Category Archives: Mobile Learning

What to Expect When Syncing: Best Practices using Video Conferencing Tools

Technology is changing how we do everything. Gone are the days of classroom strategies that focus solely on using static content to engage students. Thanks to high-definition (HD) video ubiquity in mobile devices, tablets, laptops, etc., engaging in real-time (instantaneous) with folks across the globe without leaving home is feasible and affordable. To take it a step further, video conferencing, or as some may describe as web conferencing, webinars (web seminars), or webcasts, enables online collaboration with limitless implications for student engagement, in the US and abroad.

The formal definition of video conferencing, as defined by Merriam Webster, is:

  1. a method of holding meetings that allows people who are in different cities, countries, etc., to hear each other and see each other on computer or television screens.
  2. the holding of a conference among people at remote locations by means of transmitted audio and video signals

While there are a number of solutions that exist to host virtual meetings, it’s important that standard features embedded in these systems are easy to use and work seamlessly during an online session. Some of the more common features include the ability to stream HD video, instant chat, screen sharing, recording, and the use of a whiteboard to jot down important points during the meeting. While nothing compares to face-to-face interaction, these tools help connect users in ways that a teleconference (see definition) are incapable of doing.

Some of the usual suspects—Skype, Webex, Gotomeeting, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Adobe Connect, Avaya Scopia, Blue Jeans, Polycom, etc.—have worked tirelessly to create user interfaces that are intuitive and function with minimal to no latency issues. In order to make an informed decision, it’s important to develop and prioritize the functionality that’s paramount to a successful implementation for “you.”

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I Could Say Bella, Bella, Even Say Wunderlist

When we started the Mobile Learning Initiative (MoLI) at DePaul a few years ago, my MoLI teammates and I agreed pretty quickly that our mission was not in finding “magic bullet” apps for faculty so much as it was encouraging learning activities that make use of the unique functions of mobile devices.

Our mission, however, didn’t stop me from seeking my own magic bullet apps. Early last year, at the recommendation of my teammate Joe Olivier, I started using the free version of Wunderlist.  Little did Joe know, I have nurtured a list-making habit from an early age. It started with my mom’s yellow legal pads in the 80’s, and it’s been a fire hazard ever since.

Joe’s app recommendation made a huge difference in my everyday life. I’ll explain how in a moment, but first:

After I confessed to my mom that I had eschewed legal pads and Post-It’s for “this amazing app” (and begged her to follow suit) she sent me the link to The Wall Street Journal piece where she first heard about Wunderlist: The Best To-Do Apps for Feeling Productive. Continue reading →

“Any questions?” Engaging your students with interactive polls.

I’ve been indulging in a bit of a guilty pleasure lately: a network television series that ran a couple of years ago called Lie To Me. It stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, a deception specialist who is hired by agencies and individuals to determine the “truth” at a crime scene.

Dr. Lightman and his team of experts study the micro-expressions (brief, involuntary facial expressions) on all of the parties involved.

Be it a downturn of the mouth, or a twitch under the eye, “The Lightman Group” banks on the fact that these micro-expressions consistently indicate emotions such as guilt, shame, fear or arousal.  These expressions are especially apparent when video footage of a subject is slowed down and studied, frame-by-frame. The scientific premise of the show is based on the cutting-edge research of psychologist Paul Ekman

Paul Ekman group facial expression picturesPhoto credit: Paul Ekman Group

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Chicago Is Our Classroom

One of the rotating banner graphics on DePaul University’s homepage boldly proclaims, “Chicago is our classroom,” enticing prospective students into a world of experiential learning in a bustling city with rich cultural, scientific, and career resources.

DePaul takes its identity as an urban university very seriously, but after the excellent Chicago Quarter program freshman year, how many DePaul instructors utilize the amazing resources of the city to teach their classes? How many instructors have even thought about what the city offers to their discipline?

Why am I bringing this up in a blog about educational technology? Because the biggest trend in consumer technology in the past five years can enable instructors to create unprecedented student field experiences and connect those experience back to the classroom. The trend I’m talking about, of course, is the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices.

This video shows how one instructor utilized students’ own mobile devices last year to help them engage with the city.

This is just one example of what mobile learning can do. And though the specific activities in this video are unique to the educational outcomes for this course, there are numerous possibilities for using mobile devices to help students engage with the city across academic disciplines.

Check out the DePaul Teaching Commons Mobile Learning Page for more information.

The Hottest Thing in Higher Ed is in Your Pocket

News flash, people: almost every college student has a mobile device, and most won’t leave home without it.  And, not surprisingly, two words have recently combined to form a compelling phrase: mobile learning. And we’re not talking laptops. Mobile learning is about cell phones, smartphones, and tablets.

