First a little about podcasting…

A podcast is one in a series of digital media files (usually in either  audio MP3 or video M4V format) that is released periodically and made available for download by means of web syndication.

This syndication aspect of the content delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing files, such as simple download or streaming. Special client software applications called RSS aggregators (also known colloquially as podcatchers) such as Apple  iTunes or Nullsoft Winamp can  automatically identify and retrieve new podcast files in a given series when they are made available, by accessing a centrally-maintained ‘feed’ that lists all files currently associated with that particular series.

New files can be downloaded automatically by the podcatcher and stored locally on the user’s computer or other media device for offline use, enabling the audience to download content that is released episodically without having to manually check that new material has been made available.

According to the Horizon Report (2006) podcasting is

At the leading edge of a wave that will last for the next several years and beyond, personal broadcasting takes advantage of small, easy-to-use devices that people already carry to capture and share personal experiences, information, and events. This trend, which has roots in text-based media (personal websites and blogs), is expanding to include audio and video, as the tools for capturing and sharing those media become smaller and better. From podcasting to video blogging (vlogging), personal broadcasting is an increasingly popular trend that is impacting… audiences.

(p.11)

It’s easy to see why podcasts have value in e-learning. Will Richardson states in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms that the

underlying technology here is digital recording and the idea that it is now very easy to create and publish these recordings… As long as you have a way to make the recording, and as as long as your students have access to the Internet, you can make this work.

(p.113)

Now that I have started publishing podcasts, I’m obviously going to write a series of articles about developing and delivering content using this learning channel. What’s more, I will discuss podcast authoring using production techniques, based upon my experiences as a radio documentary maker in a ‘previous life’ – I’ll be talking about the craft of writing for audio, as well as the technical aspects of the process.

Now, [drum roll] I want to introduce you to the E-Learning Curve’s Other Podcast. This podcast service is about subjects that interest me other than e-learning. Topics I’ll be covering include aviation, history and music, among others. The first set of podcasts is called Transatlantic: the Flying Boats of Foynes:

July 2009 is the 70th anniversary of the first scheduled trans-Atlantic airplane passenger service. Told against a backdrop of the momentous events of World War Two, this eight-part podcast documentary series by Michael Hanley tells the story of a unique era in world aviation.

Airlines like Pan American Airways (PAA) and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with their flying boats like the Short series of planes, and the massive Boeing 314 ‘Clippers’ were welcomed to the seaport of Foynes, in the embrace of the River Shannon estuary on the Western edge of Europe. Come with me now as we fly back in time to the Golden Age of Aviation, a era of adventure, conflict – and the invention of Irish Coffee.

Parts 1 and 2 of the series are now available. You can listen and subscribe to each episode here, or you can access the podcast via iTunes. The next installment, The Glamour of Travel will be released on Tuesday July 28th, 2009.

The more observant among you will have noticed that this podcast channel is called the Other Podcast, which implies that there is a regular E-Learning Curve Podcast, discussing subjects associated with learning and development.

Yes there is. And it’s on it’s way soon. More about this closer to its launch.
___________

References:

The New Media Consortium (2006). 2006 Horizon Report. [Internet] Available from: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2006_Horizon_Report.pdf Accessed 15 July 2009

Richardson, W. (2006) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

–

You may recall back then I wrote:

I have been an Apple iPhone 3G owner and user since the model was released here in Ireland in mid-2008. Since I acquired the device, I’ve come to rely on it to manage my e-mail accounts, utilize my time, play music, video, take notes (text and audio), and generally be more productive. I’ve Twittered, Quittered, Facebooked, YouTubed and blogged.

Five months later, I have added e-learning course management, and even Skyping to my ever-growing range of iPhone-compatible activities. It seems I’m not alone in my view that iPhone is more than just another device.

According to Forrester analyst Ted Schadler, the iPhone

drives business culture change; it gives employees freedom to choose their own tools; and it changes the support model to self-service. But the real payoff of iPhone and similar mobile Internet devices is that it is a new platform for delivering content and collaboration applications to an increasingly mobile workforce.

(2009 p.1)

This assertion is remarkably positive, doubly so considering the source of the comment: Forrester, in common with the ‘other’ major industry analyst organization Gartner, are notable for their disdain of Apple products. In December 2007, Forrester’s Benjamin Gray et al published The iPhone Is Not Meant for Enterprises, a six-page report more commonly known by its subtitle The Top 10 Reasons Why We Recommend That IT Not Support It. In this document, Gray and his team leveled a number of criticisms at the device. Among them:

1. Doesn’t natively support push business email or over-the-air calendar sync.
2. Doesn’t accommodate third-party applications, including those internally developed.
3. Doesn’t support securing data on the device through encryption.
4. Can’t be remotely locked or wiped in the event of a lost or stolen device.
5. Lacks a hard keypad that provides feedback, which isn’t ideal for rapid and accurate input.
6. Has limited service provider support and its carrier lock-in inhibits flexibility.
7. Comes with a premium price tag.
8. Is only the first generation of the device.
9. Lacks a removable battery, so when the battery dies, so does the unit.
10. Lacks case studies of firms that have deployed it enterprise-wide.

