Why the iPad is a learning tool

— from mobl21.com

Three ways to use mobile devices in workplace learning — from the Upside Learning blog by Amit Garg

Mobile App Review – mBook — from moodlenews.com by Joseph Thibault

mBook is the 2nd app for Mobile Moodle developed by MassMedia (MassMedia.hk) from Hong Kong.  This is an expanded version of mPage specifically tailored for use on the iPad (the app is not available on any other OS).  This app is also a hybrid, requiring a purchase from the Apple App Store as well as installed files on your Moodle server (server side installation files are available from http://mbooks.hk/mod/resource/view.php?id=2).  NOTE: the same files for mPage are required for mBook (so installing for one of the apps makes your site ready for the other, which is a plus).

mBook is listed at $3.99 in the Apple App Store.

Cutting the Pay TV Cord, Chapter 5: Unlimited Internet TVfrom Phil Leigh

philblueheadshot

In short, often there is no reason why modern flat panel TV screens cannot function as giant monitors for up-do-date computers.

Thus a growing number of us are attaching computers to our TVs.  The trend is especially prevalent for WiFi enabled computers because they can connect over a home network and thence to the Internet. In such configurations computers – commonly dedicated laptops – function as Internet gateways for televisions. They transform TVs into dual function devices normally controlled from a comfortable viewing distance with ordinary TV remote units.

Also see:

The 2011 NMC Summer Conference includes four themes:

Threads in these themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Emerging uses of mobile devices and applications in any context
  • Highly innovative, successful applications of learning analytics or visual data analysis
  • Uses of augmented reality, geolocation, and gesture-based computing
  • Discipline-specific applications for emerging technologies
  • Challenges and trends in educational technology
  • Projects that employ the Horizon Report or Navigator in any capacity

.

  • Challenge-based learning
  • Game-based learning
  • Digital storytelling as a learning strategy
  • Immersive learning environments
  • Open content resources and strategies
  • New media research and scholarship
  • Challenges and trends in new media and learning

.

  • Fostering/Supporting/budgeting for innovation
  • Supporting new media scholarship
  • Collaboration as a strategy
  • Learning space design, in all senses of the words
  • Use, creation, and management of open content
  • Experiment and experience; gallery as lab, lab as gallery
  • Challenges and trends related to managing an educational enterprise

.

  • Designing for mobile devices in any context
  • Social networking — designing, monitoring, maximizing social tools
  • Experience design
  • Creating augmented reality
  • Creating the next generation of electronic books
  • Optimizing digital workflows
  • Strategies for staying current with new media tools

Working group takes on challenges of WiFi growth on campus — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

A new working group dominated by IT representatives from higher education is tackling the problems and solutions of running WiFi networks that need to support a dramatic proliferation of wireless devices on campus and in business. A major goal of the Multimedia-Grade Working Group is to encourage vendors to design and deploy “multimedia-grade” devices and equipment.

“The demand being placed on WiFi networks is increasing at a blistering pace,” said David Morton, director of mobile communications at the University of Washington, one participating institution. “Handheld devices like the iPhone and iPad now account for nearly a third of all devices that are using WiFi on campus. At the same time we are seeing a mobile app explosion that has transformed how people use the network. Gone are the days when a typical user might occasionally check e-mail on a laptop. Users now do everything from streaming media to video chat to placing phone calls while mobile and expect all of that to work no matter where they are.”

Mobile Learning — 7 interesting patterns — from the learning generalist by Sumeet Moghe

Some excerpts/images include:


From DSC:
Below are some notes and reflections after reading Visions 2020.2:  Student Views on Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies — by the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Education, and NetDay

Basic Themes

  • Digital Devices
  • Access to Computers and the Internet
  • Intelligent Tutor/Helper
  • Ways to Learn and Complete School Work Using Technology

Several recurring words jumped off the page at me, including:

  • Voice activation
  • A rugged, mobile, lightweight, all-convergent communications and entertainment device
  • Online classes
  • Interactive textbooks
  • Educational games
  • 3D virtual history enactments — take me there / time machine
  • Intelligent tutors
  • Wireless
  • 24x7x365 access
  • Easy to use
  • Digital platforms for collaborating and working with others on schoolwork/homework
  • Personalized, optimized learning for each student
  • Immersive environments
  • Augmented reality
  • Interactive
  • Multimedia
  • Virtual
  • Simulations
  • Digital diagnostics (i.e. analytics)
  • Wireless videoconferencing

Here are some quotes:

Math and reading were often cited specifically as subjects that might benefit from the use of learning technologies. (p. 5)

No concept drew greater interest from the student responders than some sort of an intelligent tutor/helper. Math was the most often mentioned subject for which tutoring help was needed. Many students desired such a tutor or helper for use in school and at home. (p. 17)

…tools, tutors, and other specialists to make it possible to continuously adjust the pace, nature and style of the learning process. (p.27)

So many automated processes have been built in for them: inquiry style, learning style, personalized activity selection, multimedia preferences, physical requirements, and favorite hardware devices. If the student is in research mode, natural dialogue inquiry and social filtering tools configure a working environment for asking questions and validating hypotheses. If students like rich multimedia and are working in astronomy, they automatically are connected to the Sky Server which accesses all the telescopic pictures of the stars, introduces an on-line expert talking about the individual constellations, and pulls up a chatting environment with other students who are looking at the same environment. (p.28)

— Randy Hinrichs | Research Manager for Learning Science and Technology | Microsoft Research Group

From DSC:
As I was thinking about the section on the intelligent tutor/helper…I thought, “You know…this isn’t just for educators. Pastors and youth group leaders out there should take note of what students were asking for here.”

  • Help, I need somebody
  • Help me with ____
  • Many students expressed interest in an “answer machine,” through which a student could pose a specific question and the machine would respond with an answer. <– I thought of online, Christian-based mentors here, available 24x7x365 to help folks along with their spiritual journeys


http://www.jawbone.com/product-jambox-videos

http://arisgames.org

How to build a mobile website — from SmashingMagazine.com

Conclusion:
As the worldwide shift to mobile continues, handheld device support will become increasingly important. Hopefully this article has left you with both the desire and toolset necessary to make mobile support a reality in your websites.

Although mobile occupies a significant chunk of global web browsing, the technology is still very much in its infancy. Just as standards emerged for desktop browsing, new standards are emerging to unify mobile browsers. This means that the techniques described in this article are only temporary, and it is your responsibility to stay on top of this ever-changing technology.

In fact, the only thing in web development that remains constant is the perpetual need to continue learning!

© 2025 | Daniel Christian