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
CeBIT Australia: Homegrown Pocket Projectors! May 23, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in Products.2 comments
I went to check out CeBIT Australia yesterday to spy out the latest innovations in educational mobile technology. There was lots of the usual - IT service providers, the word “solutions,” and booth-babes aplenty - but a few terrific new m-learning gizmos as well.
Having heard lots about their development overseas, I was particularly rapt to check out some pico-projectors in the metal… and what’s even cooler is that these ones are Aussie designed and made, with a release due later this year. The Digismart (from Digislide in South Australia) is a tiny “pocket projector” that displays a fluid, monitor-sized image on a screen a short distance away. The image below does it no justice, as it’s hard to see how small it is - the entire device is smaller than my hand print, and is certainly small enough for the technology to be integrated with mobile devices such as phones or media players in the future:
We had a go with projecting a Pixar short film on a screen, and while the brightly-lit exhibition hall made things challenging, DigiSlide are anticipating that the release model will be over three times brighter than the engineering sample on display.
I anticipate that picoprojectors like the DigiSmart will become very useful tools in the kit of mobile teachers and learners of the future, for sharing information and ideas on the go and for making teaching and learning more mobile and more rich.
Other innovators interested in DigiSlide’s technologies can check out their website at http://www.digislide.com.au
Tags: digislide, digismart, pico, projector, projectors, pico-projectors, picoprojectors, mini, pocket, mobile, led, australian, cebit, 2008
Mobile Wikipedia April 8, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Mobile Phone, Products.1 comment so far
Wikipedia is a terrific reference tool if you (or your students) happen to be at an internet-connected computer, but it’s a lot harder to use as a reference tool when you’re out and about.
It’s possible to look up Wikipedia using a mobile internet connection, but for many people, the mobile data charges this incurs can make this expensive (even if you’re using a mobile version like Wapedia). And there are certainly iPod-based, text-only versions of Wikipedia, but it would be far more useful and accessible to have Wikipedia on a mobile phone as it’s the one device most people never leave home without; and iPod books can’t display pictures.
Which is why I was ecstatic today when I found the best mobile version of Wikipedia yet - and it’s free. The Series 60 Weblog has compiled over 2000 full-length Wikipedia articles - including over 8500 colour images - into a version of Wikipedia that can be read on Symbian s60 phones (i.e. most recent-model Nokia phones as well as many Sony-Ericsson and some other phones). Here are a couple of screenshots:
Head over to the Series 60 Weblog to download Wikipedia for your phone and get all the details.
Tags: wikipedia, wapedia, symbian, nokia, phone, cellphone, mobile, learning, mlearning, m-learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, reference, education, s60
ZXing Open Source Barcode Library January 18, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in 2D Barcodes, Applications, Products.add a comment
Most regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my interest in the use of 2D barcodes as a means of providing a link from a physical object or location to an online resource using an ordinary camera phone.
I’ve just found an open-source Google Code project called ZXing, which is an open-source project to build a cross-platform barcode reader library. If it succeeds in its aims, it looks like it could become one of the best, most flexible readers available, and because it’s open source, it should be possible to incorporate it into related educational projects such as integration with augmented reality learning resources.
ZXing’s successful implementation to power the Facebook QR Codes application demonstrates its early potential.
This is one project I’ll be following closely!
Tags: zxing, 2d barcodes, 2d barcode, qr code, qrcode, datamatrix, semacode, reader, 2dbarcode, mobile code, open source, project, opensource, m-learning, mlearning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, google, barcode, barcodes, facebook
Create a free SMS auto-reply learning tool January 10, 2008
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Mobile Phone, Products, SMS.6 comments
I’ve previously blogged about StudyTXT, a system deployed at a number of New Zealand educational institutions (to whom it is available for free), which allows students to send an SMS and receive on-demand learning and support information on their mobile phones.