Since 2007, Apple has worked assiduously to counter most of the deficiencies of the iPhone. A number of business-focused enhancements were integrated in the release of iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17, including:

• Added on-demand to require VPN login where needed.
• ActiveSync calendar synchronization issues fixed, and added CalDAV support.
• Encrypted device configuration profiles that are prevented from being deleted.
• New policy capabilities, including disabled cameras.
• Encrypted backup to the desktop through iTunes on PCs and Macs.
• New device functionality, including cut-and-paste, device search, and click-to-call.
• A thousand new developer APIs enabling developers more ways to build custom applications.

According to Forrester:

The iPhone’s intuitive interface, superior browsing experience, and rapidly evolving developer tool kit make content-centric applications far more appealing on an iPhone than on a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device. While BlackBerry is still the email and calendaring winner, iPhone devotees do make the shift to typing on glass.1 It’s also important that Apple isn’t linking its mobile future solely to mobile providers. The iPod Touch delivers most of what enterprises need over 802.11, lacking only GPS and 3G network access.

For enterprises, this makes an iPod Touch a viable addition to a BlackBerry or Windows Mobilecentric strategy. …Should you consider supporting iPhone? At least three companies say yes.

(2009, p.1)

In Oracle (one of the organizations Forrester spoke to) employee demand drove the company to adopt the iPhone. In Kraft Foods, the device has becomes a totem to demonstrate that their IT division is serious about supporting culture change. By January 2009, almost half of Kraft Foods’ mobile users have iPhones, with about 400 new iPhones ordered each month.

In Amylin Pharmaceuticals, the "passion" (p.3) and sponsorship of a C-level exec who has long advocated offering more user choice for mobile devices and open platforms for computing saw the iPhone as an opportunity to give employees the mobile capabilities they were asking for. The iPhone has become the company’s “enterprise netbook,” with support for the campus-wide wireless network. They have also found the iPhone “easier to support than other mobile platforms.”

Based on the evidence supplied by these an other organizations, the iPhone offers genuine workplace benefits including "self-service, empowered employees, and mobile collaboration" (p.4). Notably, employees were willing to "vote for freedom" by buying their own iPhone rather than take a company-supplied PDA. Ted Schadler states that if an iPhone makes an employee happy – and more productive, then supporting it delivers collateral benefits of a more content workforce, and a new line of communication between IT and employees. 

With the continuing growth in business- and productivity-centered iPhone apps, mobile collaboration opportunities are greater for the iPhone than for pretty much every other PDA. What begins as a better user experience is consolidated by an enhanced developer tool kit in OS 3.0 and the continuing maturation of the iPhone ecosystem.

Forrester say that anyone who has used both iPhones and BlackBerry will confirm that "the internet feels natural on an iPhone and a like chore on a BlackBerry" (p.8). Document viewing, WebEx presentations, and Internet access are better on the iPhone.

As developers build new applications for SharePoint access, data analysis, multiway conferencing, and training, the workforce can leave their laptops at work."

(p.8)

In the workplace context, communities of practice for the iPhone can lower support costs. All three firms discussed here have iPhone wikis so that employees can support each other. This "community-led support model" (p.8) may be new for many organizations, but it’s effective where the iPhone is concerned.

In Kraft Foods, their early adopters provide better support than their IT team can. As a bonus, Kraft Foods sees a growing desire for self-service that is driving a workforce culture change. It expects to see similar changes in other areas in the future. Even from a financial perspective, data plans for other mobile devices are more expensive than the consumer plans (US telecom provider) AT&T is offering for iPhones. This company was able to reset its baseline plan pricing 30% lower for all phones because it supported iPhone.

As with the emergence of non-formal and informal learning in organizations, and the growing pervasiveness of social media tools for collaboration in enterprises, it seems that the demand for, and growing acceptance of the iPhone as an enterprise-level communication, collaboration, and learning platform is due to people power. Despite the declamations and derogatory noises of industry analysts it seems that, like all politics being local, all communication is ultimately personal.

A phenomenon of the popular adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in society-at-large seems to be a concomitant shift in the culture. Beginning in 2008 and gathering momentum ever since, we have noted again and again that people are less willing to accept what they are told, and are making choices based upon their own experience, judgment, and from information more likely supplied by peers than from opinions delivered from “upon high.” So it has gone for traditional media channels. So will it go for enterprise communication?

