More students than ever are now carrying mobile devices — including phones, netbooks, smartbooks, portable personal wireless hubs, and e-book readers — that cost far less than a computer and can easily access the Internet. It has been common to find students carrying mobile phones for some time now, but recent advances in the technology have wrought a dramatic change in the mobile landscape. Devices like the Apple iPhone 3GS, Kogan Technologies’ Agora, the HTC Magic, and other new models are in high demand. Combining innovative interfaces with large, clear screens and a wide array of software applications, mobiles are compact tools that support many tasks typically performed on computers. The swift uptake of new models combined with the emergence of new data plans, wider availability of mobile broadband, and an increasing availability of third-party applications for education has catapulted mobiles into the near horizon for education in Australia and New Zealand.
Overview
From phones to smartbooks, mobile devices with access to the Internet now make it possible to do all kinds of activities — whether working, studying, or socialising — wherever one happens to be. In recent years, mobile phones have evolved to include innovative interfaces, GPS and wifi capability, and third-party applications. Small mobile Internet devices including netbooks and smartbooks offer another way to stay connected and work on the go: smaller than laptops but larger than mobile phones, these devices are compact and powerful.
Placed on the far horizon for Australia and New Zealand last year because of slow adoption rates and low availability of bandwidth, mobile Internet devices are moving toward broad adoption much more quickly than originally anticipated. One key reason for this sudden upswing is the popularity of a new class of smartphones that have emerged in the past year. Along with reduced broadband costs and new plans that offer alternatives to hefty overage charges, the capabilities of these sophisticated devices have heightened the already strong interest in mobiles in Australia and New Zealand.
These new mobiles are capable of running third- party applications that connect to the Internet. They include innovative interface elements — multi-touch screens that can interpret natural gestures, accelerometers that can detect the phone’s position and movement, and voice recognition — and they are equipped with GPS devices, so the phones always know where they are. Applications can tap into a phone’s location awareness to offer specialised services based on the user’s position. Using the mobile’s ability to access wifi networks, applications can sync with web-based tools and social networking systems.
Businesses, public agencies, and schools are beginning to explore multimobile services — convenient, flexible tools that enable users to access information in a range of formats using mobile devices — as a way to support customers, staff, and students. With multimobile services, a user can send a query using email, text messaging, a voice call, or a web interface, receiving responses in any of the same formats. The queries can access information, carry out commands (such as registering for classes or placing an order with a merchant), and proactively keep the user informed of changes in status (such as the user’s position on a class waiting list, for instance). Multimobile services can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and from nearly any mobile device. One serious drawback, particularly in Australia, is the pricing structure of text messages; students and customers are unlikely to use a service that costs fifteen cents per request or reply.
A new class of mobile Internet devices generally referred to as netbooks — relatively inexpensive personal computers that run basic productivity software and access the Internet — are driven more by institutional recommendations and requirements than by personal choice, but are nonetheless making their way into the hands of students. Smartbooks, styled as smaller, less expensive netbooks, combine the convenience of a keyboard and basic computer functions with the power of mobile access. Where finding wifi coverage is a problem, portable personal network devices such as Novatel’s MiFi create instant, multiuser wireless hotspots by tapping into the 3G cellular data network.
In general, access to the Internet outside school or work is still a key concern for many Australian consumers; finding any kind of wireless Internet service is often difficult outside of urban centres. In many cases, while students may own mobile Internet devices, the high cost of broadband coverage prevents them from taking advantage of the full range of applications available to them. Although a government-sponsored effort is underway to improve Australia’s broadband to make it faster and available in more locations, the work progresses slowly and many areas are still without access.
Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Enquiry
Mobile devices, phones especially, are commonly carried by students, which means many if not most of them bring these devices with them. Services that take advantage of built-in features like the GPS and the ability to access wifi networks increasingly allow students to manage their social and educational networks, take their learning materials with them wherever they go, and access just-in-time information when and where they need it. The variety of learning tools available for mobile Internet devices is broad and growing, encompassing everything from graphing calculators to astronomy applications. Mobile Internet devices work with technologies like cloud computing, location-based media, and open educational resources to deliver applications for communication, organisation, research, study, and fieldwork.
While the capacity to access the Internet is a key capability of these devices, their utility is not necessarily dependent on a persistent connection. Many applications for the popular iPhone and Android platforms work with or without Internet access. Some are self-contained and, once downloaded, can be used anytime; others can connect intermittently. Examples include study sets for the GMAT and other exams by Watermelon Express; Google Sky Map for Android platforms, which serves as a mobile planetarium; History: Maps of the World, containing full-colour, historical maps; iSeismometer, capable of measuring vibrations and tremors; and a variety of references, including the Australian Oxford Dictionary and the Aussie Slang Dictionary, featuring more than 700 common Australian phrases.
