Why Every E-Learning Program Needs M-Learning August 31, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in General, Pedagogy, Uncategorized.add a comment
An interesting discourse on how “well-designed and incorporated mobile learning (m-learning) maximises effectiveness of delivery, enhances access, and accomodates multiple learning styles,” has been blogged by by Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Her broader perspective of mobile learning tools, attention to situated learning approaches, and thoughts on how mobile learning can be used in various learning contexts is interesting and refreshing, and she provides practical tips on making mobile learning engaging and accessible.
technorati tags:m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, situated, pedagogy, education
Blogged with Flock
The Future of M-Learning August 30, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in General, Situated.3 comments
Mobile learning has existed as long as learning itself: a book is a mobile learning resource, and so is a cassette walkman. Both of these tools enable a learner to take information resources with them to learn mobile-ly. And a cassette walkman is just as valid a source of audio learning as an iPod. Sure, it’s not as sexy, maybe; but by the time the sound reaches my ears from either device, it’s essentially the same thing.
What differentiates the current crop of mobile tools (such as mobile phones, PDAs, and iPods) is that they support a digital, connected learning environment, providing a compactness and convenience of information, a remote and instant access to a range of people and resources, and an ability to process data, that was never previously possible.
This translates to education opportunities that have previously never been possible - rather than pre-made resources, which must be collected and carried by a learner prior to “going mobile,” mobile learners can now get information remotely on demand; record information from wherever they are in a number of formats; communicate with other people such as other learners or teachers; and use the processing power in their pockets to achieve tasks they could not otherwise accomplish unassisted.
These new opportunities provide the basis of my learner-centric “Four R’s model” of mobile learning activities. When viewed through this activity model, it’s clear that these learner interactions will always be useful adjuncts to teaching and learning practices; indeed, Stephen Downes has previously commented on how simply “teaching and learning” these activity classifications seem. It’s because of the inherent usefulness of these activities that I don’t see them as a fad; rather, as standards become further established, and DIY content tools are made available, I believe mobile digital devices will become increasingly affordable, accessible, and predictable platforms for facilitating learning.
My ultimate vision for m-learning is a personal, connected mobile device that provides a full range of connected information and communications services, providing a learner with contextualised, situated learning opportunities through a real-world interface (whether this is achieved through a symbology such as 2D Barcodes, or through image recognition as hypothesised by Stephen Downes).
The Age reported in 2005 that 8 million phones were sold in Australia in 2004, and that the vast majority of mobile phones sold are equipped with built-in cameras. That’s close to one new mobile phone sold in 2004 for every two people in Australia. It adds that 13.7 million MMS messages were sent in the 12 months leading up to July 2004 - the figure two years later would be considerably higher, as analysis of the Net Gen demographic points to instant messaging (such as SMS and MMS) becoming their preferred option for communication, validating IDC Market research cited in this paper on mobile learning in higher education (citing Chaisatien, W. (2004). Australian cellular 2004–2008 forecast and analysis: Upwardly mobile. IDC Market Analysis, #AU202116L, Vol. 1.).
All of these indicators point to camera phones, and MMS, being readily available for the majority of adult learners within a relatively short period of time - particularly among younger attendees. I believe that there is far better penetration of mobile technologies amongst students than among teachers - if educators want to capitalise on the tools available to students, we’ll need to savvy up quickly!
In a world where sources of information are as plentiful as versions of “the truth”, I envisage the ability to communicate with trusted peers and mentors as vital. In a world where the amount of new technical information currently doubles every two years, and by 2010 will double every 72 hours 
, I see a future where imagination will be the new intelligence: where the ability to quickly adapt to change, and to connect with the most up-to-date information will be more important than what we can memorise and repeat, and the ability to do this anywhere will be essential. Even now, resisting change is like holding your breath: if you succeed, you die.
I see a future of learning that is mobile, personal and connected; and in which the real world and real people provide the context and validation of new learning experiences and rapidly evolving opportunities.
(Abridged repost of this post in EdNa forums).
technorati tags:fourrs, m-learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, mlearning, future, vision, socialweb, mlearning2.0, m-learning2.0, mobility, mobile, carnivalofmobilists, mobilists, carnivalofthemobilists
Blogged with Flock
Mobile Web Best Practices Checker August 30, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, PDA, Standards, Technical, WAP, Web 2.0.add a comment
W3C have been actively pursuing standards to enable mobile browsing fromt he web a reality, through their Mobile Web Initiative. Following the release of their Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 earlier this year, they have now provided an alpha version of an automated guidelines checker, to help check mobile websites for conformance with their new recommended standard.
