Athabasca University Mobile Learning Project Team

Mobile Design: Interactive Multimedia to Support Learning and Teaching

M-Libraries Conference 2009

Today’s Presentation

1. Introduction – Athabasca University 2. Mobile learning content design3. AU mobile learning projects and

technologies4. Demo of multimedia mobile

learning modules5. Hands-on with interactive exercise6. Generate mobile learning content7. Discussion

Athabasca University http://www.athabascau.ca .

Canada’s Open University Location: Athabasca, Alberta, Canada Mandate: Remove barriers for students Over 37,000 students, 700 courses and 90

graduate and undergraduate programs Doctoral, Masters, Bachelors, diploma and

certificate levels Students from Canada and 84 countries

worldwide

Student Profile

Average age 29 Two-thirds women 60% of our program students are

employed full-time while studying 36% undergraduates are visiting

students

About AU: Athabasca River

About AU: Campus

Mission Statement

“Athabasca University is dedicated to the removal of barriers that restrict access to, and success in, university-level studies and to increasing equality of educational opportunity for adult learners worldwide.”

http://www.athabascau.ca/

What is mobile learning?

Use of mobile devices such as mobile phones, handhelds, PDAs, iPhone 3G, etc. to facilitate learning and access to electronic learning resources.

Why Support Mobile Learning at AU?

Remove barrier to learning Access from remote locations Students can learn from anywhere and at anytime Many learners already have mobile devices

Accessibility of audience Instant delivery and updates Affordability/portability Novelty of gadget/display

Why Support Mobile Learning atAU? (cont’d)

Cater to different learning styles Learning is more learner-centered Affordability and portability Novelty of gadget and display Learning materials are easy to

update and deliver

Mobile Learning Content Design

Content must be organized so that learners can access the content from anywhere and at anytime.

The intelligence of the mobile learning system must be able to format the mobile content for specific mobile devices.

Guidelines for Developing Mobile Content

Break content into small chunks

Design as learning objects

Store in repositories for easy access

Metatag for retrieval, discovery and reuse

AU Mobile Learning Projects & Technologies

Mobile Library Project

provide learners with access to the library services and learning resources using mobile devices

Special Features

Auto-detect and reformat Learning object reuse Easy web maintain/update Multimedia file support Ipodcasting Wireless library catalogue Search Mobile content conversion on the fly

M-library Design/Technology

Project Outcomes

Recipient of the Canadian Library Association Research & Development Award 2007

DRR Model adopted by BC Thompson Rivers University

Mobile model adopted by UK Open University

Mobile Content Projects Mobile ESL Project

Develop and test innovative approaches to ESL learning using mobile devices and a variety of testing and practice methods (CBC News)

Mobile Workplace English Project Design to improve worker’s workplace

communication skills and literacy using Apple iPhone iPhone App project

Design to facilitate iPhone access to AU Press E-journals and E-books

Mobile Friendly library resources project Study the mobile-friendliness of E-Journals

Mobile-friendly KM System

What is KMS? What is MKMS? Why Athabasca University Library

needs a MKMS? How to implement MKMS What does MKMS have?

Mobile-friendly KM System

What is KMS? Knowledge Management System

What is MKMS? Mobile-friendly Knowledge

Management System

Mobile-friendly KM System

AU library develops a MKMS Why do we need a MKMS?

Existing KMSs have disadvantages Knowledge sharing Knowledge accessible anytime

anywhere

Mobile-friendly KM System

Implementation PHP Zend Framework MySQL database Multiple languages support

Mobile-friendly KM System

Features Two views: Admin view and Learners

view Manage content through desktop

computers or mobile devices: create, delete, organize, and publish/un-publish, etc

Describe entries using metadata

Mobile-friendly KM System

Future work Authentication and Authorization Quiz (multi-choice questions) Searching capacity OAI-compatible

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

A component in Personalized and Adaptive M-learning Framework and Mobile Knowledge Management System

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

Why do we need it- Capabilities of a mobile device decide what

kind of the content it can display correctly and what context it can process properly

- MKMS or other Mobile based LMS, like Personalized Adaptive m-learning System needs to know device capabilities before preparing and transporting the suitable learning contents to mobile clients

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

What are our approaches to solve these issues design and develop a software API to detect the

device information in details. Such information includes the device type, device type name (e.g. HTC, Samsung, iPhone, etc.), device OS, screen resolution, image type supported, etc.

establish a device profile repository to store mobile device specifications

generate device profile ontology and output RDFS or OWL

provide mobile profile retrieving services that can be consumed easily by other applications

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

What will be covered in our design Service Oriented Architecture XML format data exchanging between

server and mobile client XSL selection dependent on mobile

device profile Multi-language support Multi-platform support

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

System architecture

Mobile Device Automatic Detector

Evaluation4 Devices IPHONE

Mobile Device Automatic Detector-- Device Profile (Sample)

<rdf:RDF><rdf:Description rdf:ID="Profile"><prf:component><rdf:Description rdf:ID="HardwarePlatform"><rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/profiles/UAPROF/

ccppschema-20021212#HardwarePlatform"/><prf:Model>Polaris</prf:Model><prf:Vendor>High Tech Computer Corporation</prf:Vendor><prf:BitsPerPixel>16</prf:BitsPerPixel><prf:ColorCapable>Yes</prf:ColorCapable><prf:ScreenSize>240x320</prf:ScreenSize><prf:ImageCapable>Yes</prf:ImageCapable><prf:PixelAspectRatio>1x1</prf:PixelAspectRatio><prf:ScreenSizeChar>16x36</prf:ScreenSizeChar><prf:StandardFontProportional>Yes</prf:StandardFontProportional><prf:SoundOutputCapable>Yes</prf:SoundOutputCapable><prf:TextInputCapable>Yes</prf:TextInputCapable><prf:VoiceInputCapable>Yes</prf:VoiceInputCapable><prf:InputCharSet><rdf:Bag><rdf:li>US-ASCII</rdf:li><rdf:li>UTF-8</rdf:li><rdf:li>UTF-16</rdf:li><rdf:li>ISO-10646-UCS-2</rdf:li></rdf:Bag></prf:InputCharSet>

Workplace English

Stanza and the Digitization Portal

Stanza Code

Hands-on with WPEAU Pronunciation Practice Canadian Phonetic Alphabet

Consonants Watch “b” animation and listen to “bandage”

Dialogues Exercise 87.1

Watch and listen to the comic, answer questions

Minimal pairs 89 “R” vs. “L”

Watch “right” vs. “light” Listen to any tongue twister, answer minimal pairs and listening pyramid

Break

Generate Mobile Learning Content

DRR

Mobile Knowledge Management System

Others

Discussion and Feedback

The Mobile Benefit

“You decide where class is and when

class starts.”

Further Information Website:

Mobile Library:http://library.athabascau.ca/

Mobile ESLhttp://eslau.ca

Mobile Workplace Englishhttp://wpeau.ca

Publications:Ally, M. (2009). Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. AU Press.