You decide.

___________

References:

Gray, B., Whiteley, R., Silva, C., & Dines, R.A. (2007). The iPhone Is Not Meant For Enterprises: The Top 10 Reasons Why We Recommend That IT Not Support It. Internet: Available from http://www.forrester.com [Accessed 16 April 20 2009] Subscription or Purchase Required.

Schadler, T., Brown, M., Gray, B., & Burnes, S. (2009). Making iPhone Work In The Enterprise: Early Lessons Learned. Internet: Available from http://www.forrester.com [Accessed 16 April 20 2009] Subscription or Purchase Required.

–

Brandon Hall Research, domain analysts for the e-learning industry and providers of  information about tools, technologies, and best practices related to employee training and enterprise learning have just released a comprehensive new guide called Authoring Tool KnowledgeBase 2009: A Buyer’s Guide to 120+ of the Best E-Learning Content Development Applications.

According to their press release, "the current edition of this online, database-driven KnowledgeBase contains 10-20 page profiles of 122 content development tools" including:

• 65 products to create online courses
• 26 products to create online tests and assessments
• 20 products to create software simulations
• 23 products to help you convert your legacy content to e-learning
• 9 products to create non-software simulations
• 8 products to create instructional games

They also include two online software applications:

• A selection tool that helps you narrow your product search by filtering out the tools that don’t meet your needs
• A comparison tool to help you see how two similar products differ

I recently published an article called What’s on your e-learning bookshelf? In it, I listed my shelf of “go to” e-learning texts. I’ve re-published the picture of my shelf below, so that you can see, right there in the middle, a text called E-learning Tools and Technologies by Horton and Horton.

In the early part of this decade learning and development professionals and educators found this text to be an invaluable reference resource. If you had a requirement to understand a new training modality or learning channel in a hurry (as many of us did in five or six years ago as we faster, better, and more integrated communications networks burgeoned) the Horton and Horton text was a good place to begin to find out about it. However, as we reach the end of the decade, the tools and some of the technologies in text (I have the first edition) is looking decidedly dated; Blogger.com was still owned by Pyra Labs; podcasting is not given a look-in in any shape or form. As far as I could discern through a brief search (on Amazon, Wiley Books Online, and Google Books), the 2003 edition is still in print.

The outcome of this is that while the text is still full of good advice, useful information, and valuable insight into topics associated with e-learning design, development and delivery, many  of the products it highlights are deprecated (Authorware), redundant (GoLive), or changed beyond recognition (most products featured in the text). In my view this is where resources like the Brandon Hall KnowledgeBase come into their own. While, necessarily, the text and the information is not as rich as in the Horton and Horton book (see Figure 1 for a comparison between the layout of the two resources), it’s competitive advantage is that is delivers bang up-to-date, regularly refreshed information, and a easy-to-use selection and comparison utility to choose and compare products.

Figure 1. Side-by-side of the texts: Horton (l), Brandon Hall (r)
[Click to enlarge]

In one sense, this is the threshold between the analog and digital forms of information delivery. Putting my cultural anthropology hat on for a moment, I would characterize this as a liminal state. Liminality has been described as "the place in between" (La Shure, 2009)  infused with ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy.

For example, as a university lecturer delivering a course on learning technology do I include E-Learning Tools and Technologies on the required reading list, or the more up-to-date Authoring Tool KnowledgeBase? How do I set a question on the information in the latter source as it is in one sense, just a list and description of products and their capabilities, with none of the context provided by the former text? Which is more "academic?" Does this reflect the text’s accuracy? Is the cost ($795 annual subscription) of Brandon Hall membership justifiable for students, or people who just was occasional access to information, as opposed to about $40 for the out-of-date Horton and Horton text. How much is the information worth?

These are  difficult questions to answer satisfactorily.

I have no doubt that over time, e-texts will become integrated into the mainstream of academic, professional, and consumer activity. Online libraries like MyAthens already provide access to a range of electronically-available materials for a nominal fee to the individual user as membership to institutions, universities, and libraries.

E-readers like the Kindle, and e-book software like Lexcycle Stanza (recently purchased by Amazon) are beginning to provide the facility to view electronic versions of printed texts.

Maybe this electronic means of access will become more generalized; I use Stanza on my iPhone and it’s changing my reading habits. Perhaps the current practice of hard- and e-texts being used in concert will become firmly embedded as the most effective method of using the old and the new. As usual, people will do what works for them, and the usual rules for adoption of innovations will apply.

Yet the question remains: How out-of-date is too out-of-date?

