Filed under: m-Learning | Tags: Android, iPhone, mobile landscape, Mobile Learning, US mobile landscape, us mobile learning, WebOS, Windows Mobile
There’s been a big stir of comments, reviews, predictions etc. surroungding the release of the newest Android device in the US. The Motorola Droid was released a few weeks back on the Verizon network and so far the reviews and comments have been pretty positive. A lot of reviewers consider the device and it’s operating system to be the first formidable competitor to the iPhone in terms of overall capability. I am going to purchase a Droid in the coming weeks because it’s time for me to upgrade from my trusty Motorola Q9 (2nd generation Q, 1st generation was not so trusty).
Anyway, the recent release of a Android 2.0 device on a major network in the US is really a big deal because it may start to reduce the fragmentation amongst the crowded smartphone landscape here and possibly across the world. Android is very capable, and the development community for Android is increasing daily. iPhone is the well established champion that has long lacked a real challenger. Now that we will have 2 major platforms that do what learners want them to do (everything, web surfing, apps, music, video, etc.), we may start to see some of the other players in that smartphone market tick off. And as we continue to see the population as a whole asking for more features, we will probably see feature phones phased out in favor of a new baseline of functionality in all mobile devices. Just as you can no longer buy a non-touchtone phone for your house, you won’t be able to buy a device that doesn’t access the web and doesn’t have the ability to download apps.
So if you’re looking to build a mobile learning application or to be the provider of mobile learning resources of any kind, you may want to consider the possibility that we will see only a few of the current players in the mobile platform market in a couple of years. My guess is that in 5 years, the major players will be Android, iPhone and Symbian (Nokia, Sony-Ericsson).
I think Windows mobile will still be a fringe competitor because they have the money to stay in any fight for now. I think RIM (Blackberry) may be able to stay in at the edges too if they somehow create a real competitive OS, but right now I don’t hear much about them moving in that direction. They could also adopt another OS like Android and somehow integrate their security features and push technology that makes them so popular with corporations. Palm, I want to see them succeed, but they need to do a bunch of things to help their chances, like get their devices on major networks, build a bigger developer base for application and services development and continue to come out with new and different devices. At this time, Palm’s future doesn’t look so good even with their new WebOS, but they could also find a savior in Android, or they could find a way to make their device a major player in other ways.
These developments could be good for mobile learning in a couple of ways. First, as the platform developers listen to users, it appears that we are finally getting a baseline of functionality that people want. As I eluded to earlier, web access and a real browser are at the top, and the ability to download/access applicatons is very big as well. Devices are also going to come with much better media tools, cameras, and video capture technologies. Second, defragmentation of the market allows mobile learning developers and designers to target just one or two platforms with the expectation of access to the masses. As a developer, this second issue is really pretty important. We would all love to build for every platform out there, but there simply isn’t time or money available in most cases especially when it comes to learning.
If you’d like to know more about some factors driving the defragmentation of the mobile landscape, take a look at this blog post from Jason Perlow at ZDNET:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=11516&tag=nl.e539
Filed under: Mobile Learning, m-Learning, mobile healthcare, mobile technology, mobile user experience, us mobile learning | Tags: m-Learning, Mobile, mobile device, mobile hardware, Mobile Learning, mobile technology, mobile user, mobile user experience
Innovative thinkers are always finding new ways to leverage the power of the mobile device. We’ve seen the screen used for a flashlight, the device used as a compass and lots of other novelty oriented uses (just take a look at the iPhone’s app store). But now a professor of engineering has been able to use the software and hardware features of a mobile device to create a microscope capable of checking for diseases.
The New York Times article cites an example where a user could place a slide of blood under a cheap external hardware setup on the device and the mobile device’s camera could image that blood. The image could be sent from the device to a doctor for analysis.
I really think we’ll start to see more of these types of applications, where the device’s capability is enhanced with bolt-on solutions capable of exploiting the mobility of the human operator and the device and extending the power of the hardware and software.
Mobile learning can truly benefit from thinking along the same lines, especially if you consider the number of field deployed workers who operate several different electronic tools, sensors to diagnose problems with equipment etc. Using the device as a central hub for those types of sensors could really make life easier for those types of employees. And the networked communication of a mobile device offers the ability to receive real-time feedback on procedures, and training on the spot for those who operate sensors and diagnostic equipment.
Filed under: Blogroll, Mobile Learning, m-Learning, mobile healthcare, mobile landscape, mobile technology, mobile user experience, us mobile learning
I try to be fairly broad with my resources as I research mobile learning and the mobile lifestyle in general. The latest article I came across is from Information Week, here’s a link to the the “Top iPhone Healthcare Apps” article.
There are a couple of things I covered in previous posts, but I think it’s worth a fresh post since mobile healthcare is really blazing a trail for m-learning in many ways. Doctors have really taken to mobile technology in a way that most of us have not. For years, the healthcare industry has been deploying mobile technologies of all kinds to medical practitioners so they can access references, patient records and all sorts of other information necessary to them at the point of need. In the past, healthcare workers often relied on specialized mobile devices or somewhat combersome PDAs to reference topics pertinent to a patient’s condition. Now things are changing and doctors are able to use off the shelf consumer technologies like smartphones to access medical records, reference large catalogs of medical information and even push perscriptions to farmacies so the patient’s medicine is waiting for them when they get there. And using consumer technologies offers another big advantage, it allows the patient to proactively handle their health care by carrying their records with them on their mobile device.
