: accessible by the widest range of learners, on the widest range of platforms, and available everywhere. It’s certainly possible to create persistent ME resources (stored in a mobile device’s memory) that can be carried everywhere with learners; but it may be some time until we see data connectivity to a wide range of mobile devices at a price that makes it a reasonable option for the vast majority.