Mobile devices and mlearning in 2011

In case you had any doubts about where mobile technology stands, this video points to the tremendous increase in mobile device and app sales and forecasts what 2011 will look like.

• In January to March of 2010 alone, 314.7 million phones were sold and 54.3 million of these were smart phones.
• A somewhat depressing statistic is also noted: while 85% of children own a mobile phone, only 75% are likely to own a book.
• The most common data sharing “app” reported is SMS (perhaps not surprising, since people who don’t own smartphones remain the majority of mobile device users).
• The video predicts that the Android OS (with a growth rate of 886% year on year) will be the leading smart phone OS in 2011.

The rapid growth of mobile devices means that a majority of learners will be accessing the internet via their mobile phones. This also means there’s a tremendous opportunity to connect people to resources and capabilities at time of need via their mobile devices.

As noted by Pachler, Bachmair & Cook (2010), mlearning “is about understanding and knowing how to utilize our everyday life-worlds as learning spaces.” This doesn’t mean that mlearning is always the best way of providing instruction and/or performance support, but mobile devices certainly extend the reach of teaching and learning.

Mobile device affordances include:

• on demand learning
• opportunistic, context-dependent learning
• one-on-one, personalized learning (pull-based)
• location-based learning
• decision-making, performance support
• authoring
• communication (and connectedness to personal learning networks)
• collaboration

The “range” of these affordances will very much depend on the type of mlearning device used (e.g., mobile phone, smartphone, or tablet). Thus, the range of learning is also very much subject to a digital divide between those who can afford devices with enhanced capabilities and those who cannot, and between those who are more confident about the use of technology and those who are not. While exploiting the promise of mlearning, we shouldn’t leave behind those who have less access to mobile devices for whatever reason.

Source: digitalbuzzblog.com

3 Ways To Get iPads in Your Classroom

How can you get a classroom set of iPads in your classroom?

Although there are many options available, below are three methods that have succeeded in the past for educators who have sought to integrate new technology in their classrooms.  Keep in mind that these methods don’t only apply to receiving iPads.  They can be used to receive any type of desired technology; however, iPads are hot right now, and for good reasons.

If you’ve had success with other methods, please leave your ideas in the comments section at the end of this post.

Method 1: Create a Classroom Project at DonorsChoose.org

Public school teachers across America can post classroom requests on DonorsChoose.org.  People from all walks of life can browse the directory of projects and may freely determine to fund a project.  Typically, the projects that receive the most funding are the ones that are inspirational.

That being considered, you probably won’t receive funding for a classroom set of iPads by writing “I want iPads because they are cool and they can do neat things.” How can you appeal to the hearts of donors?  This isn’t encouragement to be manipulative, but rather to make sure you express your intents with clarity.

Method 2: Submit Grant Proposals

Grant money is in circulation for projects like these; unfortunately, that funding is limited.  Priorities for submitting grant proposals should be (1) meeting deadlines, (2) meeting grant criteria, and (3) ensuring quality submissions.  The following links provide a directory of technology grants available to K-12 teachers:

• Technology Grant News
• Teachers Network: Technology Grants
• Grants @ TeachersCount.org

As mentioned above, your grant proposals need to look good in order to be a considered recipient.  Grant writing isn’t easy; fortunately, there’s help available.  The following links will help you create the best grant application possible:

• Grant Guru Tips
• How to Write Grant Proposals from about.com
• How to Write Educational Grants from ehow.com

Method 3: Visit with Your Technology Coordinator About Budgeting for iPads

As it is in most facets in life, success hinges on positive relationships.  What’s the status of the “relationship bank account” you share with your technology coordinator?  Are you continually making deposits, or is the bank account overdrawn?  Here is some recommended reading that will help ensure you’re making consistent deposits and not writing hot checks:

• How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Relationships 101 by John Maxwell
• Enthusiasm Makes the Difference by Norman Vincent Peale
• Winning with People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time by John Maxwell

Certainly, the aforementioned methods aren’t just limited to receiving iPads, and there are definitely other options available for receiving technology in your classroom.  However, these methods seem to have garnered success for educators seeking to fund technology projects in their classroom.
What other methods are you aware of?  Feel free to leave your comments and questions below.

Source : k12mobilelearning.com

The next level for creating training courses

The smart phone devices have outclassed its prime adversary landline phones. Today the peripheries of smart phones have moved beyond corporate houses to universities.

Content development in mobile devices is a new concept that had been thought of for quite some time now and that makes a lot of sense — the adoption of these devices around the world is just tremendous. Mobile Learning is growing at an expeditious pace. Business professionals and universities are embracing mobile learning on all sorts of devices.

As advancement of mobile applications continues to expand its global reach with corporations and universities in particular are actively investigating how to deploy learning to mobile professionals.  With careful planning a course developers in particular should be able to craft and deploy a wide variety of content to help those learners who are on the go.

Duke University, Abilene Christian University, Hamilton County Virtual School, University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Science , Hastings College, Leeds College, St Helens College, Walsall College are some of the well known institutes who have opted to replace textbooks and use iPhone and iPad instead. iPad and similar smart phones utility as a mobile learning device has been successfully experimented in many sectors and is recently being introduced to the healthcare sectors.

The term authoring tool can be somewhat misleading. People can easily be deceptive when they hear the term for the first time, the reason behind its close resemblance with word-processing software for professional writers. But the fact is the authoring tools go far beyond writing and word processing.

E-learning authoring tools provide trainers the opportunity and liberty to integrate an array of media to create professional, engaging, interactive, creative and innovative training content.

Today there are numerous types of authoring technologies to choose from, the task may seem somewhat daunting, but if planned in a proper and systematic way it doesn't have to be. One of the secret to pick the correct authoring tool is having a clear understanding about your own technology restrictions, instructional needs and business requirements.

empower, one of the leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning management system (LMS) has developed an iLearn Application compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This application is very useful for course developers to promote their courses using the ilearn application to users with basic stuff to advanced topics, Healthcare to IT, in an interactive and engaging method.

The iLearn application by empower contains tools to create your own course in your field of expertise. Content developer can create categories and courses in such manner that it can be managed easily by end users who can download the iLearn App from iTunes which comes with a few preloaded courses. End users can view these preloaded courses or can go to store front and can download free courses or demo courses or pay and purchase paid courses. Once the courses are downloaded are visible in his App on his iPhone/iPad. The tool/GUI will automatically create a course in an attractive graphical format as an output. Various others functionality can be easily deployed using the iLearn application.

empower iLearn application is simple and effective it provides tools so effortlessly that you can create your training module within minutes. Put videos, images, audio, text and make the learning the way you want it to be and then since it‘s your amalgamation of hard work and smart work – you give a price tag to it and share it with the world.

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