DELIVERY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FRAMEWORKS THROUGH MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES

Veronica ŞTEFAN Valahia University of Targoviste, Carol I Street, Romania [email protected]

Andrina GRANIC University of Split, Croatia [email protected]

Abstract: More than a fifth of the world’s population will soon have a mobile device and access to the Internet. With so many potential users, the mobile environment sets a fast place for development and, at the same time, requires sustainable education and training to allow users to overpass challenges and benefit of emerging perspectives and opportunities. The authors of this paper aim to approach case scenarios for web content delivery methods based on mobile technologies within universities and training centres. They present the template philosophy and illustrate the concept with template applications developed for the Mobile Learning Environment and explore their transformation into other domains of application.

Keywords: Mobile Learning Environment, Mobile technology, User interface, mobiReady

I. INTRODUCTION

The IT revolution has extended to comprise both innovative technologies and new approaches that provide learning actors with new capabilities. It has gone beyond the desktop environment with the emergence of mobile technologies, kiosks and portable storage that are making information accessible anywhere, anytime. The new technologies provide better tools that make information easier to find and to verify, and they expand the opportunities users have to interact with, contribute to and access various types of information and knowledge. Recent technology created new dimensions of development where libraries have no walls and keep no hours, and where people can interact physically with information in exciting and innovative ways. For more than two decades desktop content played a central role in the virtual learning environment. In the last years, new methodologies, tools and mentalities have emerged and have been rapidly assimilated. Social technologies support information exchange through active online participation in discussions and dialogues. Online collaboration creates multiple opportunities for the learning environment, allowing users to gain self-confidence and information control. The learning community provides users a learning space where they can share experiences and goals, and where they can reach cooperation and support. The sense of community serves to generated content with common characteristics. This content must reflect the needs of learners from various medium and domains. Blogs have become platforms for individuals to want their voices to be heard. Though most blogs do not deal with matters of substance, many are being written by subject matter experts, be they professional or amateur, sharing their insight into trends, commenting on news, and providing free analysis and new perspectives that previously might never have found the light of day. Blogs provide the opportunity to find unfiltered opinions of people around the world, from consumers to innovators. Their potential has been noticed at industry level that uses blogs to announce new products, services, and hires in a less structured and often more informative way than a press release and with more chances of success. Tapping the collective wisdom of the crowd to compile more comprehensive sources of information is the defining characteristic of a wiki, a website that allow users to contribute by adding or modifying content. The most prominent example is Wikipedia.org, an online encyclopedia created and updated by its users. Other online content management systems, such as Microsoft SharePoint similarly facilitate information sharing and provide a dynamic resource for online collaboration. For the advantages of using mobile technology, all this resources and services must be adapted to be utilizable from the mobile devices and for benefits of learning communities [14]. New social software allows students to engage in virtual collaboration on group projects for which they can collectively write and revise documents over the Internet. Similarly, online classes are increasingly taking advantage of blogs, wikis, podcasts, and streaming media to increase collaboration and interaction between students [5]. IT has evolved and it has moved one step further, under the impact of mobile technologies, in order to provide learners with even more accessibility. A Learning Environment that involves mobile technologies can be referred as the Mobile Learning Environment. Unlike electronic learning (e- learning), which normally requires desktop computers to connect to the Internet, mobile learning (m- learning) offers the added benefit of mobility that makes learning via the Internet an anytime, anywhere e-learning experience. M-learning provides learners with the ability to obtain information and knowledge quickly and easily via the Internet using a wireless device. The mobile medium is so unique because of the ubiquity that allows users to be in a permanent connection, “Always on, always with you” [3]. Another important characteristic refers to Internet access and the extending capabilities of mobile devices that can access more and more complex web content. The authors of this paper address one of the most important challenges of today, the need to provide mobile content that can be used in mobile learning environments. They approach this transition phase and recommend easy to use tools that facilitate teachers’ and students’ presence in the mobile space.

