Welcoming Mobile Technology

During a nine-week period last school year, teachers and administrators at Port Clinton High School reported more than 600 discipline issues related to technology and the use of cell phones on campus. “That’s a huge number, considering that our total enrollment is only 590,” said Ralph Moore, principal at the Port Clinton, OH, school. “And that number doesn’t even include the students that we didn’t catch.”

Moore, who in previous administrative positions may have taken measures to ban the devices that were causing many of the issues, took a different stance this time. Working with the school’s tech-savvy assistant principal, he sat down and tried to come up with a solution that would allow technology on campus while also reducing the high number of violations that students were racking up.

Teachers got involved with the problem-solving exercise, said Moore, who turned to the instructors for their input on how to integrate technology without disrupting classroom and learning time. Administrators also gathered input from the student body, which was given the heads up about a new wireless system on campus and the rules and policies that its users would be required to follow.

“We decided to try an open-access agreement, with some limitations,” said Moore. “We told students that we were going to roll it out for the last few weeks of the [2009-2010] school year, and that if it went well we’d write up a new policy and implement it.” The policies were written up over the summer of 2010, revised several times and reviewed by administrators, parents, staff and students before being put in place for the 2010-2011 school year.

Moore said the new wireless system came about after a $43 million building bond was issued in November 2009 to upgrade the school’s facilities, which were built in 1964. “We’re fortunate enough to live in a community where–despite what’s going on with the economy–everyone is very supportive of education,” said Moore. In need of an improved Internet access solution–either wired or wireless–he said, the district’s technology coordinator and superintendent looked at the options and decided to go with the latter.

“They felt that wireless would give us the most flexibility between our existing and new buildings,” Moore explained. The network, security firewalls, and Web browsing filters were already in place, he said, “so it was just a question of basically providing our students and staff members with additional Web access and allowing them to log onto the existing network.”

That’s exactly what students are doing these days at Port Clinton High School, with a few restrictions. For starters, every device must be “approved” for use on the network prior to logging on and marked with a sticker that administrators place on the back of each approved smart phone, iPad, iPod touch, or laptop. Individual teachers develop their own classroom rules regarding the use of technology, with some requiring all phones to be on silent or vibrate while in class and others prohibiting the use of such devices when class is in session.

The WiFi and device registration process takes just a few minutes and is handled by the school’s technology director. At that meeting, students sign a registration form pledging that they will use the WiFi in a positive manner and not in a way that is prohibited by the district. Students are assigned a user name and password for the Internet access, and their devices are adorned with a sticker showing that they completed the registration process.

Moore said the signed agreements are then sent home for parental signatures and then kept on file in case a problem or question arises in the future. “The agreement basically says that the student has read and understands the rules and that he or she will abide by them,” said Moore. “Once the form is submitted and the passwords are handed out, the student is good to go.”

So in an era when schools nationwide are torn between banning personal devices on campus, Port Clinton High School is already seeing positive results from its contrarian approach. Since the start of the current school year, for example, there have been fewer than 20 technology-related violations reported. The open-access approach has also created a sense of responsibility among students, who have come to appreciate the opportunity.

“I’d say 99 percent of the students who registered their devices are doing what we asked them to do,” said Moore, whose IT team is now struggling with issues like how to filter popular sites like Facebook and YouTube. “These can serve as good educational resources,” said Moore, “but there’s also stuff on those sites that you don’t want students to be able to access.”

Even with that challenge on his staff’s agenda, Moore said he doesn’t regret the decision to embrace technology and open up the campus WiFi to students. “Every school district I’ve ever worked with has had extensive rules in place prohibiting the use of cell phones, iPods and other technology on campus,” said Moore. “Instead of taking that stance, my staff and board collectively decided to find ways to enable technology in such a manner that would provide opportunities for our students.”

Source: thejournal.com

University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Science going Mobile

From next year, the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Science will be moving towards mobile delivery, with all first-year students provided with iPads, and textbooks replaced by digital materials.  They will be the first Australian University to begin delivering in this way, and this is the first step towards an overhaul of their teaching strategies, including moving to fully online delivery of first-year Science courses from 2012, according to Professor Bob Hill, Executive Dean of the Faculty. To help ensure that teaching materials and activities are compatible with the iPads, teaching staff will also be receiving the devices.

