CTELT Newsletter Fort Hays State University

Mobile learning is a buzzword these days. Reading through recent issues of Campus Technology, EDUCAUSE publications, and some other educational technology publications, I can easily find this topic.  With the camera zooming in to the FHSU campus, we can see scenes of mobile teaching and learning here and there on campus: faculty with a tablet computer heading for the classroom; students with tablets working together in groups; students with iPods walking and listening. 

Then, what is mobile learning? Mobile learning is broadly defined as the delivery of learning content to learners utilizing mobile computing devices (Parsons & Ryu, 2006). Kambourakis, Kontoni, and Sapounas (2004) defined mobile learning as, “The point at which mobile computing and e-learning intersect to produce an anytime, anywhere learning experience” (p. 1). Some common benefits of mobile learning include anytime and anywhere access to content, enhanced interaction between and among students and instructors, facilitated collaboration through asynchronous and synchronous communication, and enhanced student-centered learning.

Since the start of the mobile computing initiative in the fall semester of 2005, a variety of mobile devices or resources have been tried out on the FHSU campus. The following section is a brief list of these devices or resources, including their features or functions and major instructional uses. 

Tablet PCs
A tablet PC is basically a notebook or a laptop with additional functions of handwriting recognition with a stylus or digital pen instead of a keyboard or mouse. The computer is connected to a network using a wireless or wired link. Tablet PCs provide most capabilities of all the portable devices, and they are very good productivity tools for mobile learning.

Generally, there are three forms of tablet PCs: slates, convertibles, and hybrids. Slates are tablet PCs without a keyboard. Convertibles are convertible notebooks with an attached keyboard and a rotating hinge to enable it to become a flat writing slate. Hybrids have features of the slate and the convertible, and they use a detachable keyboard. Currently, FHSU faculty and staff are using primarily three types of convertibles: Toshiba Satellite 10, HP TC4200, and Gateway M-285E.

Tablet PCs have many instructional uses. Students can easily log on to the Blackboard course site wherever they have access to the Internet and download audio, video, or podcasts. Students can easily communicate with the instructor and their classmates via e-mails and instant messages or do research by surfing the web. They can also work on collaborative projects through synchronous or asynchronous communication tools.

DyKnow
DyKnow is educational software that is designed for the pen computing environment. Although it is best used on tablet PCs, it can be also used on desktop and laptop computers with limited functionalities. DyKnow software includes DyKnow Vision and DyKnow Monitor. DyKnow Vision is basically a teaching and learning tool, and DyKnow Monitor is a classroom management tool that can monitor attendance and performance of the students.

DyKnow can be used in a variety of disciplines, supporting different teaching styles, facilitating active learning, and promoting collaborative learning.  Major instructional uses of DyKnow may include synchronously transmitting instructional materials from an instructor’s computer to each student’s computer; replaying the lecture notes step by step; chatting with the instructor and other students; taking private notes; polling; grouping for collaborative work; knowing the status of students’ understanding for just-in-time teaching.

After a successful pilot in summer 2006 sponsored by the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies (CTELT), the university has purchased more DyKnow licenses. Currently, 1,000 concurrent user licenses are available for the FHSU community to use. CTELT provides faculty and staff DyKnow training and support. If you want to know more about DyKnow, you can go to http://www.dyknow.com or contact CTELT for help.

iPods
An iPod is a portable media player from Apple that allows users to download music, podcasts, photos, and video. It can be also used as a mass-storage device.

It is very easy for instructors and students to use iPods. With an iPod, students can download podcasts of instructional materials in addition to music and videos. It is convenient for students on go, and it can also accommodate different learning styles of the students.  

After a pilot project, the iPods have been distributed to some departments. CTELT has received 20 iPods for faculty checkout and experimentation. 

iTunesU
Based on the iTunes Store provided by Apple, iTunesU is a digital repository to deliver audio and video content to students. Colleges and universities build their own iTunesU sites. Faculty can post digital content for their classes, and students can download what they need from the classes. The FHSU iTunesU site is at http://www.fhsu.edu/iTunesU/. Five instructors participated in the iPod pilot and used the FHSU iTunesU. Currently, faculty members cannot post content to the iTunesU by themselves since the site is still under construction. If you plan to use iTunesU, you are welcome to contact CTELT for assistance.    

The primary benefit of iTunesU is access to digital content anytime anywhere. The audio and video content can also accommodate the different learning styles of students.

What is discussed above is a brief summary of four of the mobile learning devices and resources on our campus. The Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies offers workshops, consultations, and support for these resources. If you are interested in adopting any of them in your teaching, we are here for you!

References
Kambourakis, G., Kontoni, D. P. N., & Sapounas, I. (2004). Introducing Attribute Certificates to Secure Distributed E-Learning or M-Learning Services. Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference. Innsbruck, Australia. PP. 436-440. Retrieved July 24, 2007 from
http://www.ice.upc.edu/butlleti/innsbruck/416-174.pdf

Parsons, D., & Ryu, H. (2006). A framework for assessing the quality of mobile learning. Massey University website. Retrieved July 24, 2007 from http://www.massey.ac.nz/~hryu/M-learning.pdf