The mobile future

Last week I went to another seminar, or rather a presentation about the future of the mobile web in 2010. A few interesting products (hardware and software), some of which I have never heard of, were shown. Altough mobile learning per se was not mentioned, one or two of those products certainly will have an impact on the mobile learning scene of this year.

The presenters, Markus Schärer ( Web2com AG, Germany & Switzerland) and Florian Wieser (Co & Co AG, Switzerland) both are leading consultants for online and multimedia projects and have been involved in the industry since the 90s.

As far as hardware goes, not surprisingly, the iPad was called the hottest item on their list of many. Other products which seemed promising to the presenters were the Lenovo U1, the Google Tablet, the Google Nexus One and of course the iPhone 4G. Some of these, obviously aren’t even on the market. The Amazon Kindle was also mentioned, but the presenters weren’t sure about its success. In Europe that is. I disagree with them, but time will tell what’s going to happen.

Another interesting point these gentlemen made was that the web in general is moving from presenting information the old-fashioned way to more of a storytelling approach. In other words, information should be prepared in a more interesting way. As someone involved in E-Learning, I could not agree more.

According to Schärer and Wieser, some of the mega trends of 2010 are the more increased use of social networks on mobile phones, location-based services and augmented reality. Nothing surprising, but I couldn’t agree more.

So what does all of this mean for mobile learning? Honestly, it is hard to tell. I believe that location-based learning especially in combination with games and augmented reality might be something extremely popular for the next coming years. Especially when augmented reality finally performs fast enough so we don’t get bored waiting for stuff to pop up on our mobile screen.

Disclaimer: mLearningblog.com does not endorse any products or services on request. The views in this blog are the authors personal opinion.

A brief update on Augmented Reality

Mobile Monday at Zurich was interesting from a mobile learning perspective. Augmented Reality has been on the map for quite a while now, but at the ETH (Zurichs renowned University) we were allowed to have an upclose look at what some companies are doing.

Here is a short overview:

GBanga – GBanga is a small company which specializes in creating AR games. One of the games was a scavenger hunt where each player could collect certain items or had to go from spot A to spot B. Unfortunately, this is not yet available for the iPhone..  However, it is free and anyone can sign up. This might be a great mobile learning tool for young kids and teenagers.

http://gbanga.com/

Kooaba is a Swiss-based company, which specializes in picture recognition, be it CD-covers, movie posters or the like. They are now starting to do this for buildings and landmarks as well and have scanned over 20 million freely available pictures. On site at the Switzerlands renowned ETH University it worked great. Throughout the demonstration I was able to see several tagged locations through the cell phone display. Unfortunately, public tagging is not yet allowed and although the software is working fine, it is quite slow.

http://www.kooaba.com/

Junaio was an impressive software as well, which enables users to see tagged information on their display. The software seems more advanced than other products and I will be sure to keep myself updated. I especially enjoyed the fact, that social- and or public tagging is already availablee.
http://www.junaio.com/

Wikitude is probably the most interesting of all applications since it combines Wikipedia with AR. The app seems to work well, but speed is also an issue here.  There are several possiblities for mobile learning use though.
http://www.wikitude.org/

Summary: All in all it was very interesting and there are many applications which could be used to enhance mobile learning. Nevertheless, the speed of most applications still bothers me. One technology expert also stated another important point: mobile displays. Anyone who has tried to read something on their mobile display when the sun is shining right onto their screen, should know what I mean. There are some new technologies coming which should solve that once and for all. Once these issues are solved, there is no way that mobile learning enthusiasts will get around AR. How long will it take? Be my guest to comment on that one…

Thomas Edison State College makes use of USB flash drives and HotLava

TRENTON, N.J., USA Thomas Edison State College is one of the pioneers in online education. Mycentraljersey.com delivers a good article on Matthew Cooper (27) who started developing FlashTrack courses on USB flash drives which enable users to access 15 courses on their laptops (or PCs) without any type of internet access. Since July 2009 courses for mobile phones which have been created with HotLava are also available. Forbes has called Thomas Edison State College one of the leading schools in matters of technology and online learning.

Link: Thomas Edison State College http://www.tesc.edu/

Link: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090922/GETPUBLISHED/909220338/New+Brunswick+Man+Develops+Mobile+Learning+Initiative+for+Area+College

Short paper on Mobile Learning in Japan

Found an interesting paper on Twitter today, called “Characteristics of Mobile Phone E-Learning in Japan”. The study is from several people of Ochanomizu University in Japan and -as far as I can see- although the paper is dated with 2009, it is referring to some research from 2005, which is an eternity from a technology viewpoint. Nevertheless, the results are interesting, because the main point is that not the actual technology is the problem when creating good mobile learning, but rather the actual design. The findings are nothing surprising, but the study gives some good examples.

Direct download: http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jaems/icomej/vol3/IJEMT3.69-81.pdf

Swiss 5th graders receive iPhone in pilot project

Schwyz, Switzerland. As a part of a 2year mobile learning pilot project, a class of fifth graders receive a free iPhone 3Gs. The kids can also use the mobile in their time away from school. The idea of the project is to help them integrate the phone into their “learning lives” and become accustomed to several mobile learning possibilities which the school will continously start to offer. The program is sponsored by Swiss telco giant Swisscom and will be evaluated by a group of teachers. Mobile learning is still new in Switzerlands schools, but this is one of the most interesting projects I have seen so far.

Before the project started...

