INNOVATION IN PURSUIT OF EDUCATION EXCELLENCE: MOBILE OUTLOOK

Joseph Labrecque

WCET Annual Conference | October 29th 2011

WHO AM I? Joseph Labrecque, MA University of Denver - CTL Senior Interactive Software Engineer Adjunct Faculty Fractured Vision Media, LLC Proprietor

Twitter: @JosephLabrecque Web: http://josephlabrecque.com/

Mobile and Education

ANDROID is the best growth indicator • Q2 2009: Android had a 2.8% share of worldwide

smartphone shipments.

• July 2011: 550,000 Android devices are now activated by Google each day with growth 4.4% per week.

• August 2011: Android has about 48% of the smartphone market share.

By 2014, mobile internet consumption will overtake desktop consumption.

MOBILE GROWTH

Desktop / Mobile pain points: • Device resolution and pixel density • Adopting the touch paradigm • Non-traditional operating systems • Limitations in processing power and battery • Locked down platforms with real limitations • An immature class of device

MOBILE CHALLENGES

Guidelines for encouraging mobile in education: • Do not mandate one specific platform. • Consider multi-screen approaches to teaching

and learning and application design. • Encourage exploration and curiosity among

students, faculty, and staff. • Remember that some experiences are best left to

the traditional desktop.

EDUCATIONAL FACTORS

The current shift to mobile is very similar to the initial movement institutions faced in the early 1990’s with the adoption of desktop computing and the world wide web.

Mobile requires a certain directed approach that is not required with desktop application development.

TAKE-AWAYS

Mobile users still expect everything to work flawlessly on whatever random device they may be using.

This perspective is flawed.

TAKE-AWAYS

Designing good educational applications requires collaboration between educators and technology professionals.

TAKE-AWAYS

This is an absolutely stellar time to be working and teaching in these fields.

Let us make the most of this opportunity!

TAKE-AWAYS

Thank you.

@JosephLabrecque