If you’re developing web-based learning content for mobile devices, I’d recommend working with the new W3C standard and using their guidelines checker, as we move towards improved usability and standardisation on the mobile web.
technorati tags:mobileweb, w3c, standards, guidelines, mobilelearning, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning
Blogged with Flock
Nimbuzz: Connecting Mobile and Web users for free? August 23, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, Mobile Phone, Pedagogy, Products, SMS, Situated, Social, Technical, Web 2.0, Wireless.4 comments
Mobilecrunch, a blog on “Mobile 2.0″ connective technologies, reports a new product that promises to connect the global community of 1.1 billion Internet users with 2.2 billion mobile communication device users, in real time (synchronously), for “free”:
I’ve had the good fortune to have been given access to Nimbuzz for
the last few weeks. My testing has convinced me that once widely
deployed, this application has the potential to shake mobile
communication service providers to their very core…The application supports voice, presence and messaging and it does
so between mobile devices, PC’s, and mobile to PC or PC to mobile.
What’s more, these features are available to both individuals and to
groups and there’s multimedia support so that in addition to voice and
text, photographs can also be shared.Using Nimbuzz you can participate in group and/or individual chats,
send SMS messages anywhere in the world for 10 cents, leave or retreive
a message, or call a friend anywhere in the world while only paying for
a local call (with INCREDIBLE SOUND QUALITY, I might add). The Nimbuzz
client supports access to many major instant messaging communities like
MSN and has the ability to let you send a “Buzz” which allows you to
alert offline buddies to go online.Group messaging and conference calling are all supported and again, the cost is only that of a local call…
This is very exciting news indeed, and brings my vision for a connected web and mobile learning environment a step closer to reality. I’ve downloaded a copy of Nimbuzz to my mobile phone - installation was very easy - but at present I lack people to try it out with (though the automated helpbot account that comes with the installation is both helpful and witty).
I’ve tried connecting with my Google Talk account (above) and it works beautifully, so I’m very optimistic… but if you’d like to try out Nimbuzz with me, download the software (for Windows or most Mobiles) and contact me with your Nimbuzz account name! Or feel free to call or message me - my Nimbuzz account name is (very imaginatively, I know) “leonardlow”. 
technorati tags:nimbuzz, mobilelearning, m-learning, mlearning, social, instantmessaging, googletalk, gtalk, mobile2.0, convergence, networking, socialnetworking, connectivism, socialconstructivism
Blogged with Flock
A new home for Instructional Video August 21, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Mobile LOs, Video.add a comment
YouTube and Google Video are all very well, but there’s an awful amount of lip-synching teenagers and viral advertisements to wade through to find videos that are licensed for and suitable for use as mobile learning video content.
While still in Beta, a new site being set up with a focus on instructional video content, called VideoJug. This CNet report highlights some of the potential uses of, and sources for, the site’s content - which is quite sophisticated and has lots of very interesting clips already available.
technorati tags:video, mobilevideo, instructionalvideo, mobilelearning, m-learning, mlearning, youtube, googlevideo, videojug
Blogged with Flock
denCity: location-specific QR-Code project August 21, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in 2D Barcodes, Applications, Interactive, Mobile Phone.add a comment
denCIty is a student project originating in Germany, which is intended to create “virtual networks of real places”.
QR-Codes (2D barcodes) are used to physically tag buildings and urban sites. Using a mobile phone, users can take a picture of any QR-Code tag, which provides information on the location on the user’s mobile phone.
The example on the right shows the denCity system used to obtain information on a karaoke bar, which in turn links to information on other related locations (other karaoke bars) - with maps showing their bearing and distance from the current physical location.
In a learning context, denCity could be used to tag locations with interactive, location-specific information, to provide a contextualised, situated learning experience. It could also be used to link to other related locations in the area, providing learners with a real life “treasure hunt” of information. And the “guestbook” attached to each location makes for a more interactive and communicative learning experience…
Arrrr! A real-life Treasure Hunt, eh, with codes and all? Can anyone say “Polly want a QRacker”?
technorati tags:dencity, 2dbarcode, m-learning, mobilelearning, mlearning, qr-code, qrcode, situatedlearning, cellphone
Blogged with Flock
M-Learning With Adobe Captivate and Flash Lite 2 August 21, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, PDA, Products, Technical.1 comment so far
M-learning is starting to really take off, with more and more attention from developers, platform and application providers, and the mainstream press.
This article, written for developers, explores the possibilities of creating content with using Adobe Captivate (a program that provides animated screen capture, text/audio captioning, and authoring), and publishing resources as Flash Lite 2 “Learning Objects” for mobile delivery. Flash Lite 2 is a version of Adobe Flash for delivering animated and interactive applications to mobile devices.
