My first encounter with learning with mobile phones was back in 2000 when two Japanese students demonstrated how they used the mobile phone in their learning. Back then, it was still based on the old GSM technology and its real potential was not obvious. Still, it had an impression on me to have anywhere/anytime learning, even if it was a text based.In 2003, I was amazed with Citrix on iPaq devices. Using the right wireless setup, we were able to connect my iPaq to my office PC through a Citrix add on and run an AutoCAD application on the tiny iPaq device... that impressed me because I was able to follow up on the construction of our new campus anywhere with this device. But the screen was annoyingly small. This gave us the idea that we need to develop an instructional program to train teachers on how to prepare their students to the mobile world. This never materialized.
Until 2010, the mobile phone was nothing but a device that allowed me to make phone calls, text and check my emails. When the iPhone was introduced, it was a new gadget. It did not introduce anything unfamiliar to me... until I saw a demo about its uses in medicine. I was amazed. The doctor gave a patient an iPhone with the right connection and tools to monitor his status 24/7. All data were sent back, wirelessly, to a central server in the doctor's hospital. When the iPhone detect an abnormal trend in the patient vital indicators, the hospital is notified, an ambulance is sent to where the patient is and remedy is given... although the patient would not know that anything is wrong... In this way, the patient is treated BEFORE he gets sick or get hit by any damaging stroke. That is when I recognized that mobile phone is becoming part of our life and I needed to pay more attention to it as a device, a way of life, a learning tool and an educational item.
The iPhone, and its "younger brother" the iPad has revolutionized mobile connectivity. The number and type of Apps that exists on these devices is shaping our life (here, "our" refers to my family). From real time cooking tips in the kitchen, to showing NetFlex movies in the living room and staying connected with our family wherever we are in the world. It allowed us to live on the risky side of life. We do not have to plan our trips anymore. We pick the right flights, hotel booking, restarants, adventure just when we need them. And we are saving money. We get wealth of information just when we want them. And they are up-to-date. I can enumerates many more.
If nothing else, one App could make the use of mobile computing useful in education: the eBook readers. Imagine students carrying all their academic books (even a full library), notes, learning tools in a small device that weighs less than a pound. Isn't this alone worth investing in mobile devices at schools?
However, the device that made me speechless and deeply impressed is... let it speak for itself:
I saw this video and the one by Pranav Mistry, one of her colleagues, about this technology. Wouldn't it be great not to deal with the necessity of a screen and just be able to project onto anything--a wall, a desktop, a piece of paper? It always seems to me that the screen is the limiting device for mobile technology; maybe it's just because my Droid is so small that I have to put on my reading glasses. And if I pull in to a part of the screen, I have to pull back to get the full screen or to navigate. Whereas if I could project the screen, I could make the whole thing larger with no limitations except maybe the size of the wall I'm using.
ReplyDeleteThinking of that, why *doesn't* my Droid just have a projector in it?
Thanks, Anas; as always, enjoy reading your posts.
Leah
Your comment
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that this video has left me speechless. Please allow me to share my immediate thoughts about it.
It is wonderful news to see that the information can be displayed on about anything. The uses are very diverse and versatile. Fragments of information are readily available to help one make even the most mundane decisions if one chooses to. This is taking just in time information to the next level. The use of mobile applications that allow preemptive treatments in medecine is awesome. One the other hand, I am left wondering about privacy....
Thank you for this very informative post. Shokran.
Christiane
A very interesting, and completely viable tool. I can totally see it integrated into our daily lives - science fiction becoming science fact. Certainly easier than my struggle to find out information on the best dog food brand working over a 3G network and reading on a small screen. That said, that kind of access to information while shopping is a huge boon. But, shopping aside, the ability to get rid of LCD projectors and "smart" classrooms, would be a huge boon. Can you imagine being able to work with students in a classroom, if we all had this device.
ReplyDeleteWow! The device is certainly worth following. I use a photo recognition app now- Snap Tell. It prices books and DVDs based on your photo, as well as shopping location. There is a technical word for this and I have forgotten it. I suspect the software out for gaming capturing your movements will find its way into an App one day n the future.
ReplyDeleteNothing more fun than a group of iPhone users showing off their latest app, and then you download it on the spot!
I too find the apps on the iPhone super empowering- the info I want, when I want it and just for me. The apps make the phone a mobile learning device for informal learning or information retrieval.
I have just picked up some relevant information
ReplyDeleteAbilene Christian University launched a program in 2008 to equip every student with a mobile and to rollout a program to integrate mobile learning with an iPhone or iPod Touch into classroom instruction. Apple launched the iPhone Developer University Program to train university students in app development, for free. At the same time, Stanford launched its iApps Project
“At Stanford, we envision the iPhone as having a profound potential to break barriers in the way we provide information and services to students – in how they converse with the institution, their curriculum, the faculty, and each other. With an enduring entrepreneurial, innovative, and technological leadership, those same qualities that helped shape Silicon Valley, Stanford is in a unique position to chart yet another new course, this time using the iPhone.”
For information on how your university could join Apple’s free app training program, enabling students to create university apps like those described below, visit iOS Developer University Program.
I definitely can't fault you on your choice of company as I also profiled Apple for this assignment. I am a bit of a fanboy when it comes to Apple even though I recognize that like other companies Apple has a requirement to make money, tends to be proprietary in nature and sometimes thinks much to much of itself. However...much innovation has come from Apple and as you pointed out the cell phone was a cell phone until the iPhone was released. I think both the iPhone and the iPad have changed the game and as other companies struggle to become part of the game collectively the possibilities for Mobile Learning have improved because of that innovation.
ReplyDeleteby the way...thanks for the link in another post to gDocsdrive. I am a big Google Apps user and like anything that inhances its use.
Stu
Comment about my previous post...I do know how to spell enhance. I make typos not spelling errors...LOL.
ReplyDeleteStu