II. THE MOBILE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Sustaining a great mobile usability [13] outlines three criteria for providing content on a Mobile Learning Environment (MLE). First, the content should support both formal and informal learning. Secondly, the content should be dynamic and interest-based. Finally, the platform and the content should support and encourage social activity [3]. A constructivist approach to content design is appropriate to satisfy these criteria. To successfully deliver content on a mobile community requires a number of technological components [16] [20] [23] [25]. Providing information does not constitute as learning, and the user must interact with the material to construct knowledge [3]. Therefore the learning content must be stimulating and the designed must be user-centric. 2.1 Premises for the development of Mobile platforms The mobile world attempts to mirror the performances of the desktop environment. This approach has led to an effort to transit the desktop content into the mobile settings. The message of WEB 2.0 and user generated content (UGC) combined with the highly attractive prospects of video based content has sown the seeds for the development of new and interesting mobile content platforms [15]. At the same time, end users are seeking a convergence of mobile and internet content, to allow them to carry their personalized community with them, wherever they go. Mobile development projects can rely on the experience of previous online learning environment, on identified key features of successful design and Internet-based online environments, and also on the identification of key barriers, for target groups. Furthermore hardware must be robust and reliable. Architecture must be reliable and media richer rather than in traditional approaches. The innovation and value added lies in taking the scalable lessons learned and applying them to emerging mobile technologies. Developers can approach different modes of Communication such as: mobile to mobile, Web to mobile, mobile to Web, Print to mobile (e.g., QR codes), broadcast to mobile or radio to mobile. A mobile platform must facilitate the immediate transfer of multimedia information to the specific target groups and must support an online environment by developing the following features: • Distributed File System (DFS) Infrastructure and Storage Management • Video on demand (VOD) content • Authorizations on VOD content and Dynamic Adaptation to the Client’s Device • Cluster Application Programming Interface (API) and Content Management 2.2 Mobile user interface and user modelling The user interface must be integrated in the architecture of the online environment. User models need to be defined and categorized to obtain the best match between the communities and user groups and the facilities provided in the proposed development project. The user interface and the integration itself will be improved with the results out of a first iteration of the project evaluation. The design of mobile interfaces implies several constraints that need to be taken into consideration: different input modalities; different screen sizes; different capabilities; Flash, movies or picture; different user expectations and different user behaviors. These constrains make the development of the mobile user interface quite a challenge, based on the following considerations: • The diversity of users: accessibility becomes a main issue when taking into account various types of users that can be different in age, capabilities, computer science skills, interaction styles, etc. • The diversity of services: the users present different needs and they are most likely to access different types of services; more than this service development lies in the hands of a multitude of companies. • The diversity of devices: the range of mobile devices is extremely vast, and so are the users’ preferences; the features of mobile devices can be very different in regard to display size, contrast problems, input mechanisms, connectivity, etc. • The diversity of tasks: activities use a variety of platforms, places and time, and they comprise a set of tasks and subtasks that need to be defined and accomplished. To obtain solid mobile interface development implies the definition of specific user requirements that are combined with widely accepted guidelines and recommendation. A main target is to define functional specifications that model the user profile by describing the user preferences, needs and interests. In order to implement the features of the user modeling, it is necessary to define the user data model that supports the information storage in the system. Knowledge based techniques will be applied so as to build an intelligent module which inputs are the user tracking and context awareness components. Another main goal concerns the specification, design and implementation of a user modeling architecture that provides personalization capabilities to the system depending on the user. By defining a user data model the system is able to store information about users and allows them to configure a customized environment according to their preferences and needs. Web designers need to use Web authoring software as Nvu [30] (free Web authoring software) or WebExpert [31] (commercial Web authoring software) and also File transfer software such as Filezilla [32] (free open source file transfer software) or Winsc [33] (free file transfer software for Windows).