I think that my Horton printed text still has great value, especially in the context it provides for e-elearning-related technologies; yet I can’t rely on it to provide current information about specific e-learning authoring applications. With over ten years experience in the learning and development industry, I feel competent to apply my well-developed critical faculties to find out what I need from the range of knowledge and information at my disposal. Could I make my tacit, hard-earned ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information available to some-one else? Probably not.

How do you use the resources at your disposal? I’d love to hear your views and about your experiences – let me know.

___________

References:

Brandon Hall Research. (2009). Authoring Tool KnowledgeBase 2009: A Buyer’s Guide to 120+ of the Best E-Learning Content Development Applications. [Internet] Available from: http://www.brandon-hall.com/publications/atkb/atkb.shtml Accessed 29 June 2009

Horton, W., & Horton, K. (2003). E-learning Tools and Technologies: A consumer’s guide for trainers, teachers, educators, and instructional designers. Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

La Shure, C. (2009). Liminality. [Internet] Available from: http://www.liminality.org/about/whatisliminality/ Accessed 29 June 2009

–

Now read on…

I started this series of posts about using the iPhone – and by extension the multitude of Converged Media Devices (CMDs) – with the goal of understanding approaches to leveraging the rich potential of personal media players.

In the course of articles to date, I have looked at

• The implications of poor media player client support on mobile devices
• What is M-Learning?
• Learning theories applied to M-Learning
• Learning opportunities supported by CMDs
• Practical applications of M-Learning

Based upon the research that I have undertaken, I would assert that the iPhone (as it currently exists) is not an appropriate learning channel for converged multi-media delivery of instructional content as I stated here:

[A CMD like] the iPhone is not a powerful computer: it is a Web-enabled Portable Digital Assistant (PDA). I would suggest that in many consumers’ minds that to be able to surf the internet in a full-featured Safari browser on the iPhone means that it’s a “real” computer. Apple surely want to manage users’ expectations.

Yet, the device obviously has huge potential to delivery information, knowledge, and learning. The challenge to e-learning professionals is to be smart about how learning content is distributed via this channel – in a sense, where it fits in the learning value chain.

Figure 1. Parameters for learning channel selection

Given that mobile devices like the iPhone cannot deliver integrated, immersive learning deliver, I would suggest that the most practical approach to using these devices in an e-learning context is to use these devices as a learning platform, and to supply content based upon the precepts of a modified cloud computing model.

Learning Platforms

According to the UK Dept. of Education and Skills (DfES), a Learning Platform (LP) is

a generic term to describe a system of information and communication technologies that is used to deliver and support leaning.

We can say that while learning platforms can vary considerably, each should provide the following range of ICT-based functions:

• Content management - enabling teaching staff to create, store and repurpose resources and coursework which can be accessed online
• Curriculum mapping and planning - providing tools and storage to support assessment for learning, personalization, lesson planning etc.
• Learner engagement and administration - enabling access to pupil information, attendance, timetabling, e-portfolios and management information
• Tools and services - providing communication tools such as e-mail, messaging, discussion forums and blogs.

A learning platform brings together hardware, software and supporting services to enable more effective ways of working within and outside the traditional learning contexts including classrooms. A learning platform is not a single ‘off the shelf’ product, rather it’s a collection of tools that are designed to support teaching, learning, management and administration.

A high-performing learning platform should be embedded in the behaviors and culture of the learner, and should offer a wide range of benefits to educators, learners, managers and administration.

Practical benefits to trainers

An effective learning platform will enable trainers to:

• Create and share training materials which can be accessed online (including via portable media devices), printed, or used with an interactive whiteboard
• Put their resources online page by page, lesson plan by lesson plan, so colleagues can access them from multiple locations
• Access a wide variety of learning materials that they can customize for the exact needs of their pupils
• Access lesson plans from colleagues to support group learning
• Assess, monitor and track learner progress progress
• Receive submissions of work from learners in a single, easy-to-manage location
• Increase learners’ ICT competence and confidence.

Practical benefits to learners

An effective learning platform will enable learners to:

• Access learning materials created by their trainers and mentors, outside training time and from multiple locations
• Store work and notes online for use in just-in-time learning
• Learn in a self-pace fashion and with a wide choice of learning material
• Create an online portfolio, including digital photos and videos of performance as well as text
• Improve their ICT skills and online management of materials
• Submit coursework and assignments for assessment
• Communicate via e-mail and participate in live discussions and forums with fellow learners

Practical benefits to managers

An effective learning platform will enable managers:

• Play a part in employees’ learning, via managers’ access to the learning platform
• View reports and data about assessment activities
• Communicate effectively with staff managing their staffs’ learning and development
  Become active partners in organizational learning and development

Practical benefits for administration and management

An effective learning platform will:

• Provide up-to-date management information on skills and knowledge acquisition
• Track the progress of individuals and teams
• Collate summative and formative assessments
• Reduce the administrative burden on L&D and HR by using transferable data
• Enable communication within the learning environment and beyond, on a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many basis

More…

–

Now read on…

In their 2004 paper Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning (Naismith, Lonsdale,  Sharples &  Vavoula), consider the importance of taking an approach to m-learning that

moves away from the dominant view of mobile learning as an isolated activity to explore mobile learning as a rich, collaborative and conversational experience, whether in classrooms, homes or the streets of a city. …how we might draw on existing theories of learning to help us evaluate the most relevant applications of mobile technologies.