Links:

Translated Blog of the responsible teachers
http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=de&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.projektschule-goldau.ch%2F&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=

Swiss television feature (German)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tp6-Yxbr0E

mLearning Twitter & YouTube Noise of Week 32

Some interesting links I picked up on Twitter and Youtube this week:

1. iApp “myCost”: This is an iApp which should teach students to handle their finances better. You can type in your salary and the price of something you’d like to buy. Then it will automatically figure out exactly how long you have to work. Unfortunately, the app is not free, which is kind of disappointing.  Sources: http://twitter.com/kathleenpage/statuses/3119401928 // http://mobileieducator.com/?p=1
2. South Tyneside links to the movie page of the Mobile Learning Institute: http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/index.html . Really good stuff for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.  Source: http://twitter.com/STLA/statuses/3101736849
3. The E-Learning Queen has released a free PDF on E-Learning and some mobile learning: Direct download http://zenzebra.net/elearner-survival-guide.pdf Source: http://twitter.com/maryadams711/statuses/2900321094
4. Mobile chalkboard? Hmm… interesting concept and commercial, but nothing new here I think. Nevertheless worth a quick look:
5. iPod and iPhone plugin for Wordpress makes WP sites a lot nicer to view. Interesting for educators as well: Source: http://twitter.com/darrenhoyt/statuses/3133127505 Direct link:  http://www.bravenewcode.com/wptouch/
6. Interesting short demo video on another iPhone mobile learning.

New Mobile Augmented Reality browser

I stumbled upon an interesting article about the Dutch company SPRXmobile. Together with layar.eu, they have created the “Worlds first” AR-Browser for smartphones. I don’t know whether their claim about being first is really appropriate (see my earlier post http://mlearningblog.com/?p=289), but nevertheless it looks really interesting. The way it works is simple enough: open the browser and look at your surroundings with the camera lens and the smart phone display. In addition to the “real” environment, the user also sees additional information such as apartments available for sale, the location of friends or events via a social network and other locations of interest. Needless to say that this is extremely interesting for mobile learning. Check out the short video on it. Interesting stuff, but unfortunately only a demo for its use with real estate ads.

As of now, the Layar browser needs a camera, GPS and a compass. iPhone 3G s anyone? Yes, according to a recent press release the browser will become available for the new iPhone. As of now it is available for the very few Google Android phones.

Links:

http://www.sprxmobile.com/

http://layar.eu/

Disclaimer: mLearningblog.com does not endorse any products or services on request. The views in this blog are the authors personal opinion.

Palm Pre and mobile learning (Part II)

Wow. Only a few days left until the Palm Pre is finally released in the US. Finally!  It’s time again for an executive summary of some information, which will be relevant for mobile learning enthusiasts.

According to several sources, the Palm Pre will be fully synchronizable with iTunes. This would mean that -at least for a short time span- Palm Pre users can at least download podcasts and vodcasts to their Palms. I wrote “for a short time span”, because Apple is likely to update the iTunes software to disable synching for its possibly strongest competitor to date.

Other sources write that the Palm Pre will already be fully supported by existing IT infrastructures and can therefore be used for corporate mobile learning within a short time period. In case any of the mobile learning material is very sensitive and a Palm Pre is stolen, it can also be wiped clean via remote access. This is not a new function on the market, but it certainly will help to ease the mind of paranoid chief learning officers.

The Palm Pre will also support Google, meaning that Google Docs, Gmail and the Google Reader can be used. Furthermore Google contacts can of course be synched with the device.

Other contact synching is also possible with Facebook and Exchange. According to PalmPreCentral, the Palm Pre will even be able to handle multiple Google and Exchange accounts at once. Quite impressive.

These are of course only a few of the facts which could become relevant for mobile learning on the Palm Pre. For further information, check some of the following links:

http://www.precentral.net/pre-browser-does-google-docs-reader

http://www.precentral.net/gmail-and-facebook-users-time-resign-yourself-extra-contacts

http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork/productPage.html

Sky Map Mobile Planetarium for Android

Back from my blogging hiatus/vacation I found this interesting article on the Sky Map app for Android. Sky Map is a free app, which lets users virtually browse the sky by pointing their Google phone towards the sky. The app uses the GPS functionality, the accelerometer and the compass of the GPhone to “know” in which direction you are pointing. If some of you, like me, have forgotten what exactly the “big dipper” is or simply want to show your students a more interesting way to learn about astronomy, this is certainly an interesting app.

Google Mobile Blog: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/05/sky-map-for-android-mobile-planetarium.html

Young kids connect school with home via Futurelab’s Dream Catcher project

I just watched a short video by Futurelab about the Dream Catcher program. Dream Catcher is a mobile learning project which lets young kids capture what they have learned with mobile devices and then encourages them to share their experiences with their teachers, their parents and their friends. The idea is not only to connect what they are learning at school with what they are learning at home. Furthermore, only very few young children can explain what they have learned in school all the time. If they actually show their parents on their mobile device, it will also improve the parent-child communication.

Source: http://www.futurelab.org.uk

What I really like about the idea is its simplicity. Any school could set this up with a few second-hand digital cameras on a very low budget. Dream Catcher shows that many great ideas can be very basic. I believe that there is a lot of potential there, especially considering how easy many cameras, netbooks and mobiles are to use these days. Those 4-year old kids handle these digital devices, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

I really hope to read more about similar projects in the future.

Check out the video here:

http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/multimedia/video/Video1245