III. CASE SCENARIO FOR MOBILE EDUCATION DELIVERY

Mobile technologies reverse the user perception. From “the world in the box” the context changes toward “the box in the world”. The educational practices no longer have to focus on reducing the real world to sanitised versions of reality that fit neatly into text books and other representational tools. With mobile devices it is possible to locate the learning experience in the real world. In the last two decades, web content development targeted mainly the desktop environment. As the capabilities of desktop computers have constantly increased, the web content has evolved to comprise more and more complex items and technologies. The information available today on the Internet has reached quantities beyond imagination and nowadays Internet users confront more and more with problems concerning the information overload. The authors of this paper do not address this urgent need to create more powerful search engines and powerful semantic structures that facilitate quick access to relevant information and knowledge, and they focus on the opportunities brought by the development of the mobile technologies in the learning spaces. The emerging mobile environment has opened new horizons, and also new challenges both for developers and users of these online environments. Mobile devices present great facilities, but also a cumulus of restrictions and limitations that does not allow an easy transition into the mobile web space of the web items developed for the desktop environment. To redevelop content tailored for the desktop environment requires considerably amounts of time and funding. Under these premises, the authors propose an intermediate solution that facilitates a low-cost and fast transition of desktop content towards the mobile web environment. 3.1 Tools for building intermediate mobile experience Most of the content that exists today is published for the desktop Web. At the present, developing for the desktop Web seems somewhat more accessible for non-expert users, either teachers or students. The new setting created by the development of mobile technologies raise problems related to technology acceptance and assimilation. When building mobile experiences, it is impossible to create a great experience without three key ingredients: context, information architecture, and visual design. If for teachers that operate in the information technology domain, these ingredients do not raise comprehension issues, for teachers that activate in other learning areas they appear somewhat unapproachable. This is why it is important that the transition to the mobile era has to be based on clearly defined items that sustain the assimilation of technology in either educational domain. The authors present tools that support intermediate transition of desktop content into the mobile environment. Such tools test the mobile parameters of previously built capacity and allow developers to appreciate whether the mobile experience based on desktop content is satisfactory for the end-users and that it can be considered acceptable until the implementation of specific mobile content or that it requires sound customization and that action need to be taken without delay. The authors aim to encourage participation on the mobile Web and present tools that facilitate content developers appreciate how their desktop web content functions on mobile devices. Most of these tools use industry standard tests developed by the W3C and leading mobility companies. The website Ready.mobi comprises a free testing tool that evaluates mobile-readiness. The developers have to enter the URL of their web page and they can obtain a free report on the performance of their web page on mobile devices. The results refer to dotMobi compliante, W3C mobileOk tests, device emulators and detailed error reports. In order to verify the website compliance to mobile standards, mobiReady runs a suite of tests comprised of the following: • Page size and load time. This test measures the entire size of a web page (including images, css stylesheets and other embedded objects). The result is displayed together with an average airtime cost for accessing the web page. • Page markup language, character encoding and mime type. Mobile browsers are limited in respect to the number of markup languages and variations that they support, and because it is a tedious process to determine the correct format of the page being received, it is important that the web server specifies the correct mime type for the files served. • Use of recommended markup objects. Although mobile browsers strive to support as much of the official HTML implementation as possible, there are certain markup objects that do not handle properly on mobile devices because of screen estate limitations. Out of these the most problematic is the use of frames which should be totally eliminated for mobile web sites • Usage of JavaScript and Flash is also counted down against the site score. Because these are technologies that require a lot of processing power from the mobile devices or may not be supported at all, they weigh heavily towards a low score. To support this approach, the authors have proposed for testing two web sites of general interest, representative as they comprise both technology and learning: www.mcsi.ro and www.microsoft.com.

Fig. 1. Tests results for www.mcsi.ro and www.microsoft.com

The analysis of the home page of the Romanian Ministry of Communication and Information Society reveals that the web page is not entirely compatible for mobile display. The test summary includes 5 passes, 8 warnings and 13 fails and the score obtained is 1,18 out of 5. The overall size of the page reaches almost 2550k. The excessively large dimension of the web page attracts considerable cost for the mobile connection no matter on what continent the user may be. The correlation with averaged prices for mobile Internet download is presented in the third chart of the screen shot. The forth chart reveals the estimated speed for the transfer of data.

