Supporting Distance Users of Mobile Learning Technology

With the rapid deployment of mobile devices, mobile learning emerges as a promising approach giving rise to a wide spectrum of new education possibilities. It serves as an effective conduit to deliver education to civilians of all social-economic levels, in particular the learners previously unreachable from traditional education systems, such as problem teenagers, social employees, and ageing people. Hence, unlike traditional education approaches, it is considered to be a good alternative to deal with the challenges posed by demographic shifts and social transformation. The purpose of this chapter is to: (i) identify the theoretical and technological underpinnings for delivering mobile learning to the distance learner, and (ii) discuss the possible learner communities that can benefit from mobile learning technology, with regard to their unique learning requirements and features.

An Augmented Reality Library for Mobile Phones and its Application for Recycling

This chapter presents the Augmented Reality (AR) library developed for mobile phones. The authors explain the used tools, how they have ported ARToolKit for running on the mobile phone Nokia N95 with 8 GB, and the functionalities they have added. The authors present the mobile phone game they have developed for learning how to recycle using this AR library, ARGreenet. Forty-five children with a mean(SD) age of 11.02(2.33) years played the ARGreenet as well as a ‘Team’ version of the ARGreenet. The children answered questionnaires both before and after using each game. Several aspects were examined including the level of engagement, fun and ease of use. Analysis of the results showed significant differences between the ARGreenet and the Team ARGreenet with higher means for the Team ARGreenet. A majority of children (59.1%) expressed a preference for the Team ARGreenet.

Open Source LMS and Web 2.0 in Mobile Teaching

Can students learn a foreign language at school meeting their real communicative needs? Is it possible to exploit the potentialities of the 2.0 Web tools and the advantages of the Open Source software to guide students towards effective linguistic competence and autonomy? The chapter describes an experience of using simple Web 2.0 and teaching support online tools for learning English in an Italian secondary school, pointing out the achievements and the drawbacks of the integration of e-learning 2.0 with classroom teaching.

Implement Mobile Learning ?at Open Universities

Mobile learning (m-learning) provides convenient access to course materials and other relevant information, especially for learners who are often on the move and cannot afford to spend hours and hours in the classroom, often the case at open universities. As such, implementing mobile learning at open universities makes even more sense. In this chapter we will explore a variety of issues, technologies, and challenges associated with implementing mobile learning at open universities. We will begin with an investigation into open universities’ common mandate and their very nature, and then explain the urgency and advantages for implementing mobile learning in their course and program delivery; we then explore the technical requirements of mobile learning, and present some strategies for mobile learning implementation. We will also explore some architectures and technologies for mobile learning systems. We will conclude the chapter by exploring some of the challenges one may have to face when implementing mobile learning at an open university.

Open Source Implementation of Mobile Pair Programming for Java Programming Class

Pair programming has been used to improve the learning of programming by many computer science educators. Implementing pair programming on the mobile learning platform can significantly improve the availability and collaboration between pair programming partners. This chapter explores a set of open source mobile technologies that can be used to implement mobile pair programming. It shows that mobile pair programming can be implemented entirely with open source or free software.

Mobile Web 2.0

In this chapter, the author reflects on the emergence of Mobile Web 2.0, a new paradigm for learning in the 21st century, made possible by the combination of a powerful generation of mobile devices with Internet access and the Web 2.0 technologies that allow collaboration, participation, knowledge sharing and construction. The author presents the theoretical framework which sustains learning with mobile devices, and reflects on the potential of Mobile Web 2.0 for the development of informal learning and the construction of personal learning environments. Finally, the chapter presents educational scenarios for the development of mobile learning using Web 2.0 tools, in particular, those made possible using Twitter and m-Flickr.

Using a Process-Aware Information System to Support Collaboration in Mobile Learning Management Systems

This chapter deals with the support of collaboration in mobile Learning Management Systems. The authors propose a collaborative game, to be taken place in an enhanced reality environment, as an example of collaboration. Several alternatives to support this scenario are analyzed, and the proposed architecture to integrate process-based collaboration in mobile Learning Management Systems is discussed in detail. Finally, an implementation of this scenario using open-source technologies is detailed.

Virtual Environments and Mobile Learning

As an answer to these questions, this chapter will define the virtual world concept, distinguish the different types of virtual worlds, and make a comparative analysis between them in order to bring out the features aimed at helping teachers to adopt them in their classes. In particular, we will focus our choice of virtual world environments on open source platforms. As the prevalence of mobile learning increases, this chapter also describes the m-learning scope, its contextualisation and advantages, as well as the learning methods. Finally, the relation of those methods with social virtual worlds is also discussed.

Introduction

As an introduction, the goal of this chapter is to introduce mobile technology, mobile learning, and the open source approach. This chapter provides some basic knowledge for readers to make the reading of the later chapters easier. It first gives an overview of mobile technology. Then, it introduces the concepts and theories of mobile learning. The recent development in mobile technology and mobile learning will be briefly reviewed. Following the review of mobile learning, the next topic is about the open source approach. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the open source approach. It also briefly reviews the history of the open source approach. Next, the chapter investigates the open source approach in mobile learning. It discusses the possible usage of open source products in mobile learning. The last topic of this chapter is about the book framework. After going through the book framework, readers will have a general picture of what to be covered in this book. Lastly, the chapter wraps up with the conclusion and references sections.

Exploring the Pedagogical Affordances of Mobile Web 2.0

This chapter explores the potential of Mobile Web 2.0 to enhance tertiary education today, outlining both research-informed principles, as well as providing case study examples of Mobile Web 2.0 participants’ experiences of how the use of Mobile Web 2.0 within a pedagogical framework has transformed both students’ and lecturers’ conceptions of teaching and learning.