It’s a terrific innovation which has plenty of potential in academic settings. Some educators have used StudyTXT to provide brief revision “flash cards” or notes for their students on-demand; but I can also see the possibility for this kind of system to be used to play educational games or mobile quizzes.
But what about the rest of us outside of New Zealand? It’s possible for us to set up customised SMS-response systems by working with a telecommunications services provider, but this can be a pricey or time-consuming exercise.
Which is why I’m delighted to be able to share this tool with you: BaselsReply (v2.0). It’s a small application that runs on an ordinary Windows Mobile smartphone and basically turns it into a message server, with the advantage of being, itself, mobile - you can just take your message server with you and modify it whenever (or wherever) you want to!
You configure your messages by running it in “server” mode, and specifying “commands” and corresponding “replies” in the software. An incoming message prefixed with “br command” (where command is a recognised command will automatically be replied to with the appropriate response.
Use Case Studies
- Jane’s teacher uses an SMS reply system to provide a weekly summary of ten key terms or concepts learned during that week. Each week, Jane sends an SMS with the message “br vocab” to her teacher’s mobile. She immediately gets her weekly list of terms and concepts to aid her revision and vocabulary uptake.
Because Jane is able to get this important information on her mobile, she can take it with her anywhere and can even reference it when she meets her classmates around the campus or if she meets her class friends off-campus for study or social time. Although each message is quite short, the cumulative effect over time is to build up a much longer list of vocabulary and concepts that Jane can both revise and reference, anywhere and any time, and she can even forward the messages to any classmates who missed a previous summary.
Jane’s teacher Mary doesn’t need to send each individual request for the weekly list. Once she sets up the automated message on her smartphone, she can forget about it for the rest of the week while the 80 students taking her subject request the summary or forward it to each other - which ever they prefer. Mary also enjoys the convenience of being able to update the weekly summary anywhere and any time that’s convenient to her - all she has to do is pull out her smartphone and she has all the tools she needs.
- Ethan is an science teacher who has set up an SMS game for his students. He begins the game by asking them a question, for example: “In scientific classification, to what Family does the cat belong?” The answer is one word, “Felidae”.
Dylan is studying Ethan’s science course. He doesn’t know the answer right away, but looks it up online and finds the correct answer. He SMSes “br Felidae” to Ethan’s mobile phone, and gets the message “Correct! Where on a cat are the carpal whiskers located?” Dylan wants to find out right away, because his teacher Ethan has offered a cool prize to the first student to complete all of the quiz questions - an autographed copy of Ethan’s memoirs! (Or, y’know, maybe something cooler)…Ethan can set up a series of questions such that each correct answer provides the next question in the quiz. The same idea could be used to generate treasure hunts or physical and mobile learning games.
Download your very own free copy of BaselsReply v2.0 and try out your own SMS auto-reply learning activities with your students! Here are the details:
BaselsReply v2.0 (152kB, Freeware)
Size: 152 KB
Date: January 7, 2008 (Updated)
Type: Freeware
Requirements:
• Windows Mobile 5.0
• .NET CF v2.0 (install this first!)
Author: baselsw
Home: http://monkeyupdates.blogg.se
Email: monkeyupdates@gmail.com
Directions: First install the .NET CF v.2.0 on your Windows Mobile 5 (or better) device; then download and install the BaselsReply .CAB file, available here.
(via Pocket Picks)
Using Animoto to create short videos for mobile December 5, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Applications, Photo, Products, Video, Web 2.0.1 comment so far
Animoto is an online site that will automatically analyse your images and music, and then composite them for you into a dynamic video with professional transitions and effects. It supports direct retrieval from other social web tools such as Facebook, Picasa or Flickr, so if you’ve already uploaded your photos, there’s no need to find and upload them again.
The results are stunning - the site has been created by professional video producers, and the transitions are timed nicely with the mood, tempo and beat of each musical accompaniment. Here’s a demonstration of what is produced - this example was put together on-the-fly at a live event, so it’s a good example of what can be done in very little time and without much effort: - a video of photos from the E-Learning 07 event held earlier this year at the University of NSW, created by Jo Kay:
(Alternate link: http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/46928cc51133af17/47567909364fd64f).
