Tag Archives: mobile learning

Mobile Web in Education

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Mobile Web

The iPhone. No one can say that name today without some kind of reaction. Many predicted that it would bring a revolution in the way that we access the web. Most people weren’t aware that we needed a revolution. That is, unless you were one of the few that had attempted to access the web on a mobile device.

Accessing the Internet is very popular in other countries, but in the United States it has yet to really catch on. The premise sounds great: the entire world wide web of information, on your phone, anywhere you can get a signal. But the limitations seemed to kill that concept in the United States.

The small screen size on most phones and PDA’s didn’t help. But for most, that was not the deciding factor. The main problem was that almost all devices didn’t actually access the real internet. They had to access a mobile version of the sites they wanted to visit – and most sites just don’t have that. On top of that, features like Flash, AJAX, and PDF don’t always work on mobile devices. The iPhone is changing this, and hopefully others will catch on.

Many teachers have seen cell phones as a huge problem in education. The problem has not actually been the cell phones themselves, but the usage of the phones. From taking secret videos of enraged teachers, to ignoring lectures while texting away with friends – cell phones certainly have not had a good start in education. But that can change, if instructors are willing to make cellphones a part of education.

Think about this a second – students are carrying around a device in their pockets that has a camera, a communication device, and a web browser in it. It’s almost a full computer – and someday soon, they will be full computers. So – here are a few ideas for how to use cell phones in education:

  • Observe or find art around you. Take a picture of yourself with the art, and post it to a blog.
  • Virtual treasure hunt. Students follow clues online to lead them around campus, or even town, to find something related to your course content.
  • Tear down the walls in class. Decide to have a class meeting somewhere else on campus each week. Text students to tell them where to meet.
  • Interview community leaders or experts related to your content. Using a site like Gcast, students can conduct the interview using a cellphone and post it as a podcast.

Any combination of photos, the web, messaging, and getting out in the open could be combined to create an endless wealth of lesson ideas.

Micro-Blogging

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Microblog Websites

As the ‘Net’ generation went mobile, the Net itself wasn’t really ready. And, to be fair, most mobile devices weren’t really made to handle the full Internet, even though the iPhone has recently proved that it didn’t have to be this way. As a result, applications that Net users wanted to keep using were adapted for quick, portable mobile devices.

This is where micro-blogging came in. People who wanted to keep blogging from cellphones found that their web browser-lite cell application couldn’t really pull up a full blog site. Thus, micro-blogs were born. According to the Wikipeida article on micro-blogging:

Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that lets you write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) about your life on the go and send them to friends and interested observers via text messaging, instant messaging, email or the web.

The main idea is that you send in a short blurb on something, and then all of the people that are your friends can instantly see that update. They can choose to get updates by text messages, e-mails, RSS feeds, or on the web.

Of course, the danger here is that you get an endless stream of “I just brushed my teeth” or “wow – what a cute dress I found just now” updates. Some people can get too in to that. Some people have even found humorous uses for this technology. There can be educational uses.

At EduGeek Journal, we use Jaiku to update other EduGeeks with good articles, ideas, and funny statements throughout the day. Basically, stuff worth sharing but not in need of a full blog post.

Another use could be in group projects. Micro-blogs usually have the option to create “channels” that allow you to send specific posts about specific projects to that channel, and not your main micro-blog. If you have a group project, create a group channel and have your group members send in updates on their progress. Take the code for an update “badge,” insert it on a group wiki page, and everyone can quickly learn where everyone else is.

The two main micro-blogging platforms are Twitter and Jaiku, I personally prefer Jaiku, because it has a cleaner interface, and more features. But both are solid applications. Pownce is also a new site that mixes micro-blogging with file sharing.

There are probably many other uses for this. If you have any ideas on how you could use micro-blogging in an online course, please add a comment to share that idea with everyone else.