mLearning Guide Mobile Learning Supports Global Health by Inge de Waard “As the population in Europe and North America gets older, and as the population in the developing world continues to grow, health becomes all the more crucial for sustained, happy living. Luckily, mobility is all around us and we, as developers and training managers, can make a difference in achieving this goal. Optimized health quality is always something to strive for!” Affordable mobile devices, access to wireless networks in much of the world, more mobile lifestyles, and the demand from employers for increased availability of workers are changing the world. One of the fastest-growing areas of mobile technology application is health, so much so that GSMA (the Association of the Groupe Spéciale Mobile) refers to this area as “mHealth.” Because mHealth embraces all ages, all continents, and people in various walks of life, it is a perfect subject to explore for learning and development opportunities. Let’s begin by looking at mHealth overall. Why is mHealth growing so fast? GSMA.
Pave the Way for mLearning with mSupport by Conrad Gottfredson “The best-practice path is to let mSupport pave the way for mLearning. Doing this establishes the framework needed to facilitate measurement, the speed of skill transfer, and the ongoing adaptation of learning outcomes. What’s more, mSupport can help secure the institutional will to make, and sustain, the investment required for effective mLearning.” Almost one-third of the global information workforce can work at any time, in any place they happen to be. Look at sales, medical care, emergency services, transportation, repair and maintenance services, law, or anywhere else, for that matter. Although this mobile elephant’s been in the room for a while, it’s becoming enormous. Delivering measurable business impact Training has always struggled to directly connect an organization’s learning investment to its profitability. When it comes to mobile, mSupport is a rising star. Pave the way for a sustainable mobile learning strategy
History of Classroom Technology [INFOGRAPHIC] It seems that with each passing year, the traditional K-12 classroom is in the process of implementing a new form of technology – it has really never been a more exciting time to be a young student! The new gadgets of today like the tablet and smartphone are opening a world of possibilities when it comes to learning. We are now seeing more and more flipped classrooms, blended learning approaches, and creative lesson plans. Things were a bit different when I was in grade school. We had some of the modern conveniences (the desktop computer was just really starting to pick-up in popularity). No, for me, learning was still chalkboard (and later “dry erase board”) driven. Reflecting on these different technologies made me curious about the history of classroom technology. It’s funny, because I almost forgot about some of these items, such as the B.F.
Creating a "Least Restrictive Environment" with Mobile Devices The U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines the concept of the Least Restrictive Environment as the opportunity for a student with a disability to be "provided with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled peers." (Daniel R.r. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1050, 5th Cir.1989) This concept of providing students with "supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals" could be applied to all students. By leveraging the capabilities of mobile devices, teachers can support their students in creating a personalized learning environment with the least number of barriers. The Value of Working Digitally In a traditional classroom, the only available technology may be analog -- paper, whiteboards and books. Dear Teacher, I want to learn. Anything Digital Can Be Heard Imagine if books could talk. Depending on the device, text-to-speech may work in a variety of ways.
Interactive Video: The Next Big Thing in Mobile by Paul Clothier For 20 years we have had an interactive web with links to all manner of content, including videos; this model is duplicated from the desktop to mobile devices. With the evolving possibilities of interactive video, we may soon see this turned on its head. The new canvas won’t be the web page, but may be a video, and all the interactivity and links to content will be within the video itself. What was the contained object will become the container itself. It may seem odd to say this, but sliced bread and interactive video have a lot in common. Let me tell you a story. Otto Rohwedder was an expert jeweler, and owned three jewelry stores in St. Figure 1: Otto Rohwedder By 1927 he had saved up enough money to continue work on his slicer, and by 1928 he had created the first machine that not only sliced the bread but also wrapped it. My goal is to have you think, “Hey, I didn’t know you could do that! Video and interactivity: their impact on learning today How much do people like video? Examples
Using Augmented Reality for Contextual Mobile Learning by Jason Haag “Mobile augmented reality provides learning designers and educators with a new opportunity to start thinking more deeply about the mobile learner’s context and situation. AR technologies can take any situation, location, environment, or experience to a whole new level of meaning and understanding. AR is uniquely changing the way people learn with mobile devices.” At DevLearn 13, I had the honor of speaking on an exciting topic: Augmented reality (AR) and its uses in mobile learning. After the presentation I heard from a number of attendees who were equally excited about the possibilities and examples I shared, and many were also interested in discussing the technical and pedagogical challenges that we often dismiss because of the novelty associated with AR technology. While I had collected numerous resources on AR in preparation for DevLearn, I wasn’t able to share all of them during my presentation. Mobile augmented reality What is “augmented reality”? Classifying AR References
Mobile eLearning Design: How to Survive Your First mLearning Project by J.P. Medved “Monitor your finished mLearning product for quality both immediately after you complete development and periodically after you’ve deployed the product. Quality assurance can come in the form of use tests, user surveys, and debugging.” President Eisenhower is quoted as saying, “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.” Figure 1: Eisenhower (center) and his generals: “Planning is indispensable” The commander of the Allied forces at D-Day, and the architect of the strategy that broke the Nazi war machine, was no stranger to planning. While designing a mobile eLearning experience may not be even remotely as challenging as liberating France, planning ahead is still just as crucial to success. Mobile is fast overtaking traditional computing; more smartphones shipped in 2012 than PCs and that’s only likely to accelerate. Project plans tend to follow the same rough template as the Project Management Institute’s PMBOK Guide. 1.