Mobile Learning, Mobile App Development, Mobile Apps in the Classroom

1. Mobile Learning, Mobile App Development, Mobile Apps in the Classroom Ray Pastore, Ph.D. rayme.pastore@gmail.com Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology University of North Carolina Wilmington

2. Topics • What is? • Why use mobile devices in education? • How is mobile learning being used in education? • Developing your own apps

3. Introduction • Increase • Popularity • Started with the Ipod • Mobile phones – multimedia then smart • Pads - ipad • GPS • Ambient Insight, LLC estimates that 246.9 million dollars will be spent on mobile learningin2011

4. mLearning expands eLearning to include • Can be carried easily in a pocket or purse • Can be used ‘on the go’, i.e., on the job or en route • Can be turned on instantly without the need to boot up • Is Internet capable through a service or wificonnection • Has other identifiable features such as word processing ability, html browser, SMS messaging, Camera, MP3 player, GPS, etc.

5. Why use these devices in education? • Social interactivity • Through the popularity of texting and social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, social interactions can take place in real time. • Context Sensitivity • Refers to the ability to gather real time data in a unique environment and location. iegps • Connectivity • Handhelds give you the ability to connect to databases, networks, computers, and other mobile users. • Individuality • Provide scaffolded learning that students can explore on their own through the community • Portability • Devices are portable and can fit into your pocket. They can be used in real time or ‘on the go’.

6. How is mobile learning being used in education? • to view or send content or email • participate in discussion forums • submit and view assignments • and send/receive feedback • enrolling in courses (higher ed) • communication • texting • emergency warning systems

7. However, being used in corporate/government for: • Everything on the previous slide plus…. • Gaming • Simulations • Full courses • Flash based content • HTML5 based content *This is where education is headed

8. Disadvantages • small screens that are sometimes difficult to see • have limited web capabilities ie no flash on ipod/iphone but is on android • generally have slow Internet connections (3G unless wifi) • While these limitations are being updated with each new generation of device, they remain tied to device size and portability.

9. Mobile Phones • The literature has shown that users are often skeptical at first when introduced to cell phones as a learning tool. • However, once phones are used in a classroom, users typically realize their potential as learning tools and enjoy their experiences.

10. Case of implementation • Shen, Wang, Pan, and Xiaoyan (2008), conducted a study at the e-Learning lab of Shanghai Jiaotong University, where they developed a class that could be conducted via a mobile phone. • For course access, students simply needed to install a software program onto their phones. • Once they were into the course, they could choose whether they wanted to view it via text, audio and video, video only, or text only. However, students' cell phone features limited what they could and could not view. • The system was tested on 1000 students in a Social English class • Students were sent surveys at the beginning and end of the course to measure how they felt about the use of mobile phones in a learning environment. • Five hundred twenty-six students responded to the pre course survey and 735 responded to the post course survey. • In the pre-survey, 85% reported they did not want to use their cell phone for the class. • Post survey revealed that 92% were satisfied with the class format. • They indicated that they enjoyed the 24/7 access to materials and flexibility. The unsatisfied students reported they could not keep up with the speed of text messaging.

11. Impacts on Education • Mobile technology has yet to make a clear impact on education • There is little research on the topic • Wide scale implementation in education is difficult to achieve due to • "... resources (that is, finance and money but also human resources, physical estates, institutional reputation, intellectual property, and expertise) and culture (that is, institutions as social organizations, their practices, values and procedures, but also the expectations and standards of their staff, students and their wider communities, including employers and professional bodies).” (Troxler, 2007, p. 9-10).

12. Impacts – Questions teachers ask • Educators are already inundated with classroom technologies, such as course management systems like Blackboard ™, Blogs, wikis, forums, plagiarism assessment systems, etc. • Do they have time to learn how to use another technology for learning? • Is it a benefit to them and the learning process? • Who will buy this technology? • Will students be required to enter programs with mobile devices? • Will instructors be forced to purchase them or use them in their classroom?

13. What am I doing? • Teaching economically/socially disadvantaged kids to read • Designing computer based training for mobile devices • Learning HTML5 • Game Development • Teaching programming logic

14. Mobile App Development • Google Android • Java Programming • iPod/iPhone/iPad • C, C++ • Other Options?

15. Other options? • Android • Google App Inventor • Flash • HTML • Apple • HTML • All phones (apple, android, blackberry, windows) • HTML – HTML5

16. App Inventor • Go to app inventor

17. Things to consider • Programming vs no programming • Size of device – pad vs phone • Phone service – ipodvs phones • Cost • Device life – will I use this in 2 years? • Is this really going to impact learning?

18. App Inventor • http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/ • Educators: • http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/educators.html • Discussion: • http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/forum/

19. Publishing • Getjar • QR Code • Email

20. The End • Presentation can be found at: • http://raypastore.com/petec2011 • My contact: rayme.pastore@gmail.com