Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mobile Learning Jam Reflections

Last week in San Jose I was pleased to participate at DevLearn in the Mobile Learning Jam. Thanks to Jay Cross for taking this picture and posting it on Flickr.

For two days plus there were 15 sessions -- in addition to 9 regular conference sessions -- all about mobile learning. At times the noise and commotion in the hall area made it difficult to hear and the afternoon sun caused some attendees to get out their sunglasses inside, but there was considerable interest. The questions and comments from the attendees was awesome. All in all it was very tiring, but lots of fun!

I was involved in 7 sessions plus 3 breakfast byte discussions. One of the sponsors, OnPoint Digital created a mobile app for the Mobile Learning Jam materials. If you have a mobile device and want to take a look at the app and all the presentations on your mobile, go to http://mlj.mlearning.com and self-register. You will receive an email with instructions specific to your device.

Several attendees also requested that the slides be posted online so that they can share them with their co-workers, so I have posted PDFs of the following sessions:
There is also a document with lots of resources available here.

Thanks to The eLearning Guild for their support, the sponsors Intuition and OnPoint Digital, the other presenters and to the attendees. You were all great!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Learning 2009 Audience Response

Last week at Elliott Masie's Learning 2009 in Orlando, Elliott asked the group of about 1300 learning professions to respond to a question on their audience response pads. The question involved over hyped learning categories:


I was very pleased that mobile learning was in a class with performance support and user generated content. Learning professionals are beginning to understand the importance of mobile access to learning and support at the time and place of need.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Over 100,000 iPhone/iPod Apps

Apple just announced that the app store has surpassed 100,000 apps.
"Apple® today announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. iPhone® and iPod touch® customers in 77 countries can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps, continuing to make it the world’s most popular applications store."
Because of the sheer volume of apps, it is getting harder and harder to locate good education and training apps. I am currently exploring a new iPhone app released yesterday entitled Chorus.
"Chorus is an intuitive, fun and easy way to connect with friends to see the apps they're using, which apps they rate highly, and to stay up-to-date on the hottest new apps available. Now available for iPhone and iPod touch®, Chorus features real-time feeds from your designated friends, displaying the apps they are downloading, and what they are saying about them. You save time and money by viewing what your friends bought, and what they think about them, before you buy or download."
I'd love for us to build a group of "friends" from the learning community to share our findings. If you are looking at educational apps for the iPhone (and other devices) why not join me there? (Judy Brown)

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Mobile Industry Count

Gary Hayes has created a very interesting mobile count widget shown below.

I have been amazed at the phenomenal growth in the mobile industry and this just gives you a taste of the speed. (Note that the numbers shown are since you loaded this page.) The source articles and statistics are listed here.

Spacing Effect for Mobile Learning

For some time I have been reviewing research on the spacing effect of learning for maximum recollection. This research has been documented for over 100 years. In the past with teaching at specific times and places, this has been difficult and expensive to implement, but today with ubiquitous communication devices in our pockets and purses, it is easy to accomplish.

Dr. Will Thalheimer has been reviewing the literature and writing about the spacing effect for some time. See Spacing Learning Over Time: A Research Based Secret from the June 2007 ASTD Annual Conference.

Several mobile learning products have integrated the capability to send reminders and spaced knowledge checks, but they have not been implemented to any degree yet.

SpacedEd has a Beta site called Addictive Learning That Sticks using the research on the spacing effect. You can also view their list of frequently asked questions or check out the peer-reviewed research behind spaced education in their Research section.

This is how SpacedEd has structures their materials:
  • Each learner receives 2 questions every day via email.
  • If a question is answered incorrectly, it will be repeated 1 week later.
  • If a question is answered correctly, it will be repeated 3 weeks later.
  • If a question is answered correctly two times in a row, the item is retired from the course and is no longer repeated.
  • The learner completes the course when all of the questions are retired (answered correctly twice in a row).
Today MIT's Technology Review ran a story An App so You'll Never Forget: Adaptive-learning algorithms calculate how often people need to see information to remember it about a new iPhone app based in Tokyo called Smart.fm.

Spaced learning is one application of mobile learning that will grow in importance as we open our eyes to the additional capabilities afforded by using mobile devices.

October Hot List: Mobile Learning Content

Best of Mobile Learning

October 1, 2009 to October 31, 2009


Featured Sources

The following are the top items from featured sources based on social signals.

  1. Augmented Reality and On-Demand Learning- The Mobile Learner, October 17, 2009
  2. Mobile Learning Tools #2- mLearnopedia on Blogspot, October 2, 2009
  3. CCK09: does Connectivism want to change the world?- Ignatia Webs, October 9, 2009
  4. Students Can Use SMS to Check & Post to Their Google Calendar- Cell Phones in Learning, October 6, 2009
  5. M-Learning Goes Corporate and Succeeds- mLearning is Good, October 5, 2009
  6. Using an iPod Touch with 8 Year Old Students- The Mobile Learner, October 3, 2009
  7. Mobile University Access- mLearnopedia on Blogspot, October 24, 2009
  8. TIME between TIMES: the joy of educating during a time of rapid technological change.- uLearning Blog, October 2, 2009
  9. Simpsons: Goes Mobile!- Cell Phones in Learning, October 5, 2009

Other Sources

The following are the top items based on social signals.

  1. matthewbuckland.com » The future of social networking – a concept investigation, October 1, 2009
  2. Text Message Reminders to Take Medication Works, October 15, 2009
  3. Australian uni goes mobile!, October 22, 2009

Hot Topics

Ipod Touch (15)

  1. Using an iPod Touch with 8 Year Old Students, October 3, 2009
  2. You are Never Alone » From the Coal Face: iPod Touch in the Classroom, October 24, 2009
  3. Essential Ingredients for the Implementation of Mobile Learning | Personalising Learning with the iPod Touch, October 12, 2009
  4. Learning in Hand Blog by Tony Vincent, October 13, 2009

Handheld (12)

  1. Handheld Learning 09 - still pushing the frontiers, October 13, 2009
  2. Handheld Learning 2009, October 6, 2009
  3. BrainPOP UK | Our Handheld Learning 09 Review | POPtalk, October 12, 2009
  4. Handheld Reflections Day Two « e-Learning Stuff, October 13, 2009

Safari (5)

  1. Learning in Hand Blog by Tony Vincent, October 13, 2009
  2. Handheld Reflections Day Two « e-Learning Stuff, October 13, 2009
  3. Mobile learning in a military context « e-Learning Stuff, October 1, 2009
  4. Doc’s Blog » Blog Archive » how do you use your mobile computing device to support your learning?, October 18, 2009

Augmented (6)

  1. Augmented Reality and On-Demand Learning, October 17, 2009
  2. Mark Power » Augmented Reality - A Game Changer in Mobile Learning?, October 21, 2009
  3. matthewbuckland.com » The future of social networking – a concept investigation, October 1, 2009
  4. M-Learning Goes Corporate and Succeeds, October 5, 2009

iPod (17)

  1. Using an iPod Touch with 8 Year Old Students, October 3, 2009
  2. You are Never Alone » From the Coal Face: iPod Touch in the Classroom, October 24, 2009
  3. Essential Ingredients for the Implementation of Mobile Learning | Personalising Learning with the iPod Touch, October 12, 2009
  4. Learning in Hand Blog by Tony Vincent, October 13, 2009