A tutorial and some useful advice on development and deployment is provided.
technorati tags:flashlite, flashlite2, mobilelearning, learningobjects, mobilelearningobjects, mlearning, m-learning, adobe, captivate, flash
Blogged with Flock
Creating Podcasts (Mac/Soundtrack Pro) August 21, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Audio, Podcasting, Recall.add a comment
There’s a great series on creating podcasts being authored at the Pod Pedagogy blog. While the article is written for users of Soundtrack Pro (for Macs only), Part 1 has excellent thoughts on why podcasting can be a Very Good Thing, and good tips for a podcast production setup in general, while Part 2 has more good ideas on recording and optimising podcasts that have general application.
technorati tags:podcast, podcasting, mobilelearning, m-learning, mlearning, ipod, soundtrackpro
Blogged with Flock
Find Out About Anything… Anywhere. August 21, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, Mobile Phone, Pedagogy, Photo, Products, Reinterpret.1 comment so far
Early in our August Community Networks Forum (where the current theme is m-learning), respected educator Stephen Downes made this comment:
I think the killer educational resource for PDAs (and esp. pre-packaged content for PDAs) will be photo-recognition.
When the built-in or string-camera in the PDA is presented with an object (say, a flower) it will be able to recognize the object and present appropriate learning materials (matched to the person’s previous learning, etc) and materials from the community.
That thought was eerily prophetic… for last week, Google annouced that they had bought photo-recognition software company Neven Vision, a company that produces a product called i-SCOUT, which they describe as a “visual Google”:
The image recognition algorithms can recognize anything from an ipod to a picture of the Mona Lisa to the flower in the above picture. Link this to a database of images and you have yourself a pretty nifty search platform for anyone sporting a camera phone.
Perhaps one day, we may have mobile devices capable of telling us what we’re looking at and providing us with learning opportunities relating the world around us to the learning paths we’ve set for ourselves:
It’s the ultimate fulfilment of situated, immersive, contextualised and connected learning, and it could be just around the corner…
technorati tags:photorecognition, google, mlearning, mobilelearning, m-learning, situated, contextualised, immersive, education, personal, pda, pocketpc, cellphone
Blogged with Flock
Video for Mobile Learning August 17, 2006
Posted by Leonard Low in Recall, Video.comments closed
Small portable videos can be an ideal medium for some learning areas. For example, one of my friends - a professional dance teacher - maintains videos of over 600 dance moves on his video iPod, which allows him to quickly search for and review more moves than anyone can remember on the go. From my personal experience as a dancer, there is no better way to accurately capture and revise dance moves than video: attempting to record the intricacies of dancing in text (even using a mobile database) is a bit like trying to write down a guitar solo using words. Here, have a look at the dance moves database I created (which is still a great tool, don’t get me wrong) - tell me if a video wouldn’t give you a better idea of how the move goes than the text description I’ve written; or, tell me how you’d convert this routine to text.
I’d imagine that there are other learning contexts where the ability to capture or playback video would be the most advantageous approach. Video is lifelike; it synchronises sound and action; it can accurately demonstrate a series of complex and inter-dependant steps or a sequence of events. And using a mobile recording device, video can be relatively easily captured. (You can learn how to capture mobile video optimally here, at MobiFilm Academy).
The ability to recall video as a learning resource while mobile is particularly advantageous for situations where the need to access the learning resource is not likely to be conveniently located near an internet-connected PC. Dance is a perfect example of such a situation. We dance socially in nightclubs; we learn dancing in studios; we tend to travel interstate and even overseas a lot to attend workshops and competitions. We never dance near a convenient PC, or drag a laptop out to the nightclubs with us - even a PDA is a bit on the geeky/chunky side. A mobile phone would be the ideal way to access learning materials in a “cool” environment.
Videos are also a great way to share visually complex information socially - the success of YouTube and Google Video demonstrates the popularity of video as a sharing medium. With copyright reform in Australia that makes it easier to use Internet materials for education, and strong support for Creative Commons/Copyleft/Public Domain video sharing, video sharing sites are becoming increasingly useful as places to find learning materials - which can be converted into mobile forms using video conversion tools such as Super.
Here’s an example video from YouTube made by Leigh Blackall that I reckon would be a pretty good mobile learning resource (on making a flat white coffee). The resource could be accessed by a mobile learner while at a cafe where they are being trained; it has an appropriate amount of visual detail, and demonstrates the timing and interconnectedness of steps in the coffee-making process, and visual aspects such as the final crema.
technorati tags:mobilelearning, mlearning, mobile-learning, video, mobilevideo, education, youtube, googlevideo
Blogged with Flock
