Social Learning Systems

The Learning Experience as a Mobile Endeavor

I often ask my parents what college — and, therefore, learning — was like before the Internet came to be.

Because when I enrolled at Indiana University in 2005, the Internet ran the show. My classes were organized, registered and configured online, and assignments were often distributed in virtual environments. Moreover, tests, quizzes and assessments were also often administered via the Web — most of the time as I sat in my underwear with a big bowl of cereal, a side of beef jerky and a healthy helping of Steely Dan. Those were the days.

Point being, my entire adult learning experience has revolved around learning through technology. Much of what I know about learning today (I am 24 years old) is filtered through the use of e-learning, or learning technologies.

So when I sat down to chat with my younger sister, who started her freshman year of college a few weeks ago, I was astonished to find the progress that’s been made — particularly in the mobile learning space.

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via blog.clomedia.com

Mobile Learning Handbook

This ADL Mobile Learning Handbook is compilation of mobile learning resources. This is a living document and will be regularly updated. Please send any suggestions for additions or changes to [email protected]. There is a condensed version (called the ADL mLearning Guide for demo use on a mobile device) also available through a browser at http://mlearn.adlnet.gov or in various platform stores.

This Handbook is separated into ten sections:

1. Basics - What mobile learning (or mLearning) means, its capabilities and use opportunities, potential benefits and common concerns.
2. Planning - List of choices to consider for appropriate use of mobile devices in learning, including questions to assist in planning.
3. Examples - Examples of mobile learning projects and initiatives of interest.
4. Best Practices - Lists of tips for instructional designers and developers.
5. Learning Content - Tips and best practices for mobile learning.
6. Development Options - Tools, native applications and mobile web apps; pros and cons of both types.
7. Design Considerations - Information on hardware models, features, operating systems, displays, accessibility, connectivity and other advanced mobile capabilities.
8. Mobile Learning Tools - Products available for the creation, deployment and management of mobile content.
9. Resources - Recommended links for additional information on mobile learning.
10. Glossary definitions.

Note: ADL does not endorse any products mentioned in this handbook. Specific devices and applications are provided for informational purposes only to help introduce the concepts related to mobile development for learning or human performance support.

ADL LINK

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Apps: Learning at the Point of Need - Chief Learning Officer, Solutions for Enterprise Productivity

Organizations are harnessing the smartest smartphones, handheld PCs, tablets, the iPad, netbooks, as well as devices such as the iPod touch to deliver mobile learning applications.

“This is a resurgence and change in something that’s been proven for many years to work — electronic performance support,” said David Metcalf, director of the Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training. “Apps are enabling that in new and creative ways to have just-in-time learning right at an employee’s fingertips.”

Read the entire article here.

via clomedia.com

How to get started with mobile learning | Bottom-Line Performance

(We have created an 8-part comprehensive report containing a series of two-to-three page “briefs.” This is part 8: Diving into mLearning: How to get started. If you would like to see the collection in its entirety, click here.)

Think small and not huge when you do your first project. At mLearn, we heard stories from companies such as PwC, Abbott Pharmaceuticals, the Federal Bank of Chicago, and several others.

-- A NICE GUIDE FOR mLEARNING...

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via www.bottomlineperformance.com

e-Learning Acupuncture: Educate the Mobile Generation: Convert WORD documents to ePub and MOBI

You’ve seen the headlines and heard the buzz as much as I have: smartphones are taking over the planet, e-books are selling like hotcakes, and, tablets like the iPad are cannibalizing laptop and desktop computer sales. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to conclude that Mobile computing in the hottest trend in technology since electricity was invented. With this fact in mind, I asked myself this question – are my course materials mobile-friendly? Can my students easily get the materials in my course onto their mobile device be it an iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android Smartphone, Sony eBook Reader, Amazon Kindle, or Barnes & Noble Nook, etc.

 

EXTREMELY USEFUL STEP BY STEP TIPS>>>

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Mobile Learning Environments

By David J. Gagnon

• With one billion devices expected to have mobile broadband Internet connections, the impact of mobile communication cannot be underestimated.
• With this growth in mobile devices, it seems appropriate to ask what completely new things might be afforded by mobile media for learning.
• The discussion of learning environments and mobile media grants educators an opportunity to adopt methods of situated, contextual, just-in-time, participatory, and personalized learning.
• Theory aside, it seems common sense that instruction should be performed in the most authentic context possible to practice and demonstrate useful learning, which mobile learning environments can facilitate.

