Mobile Learning Tools

At presentations and workshops, I am often asked to recommend tools for authoring mobile learning. I do not recommend any tools, but do encourage them to check with their current authoring tool vendor to see what their plans are for mobile, as many vendors are moving in this direction.

Recently I have gathered information on the current tools and have compiled the following list. I know that I have missed some and am hoping that you will comment and add your favorite to the list:

Authoring Tools

• Adobe(R) eLearning Suite


• Chalk Mobile Chalkboard


• Emantras MobLS Authorer


• Giunti Labs eXact Mobile


• Hot Lava Learning Mobile Author


• Knowledge Direct MOBILE (Performance Support)


• MentorMate iQpakk


• Mobile Learning Environment (MLE)


• RedHalo


• SumTotal ToolBook


• Tribal CTAD MyLearning Author (Pocket PC)


• Trivantis Lectora


• Vcom3D Vcommunicator Authoring Suite


• Veodia

Polls and Quizzes

• Poll Everywhere


• Turning Technologies ResponseWare


• Cram (BlackBerry & iPhone)


• iQuiz Maker (iPod)


• Pocket Exam Builder


• PodQuiz-hyperMix Maker


• QuestionMark


• Quizzler Maker


• StudyCell


• Tribal CTAD SMS quiz author

Other Mobile Tools and Services

• GPS Tours


• Instancy Web-based Authoring


• Intuition


• KnowledgeShift


• Modlity


• OnPoint Digital


• Rave Campus

What did I miss? I will publish a complete listing and will attempt to keep it updated.

2009 Horizon Report Focus on Mobile Learning

Yesterday the New Media Center (NMC), along with EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), released their 2009 Horizon Report. This 36-page annual report identifies Mobiles now with a time-to adoption of one year or less, from the two to three years identified in 2008.

The executive report states:

“Already considered as another component of the network on many campuses, mobiles continue to evolve rapidly. New interfaces, the ability to run third-party applications, and location-awareness have all come to the mobile device in the past year, making it an ever more versatile tool that can be easily adapted to a host of tasks for learning, productivity, and social networking. For many users, broadband mobile devices like the iPhone have already begun to assume many tasks that were once the exclusive province of portable computers. ”

You can download the report here.

2D Barcode News

Microsoft has entered the barcode reader and creation space with their new Microsoft Tag. You can see a demo, download the reader and create tags here. The tag shown here is one that I created for my contact information and intend to include it on the back of my business card.

Microsoft has already entered into agreements with major players and it does have several advantages over the market leaders Datamatrix, EZcode and QR, but there are also some unknowns.

At CES, Tikitag was showing a RFID type tag kit including 10 tags and a USB reader development kit at $50. Because of the high cost of the tags, they indicated upcoming support for other types of 2D barcodes.

Regardless there are numerous applications for 2D barcodes in learning.

Upcoming Events

After the Holiday break, it is again conference time.

I would love to connect with any of the visitors to mLearnopedia if you are attending any of these shows. I will be there presenting and would love to have conversations about your mobile learning interests or experiences.

• ASTD’s TechKnowledge 2009 in Las Vegas, NV, January 28-30 where I will be presenting and conducting two hands-on workshops
  
• Training 2009 Conference & Expo in Atlanta, GA, February 9-11, 2009 where I will be conducting a mobile learning tools “Shoot Out”
  
• Guild 2009 Annual Gathering in Orlando, FL, March 10-13 where I will be involved in more mobile learning sessions
  

I am also trying to work in attending ACU’s ConnectEd Conference in Abilene, TX, February 26-27, but won't confirm for a couple weeks.

I hope to connect with you there.

CES 2009

Last week I was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas seeking mobile learning related tools and announcements.

The biggest mobile news in my opinion was that of the Palm Pre. The demo was very impressive and it should again move the industry, but until we get a chance to put it through its paces we will have to wait. The one thing that we know is that despite the down economy there will be new mobile devices hitting the market, each touting new improvements. We do need to make certain that our learning and performance support content will still operate on them.

If you are interested in the Palm Pre, check out the Palm site for information and the announcement video. For a good overview see Engadget’s review.

Bar codes were front and center with Nokia. Visitors were encouraged to send an SMS message with Nokia as the content to receive a link to download a 2D barcode and then bring their phone to the booth for a chance for a prize. The booth was busy. I had checked it out both with a BlackBerry Bold and the iPhone. The code was quite small, but the Nokia reader read it just fine. They certainly have improved it since last year.

BlackBerry’s booth was crowded with 3rd party apps. The arrangement of it made it very difficult to go through it systematically and make sure that you saw all the vendors.

LG showed their “Wearable Mobile Communicator” digital watch behind a glass case and did not release pricing or availability. It could be useful for SMS alerts.

MobileTV was being shown in several booths. I had planned to try it this week, but don’t have the bandwidth available.

While I was in Las Vegas I was able to use Qik on the Bold to video a few demos an interviews and was impressed with the ease of use and quality. There are so many used for this tool in education and training.

Although CES touted mobile as one of the next big things, most of their references were to automobiles and navigation or syncing. This was mainly in the North Hall where the bass speakers were blasting so loud that it was impossible to carry on a conversation.

Since mid-November we have driven over 5,500 miles escaping the snow and frigid weather. I certainly do not miss it, but have to admit to missing sitting in front of the fireplace. We are really enjoying the mobile lifestyle, but are experiencing varying levels of connectivity.

Mobile Learning Related News

A lot has been happening lately in the mobile learning arena. Some of the more important items are:

• The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop has released what could become a very important report entitled “pockets of potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning.” Directed mainly at K-12, hopefully administrators will read this and take note. Some of the advantages noted for mobile learning include:

1. Encourage "anywhere, anytime" learning
   
2. Reach underserved children
   
3. Improve 21st-century social interactions
   
4. Fit with learning environments
   
5. Enable a personalized learning experience

• Ambient Insight released their latest mobile learning report indicating that the US Mobile Learning Market is growing by 21.7 percent. Check out the press release here and the Executive Summary here.

• The International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) has just published its latest issue at http://www.i-jim.org. The Table of Contents includes:

Adaptive Approaches to Mobile Learning


Mobile Learning in Context — Context-aware Hypermedia in the Wild


Extending LIP to provide an adaptive mobile learning


Client Mobile Software Design Principles for Mobile Learning Systems


Investigating Mobile Devices Integration in Higher Education in Cyprus: Faculty Perspectives


M-Learning, Mobile Experimentation and Telepresence with Cell Phones and PDAs


A Time Series Modeling and Prediction of Wireless Network Traffic


A Learning-by-Doing Approach to Medication Management for Adolescent Diabetics


Survey on Context-Aware Pervasive Learning Environments


Integrating Gender and Ethnicity in Mobile Courses Ante-Design: a TELearning Instrument

• Rovy Branon from the Academic ADL Co-Lab has rolled out a social network site for mobilemedialearning for research and practice in teaching with mobile media. Check it out at http://www.mobilemedialearning.org

• David Metcalf and I were interviewed for ASTD's Learning Circuit's E-Learning 2.009. You can read it at http://www.astd.org/LC/2008/1208_kaplan.htm
  

Moving the mLearnopedia.com Blog

I initially set up this blog over a year ago for mobile blogging, but have not used it. After several issues with an add-on Joomla blog, I have decided to move to Blogger.

For past mLearnopedia blog entries please go here.