Mobile Learning

The library service in my state has just implemented an online electronic library. With just your library card (and PIN) here in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), you can now download any of hundreds of books in electronic text or audio e-book form. Most of the books “expire” after a set “loan period,” (using Digital Rights Management), but this is still an innovative way to allow library patrons to access resources

• without having to physically visit a library
• enabling more concurrent borrowers of a particular resource than physical books or recordings would allow
• enabling borrowers to conveniently store, carry, and access borrowed resources using the portable media players, PDAs and mobile phones. No more heavy library bags!
• without having to worry about physically returning library books or getting slapped with overdue fines

There are, of course, other online electronic libraries such as Project Gutenberg (which also has an Australian Archive). These usually have great classic titles – on which the copyright has expired – but can’t make the latest publications available.

The new online ACT Public Library Service enables some of the latest and most popular releases to be accessed and used far more flexibly and conveniently – a very good thing indeed for mobile learners here.

(via  Online Teacher Network)

technorati tags:library, online, e-book, ebook, pdf, gutenberg, education, mlearning, m-learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, drm, loan

It’s a bit of fun, but in addition to being a good guide to mobile phone ettiquette, this podcast provides an example of a short piece of engaging audio learning content, suitable for delivery on a mobile phone, PDA, or media player.

The length, content, and style of delivery all lend themselves to mobile delivery, although the narrator speaks a little fast. A text transcript of the podcast is also provided at the Mr Manners site, which is a good example of providing the content in alternative forms, allowing learners to engage with the material in their preferred medium or style.

(via SolSie.com)

technorati tags:manners, m-learning, podcast, audio, mlearning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning

Tony Vincent at the Learning in Hand blog has created a new page on how iPods can be used for teaching and learning – and it’s not just for playing audio and video files:

Learn about functionality like syncing calendars and address book contacts, dictionaries, text files, PowerPoint slides, multiple choice quizzes, and other interactive content.

Check out his main iPods in Education page here to see all the things that iPods can do as learning tools – top rate, Tony!

technorati tags:ipod, education, learning in hand, teaching, learning, students, teachers, mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mlearning

I’ve just found a site called SpinVox, which allows you to call a number on your mobile (or any phone), leave a message, and have it automatically converted into any text format – SMS, email, or even a blog post. The blogging service, Speak-A-Blog, works like this:

Simply call your Speak-a-Blog^TM number and speak your post. SpinVox converts it to text and posts the entry live to your blog, within minutes.

Sounds like a fast and simple way for learners to make journal entries on the go – particularly if their work or study environment doesn’t favour taking the time to laboriously compose an email or message using a mobile phone number pad. 

SpinVox is a bit like the opposite of the Talkr text-to-speech service I use on all of my blog entries to convert my typed blog entries into a spoken, downloadable form that many people find more convenient for accessing as a podcast or audio file for listening on their iPod, mobile phone or PDA.  Using audio as a data interface while on the move can be more flexible and easy-to-manage than typing on a small keypad, or reading off a small screen; Talkr and SpinVox are two services which have recognised this with their services.

In addition to processing blog entries, SpinVox can also convert spoken messages to emails or SMS messages, and can convert other peoples’ Voicemail messages to you into text and send them to you in that form. SpinVox is based in the UK, but available internationally, and working with service providers here in Australia and around the world, so we can expect to hear more about them soon all over the world… or should I say, read more?

technorati tags:spinvox, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, speech2text, text2speech, mlearning, m-learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, mobile learning, speak-a-blog, speak-a-text, voicemail, sms, email

Mogopop is a free Web 2.0 site that allows you to create interactive movies, “sites” and books for iPods. It incorporates an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editing system, and a built-in iPod preview window so you can see how your content will look on your iPod, as you create it.

Here’s a video introduction to Mogopop:

http://resources.mogopop.com/help/what_is.mov

Given that iPods are probably second only to mobile phones in terms of ownership, and provide rich media features and storage capacities not yet available in mobile phones, I’d say using iPods as a publishing platform might be very useful for a number of educators out there.