I have a modicum of skepticism about some aspects of this planned course of action, however.  Firstly, the focus on iPads might force thinking around mobile learning into a iPad-shaped box, rather than encouraging the development of mobile learning activities and resources to suit a wider range of devices.  This is already apparent in the kinds of materials they describe as being prepared for their iPads:

“The aim is to transfer all learning content to an electronic version which includes many currently printed textbooks for first-year students sometime in 2012.”

Aaargh.  Transferring learning content to computers, including textbooks, does not equate to e-learning.  Transferring learning content to mobile devices is unlikely to result in quality mobile learning.  The REAL task here should be to develop new learning activities and resources that target the required learning outcomes and utilise the affordances of mobile devices, rather than thinking that an electronic textbook on an iPad is somehow better that a paper-based textbook.  Instead, the focus appears to be on the *delivery* of content, rather than ways in which students can interact with, and create on, iPads:

“The online material will take a variety of forms with students being able to access lecture notes, audio, background documents and textbooks through tailored web-based apps. This is in addition to all the student services currently available through the MyUni website such as timetabling, video downloads, slides and email.”

THERE IS NOTHING NEW or innovative about ANY of those content sources or activities.  All that’s happening is that they’re being displayed on a shiny new device, instead of a laptop or a desktop computer, and they’re accessed through “app” buttons.  Contrast that philosophy with a learner-centric pedagogical model in which learning activities are developed that use key affordances of the iPad: for example, designing activities where students annotate or complete worksheets or experiments using an app like Noterize; or focusing on using mobile devices equipped with cameras to document science experiments or field trips using blogs, images, and video.

I hope the University of Adelaide will take time to consider how learning with technology is much more than learning ON technology.  A successful mobile learning strategy requires working with the inherant strengths and limitations of mobile devices to enhance learning and engagement – not just trying to do the same thing as before with the new tool!

The Future and trends in Mobile Learning

In the early phase of 21st century mobile phones were considered as a status symbol now it’s a necessity. The present usages of mobile phones are not just limited to new modalities for communication; they are like a pocket computer with latest hi-tech technological mélange with amazing features. The growing demand for mobiles especially amongst the different groups has opened the thresholds for mobile development companies to develop dynamic and creative mobile applications on different themes and concepts. 

Today’s youth live in a world enveloped and surrounded by hi-tech gadgets. They get information from online publications, publish their content on blogs, and share up-to-the-minute updates using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. And for some years now they’ve been doing all this on their phones.

Mobile learning can be augmented by using the functionalities of both handheld computers and mobile phones. With the inception of the iPod, “Podcasting” created new ways to distribute content. Similarly, convergent devices like the iPhone and smart phones using the Android, Symbian and blackberry operating system are extending the boundaries of education.

In the 2009 Parent-Teen Cell Phone Survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, 75% of 12 to17-year-olds own cell phones (up from 45% in 2004).

Duke University was the first to use mobile devices in the field of education. Mobiles are used to access symposia, class material, and school news through iTunes. The faculty and students carry the course material with them on their iPods with help of a specially build program called iTunesU.

In 2008, Abilene Christian University came up with the first-in-the-world mobile learning initiative. It was an innovative initiative for students and faculty to try something new and unique, which was never tried before an experiment with new forms and very advanced next-generation digital platforms including the iPhone and iPad.

Similar milestone was set by Hamilton County Virtual School working in partnership with Emantras. An application in the name of Mobl21, enables teachers to create and publish text, video, and audio content in the form of short quizzes, flash cards, and guides.

The scope of mobile learning includes:

• Enhance group collaboration among students and instructors using a Pocket PC.
• Job training, learning with handheld or wearable technologies solves a problem of classroom education
• Student can learn outdoors, for example on field trips.
• Support informal or lifelong learning, such as using handheld dictionaries and other devices for language learning.
• Provide audiovisual support in order to enhance training similar to a corporate business or other classroom environment.

