Keynote presentation by Dr Mohamed Ally, Director and Professor, Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca University, Canada, for the DEHub/ODLAA Education 2011 to 2021- Global challenges and perspectives of blended and distance learning the (14 to 18 February 2011).

1. Mobile learning: Hype or evidenced impact for higher educationapplications? Mohamed Ally, Ph.D. Director and Professor Centre for Distance Education Athabasca University Canada mohameda@athabascau.ca Education 2011-2021 Summit Global challenges and perspectives of blended and distance learning Sydney, Australia February 2011

5. Presentation Outline What is happening in mobile learning? Why higher education needs to get involved in mobile learning? Examples of use of mobile technology in higher education Campus-based education Delivery Model The learner in mobile learning Future of mobile technology in education Conclusion

6. International Association of Mobile Learning Executive Committee President - Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, The Open University, UK Vice-President - Jill Attewell, Learning and Skills Network, UK Secretary - Jocelyn Wishart, University of Bristol, UK Treasurer - Tom Brown, Midrand Graduate Institute, South Africa Member - Mohamed Ally, Athabasca University, Canada Member - Vanessa Camilleri, University of Malta, Malta Member - Brendan Tangney, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Member - John Traxler, University of Wolverhampton, UK

7. International Association of Mobile Learning Founding Directors Mohamed Ally - Athabasca University, Canada Jill Attewell - Learning and Skills Network, UK Tom Brown - Midrand Graduate Institute, South Africa Giorgio daBormida - EIGI Consulting Caryl Oliver - caryloliver.com, Australia Mike Sharples - University of Nottingham, UK John Traxler - University of Wolverhampton, UK Herman van derMerwe - North West University, South Africa

8. Regional and Countries Mobile Learning Associations Latin America Malaysia Arabian Gulf

9. Setting Standards for Mobile Learning Working on a ISO standards committee to set standards for mobile learning for learners on the move (nomadic learners) International committee (Canada, South Korea, Germany) that reports to a larger committee

10. Mobile Learning Journals International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation

11. Journals that Published Mobile Learning Papers American Journal of Distance Education Distance Education IRRODL (International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning) Journal of Distance Education British Journal of Educational Technology Educational Technology, Research and Development Educational Technology & Society

12. Mobile Learning Conferences Five mobile learning conferences are being held in 2011 Many conferences, including IEEE and ACM conferences, have mobile learning streams

13. The World Bank

14. UN Millennium Development Goals Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

15. Connect the Indigenous Peoples with Mobile Technology

17. Mobile technology in different sectors

18. “In the pocket banking” “A library in everyone’s pocket”

19. “A doctor in everyone’s pocket” Are we ready for “Education in the pocket”

20. Are Faculty Ready for Mobile Learning? Corbeil et al. (2007) conducted a study where they asked students and faculty whether they are ready for mobile learning. Of the 107 students who responded, all students owned a smart phone or cell phone and 94 percent of the students said that they are ready for mobile learning; however, only 60 percent of faculty said that they are ready for mobile learning. Learners are ready to use mobile technology for learning but the question is “Are educators ready for mobile learning”.

21. Some people are predicting that mobile technology has no role in education They will be proven wrong We know of famous predictions in the past that were wrong. Examples include: The ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.

22. Some educators, professionals and experts are resisting the use of mobile learning (some resisted the use of the internet in education but students and educators cannot do without the internet today)

23. Some experts are predicting that mobile devices are not suitable for learning We know of other predictions that were wrong, for example there will be a need for only 5 computers in the world why would anyone want a computer in the home etc.

24. There is no turning back - mobile learning can make a major contribution to education and society

25. Campus-based Education System

26. Is the physical campus system set up for learning? The campus-based higher education system is a complex system. The question is why is it so complex when learning should be learner-centered and it is the learner who is doing the learning?

27. Problems on Campus-Based Institution If you think of a typical campus-based higher education institution today, common problems include: high dropout rate, high absenteeism, vandalism, conflict between students, conflict between faculty and students, old infrastructure, closure because of extreme weather conditions and break out of contagious diseases, students and staff safety, campus security, students or staff suing the university because of injury, etc.

28. Campus-based institutions need the infrastructure to prevent and solve these problems. For example, health services, security guards, building maintenance, etc.

31. Operating Costs: Campus-based vs Distance Education Institutions The campus-based university spent 34 percent of the budget on operating costs while the distance education university spent only 15 percent on operation. For a campus based university with total expenses of one billion dollars, 340 million is spent on operation. The operating cost for the campus based university is more than double the operating cost for the distance education university The infrastructure for campus-based institutions is buildings while the infrastructure for distance education is information technology.

32. Recent Australian Research

33. Recent Australian Data

34. Australian Study Researchers surveyed 150 students who dropped out from 4 Australian Universities. Reasons for dropping out include: Teaching staff Course content Life issues Paid work commitments

35. Mobile Learning around the World

36. Mobile technology in education around the world Many mobile learning projects in Europe. For example, HandLeR, MOBILearn, Caerus, Mobile Learning Organiser, Myartspace, etc. At Athabasca University there are developments and research on the use of mobile technology in course delivery, language training, workplace learning, and reading by older adults. The first international conference on mobile learning was held in the United Kingdom in 2002.

37. China The Network Education College, which is an online college in China, implemented online learning where students can access learning materials from anywhere and at anytime using a variety of technology, including mobile devices. Because of the flexibility in access of learning materials, enrolment grew from 200 to 17,000 in seven years.