(via e-Clippings (learning as art)) 

technorati tags:mogopop, ipod, content, m-learning, mlearning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, apple, interactive

Steve Dembo, author of tech42.com has posted up a super video presentation entitled “Mobile Learning Redefined“. His “redefinition” centres around using the technology already in the pockets of students, rather than the introduction of “new” technologies. He covers a number of approaches already covered in this blog (such as 2D Barcodes, mobile web site tools, and moblogging), but also brings up a few new ideas worth exploring, such as:

• QuizFaber – QuizFaber creates multiple-choice quizzes for the mobile web
• Flickr – features a mobile version of Flickr.
• Mobilicio.us – Mobilicio.us allows you to remotely access your bookmarks, and Del.icio.us mona allows you to remotely save bookmarks
• Remote Podcasting – Gcast.com allows you to call a phone number to leave a message, which is instantly published as a podcast.

Check out the video here (warning: large file, 43MB).

“Mobile Learning Redefined”

(via Learning in Hand)

technorati tags:mlearning, m-learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, 2d barcodes, 2d barcode, semacode, datamatrix, data matrix, education, educational technology, ed tech, steve dembo, teach42.com

Create-A-Scape is a free resource for creating location-based learning experiences on Microsoft Mobile Pocket PCs called “MediaScapes,” and was workshopped at this month’s Handheld Learning 2006 conference in the UK.

Mediascapes are maps of areas that have sound and pictures associated with particular areas defined on them on a PC. The mediascape files are then copied to a PDA, and the sounds and pictures can be accessed – either manually, or triggered by GPS as the learner moves around the physical Mediascape.

The program has been designed to be (mostly) simple enough to be used by children, and is accompanied by a wealth of guides and resources to assist students and teachers with learning and using the tool. The tool has teaching and learning applications in a range of educational contexts.  As a tertiary-level learning tool, for example, learners could create their own maps of an ecosystem, accompanied by spoken commentary and images collected from the field. Alternatively, it could be used in an instructional manner, with spoken instruction or sounds being triggered by the learner’s physical situation or context.

The simplicity of the tool makes it a very flexible one. Allowing general “audio” and “images” to be attached to the maps makes the tool suitable for a full spectrum of imaginative learning activities.

technorati tags:audio, photos, pictures, images, sounds, pda, gps, location-based, situated, contextualised, learning, mobile, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning

Blogged with Flock

Pink Tentacle reports that Aimulet LA, a division of Japan’s Information Technology Research Institute, have developed a cheap, batteryless audio device – that could be used for situated learning.

You hold the small wafer, with an outer shell made from tough, renewable bamboo, to your ear like a cellphone. When you stand over special LED emitters in the ground, the unit receives light signals through special micro solar cells, and converts them into audio messages that are transmitted through a tiny speaker in the device.

The product has already been used at the 2005 World Expo, where Laurie Anderson’s Walk Project installation featured the Aimlet LA to allow visitors to wander through a Japanese-styled garden and listen to poems in four different languages.

The low cost and environmentally-friendly design of the device, which won the 2006 Good Design Award for Ecology Design, means that it could double up an entry ticket, pass or ID card.

technorati tags:aimulet, audio, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning

Blogged with Flock

“InterLingua Educational Publishing today launched NotePods, its collection of audio downloads for iPods and other MP3 players designed to help students with exams as well as term papers… available for [US]$1.99 each.”  The guides also come with text versions, readable on an iPod as an iPod e-book, and will be accompanied by online content. Full article on the MacNN site.

You can also create your own iPod (text) e-books using this online tool, which takes a web page or text file and turns it into a properly coded iPod e-book, without requiring any programming knowledge on the part of a teacher.  (via Pod Pedagogy).

technorati tags:ipod, notepod, mlearning, m-learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, audio, mp3, education, clcommunity, networkedlearning

Blogged with Flock

Levelator is a free program for Windows and Macintosh PCs to automatically adjust the volume of a podcast sound file to a normalised level. No more fiddling around in Audacity trying to get the volume normalised with your previous podcasts… Levelator will do it for you, saving you hours.

via Learning In Hand.

technorati tags:levelator, podcast, audio, mlearning, m-learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning