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,