Fig. 2. Additional tests performed by MobiReady

From a more technical point of view, the results of the Dotmobi compliance tests concern the XHTML mobile profile, valid markup and the use of frames. The web page the authors have tested does not validate against XHTML Basic 1.1, against XHTML Mobile Profile 1.2 and does not validate against its stated doctype. One positive aspect is that the web page does not use frames. The web tool used present 28 additional tests and marks positive, acceptable and negative results through button of different colors. The test performed for the Microsoft home page revealed that it will display very well on a mobile device, having an overall score of 4.87 out of 5. The size is 20.09k generating extremely low- access costs al user levels on all five continents. The speed also indicates high accessibility. The test summary reveals 22 passes, 4 warnings and 1 fail. The fail concerns page size limit.

Fig. 3. Emulator tests results for www.microsoft.com

MobiReady allows the testers to preview their web page on five emulators: Nokia N70, Samsung z105, Sony Ericsson k750i, Motorola v3i and Sharp GX-10. The web page www.mcsi.ro cannot be displayed on any of these emulators. The web page www.microsoft.com displays quite well on these emulators, facilitating easy navigation and optimal use of screen display (Fig. 3). 3.2 Content conversion for mobile access One great advantage of mobiReady is that it provides extensive information on how to solve the web page problems identified during the tests. Thus, the developers are guided step by step to build a consistent mobile experience at user level. Still, this can prove a timely and consistent effort. When developers want to obtain mobile content within seconds, they can use tools that automatically convert an existing desktop Web site and transform it into an enhanced mobile site. Instant Mobilizer is such a tool that automatically converts your existing Web site into a dynamic mobile version, adding user-friendly upgrades like: • One-click direct calls to your business • Automated map / directions to your location(s) • Better search engine discoverability • Adapt your Web site into a feature-rich mobile site.

Fig. 4. Desktop web site converted for mobile access with InstantMobilizer

The authors have applied this tool on two webpages: http://adlunap.ro/else2010/ and http://ats.com.ro. The screen shots below show the difference the use of the Instant Mobilizer can bring to a web page. The advantages are clearly observable. Such tools represent also an intermediate step toward mobile content customization. They can help developers present mobile content under low budget and time efficient initiatives. These tools provide almost instant presence in the mobile environment. As any automated tool, the Instant Mobilizer has its limitations. Server side image maps and Flash objects cannot be converted for mobile usage. Also the tool cannot alter or optimize Javascript code. All these problems can be solve only by creating a web site from the ground up with the mobile user in mind. By utilizing modern concepts in programming framework such as ASP.NET or Java Enterprise Edition, web developers are able to separate content from the presentation layer and are able to easily create different presentation layers for different devices while making the same content available across multiple platforms.

IV. Conclusions

Higher education institutions are called to adjust their pedagogical policy in order to cope with a new generation of students, most familiar with ICT than ever. This generation will easily switch to their laptop or mobile phone or iPod, should they find the lecture too boring or old-fashioned. The policy we have chosen to follow is to engage ICT in our teaching practice: make the students use their gadgets in the learning process; use Web 2.0 technologies and philosophy in education; adapt active learning methods and devise new. These methods continue to evolve due to the evolution in pedagogy, the developments in ICT and their use in education, the new possibilities offered by new tools and the experience gathered over time. There is a growing realization that in order to thrive in the digital age, access to the Internet and an understanding of how to use it are essential. Dedicated solutions for mobile technology provide access to digital information. These often single-purpose terminals are enabling access to information including travel information, banking information, event schedules, weather, and job applications. Such application provide a dedicated alternative to having to go out and find information on the Internet, putting digital information right at a user’s fingertips. There is no end to the impact of IT on expanding, enhancing, and revolutionizing our access to information and relationship with community. The mobile landscape is evolving rapidly with a variety of possible portable experiences for the global audience, experiences in entertainment, marketing, mapping, finance, arts, training, health and agriculture. Mobile application development is a challenging endeavor where creativity and technology are equally important. Applications are developed on one platform and need to be deployed on another one – a mobile phone – but each device comes with its specificities. Data needs to be collected for future analysis and development of intelligent mobile applications. In our effort to develop a useful platform for knowledge representation and sharing we must take in consideration a really Mobile Learning Environment. Now it is high time.

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