(p.1)

Table 1. Applying Learning Theories to M-Learning (after Naismith et al, 2004)

As yet there is no comprehensive ‘grand theory of mobile learning’ – nor do I expect that there will be any time soon. As I move forward through this series of posts, one of the areas I will consider is integrating pedagogy for the use of mobile devices that in a number of areas. In much the same way as we have many categories of devices, we will discover that there are many ways to integrate learning on mobile devices using a number of instructional designs, developmental approaches and delivery models. I support the view that  one of the great strengths of m-learning (and indeed e-learning) is it’s facility to transcend traditional learning environments like the classroom or training center, and to combine different elements in ways that are appropriate to the learning activities to be supported.

More…

______________________

References:

Cortez, C., Nussbaum, M., Santelices, R,. Rodríguez, P., Zurita, G., Correa, M. and Cautivo, R. (2004) Teaching science with mobile computer supported collaborative learning (MCSCL). Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education. JungLi, Taiwan: IEEE Computer Society, 67-74

Naismith, L., Lonsdale, P., Vavoula, G. and Sharples, M.  (2004) Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning. NESTA Futurelab Series, Report 11. [Internet] Available from: http://www.futurelab.org.uk/research/lit_reviews.htm Accessed 15 February 2009.

Pask, AGS (1976) Conversation Theory: Applications in Education and Epistemology. Amsterdam and New York: Elsevier

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in society. Edited by Cole, M. John-Steiner, V. Scribner, Souberman, E. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press

Zurita, G, Nussbaum, M and Sharples, M. (2003) Encouraging face-to-face collaborative learning through the use of hand-held computers in the classroom. Proceedings of Mobile HCI 2003, Udine, Italy: Springer-Verlag, 193-208

Zurita, G., Nussbaum, M (2004) Computer supported collaborative learning using wirelessly interconnected hand-held computers. Computers & Education, 42(3): 289-314

–

After yesterday’s excursion into science fiction to demonstrate that the concept, if not the reality of mobile learning (m-learning) has been around for a good part of the last century, today’s post returns to the altogether more prosaic task of identifying the characteristics of m-learning. I think that the best way to approach this is to characterize m-learning’s parent domain, e-learning.

So, let me remind you of my favorite definition of the characteristics of e-learning and consider if they also apply to m-learning. In his influential 2001 text E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age, Marc J Rosenberg argues that e-learning is based on three fundamental criteria (pp.8-29):

1. E-learning is networked making it capable of updating, storage and retrieval, distribution and sharing of instruction or information. So important is this criteria that Rosenberg describes it as fast becoming an “absolute requirement” [his italics] of e-learning.
2. It is delivered to the end-user via a computer using standard internet technology so that even though the definition of what a standard technology is may evolve as the internet matures, e-learning will be deliverable on that channel
3. It focuses on the broadest view of learning: learning that goes beyond “e-training” (Beyond E-Learning, 2006, p.11). E-learning is at the core of the “smart enterprise – a high-performing organization that allows knowledge and capabilities, enabled by technology, to grow and flow freely across departmental geographical or hierarchical boundaries, where it is shared and made actionable for the use and benefit of all” (2006, p.39).

A discussion on m-learning then, must in part be dedicated to the technologies underpinning the broader e-learning domain. In this context, ‘mobile’ generally means portable and personal, like a mobile phone or media player. While ‘mobile device’ typically means PDAs and digital mobile phones, it might more generally be taken to mean any device that is

small, autonomous and unobtrusive enough to accompany people in every moment in their every-day life, and that can be used for some form of learning, for example an MP3 player.

(Kineo and UFI/Learndirect Mobile Learning Reviewed. p.5)

Many examples of learning with mobile technologies fit in to this description, and broadly speaking they all align to the “absolute requirement” to receive and transmit digital voice and data communication over a network – though not necessarily wirelessly, as we shall see).