38. Open University of Nepal

39. Latin America There are approximately between 50 and 60 millions underserved indigenous people in Latin America who have limited or no access to formal education. Many of these people are nomads where they travel from one location to the next to make a living. An research project was conducted to develop a mobile learning model to use mobile technologies to reach these underserved indigenous people. Results showed that the students were able to use the devices to learn and the parents used the devices occasionally to improve their vocabulary.

40. United States Educational institutions are giving students mobile devices as standard resources required to complete an education. Abilene Christian University gave iPods or iPhones to freshman students. University of Texas at San Antonio and gave free iPod Touches to teachers who attended a technology training workshop.

41. Other Countries Governments of countries are giving people wireless mobile devices or portable devices for learning.

42. Example of Projects at Athabasca University Course Delivery Using Mobile Devices

43. Mobile Course Delivery Study was directed to over 500 students in 3 different computer science courses (all are completely online and distance delivery) Students were asked to complete a unit of study using a mobile device then complete a survey Many students completed one or more units but only a sub-set of the students completed the survey to determine their experience with the mobile devices

44. Delivering to Specific Devices Device detection had been problematic because new devices and mobile OSs and browsers were constantly coming on stream. Created problems for the device detection scheme used to determine the mobile device: String user_agent = request.getHeader("user-agent"); Changed to JavaScript to determine screen real estate: if (screen.width >= 800) { document.write('<style type=quot;text/cssquot;>…..

45. Stylesheet Delivery If screen size < 800, delivers style sheet meant for mobile device If the screen size is >= 800, delivers the full stylesheet

46. Multimedia Displays Delivery of alternate graphics to mobile devices Device detection also implemented for applets, flash, large graphics, etc.

47. Results No difficulties encountered in access using mobile devices. A variety of devices used by students: iPaq, PalmOne Treo and Tungsten, Blackberry, Dell Axim, Pantech 3200, Motorola Razor, Samsung, UT Starcom, Toshiba Pocket PC e330, and even a PSP (Portable Sony Playstation). A complete range of connection plans including WiFi, phone plans, and desktop synchronization.

49. I actually really liked reading the course on the phone.

51. If I would have known how to use the device - I would have been using it all the time to review the course material.

56. Benefits of Mobile Learning to Learners

57. New Generations of Students Online presence Now generation Virtual generation Social networking Games Digital experts Adapt to technology quickly Technology is second nature

58. How students prefer to learn? In groups (55%) Doing practical things (39%) With friends (35%) By using computers (31%) Alone (21%) From teachers (19%) Becta, 2008

59. Use of Mobile Technology in Education Uses of mobile technologies in education include: administration of learning, monitoring students’ progress, providing learner support, interactive activities to promote higher level learning, delivery of learning materials, use of context specific activities, workplace learning, just-in-time learning, and reaching the disabled. Gaskill and Mills (2009)

60. Learnable Moment

61. Mobile learning benefits learners since they can use mobile devices to learn in their own learning community where situated learning, authentic learning, context aware learning, augmented reality mobile learning, and personalized learning are encouraged (Traxler, 2010). Learning will move more and more outside of the classroom and into the learner’s environments, both real and virtual, thus becoming more situated, personal, collaborative and lifelong (Naismith et al., 2006).

62. Mobile Learning to Develop 21st Century Skills Use of mobile technology by learners will help the learners develop 21st century skills required by learners when they join the workforce.

63. 21st Century Skills Area Communication Project Management Continuous Improvement Problem Solving Information and Communication Technology Team Work Personal Well-being Leadership Globalization Research Critical Thinking

64. Mobile Technology

65. Learners have multiple devices

67. Near Future

68. Future In the future, mobile devices will look completely difference from what they are today. According to a recent Futurelab report, by 2020, digital technology will be embedded and distributed in most objects. Personal artefacts such as keys, clothes, shoes, notebook, and newspaper will have devices embedded within them which can communicate with each other. We will not be taking any devices with us, they will exist everywhere.

69. Everything will be connected to everything through network. There will no longer be any such thing as ‘the internet’, ‘telephone’, ‘TV’ and so forth; instead there is blanket wireless connectivity to the network which allows access to all communications channels even in remote areas.

70. Input to and feedback from digital technologies will become much more ‘natural’ by 2020, and we feel as though we are interacting with things and with people, not machines, screens and keyboards.

71. Conclusion

72. Is the use of mobile technology ‘hype’?

73. Ask Rory McGreal

74. Ask a learner who has a mobile device but no learning materials to access

75. Ask young learners who have no access to schools or libraries

76. Ask an unemployed young person

77. Ask a female who has the mobile technology but cannot attend school

78. Ask a President who got elected because of the use of mobile technology

79. Young people are using mobile technology for revolutions because of lack of jobs, no human rights, suppression, high prices for basic needs (education, food), etc. Would it take a revolution by young learners to transform education to meet their needs?

80. With Mobile Learning “Education for All” is possible

81. Social Justice The concept of social justice expresses an ideal in which all members of society are treated fairly and have access to their fair share of society’s goods.

82. Research Needed How to design for the unknown How to design for learners on the move Most effective interfaces for mobile and virtual devices How to design information rich content for mobile delivery What are the characteristics of mobile technology for different cultures Interactivity on mobile devices Intelligent learning materials Learner-generated content for mobile learning OER for mobile delivery

83. Thank youDr. Mohamed AllyDirector and ProfessorAthabasca UniversityCanadamohameda@athabascau.ca