AllOne is the application that patients use to manage their healthcare records and it even offers the ability to look up x-rays and other types of scans on the device so doctors can see them. Information Week references AllOne in another article.
I think it’s pretty amazing that we can facilitate an interactive relationship with doctors and patients through mobile technology. The applications used in mobile healthcare are also offering performance support and coaching to patients by reminding them to take medicine, record nutritional information (meals, ex. for diabetes patients) and even reminding them about appointments. Just think of how we’ll be using these types of relationships for other mobile learning tasks. If doctors can rely on mobile learning paradigms, most of us can give it a shot too.
Filed under: Mobile Learning, m-Learning, mobile landscape, mobile learning market, mobile technology, mobile user experience, us mobile learning | Tags: m-Learning, mobile design, mobile technology, mobile user experience, mobile web, mobile web usage, us mobile learning
According to this report from MediaPost (a web site devoted to advertising and mobility) mobile web usage continues to grow, which we knew. However, the report also goes on to talk about the frustrations many users experience with the mobile web. You can see the actual stats cited from Nielsen here.
Most users are probably frustrated by the “mobile web” because the web they are viewing is often the same web that’s formatted for the desktop and desktop browsers. Many of us who’ve tried to load a desktop site on a mobile browser know how poorly mobile browsers render those sites. Often you get a column of content with everything running vertically, and trying to find a link or read the text is so difficult that we just give up. Safari on the iPhone and Opera do better, but they are still not ideal for mobile users. And one thing that should be noted is that it’s not that difficult to build a mobile site. First of all, your users probably don’t want everything you are offering on your desktop site, especially if you have a lot of links and navigation. You may be able to work with a subset of content and navigation, so that makes it easier for the developer. But even if you have to provide most or all of your navigation, you can format it for mobile consumption so your users will stay on your site find the information they need. Some helpful development resources are shown below:
Great book about mobile web design:
http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000577.html
Some information to get you up on terminology and history:
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/designing-for-mobile-web
Platform Specific Sites:
iPhone and Safari:
https://developer.apple.com/safari/ Note: Link is on the right side, “Safari on iPhone and iPod Touch”
animations: http://girliemac.com/blog/2008/07/19/webkit-css-animation-examples/
tips and pointers: http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/iphone-development-12-tips
simulator (will show you what it looks like in the iPhone frame, doesn’t mimic the touch, gestures, etc.) http://www.testiphone.com/
Windows Mobile:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa286514.aspx
Blackberry:
Blackberry development program area – http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/
AND I WOULDN’T BE TRUE TO MY MOBILE DEV ROOTS WITHOUT FLASH/FLASH LITE – which should be picking up some significant steam as it gains support on most platforms. It’s still my personal favorite, but that’s the Flash Developer in me coming out, I’ve also done work on the other platforms above.
Filed under: Mobile Learning, m-Learning, mobile technology, mobile user experience, us mobile learning | Tags: instructional design, m-Learning, Mobile, mobile design, Mobile Learning, mobile learning pedagogy, us mobile learning
As an advocate for corporate mobile learning, I’m always encouraged when I hear about a company that takes it seriously. Lots of companies have experimented with podcasts and some have even produced html based learning content for their customers or employees, but it has yet to win broad acceptance in the corporate training community. However, there are a few exceptions, companies that have taken the plunge and they are realizing the benefits of their investment in mobile learning.
In an earlier post, I wrote about Mobile Learning at Merrill Lynch, where they’ve adopted m-Learning as a serious option for training their employees. In another, similar success story, Accenture (a large consulting firm) has embraced mobile learning for their employees and their senior executives in particular. Here’s a link to an article in Training Magazine where they discuss the mobile learning program at Accenture.
Accenture chose to use mobile learning as an augmentation to it’s normal e-Learning platform, specifically for compliance training on a number of topics. Results from their internal surveys indicate that learners liked the new mobile training modality and they plan to offer more of it in the future. Highlights from their internal survey of learners include the following observations:
- more than 1000 completions of 7 courses
- overall satisfaction rating of 4.4 out of 5, compared to 4.0 out of 5 for traditional e-Learning
- 92% of those surveyed would like to use their mobile device for training
- most executives who took the training would prefer their mobile learning in chunks of 10-15 minutes
- over half of the respondents would prefer an option to download their courses so they could take them when not connected to the Internet
An important thing to note here is the fact that some of the findings reinforce many of the guidelines we’ve been given when designing mobile learning assets. Those guidelines include keeping your mobile learning assets between 5-15 minutes (small chunks) and the suggestion that you consider the fact that the learner may not have a good connection/or any connection to the Internet. It’s good to see that the designers in this case took the time to consider these guidelines when designing their courses. You can read the whole article (here), make sure you read the “Quick Tips” section for some valuable insight into their design process, perhaps it can help you with your own designs. I really liked the idea of bookmarking all the pages, that makes a lot of sense for a mobile learner who may be intermittently engaged in your training.
Thanks to Training Magazine and author Sarah Boehle for this article.
