Mobile Learning

The 2007 Horizon Report has just been published, detailing the latest trends in educational technology, and how far they are to mainstream adoption.  This year, technologies have been classified under the following headings:

• User-created content
• Social Networking
• Mobile Phones
• Virtual Worlds
• The News Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication
• Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming

The first three items (closest on the horizon, according to the report, with a “horizon” of three years or less) have strong links into mobile learning: 

• Mobile devices are often used to create content.  Cellphones, PDAs, and audio recorders are convenient, portable, and often quality devices for capturing photographs, video, or audio recordings, which can be used for learning and assessment.  Content can be stored and edited on mobile devices, or, increasingly uploaded to the web – to (mo)blogs, image-sharing services like Flickr, email accounts or discussion boards.
• Mobile devices are also becoming increasingly social, with considerable integration with “web 2.0″ tools such as blogs or image-sharing sites, and the ability to read RSS feeds, instant-message peers, and interact with maps.
• Mobile phones provide a personal device on which educational resources including video, podcasts, lecture recordings, and photographs can be both created and stored for later review.  The Horizon report provides a number of examples of the use of mobile phones in educational contexts.

All of this points to the increasing relevance of mobile learning, as mobile devices become increasingly integrated into the very fabric of our everyday educational technologies.

(via Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day)

technorati tags:horizon report, education, ed tech, edu tech, learning, teaching, m-learning, mlearning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning

(photo: cavorite)

This week, the Carnival of the Mobilists is hosted at Xellular Identity, where the week’s best writing on mobile technology is showcased, including my contribution “10 reasons why mobile learning matters“. Later in this post, I’m offering edubloggers the chance to be part of our very own Carnival, as either a host or contributor.

Most Edubloggers will not yet be familiar with the concept of blog “Carnivals” or “Festivals”… but they’re worth understanding, as they can be powerful vehicles for promoting and improving an online community or practice or interest. The Carnival of the Mobilists, for example, is just a little more than a year old, but has snowballed into a community of hundreds of contributors, thousands of contributions, and in this – its second year – now offers sponsored prizes including international travel to for the best host, US$250 to each month’s best contributor, and US$500 for best post of the year.

A blog carnival or festival involves bloggers who share a common interest. Each week, those bloggers contribute their best post of the week to a common location, such as an email address. One blogger, the “host,” accesses the email, sorts out the contributions, selects the best entries, and writes a “carnival post” that links to the contributions – sometimes hosts perform these duties in very creative ways. Contributors who are selected then write an article that links back to the host’s “carnival post”. It is also a tradition for the host to showcase any newcomers to the carnival each week, and to select their “favourite” entry.

In this way, the Carnival serves to promote the best writing of its contributors, and creates an informal, growing community online.

Now: here is the opportunity to create our very own Carnival of the Edublogs. If you write a blog that reflects or reports on innovation or improvement in teaching and learning, please do one or more of the following:

• Email carnival.edublogs@gmail.com if you would like to host an upcoming Carnival this year.
• Email carnival.edublogs@gmail.com with a link to one of your best recent posts if you would like to contribute to the first ever Carnival of the Edublogs, next month!
• Subscribe to the Carnival RSS Feed on the Carnival of the Edublogs blog, so you know when each Carnival is released.
• Promote the Carnival! Invite other Edubloggers to host or contribute to, or read, the Carnival of the Edublogs, and write an article on the Carnival on your own blog.

You’ll find more information on the Carnival of the Edublogs at http://carnival.edublogs.org. This invitation is also replicated on the Carnival blog at http://carnival.edublogs.org/2007/01/23/come-to-the-carnival/ .

Update: It seems that Alexander Hayes (”It’s all too bloody interesting and thats why I’m still up at 1.48AM”) and Stephen Downes (”It’s all very interesting and it keeps me up nights as well”) have both just found the Carnival of the Mobilists, too!  Will you be coming to help launch the Carnival of the Edublogs, guys?

technorati tags:carnival, festival, edublogs, edubloggers, carnival of the edublogs, clcommunity, networkedlearning, edna, education, teaching, learning, innovation, edutech, mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, educational, students, teachers, university, tafe, vet, vte, training, e-learning, elearning

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006.

According to international market research firm M:Metrics, a study across 7 countries indicates that Italian teens are leading the charge towards mobile social networking, with 70% of 13-17 year-olds having engaged in mobile social networking in the month October 2006, and 50% having sent a photo message during that month (compared with just 6.3% in the USA in the same month).

