June Hot List: Mobile Learning Content Community

Here is the monthly top ten list for cc.mlearnopedia.com from June. Enjoy...

Top Posts

The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals.

1. New online book on mobile learning -available for free download- Ignatia Webs, June 12, 2009
2. iPods in Education Part 12: Customized Learning Using Apps- The Mobile Learner, June 29, 2009
3. Time to Teach Students How to Bank via Cell Phone- Cell Phones in Learning, June 9, 2009
4. Mobile Augmented Reality – A Brief Overview- mLearning is Good, June 25, 2009
5. New Mobile Augmented Reality browser- mLearning Blog, June 20, 2009
6. Opera Unite for Windows/Mac/Linux gives you immediate access to group or personal learning spaces- Ignatia Webs, June 16, 2009
7. #eden09: educational shift in Japan, using ubiquitous learning by Haruo Nishinosono- Ignatia Webs, June 15, 2009
8. Lessons learned on a massively multiplayer online game- Golden Swamp, June 10, 2009
9. The Future of Learning- The Mobile Learner, June 7, 2009

Top Other Items

The following are the top other items based on social signals.

1. The Innovative Educator: Ideas for Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Cell Phones Even in Districts that Ban Them, June 16, 2009
2. Exploring Educational Technology, June 20, 2009

Top Keyword

• Education (31)
• Mobile Learning (25)
• Blog (24)
• Technology (23)
• University (22)
• Future (20)
• Tools (20)
• School (19)
• Social (19)
• Research (18)
• Devices (17)
• iPhone (17)
• Phone (17)
• Course (14)
• Support (14)
• Video (14)
• Conferences (13)
• Google (13)
• Presentation (13)
• Resources (13)

Mobile Live Video Streaming

I have been looking at live video streaming tools for mobile and have tested several in preparation to writing a blog, but yesterday found that Robin Good had published an excellent guide of 11 such tools along with side-by-side their key features and options.

His is an excellent overview with a comparison chart plus individual product descriptions.

Be sure to check out the comments and related articles at the bottom for additional information.

Yet Another Global K-12 Success Story

Elliot Soloway and Cathie Norris recently blogged Hong Kong School Leads the World in Cellphone Computer Use after visiting Pui Ching Middle School in Hong Kong. Students are currently using cellphones to help learn English and current events, but are also moving to use them for math and Chinese.

Pictures are available here. It is easy to see how engaged and happy the students appear to be.

The good news is that now when I talk with organizations about mobile learning, the questions have moved from "why?" to "how?" It seems to be a given that we are all moving in this direction, but the questions are what can we learn from others who are already "there?" This may well be a great example for K-12 to follow.

May Hot List: Mobile Learning Content Community

Here is the monthly top ten list for cc.mlearnopedia.com from May. Enjoy...

Top Posts

The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals

1. Facebook Classroom Management & Projects with Student Cell Phones- Cell Phones in Learning, May 12, 2009
2. Barcodes Offer Interesting Opportunities for Mobile Learning- mLearning is Good, May 20, 2009
3. Challenge Based Learning w’ Marco Torres- uLearning Blog, May 18, 2009
4. Current Events: Anytime, Anywhere Via Cell (No Mobile Internet Required)- Cell Phones in Learning, May 4, 2009
5. iPods in the Classroom- mLearnopedia on Blogspot, May 29, 2009
6. Images that Speak Volumes- The Mobile Learner, May 30, 2009
7. #ela2009 workshop George Siemens: social networking technologies for teaching and learning transformation- Ignatia Webs, May 29, 2009
8. #ela2009: Proof of concept for mLearning for formal education for mathematics in South-Africa- Ignatia Webs, May 28, 2009
9. Sky Map Mobile Planetarium for Android- mLearning Blog, May 24, 2009
10. What If?- The Mobile Learner, May 24, 2009
11. Task.fm: Text and voice reminders for students and teachers---EASY! EASY! EASY!- Cell Phones in Learning, May 15, 2009
12. 6 Queensland Educators talk about the iPod Touch- uLearning Blog, May 19, 2009
13. Mobile ESL- mLearnopedia on Blogspot, May 17, 2009
14. Hashtags in Twitter and walls, fountains, ways to keep everyone's remarks in the picture- Ignatia Webs, May 15, 2009
15. Learning Objects for Mobile (MLOs)- mLearning is Good, May 9, 2009

Top Other Items

The following are the top other items based on social signals.

1. Erik Duval’s Weblog, May 4, 2009
2. The Mobile Learning Engine (MLE) for Moodle, May 18, 2009
3. Another Mobile Round Up of Sorts « Ubiquitous Thoughts, May 28, 2009
4. Mobile Libraries: Mobile Apps For Virtual Learning Environments, May 4, 2009
5. Create mobile learning materials « Innovation in Teaching, May 30, 2009
6. MOBILE LEARNING - eLearning Tour Part 1 - Hosted by Corporate Learning Trends and Innovation, May 21, 2009
7. "The students don't think of it as learning" | Education IT | ZDNet.com, May 20, 2009
8. TheEngTeacher: MOBILE ESL LEARNING, May 17, 2009
9. A “Starbucks Locator” for the Rest of Us, May 15, 2009
10. EduPOV, May 7, 2009
11. Mobile learning saves lives, May 30, 2009
12. The Mobile Generation « NWP Walkabout, May 18, 2009
13. Text messaging for collaborative learning in South Africa | Tony Bates, May 13, 2009
14. My Learning Blog: Elementary Mobile Learning, May 13, 2009
15. The Future of Mobile Media and Communication, May 7, 2009

Top Posts

• Mobile Learning (40)
• Education (33)
• Course (25)
• Video (25)
• Devices (24)
• Technology (23)
• Tools (23)
• Blog (23)
• iPhone (21)
• iPod (20)
• Resources (20)
• Social (19)
• Research (19)
• School (18)
• Phone (18)
• Development (17)
• Google (16)
• Mobile Devices (16)
• Presentation (16)
• Classroom (15)

Mobile Learning Reading

It is great to see some new books on mobile learning. Recently there was a lot of buzz about Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training edited by Mohamed Ally (March 2009). I had read a couple chapters and got back to it this last week on my Kindle while travelling.

While useful, I was disappointed that most of the examples were from the early and mid-2000’s.

Having followed and participated in mobile learning since 1996, I see very clear stages and believe that we should now be looking forward at the potential of this very powerful opportunity.

We began with standalone devices (PDA) that could be connected to a single computer for a single person. Once these devices were combined with a cell phone, communication opened up. With today’s capabilities to seamlessly move from cellular to Wi-Fi, collaboration opens many more doors. Location-based context and tagging, sensors and feedback, recognition and specialized apps now open up our imaginations and provide powerful learning opportunities not even available on a desktop.

There are three new books just published that appear to be current and looking ahead. I have just started reviewing them, but wanted to share in case you are looking to add to your reading lists on mobile learning:

• New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education from the University of Wollongong includes faculty development, specific discipline examples and design principles. This is available as a free PDF download.
• Mobile Learning Communities: Creating New Educational Futures by Patrick Danaher, Beverley Moriarty, Geoff Danaher, a Routledge publication covering communities, along with other topics such as globalization, lifelong learning, multiliteracies, and sustainability; concluding with creating new educational futures.
• Researching Mobile Learning: Frameworks, Tools and Research Designs from Peter Lang Publishing Group, which sets out the issues and requirements for mobile learning research and presents efforts to specify appropriate theoretical frameworks, research methods and tools.

What have you found? What are you reading about mobile learning? Please share in the comments.

iPods in the Classroom

Just discovered a publication with lots of good information and suggestions for using iPods in the classroom. Enjoy!

Open publication - Free publishing - More technology

Catching up over the long weekend

In preparation for 3 upcoming workshops the first week in June, I have been reorganizing and reviewing my various notes during this long weekend. Thus just some random entries on my mind...

If you missed the LearnTrends e-Learning Tour last Thursday, you can access the recording here. Our mobile portion is the first video. You will see various types of mobile learning, hear an interesting podcast option, and learn about the iPhone/iPod Touch initiative at Abilene Christian University. It appeared that we had about 125 attendees and lots of good questions and follow up since then.

Any of you researchers with iPhones available who are crunching data and looking at different ways to visualize it, check out RoamBi. There is a TryMe application on the site to view from a desktop if you don't have an iPhone. Oh, did I mention that the app was free?

I have been excited about 2D barcodes for learning for some time, but now that they seem to have almost arrived in the U.S., there may be other options as well. This week there was an article in USA Today entitled "New '2D barcodes' puts info at the tip of your camera phone" which discussed some 2D initiatives with companies such as Nike, Sears and Hardee's. I have thought that once these readers were readily available on phones that it would be much easier to utilize them for learning. These codes are very popular in Japan and certainly could make it much easier to access specific content.

The USA Today article cites InfoTrends/CAP Ventures stating this year 89% of new mobile phones shipped to the U.S. will have cameras.

What else is there just around the corner for what I have been calling Point and Learn?

• You may have seen Mobile Search by petitinvention. If not, check it out here.
• There is also Wikitude here.
• This month Nokia rolled out their Point and Find project in a limited area, but it could have a lot of potential uses for learning.
• Check out the iVisit real time object recognition for the blind YouTube video for some very powerful capabilities.

Background video is available today even on the first generation iPhone that I have. A new app entitled Email 'n Walk was created for those who are engaged with their phones and don't look where they are going. Thus a view of one's surroundings through the working screen (see screen capture above.)

Not utilizing the camera, but GPS is an interactive 3D map from UpNext (UpNext NYC) to explore and search Manhattan. The app is available for the iPhone as well, and includes connections to Twitter and Facebook. Something like this could be used for new student or employee orientation to a campus.

Design Considerations

These days I don't seem to find much time to develop actual mobile learning other than to create examples when testing various tools, but I do like to read Tom Kuhlmann's rapid e-Learning blog on development. This week his excellent description of push and pull e-learning fits right into mobile learning development.

"By changing the way you structure the information, you can quickly build the framework for more engaging and interactive courses. It’s just a matter of rethinking how you approach the course design.

When you push the information out, you spend your time trying to figure out the best way to get it to the learners and make it stick. On the other hand, when you design the course for the learners to pull the information, you spend your time figuring out how they would use it and then set it up for them to pull the content."

Some of the examples in the blog and in the comments could easily apply to mobile.

Mobile ESL

Athabasca University in Canada has released their English as a Second Language course for mobile under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

There are eighty-six sections, each with exercises. Their hope -- according to their video -- is that non-English speakers from around the world are able to access it on their mobile devices and use it to learn English.

Access is via a browser at http://eslau.ca. They hae also made the source code available for download.

Types of Mobile Learning

Most conversations about mobile learning I have had recently seem to start with the assumptions that mobile learning is e-learning on small screens. Although it can be that, it is so much more!

Mobile learning can occur in the classroom, during an online course or anywhere the learner has their mobile device. He/she does not even have to be mobile. It is not about the device, but about the connectivity, capabilities and experience. Access through mobile devices should be a choice and a part of the total learning environment.

I believe that we are at the beginning of discovering all the possibilities and benefits and have started a list of opportunities today. What did I miss? Please add your comments.

Mobile Learning Opportunities
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