As I walk down State Street, a mile-long strip of eateries and shops near the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, I decide to try something new for lunch. In an instant, my cell phone is out and I touch a small black icon, launching Siri, a free app I downloaded while riding the bus the previous day. I press the record button and speak into my headset: "What's the best noodle restaurant nearby?" Three seconds later, a list of five restaurants appears onscreen, each with user reviews, online menus, phone numbers, reservation options, and business hours. A single touch yields a map with my current position and the best walking path to the restaurant I select.

While eating, I open the foursquare app with my free hand and touch the "Check in" button. This tells the service where I am and awards me a few points for doing so, continuing a silly competition with a few friends about who can earn the most points this week. Simultaneously, a tweet goes out from Twitter and my Facebook status is updated in case anyone I know wants to drop by for lunch. For five additional points I leave a tip for future patrons of the Vientiane Palace by typing, "The spring rolls are nice but a bit overpriced IMHO."

After dinner, the sun has set and I am in my backyard with my wife looking up at a particularly clear night. We see a very bright point in the north sky and notice that looks more orange than any of the other stars, which begins an ill-informed debate about whether or not it is a planet. A few seconds later, I launch the Star Chart app, and we hold the phone up above our heads between us and the sky so that the screen acts like a small window to the heavens. Full of stars, the screen tracks the sky as we move, turn, and point the device at different areas. In real time, the software connects the dots and superimposes the constellations on the points (see Figure 1). Another touch on the orange dot and we see a photo of Mars displayed as an overlay on the sky with information about its size and distance from Earth.

via www.educause.edu

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General Considerations for Mobile Learning (mLearning) | Upside Learning Blog

Wikipedia defines mobile learning as “Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies”.

In other words, mLearning decreases limitation of learning location with the mobility of general portable devices¹.

Simply put, mobile learning is the acquisition or modification of any knowledge and skill through using mobile technology, anywhere, anytime and results in the modification of behavior².

In this simple definition:

• Mobile Technology – refers to any device that is designed to provide access to information in any location, or while on the move.

• Terms such as teaching and training are not used in this definition. It is not suggested that these methods of facilitating learning will disappear; however, greater emphasis will be placed on self-directed learning.

• The behaviorist idea of an ‘alteration in behavior’ is used because as the information age continues to progress, more people will have access to knowledge, often and easily. However, without an alteration in behavior, it is not deemed to be learning.

via www.upsidelearning.com

mLearning - Viral Notebook | Michael M. Grant, Ph.D.

I am concerned that mLearning is headed down a similar path to eLearning.  The saying, “There’s an app for that,” seems to reflect this sentiment that all mlearning is equal.  No matter what you’re trying to teach or how you’re trying to teach there seems to “an app for that,” and mlearning is what we’re going to call it.  And this is where I think we start to mash-up the meaning (pun intended).

Mobile learning, or mlearning, has become an umbrella, or catch-all, term for just about anything related to teaching and learning with mobile technologies.  However, using the term so liberally, dilutes the meaning, and it fails to recognize the inherent pedagogical stances that individuals are implementing. There are in fact a number of definitions of mlearning, including the following:

• Quinn (2000)
• Mobile Learning Network
• Traxler (2005)
• Wikipedia, which funnily doesn’t reference any of the others.

via www.viral-notebook.com

Elliott Masie's Learning TRENDS - Learning TRENDS- Google's Mobile Learning Tool

1. Google Lab’s New Mobile Learning Tool:

Google Labs has released a beta version of a new Mobile Learning Creation tool called Breadcrumb.  This tool will create mobile simulations and branched content.  Spearheaded by one of our 30 Under 30 Learning Leaders Sarah Carr, this is an intriguing innovation that will allow users “to create a variety of mobile learning applications and allows you to make your application work with only three additions to plain text. Infinitely scalable, easy to create, and readable on Internet-enabled smart-phones or computers, Breadcrumb gives you maximum output for the development time.”

At Learning 2010, we will have a Google Breadcrumb Hackathon - which will be a hands-on session with Google Engineers to allow participants to build real time mobile learning apps. More info at: http://tinyurl.com/33ynxcn

via trends.masie.com

Speed Bump free online comic strip library at comics.com

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