Mobile Learning Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training Edited by Mohamed Ally 066897_Book.indb i 3/10/09 9:02:31 AM 066897_Book.indb ii 3/10/09 9:02:34 AM Mobile Learning Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training Edited by Mohamed Ally Issues in Distance Education series 066897_Book.indb iii 3/10/09 9:02:34 AM © 2009 Mohamed Ally Published by AU Press, Athabasca University 1200, 10011 – 109 Street Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Mobile learning: transforming the delivery of education and training / edited by Mohamed Ally. (Issues in distance education) Includes index. Also available in electronic format (ISBN 978-1-897425-44-2). ISBN 978-1-897425-43-5 1. Mobile communication systems in education. 2. Distance education. I. Ally, Mohamed II. Series: Issues in distance education series (Print) LB1044.84.M62 2009 371.33 C2009-900642-1 ISSN 1919-4382 Issues in Distance Education Series (Print) ISSN 1919-4390 Issues in Distance Education Series (Online) Book design by Infoscan Collette, Québec Cover design by W2 Community Media Arts Lab | Vancouver Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printing This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons License, see www.creativecommons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-com- mercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original author(s). Please contact AU Press, Athabasca University at [email protected] for permission beyond the usage outlined in the Creative Commons license. 066897_Book.indb iv 3/10/09 9:02:35 AM Contents Foreword ix Contributing Authors xi INTRODUCTION 1 Mohamed Ally Athabasca University, Canada PART ONE: Advances in Mobile Learning Chapter 1 Current State of Mobile Learning 9 John Traxler University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom Chapter 2 A Model for Framing Mobile Learning 25 Marguerite L. Koole Athabasca University, Canada PART TWO: Research on Mobile Learning Chapter 3 Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners 51 Torstein Rekkedal and Aleksander Dye Norwegian School of Information Technology & NKI Distance Education, Norway 066897_Book.indb v 3/10/09 9:02:35 AM vi Mobile Learning Chapter 4 Using Mobile Learning to Enhance the Quality of Nursing Practice Education 75 Richard F. Kenny and Caroline Park Athabasca University, Canada Jocelyne M. C. Van Neste-Kenny, Pamela A. Burton, and Jan Meiers North Island College, Canada Chapter 5 Informal Learning Evidence in Online Communities of Mobile Device Enthusiasts 99 Gill Clough, Ann C. Jones, Patrick McAndrew, and Eileen Scanlon The Open University, United Kingdom Chapter 6 M-learning: Positioning Educators for a Mobile, Connected Future 113 Kristine Peters Flinders University, Australia PART THREE: Applications of Mobile Learning Chapter 7 Practitioners as Innovators: Emergent Practice in Personal Mobile Teaching, Learning, Work, and Leisure 135 Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and John Pettit The Open University, United Kingdom Chapter 8 Design and Development of Multimedia Learning Objects for Mobile Phones 157 Claire Bradley, Richard Haynes, John Cook, Tom Boyle, and Carl Smith London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom Chapter 9 From E-learning to Mobile Learning: New Opportunities 183 Michelle Pieri and Davide Diamantini University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy 066897_Book.indb vi 3/10/09 9:02:35 AM Contents vii Chapter 10 MobilED – Mobile Tools and Services Platform for Formal and Informal Learning 195 Merryl Ford Meraka Institute, South Africa Teemu Leinonen Helsinki University of Art and Design, Finland Chapter 11 Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of M-learning within an International Distance Education Programme 215 Jon Gregson University of London External System, United Kingdom Dolf Jordaan University of Pretoria, South Africa Chapter 12 Using Mobile Technologies for Multimedia Tours in a Traditional Museum Setting 247 Laura Naismith and M. Paul Smith University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Chapter 13 Use of Mobile Technology for Teacher Training 265 Jocelyn Wishart University of Bristol, United Kingdom Conclusion 279 Glossary 283 Index 293 066897_Book.indb vii 3/10/09 9:02:36 AM 066897_Book.indb viii 3/10/09 9:02:36 AM Foreword Normally I’m an enthusiast and early adopter of new educational technolo- gies, but for years after I fi rst heard people talk about mobile learning, I didn’t get it. Instead, I focused on the challenges of working with learning management systems on tiny screens, the cost to purchase and operate mobile devices, their large battery requirements, and the limited coverage footprints. Two things have changed my mind. First was the purchase of an iPhone 3G. With easily available software add-ons, my “phone” can become a piano, a guitar, a drum machine, a level, a ruler, a bookshelf, a camera, a fake zippo lighter, a database, a web browser, an email client, a game machine, a “TV” (for watching YouTube), a voice recorder, a weather forecaster, and a GPS. As a Canadian, I need to