You can make unlimited videos, but with a free account you’re limited to 30 second videos. You can pay for a premium access ($3 per video or $30 per year) and Animoto will generate unlimited-length videos.
The thing is, the best videos on mobile devices are high-impact, short ones! If you or your learners are creating content for mobile devices, 30 seconds is perfect (though I can see myself getting a premium account so I can use this as a presentation tool!). Short videos are engaging to watch on mobile devices, and can be quickly shared or downloaded; and the developers of Animoto are currently working on tools to allow users to download videos directly to mobile devices such as mobile phones an iPods (both “coming soon” according to their FAQs).
This would work really well as a tool for generating learner-created content. Imagine a construction student tasked with creating an item for their e-portfolio, or to start off a class presentation. They may not (and probably do not) have any idea how to put together a video (even if you give them a free video editor). But they probably DO know how to take photos and upload files - which is all they have to do to use Animoto. Because the site does the compositing for them, they don’t need to know video editing to create a terrific presentation or portfolio piece, that they can then take around with them on their mobile phone, USB memory stick or media player.
This is a really cool tool for mobile learning!
(Props to Harriet for sharing!)
Tags: animoto, video, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, mobile learning, learning, mobile, film, media, creation, photos, photo, music, web20, web2.0
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
Investigating Tablet and Ultra-Mobile PCs for Learning and Working November 26, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Products.1 comment so far
Our department needs to replace some of its old equipment, including my laptop which (after months of wheezing) finally keeled on the very first day of this year’s MLearn conference - (talk about bad timing!).
We’re looking towards the future with smaller, more portable laptops, and I’m also investigating the possibility of investing in a UMPC and a tablet PC as part of our ongoing explorations of the potential of portable digital devices for learning. Part of my interest in the latter two platforms is due to our team’s current work investigating the potential of virtual worlds on mobile devices - for example, using EduSim on a tablet or ultra-mobile PC rather than an interactive Smartboard, to get the same “direct interaction” effect but with a portable platform. One possible application of this would be in the development of situated simulations, so that a learner in a particular location could “model” potential choices or actions to simulate outcomes.
[Above: IBM x61 Tablet PC, recommended by Harriet]
However, I’m also somewhat cautious about investigating tablet PCs, as one of the presentations at this year’s Handheld Learning conference suggested that tablet PCs failed to show any advantages over standard laptops in one particular trial. It would be important to determine why this was the case - if it was because the extra capability of the devices was not exploited or was simply not needed, or if aspects of the tablet form-factor were, in fact, counter-productive.
I’d be interested to hear if you’ve tried using a tablet or ultra-mobile PC in your education setting - how have they worked for you? Also, does anyone have a recommendation on a tablet or UMPC that I should evaluate!?
Tags: tablet, umpc, pc, laptop, notebook, computer, mlearning, m-learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, mobile learning
Free: Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 November 23, 2007
Posted by Leonard Low in Products, Video.11 comments
TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia Studio (one of the best screen recording and video editing tools around) are offering the full version of Version 3.1.3 for free download. This is a terrific tool for all educators to create resources as well as for learners to create their own digital stories and videos - so get it while it’s hot. 
Click here to download Camtasia Studio 3.1.3.
Click here to request a software key to register Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 as a fully licensed version.
You also get the option to upgrade to Version 5 of Camtasia Studio, which incorporates export capability for various mobile devices. However, if you create your video in Camtasia 3, you can use a separate converter to create videos for mobile devices… but that’s another blog post.
(via The Freebies Blog)
Tags: camtasia, video, studio, techsmith, editor, editing, free, m-learning, mlearning, mobilelearning, media, mobile-learning, mobile learning, education, digitalstories, digital story telling