“Much as teens were the early adopters of PC-based social networking applications, they have proven to be the innovators in the mobile arena,” said Paul Goode, vice president and senior analyst, M:Metrics. “Although teenagers and young adults make up only six to 10 percent of mobile subscribers, they generate more than their fair share of mobile content.”

Goode also described the relationship between 3G penetration and mobile content and usage:

“There is a direct correlation between 3G penetration and video messaging,” observed Goode. “With the proliferation of better networks comes moderately-priced, highly capable devices that are appropriate for younger users. As better, cheaper devices enter these markets on faster networks, we would expect mobile content consumption to increase significantly, particularly among this highly-connected demographic.”

(via C.Enrique Ortiz Mobility Weblog)

technorati tags:social, social web, web 2.0, mobile 2.0, teen, young, myspace generation, 3g, m-learning, mlearning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning

The 56th Edition of the Carnival of the Mobilists is being hosted this week at Mopocket, and includes my article on the use of product QR Codes in Japan as a model for informal mobile learning.

In addition, there are a number of interesting articles on digital mobility for educators and developers interested in the use of portable digital devices for teaching and learning.

For educators interested in the social and connected aspects of learning theory, a brief article from the SmallDoses blog on “Mobile devices as an extension of social software,” lamenting the reticence of most major web services and mobile operators outside of Japan to embrace the inherent socialness of mobile technologies. From my previous efforts to engage with Australian mobile service operators, I can certainly relate.

If you’re considering delivering mobile learning to young people, consider some of the information presented by the Xellular Identity blog, with its series of posts on youth trends in digital mobility. In particular, there’s couple of interviews with Nick Wright, a Research Associate at Wireless World, and co-author of the mobileYouth report 2006:

• Mobile Youth Trends
• Mobile Services and Youth

Finally, for anyone currently engaged with developing mobile applications for education, take note of this post from the Mobbu blog, written by an active mobile application developer from their experience with developing mobile applications for public sector and enterprise clients, on design principles for mobile software for those users. As a professionally qualified software developer myself, I endorse many of the principles set out in that post as insightful and powerful recommendations.

My fellow edubloggers may also be interested in my preparation for launching a Carnival of the Edublogs early next year (so that the lull of the holidays doesn’t slow the momentum of the event getting going). I’ve already set up a blog for tracking each week’s installment at http://carnival.edublogs.org, and for collaboratively maintaining information on Carnival participation as contributor or a host.

technorati tags:carnival of the mobilists, carnivalofthemobilists, carnival of the edublogs, carnivaloftheedublogs, mobile, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, m-learning, mlearning, education

The internationally popular MobileCrunch blog speculates it may be the “ultimate mobile media platform,” and it’s the innovation of one of our own, Australian entrepreneur Ben Keighran.

Bluepulse is a free Mobile Web 2.0 application that installs easily on almost any mobile phone (you don’t even need to know what kind of phone you have), and promises the ultimate in mobile multitasking through the innovative use of widgets running within the Bluepulse application. This makes it quick to switch between widgets without losing any data, and the widgets themselves are more functional and powerful than most stand-alone mobile web applications.  There are all the usual suspects: MSN or Yahoo messengers, Flickr, Blogger blogging tools, GMail, Email, chat and weather.  Some others I’ve never seen on any other mobile platform before include traffic camera locations, and a blood alcohol tester.

MobileCrunch has the scoop:

Looking at bluepulse 2.0 in its totality you’re really facing a pretty significant leap forward in mobile application platforms. And make no mistake about it, this is a full fledged mobile multimedia platform that allows users to create a detailed user profile including photos and videos, an ever growing array of mobile widgets that helpyou do everything from checking the traffic or surf to planning what you’re going to watch on the tele tonight (plus digg, flickr, gmail and more), as well as chat in various chat rooms while browsing your new friends “places” while chatting, and last but not least, bluepulse has its own built in messaging application that allows you to text friends AND broadcast messages.

I’ve seen quite a number of mobile applications in the last twelve months and many have been very comprehensive but I do not believe thatI’ve seen a single platform that had as many different functions as bluepulse 2.0; especially not one with the diversity of widgets or the ability to run on so many phones.

You can get Bluepulse on your mobile by browsing to http://get.bluepulse.com/. 

