Create Mobile Websites with Wirenode May 26, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, Products, Social, Web 2.0.add a comment
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
Create free quizzes for cellphones/ Facebook/ Moodle May 24, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in 2D Barcodes, Applications, Assessment, Interactive, Mobile, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, Products.3 comments
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
Free: SnagIt Screen Capture November 26, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Flash, Interactive, Mobile Phone, PDA, Products, Resources, Video.1 comment so far
TechSmith, who are still giving out copies of Camtasia Studio for free, are now also giving away another of their premium products, SnagIt.
Like Camtasia, SnagIt allows you to capture anything you see on your screen and save it and edit it for creating small instructional resources. However, SnagIt can be configured for “one-clicK” access on your computer, and allows you to capture high-quality still images as well as video. You can add effects and instructional text and graphics, and even make your tutorial interactive with clickable areas and text.
Click here to download SnagIt 7.2.5 (English)
Click here to download SnagIt 7.2.5 (German)
Click here to download SnagIt 7.2.5 (French)
Click here for a key to register SnagIt 7.2.5 demo as a fully licensed version.
Because SnagIt outputs interactive Flash files as well as images and video files, it can be used in a number of ways to create mobile learning content for PDAs, mobile phones and media players. It could also be used by learners to document their mastery of a computer-based process or to create content for sharing with other learners.
(via Freebies Blog)
Tags: snagit, camtasia, techsmith, flash, free, video, screen, capture, image, interactive, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, mobile learning, education, resources, tools
Using Mobile Phones for 3D Interactivity November 23, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in 2D Barcodes, Applications, Interactive, Mobile Phone, Products.3 comments
This video demonstrates what can be achieved by the convergence of mobile and virtual technologies. Created as a promotion for Wellington Zoo (New Zealand), it allows printed codes to “come to life” using a mobile phone. As you move your mobile phone camera around the code, a virtual 3D model rotates, pans and zooms as if it were an invisible spectre standing on the surface, viewable only through the camera lens:
Download (FLV)
While this demonstration uses a proprietary format for the printed tags, it’s quite possible for other optical symbologies (such as QR Code tags) to be used for exactly the same purpose, since they incorporate orientation information in the tags themselves (the three large squares in the corners of each code), as well as data-link information.
This use of mobile devices also points to the use of mobile devices as future platforms for virtual worlds and educational simulations using tools such as SecondLife and the (open-source) Croquet (and its educational variant, EduSim). In my opinion, we should see touchscreen-interactive virtual worlds appearing on mainstream mobile devices within the next two years - with the corresponding ability for all of us to merge a mobile, virtual existence with our mobile, real one.
The potential applications of such a technology in education could be enormous!
(via Mobhappy)
Tags: qrcode, qr code, edusim, secondlife, croquet, virtual worlds, vr, virtual reality, mobile, phone, cellphone, m-learning, mlearning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, interactive
FREE Talking Mobile Phrase Books for Languages July 5, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Audio, Interactive, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, Products.3 comments
Lastminute.com and Coolgorilla have made their talking phrasebooks FREE for a limited time (they used to cost £3 each).
These talking phrasebooks are great for learning languages “on the go”… the applications allow you to choose a phrase in English, and your mobile phone then “speaks” the phrase translated into whichever language you’ve selected.
Languages include French, Spanish, German, Portugese, and Greek… with topics including travel, accomodation, shopping and romance. 
Use your Nokia or Sony Ericcson phone browser to go to http://www.mobilephrasebooks.com/ to download the phrasebooks you want, directly to your phone.
(via Pocket Picks)
technorati tags:languages, spanish, french, german, portugese, greek, travel, accomodation, shopping, romance, mlearning, m-learning, mobile-learning, mobile learning, LOTE, phrasebook, cellphone, lastminute.com, coolgorilla
Free Mobile Poetry Resources May 1, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Assessment, Interactive, Mobile LOs, PDA, Products.add a comment
Tony Vincent at the Learning In Hand blog reports that K12 Handhelds has made some great poetry resources available, for use on Palm and Windows Mobile devices, as well as laptop and desktop PCs:
- Two mobile references in the (free) Mobipocket e-book format: a brief overview of “Types of Poetry,” and an anthology of some of the best classical poems.
- A Poetry Scavenger Hunt in Microsoft Word format, which can be viewed and completed on PDAs with Word software, or on a laptop or desktop computer.
- A brief poetry types quiz in Quizzler format.
- Links to additional supporting materials online.
- A guide to using these resources for classroom activities.
These are great resources, and provide good examples of what can be developed for mobile platforms using free authoring and reading software.
technorati tags:k12 handhelds, pda, palm, windows mobile, mobireader, quizzler, poetry, english, literature, literacy, education, language, poems, verse, forms, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning
iPoint - a flexible solution for situated learning February 27, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Interactive, Mobile LOs, PDA, Products, Situated.1 comment so far
I’ve come across this product called iPoint, which provides a fantastic way to create your own, customised maps, with your own “points of interest” on Windows Mobile devices, which can contain active web links, images, and descriptive text. I’m still playing around with it, but it just might be the most flexible, customisable situated learning software I’ve yet encountered.