It is increasingly common for universities to provide admissions, registration, event, and other information for students via mobile Internet devices. Colleges publish sports and lecture event schedules, campus news, maps, course listings, campus directories, and multimedia content. Teachers converse with students via text-messaging or Twitter, and post class notes, lectures, and syllabi in forms that can be read by mobiles. The mobile serves as an effective emergency alert tool; campus authorities can quickly and efficiently reach both resident and commuter students with news of school closings due to weather or security-related issues.
- Architectural and Ecological Design. Lecturers from Unitec New Zealand issued mobile Internet devices, including smart phones and netbooks, to students in two courses who collaborated on the design of a sustainable home for the Sustainable Habitat Challenge. Students used the devices to communicate, capture and share data, and develop design ideas.
- Medicine. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a mobile ultrasound application. Using a USB cable, a portable ultrasound scanner is connected to a mobile phone and the scanner’s data is shown on the mobile display. The system is ideal for locations where a computer is impractical or where a portable ultrasound machine is prohibitively expensive; the scanner costs one- tenth as much as a portable machine.
- Meteorology. The Weather Machine application for the iPhone offers information from over 58,000 weather stations around the world, allowing the user to select which stations to moni- tor. The report is updated every half hour, enabling students to access real-time data.
Mobile Internet Devices in Practice
The following links provide examples of mobile Internet devices in educational settings.
iPhone to Replace Register at Japan University
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE54R1NE20090528
(Chris Meyer, Reuters, 28 May 2009.) Faculty at Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan use college-issued iPhones to take attendance and diminish truancy. Students type an ID and class number into an iPhone app, which uses the device’s GPS to verify their presence in class.
knfbreading Technology
http://www.knfbreader.com
The knfbReader Mobile is designed to help those with learning disabilities or visual impairment. The user snaps a picture of text using his or her mobile phone and the phone converts the text to speech.
MobilaP: The Mobile Academic Platform
http://daap.uc.edu/mobilap
Featured at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, MobilAP is a web-based platform with a mobile component that includes polls and quizzes, discussions, scheduling, and link sharing features.
Mobile Phones Increase Campus Security
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/06/12/napa-valley-colleges-lockdown-a-lesson-in-hyper-information.aspx
Campus security at Napa Valley College used mobile technology to quickly alert students and faculty of a campus lockdown. A survey of students, staff, and faculty indicated that an alert system based on mobiles would be the fastest and most reliable way to reach the community.
Mobiledu
http://www.medu.com
MobileEdu provides a suite of tools for mobile devices that are designed specifically for colleges and universities. Applications include maps, directories, financial management tools, course information, athletic scores and schedules, and more.
For Further Reading
The following articles and resources are recommended for those who wish to learn more about mobile Internet devices.
Mobile Learning: an Online Reflective Journal on Mobile learning Practice
http://mlearning.edublogs.org
(Leonard Low, Mobile Learning.) This award-winning blog, written by an e-learning designer from the University of Canberra, contains frequent posts on mobile learning technology, as well as relevant publications for further reading.
New Technologies, New Pedagogies: Mobile Learning in Higher Education
http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/91
(J. Herrington et. al, University of Wollongong, April 2009.) This faculty-authored e-book explores the use of mobile devices in education and includes a number of examples.
Qualcomm, Freescale say ‘smartbooks’ to Rival Netbooks
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10251841-64.html
(Brooke Crothers, cnet, 29 May 2009.) This article describes a new breed of laptops called smartbooks. Lighter, cheaper, and more connected than notebooks, smartbooks are the computer versions of smartphones.
The Revolution No One Noticed: Mobile Phones and Multimobile Services in Higher Education
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/TheRevolutionNoOneNoticedMobil/163866
(Alan Livingston, Educause Quarterly, Volume 32, Number 1, 2009.) The author lists characteristics of mobile devices and how they can be used in higher education, particularly to provide administrative multimobile services.
Wi-Fi to Go, No Café Needed
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/technology/personaltech/07pogue.html
(David Pogue, The New York Times, 6 May 2009.) The MiFi is a tiny portable wireless router that delivers wifi to multiple users on any wifi-capable device in a small radius, including an office, a car, an airport terminal, or wherever one happens to be.
Delicious: Mobile Internet Devices
http://delicious.com/tag/hz09au+mobile
(Australia-New Zealand Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2009). Follow this link to find additional resources tagged for this topic and this edition of the Horizon Report. To add to this list, simply tag resources with “hz09au” and “mobile” when you save them to Delicious.
Posted by NMC on September 23, 2009
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