The included widgets already have great potential for use in the delivery of mobile learning strategies, but Bluepulse is also similar to a mobile learning platform for mobile devices I’m currently developing, in terms of its widget-based architecture to enable seamless data sharing between applications such as QR-Code reader, browser, progress/gradebook and learning content. I’ve felt such an m-learning platform needs to be developed, as there’s no existing software out there that’s actually designed specifically for enabling a broad, integrated range of m-learning opportunities.

technorati tags:bluepulse, widget, mobile, mobile phone, cellphone, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, education, technology, educational, edutech, web2.0, mobile2.0

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

Very exciting – I’ve just had an article, entitled “Connections: Social and mobile tools for enhancing learning,” published in Edition 12 of The Knowledge Tree journal, with an accompanying podcast and PDF download.

In the article, I reflect on some of the latest academic writing on mobile and social learning in Australia, including papers published for the Global Summit and the Learning On The Move conference, and provide examples and applications of services that converge social and mobile aspects to facilitate and enhance connected, socially constructed learning. I’d be very interested to hear your feedback!

technorati tags:knowledge, tree, knowledge tree, connections, social, mobile, learning, m-learning, mlearning, mobile-learning, mobilelearning, mobile learning, journal, article

I have just finished a (draft) paper on social aspects of mobile learning for the Knowledge Tree, in which I explore the connections between postmodern theories of socially constructed learning (such as social constructivism and connectivism), and digital mobile learning.

Entitled “Connections: Social and mobile tools for enhancing learning,” it draws on some of the latest research in the field of digital mobile learning in Australia – including the Learning On The Move conference at Queensland University of Technology last month, and last weekend’s Global Summit conference in Sydney.

George Siemens’ paper at the Global Summit, on “Connectivism: Learning and Knowledge today” was particularly interesting. Siemens’ models of “learning ecologies” aligns quite nicely with the learner-centric activity models of m-learning to illustrate the interrelationships of mobile learners and the integrated “nodes” of content and functionality provided by the social web (Web 2.0). Siemens posits:

“Learning is the process of creating networks (see Figure 2). Nodes are external entities which we can use to form a network. Or nodes may be people, organizations, libraries, web sites, books, journals, database, or any other source of information. The act of learning (things become a bit tricky here) is one of creating an external network of nodes—where we connect and form information and knowledge sources. The learning that happens in our heads is an internal network (neural).”

Here are some “Relate” aspects of mobile learning, structured as a learning ecology, illustrating the use of Web 2.0 tools to form nodes around and between learners:

How this mobile learning ecology differs from other learning delivery approaches is in its persistence. Whereas other delivery methods – classroom or computer based – differ from mobile learning is that the networks formed by other methods is transient; learners in a classroom interact for a brief period of time; online learners are only externally “connected” while physically located in front of an internet-connected computer.

Mobile learners have the opportunity to retain a persistent network of peers, mentors, teachers, and nodes of content and functionality – to add and remove nodes, and interact with them as and when convenient. This is quite similar to the way our internal neural networks operate: we create connections of information, and access knowledge from our memory when we need it. This illustrates the potential of mobile learning to extend or augment our internal process of learning with an external process of “node gathering” – setting up persistent, on-demand resources that can be called upon by learners as their situation or context allows or requires.

This exploration also helps to visualise the importance of social aspects of mobile learning, by illustrating the synergies that can operate between a number of mobile, social learners.

technorati tags:siemens, connectivism, constructivism, socialconstructivism, pedagogy, learning, mobile, teaching, education, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, ecology, network, clcommunity, networkedlearning, neural

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Stephen Downes’ sketch of mobile, connected, situated, contextualised learning:

Click here for larger image(s).

technorati tags:m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, stephen, downes, stephendownes, school2.0, education, learning, teaching, training, tafe, vte, vet, clcommunity, networkedlearning

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A new free service called SoonR allows mobile phones equipped with the Opera Mobile web browser to securely access PC files, Outlook data (including emails), and talk using VOIP.

Happily, because the service can be used from a mobile web browser, it doesn’t require any additional software to be installed on mobile phones, avoiding problems with phone hardware or carrier incompatibilities.

A product like this could be used to access a learner’s own “Personal Learning Environment” (PLE) of files and data on their own PC – like a mobile portfolio of learning.  Its built-in VOIP and chat tools could also provide a means of communicating with peers.

technorati tags:soonr, ajax, opera, voip, vpn, mobile, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, clcommunity, networkedlearning

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