Most personal technologies can support mobile learning, including:

• Tablet PC UMPC mobile phone, camera phone and SmartPhone
• Learning Mobile Author, e.g. for authoring and publishing WAP, J2ME and SmartPhone
• Utilize audio player, e.g. for listening to audio recordings of lectures
• Handheld audio and multimedia guides at outdoors
• Handheld game console, modern gaming consoles such as Sony PSP or Nintendo DS/Wii
• 3GP For compression and delivery method of audiovisual content associated with Mobile Learning
• Wi-Fi access to instructors and available of resources via internet

In the past few years, mobile learning has certainly moved beyond the hype. The ubiquitous availability of technology, the advancement of technologies in smart phones, and the development of learning applications have brought mobile learning into schools and universities. On the contrary it is also important to have a clear understanding of how and where tomorrow's mobile technology can be employed to support valuable learning, as looking at the current trend the educational developments continues to be more technology driven rather than user learner driven.

About emPower

emPower is a leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning Management System (LMS). Our mission is to provide innovative security solutions to enable compliance with applicable laws and regulations and maximize business performance. We provide range of courses to manage compliance required by regulatory bodies such as OSHA, HIPAA, Joint commission and Red Flag Rule etc. Apart from this emPower also offers custom demos and tutorials for your website, business process management and software implementation.

Our Learning Management system (LMS) allows students to retrieve all the courses 24/7/365 by accessing our portal. emPower e-learning training program is an interactive mode of learning that guides students to progress at their own pace.

For additional information, please visit http://www.empowerbpo.com

Media Contact
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jasongaya@empowerbpo.com

emPower
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
Ph: 502-400-9374
http://www.empowerbpo.com
http://www.empowerlms.com/

Mobile Learning in Classrooms: Benefits of m-Learning

Colleges and universities are using M-Learning to help students perform tasks by providing information, guidance, and learning experiences when and where required.

• Puts training and performance support where the actual work takes place.
• Allows students new skills or knowledge to be immediately applied
• Enables student training when it is needed
• Allows use of rich media when appropriate
• Builds a community of practice
• Connecting and continuously sync training to back-end systems

Some of the examples of colleges using Mobile learning to thrived in educational environments

• Hastings College used ipods with construction students
• Leeds College of Building used netbooks and mobile phones with construction learners
• St Helens College used Sony PSP’s with electrical engineering students
• Walsall College used Nintendo DS games handhelds with some disaffected and disengaged learners where they reported: This programme has seen learners enjoying education again and the number of exclusions is down by 65 per cent.

One of the better ways to find out the value of training in financial terms is to measure the return on investment (ROI) of your training programs. Mobile based training using iPad and other smart phones have proved to be very effective devices for future and have already made several significant claims: Saves time without decaying learning benefits; minimizes travel costs; minimizes time away from work; cost effective; can meet the needs of a geographically disperse employees; provides consistent course delivery or research materials; offer more individualized instruction; and consistently higher learning results can be achieved over traditional training.

Studies over the past few years show the following results: better learning curve as compared to traditional instruction; students had doubled higher content retention for e-learning over traditional classroom instruction; students demonstrated greater gains in learning than did students who were taught by traditional instruction.

While the most obvious impact of m-learning on ROI is the significant time and cost savings it can produce over traditional training, more significant impact on ROI can be achieved as a consequence of m-learning. 
Well constructed and develop m-learning tools is not only faster than classroom training but also more effective in general. Numerous studies have shown that people learn faster with such trainings; student using iPad and similar smart phones can have easy access to materials and can use the time to accurately recall what they learned over a longer period of time, and are better able to transfer what they learned to actual performance.


About emPower

emPower is a leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning Management System (LMS). Our mission is to provide innovative security solutions to enable compliance with applicable laws and regulations and maximize business performance. We provide range of courses to manage compliance required by regulatory bodies such as OSHA, HIPAA, Joint commission and Red Flag Rule etc. Apart from this emPower also offers custom demos and tutorials for your website, business process management and software implementation.

Our Learning Management system (LMS) allows students to retrieve all the courses 24/7/365 by accessing our portal. emPower e-learning training program is an interactive mode of learning that guides students to progress at their own pace.

For additional information, please visit http://www.empowerbpo.com

Media Contact
Jason Gaya
jasongaya@empowerbpo.com

emPower
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
Ph: 502-400-9374
http://www.empowerbpo.com
http://www.empowerlms.com/