Mobile learning meets the students where they are

The students are on their phones. All the time—24/7. My dad once wrote me a limerick about a girl who talked so much on the (rotary) phone it stuck permanently to her ear. But I was only clocking an hour a night tops back then. These 21st-century kids may have an hour a day when they’re not on the phone. So since we are all interested in meeting our students where they are, why not make use of mobile devices to encourage continuous learning? Why not wean our students off of their Instagram feeds (partially, anyway) and get them hooked on their study flashcards in Studyblue? Why not ask them to take out their mobile devices for a real-time poll question during class as opposed to asking them to put the phones away?

Skeptical, are you? A note about the digital divide

It’s true, not all students own smartphones or tablets. But, a simple pay-as-you-go phone with SMS (text) capabilities is sufficient for many mobile-learning activities. It’s also true that some students do not have a cellphone at all. And, I’ve met a handful of faculty members who are sticking to landlines, thank you very much. But the best mobile-learning solutions include equipment workarounds. Students can form groups and use one smartphone between them, or simply use their web browser on a computer to complete the activity.

So, what does mobile learning look like in higher ed?

The possibilities are endless. Creative combinations of GPS, augmented reality, mobile cameras, and apps can create entirely new learning experiences heretofore unthinkable without mobile devices.

An example: I can’t say I fondly remember the days of art history survey courses when I was an undergrad in the last century. Unless my professor had Lady Gaga levels of stage presence, the lectures ran pretty dry. And the room was always dark, which worked well if one needed a quick nap. But imagine the student who signs up for art history in 2013. Instead of sitting in a dark classroom on a given day, she might walk over to the Art Institute of Chicago and listen to a podcast of her instructor speaking about the exhibits. Meanwhile, she tweets her classmates about her own observations. On her way out, she submits her answers to a quiz through her mobile device, and on the train home, she reviews mobile flashcards to prepare for her upcoming exam.

Still, as cool as all of this may sound, mobile learning will never supplant the face-to-face classroom, or the online classroom for that matter

Mobile learning simply augments the instruction that already exists. Clark Quinn, one of the leading mobile-learning pundits, drops the "augment" verb every three sentences when you hear him speak. And if he’s not saying it, he’s implying it. Mobile learning enhances; mobile learning enriches. It is the trim and the moldings, not the foundation. Perhaps that is one of the more appealing features of mobile learning in the instructional-technology domain: it does not, and cannot, claim it is an educational magic bullet. It is not the cure-all for your under-engaged students. It may only appear in the form of one or two activities each quarter. But if the mobile solution is placed in the right context, the results may be downright magical.

Mobile learning may be magical, but is the outcome higher achievement

Research has only just begun in this area. If higher levels of engagement lead to higher levels of achievement, it would follow that mobile learning is promising in this regard. Returning to the art history example: when all is said and done, do you think this student might have had better knowledge transfer via a traditional slideshow carousel in a dark lecture hall? Perhaps, depending on her learning style. We’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. But there is tremendous value in offering our students learning activities that engage students in news ways and incorporate the technology they are already using. Not just for them, either. Imagine the palpable delight when you ask them to power up their phones.

For more information about the Mobile Learning Initiative at DePaul University, contact MoLI.

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What Mobile Platforms Could Do for Higher Education but Aren’t (Yet)

If you’re the type who likes to follow trends in technology, you know one of the most remarkable trends in the last few years is the pace of innovation in mobile platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. If you have a smartphone, it’s probably already become your notepad, your navigation system, and your external memory, and in a few years, it could be your wallet, the brains of your computer, and your home automation system. I have to confess that I spend more than a little time tracking each new development in the smartphone/tablet world.

And every time I see a new component, a new sensor, or a new interface method that gets added to a mobile platform, I have an idea for a use for it in higher education that would enhance learning or enable learning activities that were impossible before. But so far, very few of these technologies are configured in such a way that we can effectively utilize them in higher ed.

In the spirit of keeping an eye towards the future, I’m going to present some educational use cases that utilize the unique technological capabilities of mobile platforms. In most cases, the underlying technology to do these things exist now, but the user options in the software are too limited.

I want to clarify that I’m interested in the new affordances of these platforms. While there’s no shortage of educational “apps” in the Android Market or the iPhone App Store, they’re mostly self-contained programs that could have been made just as well for a computer, with a touch interface added. They don’t tap the new potential of the these platforms, which represent a unique convergence of technologies—portable internet access, GPS sensors and compasses, orientation  sensors and accelerometers, cameras and microphones, touchscreens—and operating systems that make it easy for programmers to utilize and combine them.

As I discuss these use cases, I’ll mostly be referencing Android, as it’s the platform I’m more personally familiar with.