According to a number of sources including Gartner (M-Learning Opportunities and Applications) and  Kineo & UFI/Learndirect (Mobile Learning Reviewed) mobile handsets are, and will be the “dominant m-learning devices for some time: there were more than 1.2 billion shipped in 2008” (Gartner, p.6). There are four basic categories of devices:

1. ‘Smartphones’ or Converged Media Devices (CMDs) have an identifiable operating system, are Web-capable and support installable applications, such as PDF and content readers. They are able to render a wide range of digital data types so they can act as sophisticated m-learning platforms.
2. Enhanced phones don’t have an open operating system but have some audio, video and Web capability, and typically support simpler installable applications using programming tools such as Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME).
3. Basic phones are low-cost devices that can support voice and text messaging
4. Non-telephony mobile devices are audio/MP3 players and video-enabled media players, the dominant product in both markets belonging to the Apple iPod family of players.
5. Hand-held games consoles are lightweight, portable devices include in-built screens, games controls and speakers. The dominant manufacturers include Nintendo (DS) Sony (PSP) and Nokia (N-Gage).

In 2008, CMDs were a growing minority, comprising approximately 15% of all devices shipped globally; enhanced phones made up a little more than 60%, and the remainder were basic phones. Of the potential mobile learning devices, mobile phones are clearly the most commonplace. According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics (cited in Mobile Learning Reviewed, p.4), there are 1.5 billion mobile phones on earth, with 10% year-over-year adoption expected through 2008. In 2005 the Financial Times reported that UK mobile phone penetration was about 86% of the adult population. By 2006, the penetration rate for Western Europe was reported as 100%, which means there was a mobile phone for every person in the population.

The media player market is one of the biggest IT success stories in recent years. The market leader is Apple’s iPod. Since 2001, Apple has sold over 100 million iPods worldwide. Many other players compete in the personal media player marketplace including Archos, Sony, iRiver, Creative, and Microsoft. While functionality varies according to manufacturer and brand, we can say that a media player is a portable mass storage device that allows content to be downloaded and used offline. Music storage is obviously their primary use, but their mobility and storage capacity makes them ideal mobile learning devices. A significant increase in the audio- and video podcast download market demonstrates that consumers have extended the potential of these devices beyond their intended capacity as über Walkmans.

Kineo (p.6) assert that:

The commercial market for MP3 downloads is highly developed, though monetizing non-music formats (e.g. podcasts and vodcasts) has proved more challenging. In effect the ‘book on tape’ market has jumped formats to become the commercial podcast market via iTunes and Audible.
The ease of providing podcasts and vodcasts for download has a potential cost advantage, as they can be downloaded for free (assuming the user is on a fixed price broadband line), unlike download or access to learning content via a mobile phone or CMD. Thus, mobile devices used for learning do not require continuous connection. Also, once on the iPod, learning content does not require internet connection for it to be accessed, so there need be no ongoing costs of access after initial download.

Given the almost ubiquitous nature of these devices, it’s not surprising that educators and organizations with an interest in distributing electronic learning content are now considering the potential for these devices to support a previously unavailable channel to communicate and transfer knowledge to learners.

More…

________________________

References:

Jones, N. (2008) M-Learning Opportunities and Applications. ID Number: G00163293 Gartner Research [Internet] Available from: http://www.gartner.com (Subscription or purchase required) Accessed 17 February 2009

Kineo and UFI/Learndirect (2009) Mobile Learning Reviewed. [Internet] Available from: http://www.kineo.com/documents/Mobile_learning_reviewed_final.pdf Accessed 17th February 2009

Rosenberg, M. J. (2001) e-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age London: McGraw-Hill.

Rosenberg, M. J. (2006) Beyond e-Learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

–

Today I had a moment of clarity. I realized there will never be the facility to view Flash-based content on my iPhone. Probably. And you know what? I’m cool with that.

I have been an Apple 3G iPhone owner and user since the model was released here in Ireland in mid-2008. Since I have had the device, I’ve come to rely on it to manage my e-mail accounts, utilize my time, play music, video, take notes (text and audio), and generally be more productive .

I’ve Twittered, Quittered, Facebooked, YouTubed and blogged.

But for me, the inability to deliver Flash-based interactive e-learning applications on the device has been a significant source of frustration for me for all the time I have used my iPhone.

Oh, the potential that’s there, I said. What a waste, I lamented. Learning “on-the-go” – real just-in-time information-transfer just-out-of-reach, I railed, much like Lear on the heath. All that content, ready to be refactored into a dinky miniaturized format for all my learners: not to be, alas and alack.

More than anything else, my frustration was based upon a positive reading of a very ambiguous statement by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, who, when discussing the difficulties in bringing Adobe’s most well distributed product to the iPhone said:

It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating… The ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver.*

The implication of this – and other – public utterances by the Adobe Powers That Be is that Apple and Adobe are “collaborating” on developing a Flash player for the iPhone. Logical conclusion: it’s just a matter of time before Flash appears in the iTunes App Store, ready to go.

