INFOGRAPHIC: 5 challenges to taking content mobile

New infographic reminds IT and faculty that moving to mobile learning comes with a unique set of considerations

mobile-content-mlearningCreating environments for mobile learning begins first with IT infrastructure, then actually determining how to optimize content for mobile learning.

“Mobile Learning-it’s easy, it’s intuitive and it definitely gives good returns on investment,” says Origin Learning, which created the infographic. “With many [institutions] already using it and others beginning to take the plunge, mLearning seems to have taken off well-thanks to rapid innovation in cloud computing and widespread adoption of BYOD policies. Already, combined tablet and smartphone shipments surpass those of desktops and notebooks.”

“However,” the company continued, “the inherent characteristics of a mobile device pose a few challenges to instructional and content designers in avoiding the risk of defeating its purpose of learning.”…Read More

Students want more class assignments available on mobile devices

Eighty-eight percent of students say they have used a mobile device to study for a test at the last minute.

“Who completed the reading?”

It’s a question some instructors likely ask every week. If students are being honest, only 10 percent of the class would raise their hands, according to a new survey. But a majority of students believe that response would be very different if the material was available on mobile devices.

The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research and digital course materials company CourseSmart, asked 500 American college students about their dependence on devices, their opinions on eTextbooks and their views toward the rising price of a college education.…Read More

eCampus of the Month: Abilene Christian University

ACU gives iPhones and iPods to its 4,700 students.

Abilene Christian University (ACU), long a leading advocate for the use of web-ready mobile devices in higher education, is taking its tech savvy to K-12 schools, where students are becoming familiar with the ins and outs of tablets such as the Apple iPad.

ACU’s commitment to mobile technology has earned the 4,700-student institution the distinction of being eCampus News’s first eCampus of the Month, an award given to colleges and universities that push for more advanced and efficient use of educational technology, establishing national models for small and large schools alike.

Three students from ACU’s Teacher Education Department recently partnered with a local kindergarten teacher to introduce mobile devices to the class and document students’ familiarity with common mobile technology terminology such as “apps” and “upload.”…Read More

Higher education’s best mobile technology programs

The University of Missouri last fall required all incoming journalism students to have an iPhone or iPod Touch.
The University of Missouri last fall required all incoming journalism students to have an iPhone or iPod Touch.

With small private campuses and large research universities alike teeming with iPhones, iPod Touches, BlackBerries, and other mobile devices, a college counseling company has highlighted five institutions in particular as the best landing spots for students attached to their gadgets.

IvyWise, a New York-based counseling company that released a list of the most environmentally friendly colleges in April, recently unveiled another list to help college applicants, this time focusing on schools that leverage the power of mobile devices to store and deliver recorded lectures, syllabi, homework, tests, and a host of other information that can be accessed any time, anywhere on campus.

The list, compiled by IvyWise counselors and released May 12, includes Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., Stanford University, the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, Ohio State University, and the University of Missouri.…Read More

Tech-savvy university grows mobile learning with $1.8M award

ACU gave iPods and iPhones to about 1,000 incoming students in 2008.
ACU gave iPods and iPhones to about 1,000 incoming students in 2008.

Abilene Christian University, among the leading users of mobile technology in higher education, will use a $1.8 million award from AT&T to build a studio for mobile learning experimentation and a K-12 professional development program that will train teachers to use education technology devices such as eReaders and internet-ready phones.

This isn’t the first time AT&T has partnered with ACU, a campus of almost 5,000 students in Abilene, Texas. The phone giant and Alcatel-Lucent helped develop the university’s Wi-Fi internet network earlier this decade. AT&T also gave $1 million to ACU in 2007 for the computer infrastructure in the school’s Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center.

The wireless network powers the thousands of mobile devices—mostly Apple iPods and iPhones—that ACU has doled out to incoming students in recent years. The school pays for the mobile hardware, while students pay for the monthly AT&T service plan, according to ACU officials.…Read More

Colleges embrace MP4 technology for delivering instruction

The Droid phone is one mobile device enabling students to study anywhere.
The Droid phone is one mobile device enabling students to study anywhere.

Four universities are giving students the chance to complete certificate and degree programs by downloading class material to mobile devices like iPhones and iPods in a distance-learning initiative that one day could be commonplace in higher education.

The University Alliance, one of the country’s largest online education facilitators, announced earlier this month that students enrolled in web-based courses at Villanova University, the University of San Francisco, Tulane University, and the University of Notre Dame will be able to watch course lectures in MP4 video format on their mobile devices.

Besides the popular Apple devices, students also can download streaming lectures to their Droid phones and BlackBerries, among other devices.…Read More

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