Image Recognition

Imagine you’re an art history teacher. You assign your students to visit the Art Institute of Chicago and look at a special collection of paintings. Your student scans a painting with his mobile device’s camera. The software recognizes the painting and a recording you’ve made about the painting starts playing through his headphones while notes appear on the screen. The notes contain links to related information and more paintings from the artist. The student is then given a short quiz asking questions about the techniques at use in the painting, all while he’s looking at the real thing.

Why We’re Not Quite There

The Google Goggles app can scan and recognize famous works of art today if you take a picture of one—I tried it the last time I was at the Art Institute—but the best it can do is pull up web search results relating to that painting. Which is great for an independent museum visitor who wants to learn more about the artist, but there’s no way for an instructor to leverage that technology to create some custom media or applications for his class that can be played or displayed when an image is recognized—at least, not without learning how to program.

Connected Textbooks

Imagine your student is in a doctor’s office with an unexpectedly long wait. She didn’t know it would take so long, so she didn’t bring her backpack. But she always has her smartphone with her, so she pulls up an academic text that she had been reading on her e-reader. The software remembers where in the middle of the chapter she left off, so she doesn’t have to try to hunt for the last page she read on the small screen. As she’s reading, she highlights a passage and pulls up a menu to make a quick note on her smartphone keyboard. She gets home later, logs onto the book on her computer, finds the note she made and pastes it into the text of a paper she’s working on.

Why We’re Not Quite There

The big problem here is the number of academic texts available in cross-platform e-book systems is severely limited. Also, many popular e-book platforms don’t support user annotations or automatic syncing between devices, and fewer support the automatic syncing of annotations.

Note Taking

Imagine your student is reading a dense, theoretical book that she has taken out of the library for a research paper, the kind of challenging text you need to read aloud in order to grasp and unpack the author’s full meaning. She come across a passage she wants to record in her notes, but she fears that if she stops to copy it down, she’ll lose track of the point the author was making and have to re-read a few pages, and she may have trouble making out her handwriting later anyways. Instead, she takes a picture of the page with her smartphone, which uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to translate the image into editable text and sends it to the notes file on her computer. In the front of the book, the library has inserted a QR code that, when scanned by her phone, gives the full citation in MLA and APA format, which she can copy directly into her works cited page.

(I know that there are technological pessimists out there who would interpret this scenario as a shortcut that would reduce the time and depth of the student’s engagement with the text. That may be true in some situations for some students, but ussually making the process easier allows students to spend their mental resources on the content they’re trying to understand.)

Why We’re Not Quite There Yet

Right now, the Android version of Google Docs can use OCR to translate a picture into editable text that you can copy and paste directly into your research project—kind of. Consumer OCR technologies are still maturing, and the margin for error is high. Right now, Google’s OCR does well for short pieces of text on a flat surface, but it doesn’t recognize text on a curved surface, like a page that curves into the spine of a book. Also, not all smartphone cameras are created equal, and some aren’t reliable enough at capturing crisp images—a necessity if the software is going to be asked to interpret text.

Some people think that print itself is going to be phased out and that this technology will be made moot as more and more texts are published digitally in the first place, but I would guess that the OCR technology will catch up long before we’re in a position to do away with paper books entirely.

There’s nothing to stop libraries from including QR codes containing full citations with each book in their collection now—they would just need to be able to justify the cost.

Map Making

Imagine a sociology class focusing on food deserts in urban areas. As part of their field work, students go out in small teams and walk every block in a given neighborhood. Every time they come to a drug store, convenience store, or grocery store, they use their smartphone’s GPS and map software to make a waypoint that identifies what kind of store it is and to enter other quantitative and qualitative data. After every group has completed their field work, the data is combined to create a complete map, which can be made public as a layer on Google Maps.

Why We’re Not Quite There

Google Maps allows you to star a location, which will save it, sort of like a bookmark, within your Google account. But right now the mobile versions of Google Maps don’t let you combine a collection of starred locations into a map, with labels and descriptions, let alone share those points with others to create a combined map.

Getting There

These are just a few examples. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the possibilities are endless. Of course, even if the software gets configured in such a way to make it easier for educators to tap into, we’ll still face the obstacles of actually making sure students have access to these devices.

  • Cost—Will we ever reach a point where students are expected to have mobile connected devices? Will the prices of cellular data plans drop enough that this is a reasonable expectation of already financially strained students? Will universities be able to provide assistance or lend out devices in cases where assignments require them?
  • Standardization—Will the same or similar applications be available in all major platforms? And if not, would a university or department be able to require a specific platform without putting an undue strain on students who may have already bought a different device on contract?
  • App stores tend to be geared towards consumers. Will administrators be able to buy apps in bulk and deploy them to, say, a class of students’ devices? And if you could buy apps in bulk, would you be able to disable the licenses on students’ own devices and reuse them on the class next quarter?

I can’t say what the answers to these questions will be, but if the pace at which smartphones and tablets are evolving and being adopted continues, I have little doubt that we’ll see them more and more in higher education.