mobile learning: course management systems for mobile phones

MOBILE LEARNING: COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR MOBILE PHONES

Stephanie Oprandi, Steffanie Schenk, Albert Ingram

PEOPLE AND THEIR PHONES

•The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase

to five billion this year.

Source: U.N. telecommunications agency, Feb 2010

MOBILE DEVICES

• In recent years, it has become common for mobile phones to contain web browsers and e-mail programs.

COLLEGE STUDENTS AND MOBILE DEVICES

•A large percentage of college students carry a mobile device.

WHY NOT MAKE COURSE CONTENT ACCESSIBLE VIA MOBILE DEVICES?

•With increasing advances in mobile technology, it is feasible to create a

course management system for mobile devices

WHAT ARE COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS?

•Course Management Systems tend to be comprehensive sets of functions and features that have demanded computing power (e.g. Java-based applications) and bandwidth.

KEY FEATURES

•Some key features of course management systems are:•Communications•Reflections•Collaboration•"Content" Delivery• Interactions with material

COMMUNICATIONS

•One of the most important functions of any CMS is to enable communications between students and instructors and among students.

 REFLECTION

•One element of any good learning process is the ability of students to reflect on what they are doing, accomplishing, and learning.

 COLLABORATION

•Collaborative group projects have become an increasingly important part of teaching in higher education, despite occasional (and sometimes frequent) student complaints.

COLLABORATION

Specific technologies that support collaboration include:

•Wikis•Google Docs•file sharing tools•Wridea•Writeboard•Twiddla

•Spiceboard•Stixy•ReviewBasics•EditGrid•ooVoo•Palbee•GroupTweet

"CONTENT" DELIVERY 

•Most courses include the need to provide students with various forms of "content," the information and media that, we hope, students use to acquire new information that they can use in accomplishing the goals of the course.

INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIAL:

Students often need to interact directly with the material they are learning, not

just view it (possibly) passively.

BLACKBOARD MOBILE

Blackboard now has a mobile platform.

OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS

Open source solutions are available:•Plug-ins for Moodle•Plug-ins for WordPress

MOODLE

•Plug-ins for Moodle include, but are not limited to:•MLE (Mobile Learning Engine)•MOMO (Mobile Moodle Project)

MOMO

Let’s take a look at MOMO first.•MOMO is an add-on to Moodle•Teachers can design courses with either

several mobile elements or complete mobile learning scenarios using the tools and methodologies they know from within Moodle.

MOMO

•Administrators install the necessary MOMO extension on their Moodle server which makes the compatible contents available for mobile usage.

•They can configure and maintain the system through the integrated administration interface all within Moodle.

MOMO

•Mobile users install the MOMO client, a JAVA based application, on their mobile phones (or any other JAVA and Internet capable device).

•Through this client they can access courses wherever they are, which allows completely new scenarios.

MOMO

MLE

•MyMLE is a PC-program that allows you to create learning-content for your mobile phone.

WHAT KIND OF LEARNING CONTENT CAN I CREATE WITH MYMLE?

• Flash-card trainer (file-card trainer) (eg: for vocabulary-learning)

• Import flashcards from CSV files (you can export MS Excel files to CSV) [feature of the editor]

• Use images, audio and video in your learning content

• Single choice questions• Multiple choice questions• Fill-in questions (text or

numbers)

• Order-question (order statements)

• Graphical markup question (mark certain regions within an images)

• The application solves the question immediately

• Use hints (tips) to lead the user to the correct answer

• Powerful point-system for the result evaluation

• Import text-content from HTML-files [feature of the editor]

• Create a learning-content once and use it on multiple, different phones

MLE

MLE

Once installed correctly in Moodle, you will see an MLE option under Modules.

MLE

There are several configuration options.

MLE

There will be Mobile Learning Object, Mobile-Tag, and Flashcard-Trainer options added under the Activities menu.

MLE

Under the Blocks menu, you should see:• Online Users• Online Users

(mobile)• Repository for

mobile learning

MLE

The bottom right hand side of the Moodle course site will allow you to add various blocks. MLE allows users to preview the appearance of the mobile site.

MLE

Here is a view of the Moodle site from a mobile phone.

MLE

While this example is simple, users can create complex mobile course management systems with MLE.

WORDPRESS

•WordPress can be customized to create a simple mobile course management system.

WORDPRESS PLUG-INS

•There are several plug-ins and/or themes•The search term mobile will provide

several options

MOBIUS

KB GRADEBOOK

COMMUNICATION

•Skype, Twitter, Facebook, and other communication applications can be used •Hyperlinks•Buttons

MORE OPTIONS

• Schedule• Assignments• Calendars• And more

SUMMARY

•With increased mobile web access, it makes sense to make course content available on the go.

CONTACT

Stephanie Oprandisoprandi@kent.edu

RESOURCES

Resources mentioned in this presentation can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/mobilecmspres/home