1. The use, design, and practical development
of mobile learning resources in ELT
Caroline Moore
23 January 2015
1
University of Chichester Graduate English Specialist Workshop
2. Today’s objectives
1. The implications of mobile for ELT materials
writing
2. The development process
3. How product development, innovation and
marketing fit together
4. “4 Ps”: Product, Place, Price and Promotion
You can download this presentation from:
3. 0900 to 1215
• Two case studies
• Task: design your
product
1330 to 1530
• Group presentations
• Commercial issues: bring
your product to market
3
Today’s timetable
4. ELT: disruption in the transition from
print to digital and mobile learning
• 750m speakers, 2 billion
learners, 11 million teachers
• Growth in emerging markets
• International ELT market +/-
$58bn
• Coursebooks accounted for 90-
95% of ELT publisher revenues
• Wide range of stakeholders
5. New generation courseware:
technologies
• Multi platform/retrieve
track across platforms
• Open systems
• Institutional Wifi
• Tech savvy teachers
and institutions
• Easy access and
storage
• Hybrid, mixed media
Weapons of Mass
DistractionWeapons of Mass Distraction
6. Ubiquitous learning scenarios
Teachers: in the classroom, on whiteboards, tablets, PCs as a
supplement to any course book, flexible to pick and choose
Students: at school with the teacher, at home – self-study, on PCs,
mobile – revise, practise or do homework
Parents: at home, can follow & support their children’s progress
6
8. What’s an
App(lication)?
Self-contained, multimedia programme
Downloaded onto your mobile device through:
Apple iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft
Windows 8 App Store, Samsung Apps
Or, Web App, downloaded from a website, e.g.
Financial Times.
Online/Offline (varies)
9. ELT App feature checklist
• Multimedia
• Multi-sensory
• Personalisation
• Visible progress
• Relevant
language
• Covers more
than one skill
9
Macmillan IELTS Skills
& Richmond Crisis at Clifton apps
10. Mobile friendly
websites built on
HTML5
Location
Purchase channel
Touch screen
Motion sensors
Notifications
Multimedia
Connect
Speech record &
recognition
10
12. Mobile formats: summary
Apps Exploit functionality of Smartphones and tablet devices.
Distributed via Apple or Android/Samsung/Amazon app stores, and need to
go through their approval process. The app stores take 30% cut. Even
small changes to the content or app requires a resubmission and re-
approval process. Native apps are designed specifically for a device and
operating system, e.g. for an iPad, or Android phone.
HTML 5 Work potentially on any screen or operating system, but products such as
the YDP CCE not suitable for mobile phones. Cannot exploit full potential
of mobile device, limited personalisation & tracking, cannot support
speech recognition.
eBooks Can be used to create rich media versions of coursebooks, but interactivity
more limited than for apps or HTML5. Work across all platforms, but a
product developed within Apple’s iTextbook must be redeveloped for other
platforms. Various distribution mechanisms, e.g. Amazon Kindle, Apple
iBook/iTextbook, various proprietary “Bookshelf” platforms or direct
download. Basic eBooks easy to create via Adobe InDesign, but complex
media & interactivity needs same expertise as for Apps and HTML5.
Web apps are halfway between an App and HTML5
and tend to be distributed direct, not via an app
store.
Some products, such as Duolingo have the same
routines on a website and in ‘native’ apps, but the
user experience is slightly different on each one.
15. 15
o fast initial development: October 5 – December 21 2011
o detailed graphic specification
o in-house designer
o iterations: alpha / beta testing
Word Carrot development
16. Design / Functionality
o invest time in the description of the interactivity
o simplicity –> complexity –> simplicity
o pedagogy: content, tasks, contexts, acquisition/learning
o game features: score, lives, penalties, against the clock
16
18. Case study 2: YDP’s Core Curriculum for English
DEMO
Year 1:
4: Hello Aex
Year 6:
My car is better than yours
Year 9:
10: Recognising emotions
19. Core Curriculum for English
Comprehensive curriculum
support
Adaptable, customisable,
Plug-n-Play
Supports Communicative
methodologies &
multisensory learning
Supports assessment and
tests
Rich range of engaging
activity types
Works on PCs and all
mobile devices
Coherent but flexible
Small chunks of learning
22. Design a product, using flip charts, post its, see
handout: concept and sketch user experience
23. WHO? [is it for]
WHY? [what problem does it solve]
WHERE? [what devices/App Store/Distribution
channel]
WHEN? [will people use it]
HOW? [classroom, self-study]
WHAT? [can you describe it easily]
WHAT DO YOU NEED? [people, skills, budget
and time]
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/your-business/17564769#17564769
24. Bring your App idea to
market
Product ✔
Price
Promotion
Place ✔
25. Pricing
Word Carrot: target = £10,000
a) Free plus IAP of £1.49
OR
a) £2.49 plus IAPs of £1.49
Apple take 30% commission plus average 8% sales tax. Conversion rate
free to purchase is between 0.5% to 2%
26. App revenue options
Sales including “Fremium” model
Subscriptions
Advertising
Sponsorship and other indirect benefits
Pedagogy, Technology, Business model: future of coursebook depends on getting these three right.
Refer to research with Paul Sweeney
Doesn’t support those super powers as well as an app, but can be made to work on most mobile devices. This is an image from One laptop per child
Quality, Coverage, Flexible
Increasingly no such thing as pure B2B or B2C. With Word Carrot we promoted to schools in the hope that teachers would recommend the app to students. YDP sells its products through resellers.
World domination! US English version, More languages, projects with publishers…