Not on the jPhone as a Flash movie anytime soon

However, if you believe Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ comments on the popular platform, it won’t be on the iPhone any time soon.

According to Wired, Steve Jobs considers that Flash is “too slow” for the iPhone, and Flash Lite is too limited. Don’t forget that the iPhone OS is a tightly-curated closed platform: Apple call the shots. As Nullriver found out in August 2008 for example, the proprietors have no qualms about pulling iPhone Apps that they deem to extend the functionality of their hardware and software beyond what they (Apple) can control.

Wired again:

Flash does have a reputation for slow performance compared to the other popular web-embeddable language, Java. Traditionally, the best flash presentations are those coded by experts with a keen awareness of its limits—Apple wisely fears iPhones being hammered by the Internet’s inexhaustible supply of badly-constructed Flash garbage.

There is a convergence of historical, cultural and practical considerations to be accounted for:

1. After many years closely working with Apple (when the Mac was the graphics & DTP creatives’ / digital media producers’ computer of choice), Adobe Systems grew initially on Apple’s support of Postscript, and later of programs like PhotoShop, Illustrator and Premiere. It can be said that Adobe is taking that relationship for granted. Adobe did not update its Mac software for more than a year after Apple switched to Intel processors in 2007. This must have hit Apple’s revenue pretty hard, as potential users stuck to their PowerPC Macs until they could acquire the compatible Adobe software
2. Traditionally, Flash has performed badly on Macs. Add to that the aforementioned “badly-constructed Flash garbage.”
3. The iPhone is not a powerful computer: it is a Web-enabled Portable Digital Assistant (PDA). I would suggest that in many consumers’ minds that to be able to surf the internet in a full-featured Safari browser on the iPhone means that it’s a “real” computer. Apple surely want to manage users’ expectations.
4. Apple is very aware of these issues. The company went as far as to include a clause in their iPhone developers’ Terms of Service agreement (.PDF) that prohibits Flash from appearing on the iPhone:
   

   No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).

The outcome of these (and other) factors is that Safari for iPhone is unable to display a significant portion of the content on the internet. Flash games aren’t supported, videos can’t be streamed from popular television and movie sites like Hulu and the BBC iPlayer, and websites that use Flash to render content or navigation won’t work on the iPhone.

Next time: Implications for m-learning. Will mobile e-learning suffer as a result of this scenario?

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References:

*Source: Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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Well, since then, I have becomes the happy owner of an Apple 3G iPhone (a screenshot of my wallpaper is displayed below) and so I’ve been searching for an authoring tool to create some content for delivery via iPhone.

My iPhone wallpaper – Ovation six-string acoustic guitar, and 1985 Fender Precision & 1995 Musicman Stingray basses

Now you may know that the Flash Player is not yet available for the iPhone, which leaves content developers like me in a quandary; how to deploy courseware on the device:

• for immediate implementation
• that can be refactored as SWF / FLV formatted files when Adobe and Apple agree to release a version of the Flash Player for iPhone

After quite a bit of research, I’ve found two authoring tools that that may enable learning professionals to create e-learning content for distribution on the iPhone, yet won’t require content authors to develop the content as an extra product stream on top of their ongoing deliverables.

The two tools I am going to investigate are Techsmith Camtasia Studio, and SumTotal ToolBook Instructor 9.5 Beta. I will evaluate each product (and their associate production processes) over the next few days. In the meantime, here (courtesy of SumTotal) are a few handy hints to consider when you’re at the pre-production phase of developing learning content for mobile devices:

1. Limit Graphical Content
   With the tight mobile device screen being roughly a twelfth (or smaller) of a desktop screen, large-screen graphics not only increase load times, but also take up valuable space that is needed to display text, hyperlinks, and other important information.
2. Text Considerations
   Text should be limited – brevity is the soul of wit. Layout should be structured to avoid the need for scrolling. This involves breaking up text into smaller pieces/sections and linking to those smaller pieces, instead of putting a lot of text on one screen. Smaller fonts are also recommended. For example, Microsoft Windows Mobile standard is Tahoma with a point size of eight, which is an appropriate size for text viewed in the Apple iPhone’s Safari Web Browser.
3. Limit the use of Data Entry
   Since the keyboard is a limited size, input fields should be kept to a minimum to reduce the amount of typing. Where possible, provide possible text or phrases to avoid needing the user having to type. These text items should have a hyper-link associated with them to serve as an easy way for users to select them, rather than their having to type them on the keyboard.
4. Utilize Screen Space
   Avoid excessive horizontal and vertical spacing between screen elements. Unlike designing a print ad or brochure, you don’t need a lot of “white space” on the mobile device’s screen.
5. Place Non-Essential Links at the Bottom of the Screen
   Hypertext links that are not relevant to the information being displayed should be placed at the bottom of the page to preserve space. This places critical information in the user’s view upon entry to the screen or page. For example, a navigation menu that would normally be on the left or top of the screen of a desktop computer should be placed at the bottom of the screen for a mobile device.
6. Media Consideration
   Another matter of importance is the types of media – audio and video – delivered. Generally, this is specific to the mobile device. For example, Windows Mobile devices typically support MPEG and MP3 files, whereas the iPhone currently supports QuickTime and MPEG MP4.

In general, developers should consider the goal of delivery of information via a mobile device. Not all types of information, media, and training materials lend themselves to this channel. With careful planning, content developers should be able to craft and deploy a wide variety of content to help those learners who are on the go.

More…

________________

References:

Wexler, S. Brown, J. Metcalf, D. Rogers, D. and Wagner, E. (2008) MOBILE LEARNING What it is, why it matters, and how to incorporate it into your learning strategy. [Internet] Available from: http://www.elearningguild.com (Subscription required) [Accessed 21 July 2008]

–

Well, since then, I have becomes the happy owner of an Apple 3G iPhone (a screenshot of my wallpaper is displayed below) and so I’ve been searching for an authoring tool to create some content for delivery via iPhone.

My iPhone wallpaper – Ovation six-string acoustic guitar, and 1985 Fender Precision & 1995 Musicman Stingray basses

Now you may know that the Flash Player is not yet available for the iPhone, which leaves content developers like me in a quandary; how to deploy courseware on the device:

• for immediate implementation
• that can be refactored as SWF / FLV formatted files when Adobe and Apple agree to release a version of the Flash Player for iPhone

After quite a bit of research, I’ve found two authoring tools that that may enable learning professionals to create e-learning content for distribution on the iPhone, yet won’t require content authors to develop the content as an extra product stream on top of their ongoing deliverables.

The two tools I am going to investigate are Techsmith Camtasia Studio, and SumTotal ToolBook Instructor 9.5 Beta. I will evaluate each product (and their associate production processes) over the next few days. In the meantime, here (courtesy of SumTotal) are a few handy hints to consider when you’re at the pre-production phase of developing learning content for mobile devices:

1. Limit Graphical Content
   With the tight mobile device screen being roughly a twelfth (or smaller) of a desktop screen, large-screen graphics not only increase load times, but also take up valuable space that is needed to display text, hyperlinks, and other important information.
2. Text Considerations
   Text should be limited – brevity is the soul of wit. Layout should be structured to avoid the need for scrolling. This involves breaking up text into smaller pieces/sections and linking to those smaller pieces, instead of putting a lot of text on one screen. Smaller fonts are also recommended. For example, Microsoft Windows Mobile standard is Tahoma with a point size of eight, which is an appropriate size for text viewed in the Apple iPhone’s Safari Web Browser.
3. Limit the use of Data Entry
   Since the keyboard is a limited size, input fields should be kept to a minimum to reduce the amount of typing. Where possible, provide possible text or phrases to avoid needing the user having to type. These text items should have a hyper-link associated with them to serve as an easy way for users to select them, rather than their having to type them on the keyboard.
4. Utilize Screen Space
   Avoid excessive horizontal and vertical spacing between screen elements. Unlike designing a print ad or brochure, you don’t need a lot of “white space” on the mobile device’s screen.
5. Place Non-Essential Links at the Bottom of the Screen
   Hypertext links that are not relevant to the information being displayed should be placed at the bottom of the page to preserve space. This places critical information in the user’s view upon entry to the screen or page. For example, a navigation menu that would normally be on the left or top of the screen of a desktop computer should be placed at the bottom of the screen for a mobile device.
6. Media Consideration
   Another matter of importance is the types of media – audio and video – delivered. Generally, this is specific to the mobile device. For example, Windows Mobile devices typically support MPEG and MP3 files, whereas the iPhone currently supports QuickTime and MPEG MP4.

In general, developers should consider the goal of delivery of information via a mobile device. Not all types of information, media, and training materials lend themselves to this channel. With careful planning, content developers should be able to craft and deploy a wide variety of content to help those learners who are on the go.

More…

________________

References:

Wexler, S. Brown, J. Metcalf, D. Rogers, D. and Wagner, E. (2008) MOBILE LEARNING What it is, why it matters, and how to incorporate it into your learning strategy. [Internet] Available from: http://www.elearningguild.com (Subscription required) [Accessed 21 July 2008]

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