know the location of the nearest Tim Horton’s! Every day, the app store offers me yet more ways (including 75 applications categorized under “education”) that this phone can morph itself into a universal and ubiquitous information, education, and entertainment portal. The second came about after attending two e-learning conferences and reading books by innovative educators such as those in this volume. Editor Mohamed Ally has drawn together an eclectic selection of authors who show us that the power of context and the capacity to provide informa- tion where and when it can be used can overcome the challenges of small screens and limited (but ever-increasing) battery capacity. This second book in AU Press’s Issues in Distance Education Series offers both theoretical and very practical insights into the diverse uses of mobile devices for formal and informal learning. I am confi dent that every reader will fi nd ideas and inspiration in the writings of these innovators and early adopters, who demonstrate and evaluate the emerging affordances and current practicability of mobile learning technologies and applications. More than any previous generation of technology, such applications demonstrate achievement of the often elusive goal of every distance educator – to support quality learning, anywhere/anytime. Terry Anderson Edmonton, Canada February 3, 2009 066897_Book.indb ix 3/10/09 9:02:36 AM 066897_Book.indb x 3/10/09 9:02:36 AM Contributing Authors Tom Boyle is director of the Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI) at London Metropolitan University. He has a long history of developing and evaluating innovative multimedia learning technology. Tom led a major project in the development, use and evaluation of learning objects that won an EASA (European Academic Software Award) in 2004. He is the director of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in Reusable Learning Objects. The CETL involves collaboration between three universi- ties – London Metropolitan University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Nottingham – to develop and evaluate high quality learning objects across a range of subject areas. Claire Bradley is a research fellow at the Learning Technology Research Institute at London Metropolitan University. She has a master’s degree in interactive multimedia from the Royal College of Art. For the past eleven years she has worked on a number of UK and European research projects involved in e-learning, online communities, multimedia, and in the general application and evaluation of digital technologies in teaching and learning. Her recent work focuses on mobile learning. She has co-authored a number of journal articles and papers in these areas. Pamela A. Burton is an instructor with the Collaboration for Academic Education in the Nursing Program (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) at North Island College in Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada. Her research interests include the use of mobile technologies in nursing education and prevention of medication errors. Gill Clough is a full time PhD student with the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University (OU). Her doctoral work investigates how mobile devices are used to support informal learning, in particular the role of GPS-enabled devices in engaging people with both physical and social contexts and triggering sustained collaborative learning. She is currently researching the activities of geocachers, looking at the informal learning that 066897_Book.indb xi 3/10/09 9:02:37 AM xii Mobile Learning occurs through setting and fi nding geocaches, and at how geocachers collabo- rate through their geocache descriptions, logs and web forum posts. This interest in the social networks of geocachers is echoed in consultancy work for the Schome Project (not school, not home, Schome). When Schome began to investigate the educational potential of virtual 3D worlds, Gill migrated an avatar to the OU’s educational island on the teen grid, Schome Park. Here she worked with the teenagers on the project, participating in group work and running world workshops for the students. John Cook has over fourteen years previous experience as a full-time lecturer at various HEIs and six years of project management experience; the latter includes AHRB, BECTA and HEFCE work. Furthermore, Cook has been principal investigator or co-investigator on research and development projects that have attracted $3.4 million in competitive external funding; he has also helped to obtain $500,000 of internal funds. He has published over one hundred refereed articles in the area of e-learning and conducts review work for the ESRC, EPSRC, EU, and Science Foundation of Ireland. Cook was chair/president of the Association for Learning Technology (2004-06), and his current mobile learning interest centres on user generated contexts. Davide Diamantini is professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca in the Department of Education and vice director of the Nomadis Lab. He coordi- nates projects related to distance learning, specifi cally mobile learning.