Unlike other map services like Google Maps for Mobiles or Smart2Go, iPoint allows you to upload your own maps - which means it can not only be used for outdoor, public settings, but could also be used to mark up the interior plan of a museum or gallery, or even a fictitious or hard-to-reach location (e.g. the surface of the Moon, or the Starship Enterprise).
The maps are loaded onto your Pocket PC and don’t require an internet connection to explore, unless you want to take advantage of the ability of the software to embed clickable web links into your point-of-interest information for each location.
The editing tool for PCs is easy-to-use, and the maps run quickly and seamlessly on my Windows Mobile Smartphone.
Unfortunately, this is not a free product, but for just US$10, it could provide a (relatively) low-cost solution for situated mobile learning approaches, with a very easy-to-use interface for both both editing and accessing information.
I’ll update this post if the vendor, iTravel, is able to provide any information on educational pricing or bulk discounts for schools, and if I’m able to provide a fuller review.
(via SolSie.com)
technorati tags:ipoint, itravel, map, navigation, situated, learning, education, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, windows mobile, pda, smartphone
Flash M-Learning Developers… Our Time Has Come! February 21, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Flash, Interactive, Mobile LOs, Mobile Phone, PDA.1 comment so far
Judy Breck at the Golden Swamp blog has drawn my attention to this page on the Adobe website, enabling developers of mobile content to make it available through various mobile phone network and service providers. For m-learning content developers, this is an opportunity to unleash your content for public consumption. As Judy states most insightfully:
Here is a call that should be answered by education if we expect to improve learning in our digital age. There is money to be made as well as ignorance to be diminished by selling mobile content for sciences, history, geography, technologies, literature and the 3 Rs.
I have one m-learning product concept I’ve been working on that I’m particularly keen to release, an immersive and engaging edu-game that has already proven successful on desktop PCs that could easily be adapted to a mobile environment. Now if I can just find some time to build it…
technorati tags:m-learning, mlearning, adobe, flash, lite, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, education, content, development
Second Life Meets Mobile Life February 12, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, Mobile Phone, Pedagogy, Products, SMS, Video.add a comment
A new application by software developer Comverse Technology allows the immersive 3D environment, Second Life, to be accessed on internet-connected mobile devices running Java ME. SMS and video streaming can also be integrated between Second Life’s virtual world and the real one.
What does this mean? Well, for a start, Second Life characters are becoming increasingly like real people. Being able to SMS, text, and video-chat with Second Life Characters on both your computer and mobile phone is making these avatars as substantial (or at least, as accessible) as many flesh-and-blood friends and contacts.
Could it be long before virtual avatars begin to blur the boundaries between real and scripted conversation? Try having a chat with a completely automated chat generator; sometimes, it can be eerily like having a chat with a real person. Imagine being able to ask a virtual avatar questions we might ordinarily ask a teacher, and getting back instant guidance or feedback. As a test, I asked the automated chat generator “What is the meaning of life?” and it immediately shot back the very interesting answer “To pursue happiness for ourselves and those we love”. Although that’s a programmed response to a fairly common question, it might not be long until we can “call” a virtual “professor” and ask them questions like “What is the scientific name for the wolf?” or “How do I make a berry souffle?” and get meaningful, useful - and reliable - answers.
Being able to access a virtual guide or mentor from mobile devices could make for learning opportunities - anytime, anywhere, for help with almost anything. While it’s going to be decades before virtual avatars have the intelligence to weight issues - and thus go beyond supplying simple facts or opinions - a lot of the time, all we really need are the facts or opinions, to which we can apply our own intelligence to construct knowledge and make decisions; that, too, is learning.
[Link: Second Life Reuters via Connected Learning Community]
technorati tags:second life, secondlife, 3d, virtual, world, avatar, comverse, technology, education, sms, text, video, mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning
ArithmeTick - Mobile Game for Mental ‘Rithmetic February 7, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Interactive, PDA, Products.add a comment
Tony Vincent at Learning in Hand has reported a new freeware math game for Palm and Windows Mobile users called ArithmeTick. The game helps students become faster at mathematical basic skills - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, with points awarded depending on how quickly the problem was answered, and extra time for each correct answer.
This would be a good game for drilling basic skills at primary level or with literacy and numeracy support groups among older learners. Educators involved with teaching math to secondary or adult learners may also be interested in Math4Mobile, which facilitates learning about more advanced mathematical concepts - equations, graphing, fitting graphcs, and quadrilateral geometry.
technorati tags:math4mobile, arithmetick, math, mathematics, education, pda, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning
