In the January 28, 2010 issue of Academic Impressions, the article “Considering Mobile Learning for Your Institution” discusses what institutions should consider when determining if they want to get involved in mobile learning. Judy Brown, founder and former director of the University of Wisconsin system’s Academic ADL Co-Lab, provides some insights when considering a mobile learning initiative.

The first question to ask is “will the learners be consumers of content, producers of content, or both?”

Mobile devices can be used not only for consuming information but can also be used for creating information as well. The keyboard of devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch allow limited keyboarding but the new iPad with its larger built-in keyboard and optional keyboard attachment should allow students to more easily create text.

Brown points that when we first adopt a new technology, we too often don’t envision new opportunities that the new technology will provide. For instance, in the early years of the Web, courses on the Web were nothing more than “shovelware,” instructors’ lecture notes converted to HTML with maybe some added photos. It does work when one tries to duplicate online what is being done in the classroom. (See Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design, Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction, Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing.) Brown states that “We need to look instead at the capabilities unique to the new technologies. Look at the devices students are using every day, look at what these offer.”

The key thing to consider when considering uses of mobile devices is portability. While a laptop can do many of the things a mobile device can do, a portable device makes it much easier to accomplish these things. Here are a few examples of things that could be done with a mobile device:

• Record lectures  (See how the iPod Touch can be used to record audio.)
• Personal Response System (“Clickers”) – Turning Technologies’ ResponseWare
• Blog
• Contribute to a course wiki
• Listen to instructor-generated podcasts
• Subscribe to iTunes U videos
• Learn Human Anatomy through University of Utah’s Body Electric
• Create narrated slide shows with your photos using SonicPics
• Create a mind map with iBlueSky or iThoughts
• Create a personal wiki with VoodooPad and export to your iPod Touch or iPhone (Mac only)

Getting Started
Brown suggests that when you getting started considering implementing a mobile learning initiative, you should invite both “believers” and “non-believers” in order to provide an ongoing discussion about both opportunities as well as challenges. She also suggests that institutions begin with a pilot project or two. And institutions should provide as much support as possible to the faculty involved in the pilot project. 

Decisions to Make

Define Your Objectives – Brown suggests you ask why you want a mobile learning initiative and how you will know if you have reached your goals?

Define Your Audience – Who are the learners who will be involved in the mobile learning initiative. How will they be supported? Who is responsible for oversight and day-to-day operations of the mobile learning initiative?

Faculty Development – Who is responsible for training and supporting faculty in the appropriate use of mobile devices in the educational process? 


Further Thoughts
One of things that I’m afraid most college courses don’t do is develop a community of learners. Rather, students come to class, listen to a lecture and engage in some class discussion, and do homework. Although the class time provides an opportunity for discussion, this may be limited depending on the size of the class. And each class is typically only 50 minutes long. Will all students get their questions answered? Maybe or maybe not, depending on the complexity of the subject matter. If the class involves expressing opinions, will everyone have a chance to express their opinion? Maybe not if the class size is large and/or the topic has many facets to it. But if learning can be extended beyond the classroom, learning can become richer. Yes, learning occurs when a student reads his or her textbook and completes homework assignments but this activities are largely done individually. And a textbook doesn’t provide any interactivity (or at least not very much).  And a textbook only provides a linear explanation of a topic while a mobile device could allow a learner to access a variety of sources that could be compiled and organized by each individual learner. Tools such as Evernote (which works with both browsers and mobile devices) would allow learners to easily collect and modify information from Web sources, and even add voice annotations. 

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Hitch is a device that allows you to quickly transfer files from one device (such as an iPod) to another device (such as another iPod) without using a computer. This device would be helpful in a classroom where each student had an iPod or iPad and the teacher wanted to transfer files from his or her device to the the students’ iPods or iPads.

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Consider Mobile Learning for Your Institution

This article points out that although mobile learning is a topic of interest among educators, very few have implemented it on their campus. Judy Brown, the founder and former director of the University of Wisconsin system’s Academic ADL Co-Lab offers some suggestions and factors to consider if a college is considering mobile learning.

She suggests asking if you want students to be consumers of content, creators of content, or both.

Of course, three  devices that can enhance the mobile learning experience are the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad. To get ideas of how to implement the iPod Touch (and the iPad) into education, here are a few sites:

• iPod in Education Wiki
• iPod in Ed

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As teachers, we always tell our students to spread out their studying and don’t cram for a test. Daniel Willington, the author of the book, Why Don’t Students Like School, has an article “Allocating Student Study Time” which provides evidence for this advice. The article also contains a section, “What Could This Look Like in the Classroom?”

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Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-CS1 HD camcorder vies for ‘world’s smallest’ title — Engadget

This camcorder could be handy in an educational setting because of its small size but I wonder how it compares to something like the Flip Mino in terms of ease of use, importing of video, and video-editing software. The Flip MinoHD – 120 minute model cost @229.99 while the Sanyo camcorder will cost $299.

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