Hansen, J.P, Fog Hansen, N. 2009. M-learning in agriculture – possibilities and barriers. . In: C. Lokhorst, J.F.M Huijsmans, R.P.M de Louw (Eds.), EFITA conference '09. Proceedings of the 7th EFITA conference, Wageningen, Holland, July 6-8 2009, pp. 463-469. On DVD.
M learning in agriculture - possibilities and barriers
1. M-learning in agriculture
– possibilities and barriers
Jens Peter Hansen & Nicolai Fog Hansen
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, National Centre
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
2. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
• Owned by farmers – used by farmers
• 35 local agricultural advisory centres and 1
national centre
• Turnover: 240 mill. €
• 3.500 employees
• Denmark's largest
consultancy
• 50.000 farmers
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
3. • 2007-2008 project
• Goal was to develop a number of digital
based prototypes, supporting m-learning in
the workplace with farmers and farm
employees as the target group.
•
Definition of M-learning
• Learning that is facilitated and enhanced by
the use of digital mobile devices, which can
be carried and used anywhere and anytime.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
4. • Potential
Content should not be a problem. An
organization providing m-learning must have
a steady production of content (created in
advance) for other media.
Authoring tools that can smooth out the
process of building and administrating
learning objects.
• Barriers
• Bringing learning objects within reach of the
farmer.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
5. Conclusion
• Wait for WiMax and Android
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
6. Farmers don’t have time for
learning
- they are busy working and solving problems
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
12. Use of mobile devices
• 99 % of farmers use a mobile phone,
• 96 % read and 73 % write SMS messages,
• 73 % would like to be able to get a local weather
forecast on their mobile phone – 2 % do this on a
regular basis,
• 63 % expressed interest in receiving news,
• 55 % expressed interest in receiving market
information,
• 17 % have a PDA but one out of three of these are
not used because of problems with usability and lack
of sturdiness.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
13. Learning styles
• Theorists like to understand the theory behind
the actions.
• Reflectors learn by observing and thinking
about what happened.
• Activists are those people who learn by doing
• Pragmatists need to be able to see how to put
the learning into practice in the real world
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
14. • Learning objects
• Discrete elements of learning content that meet a
defined learning objective, and are possibly
independently assessable, which may take the form
of text, graphics, video, stills, animations, diagrams
audio.
•
Learning context
• Situated learning, there the mental representation of a
concept occurs not in an abstract or isolated form, but
in connection with the social and material context of a
specific learning situation.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
15. • Bluetongue FAQ
• Danish authorities implemented a number of measures
including restriction zones and a vaccination campaign
including more than 1.5 million animals.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
16. • The castration of piglets
• A general introduction to the subject followed by a 2 minute video
explaining how and why. To check that the employee
understands, the video is followed by a multiple choice test with 4-6
choices per question and one or several correct answers
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
17. • Weed recognition
• As a farmer, if you see weeds in their full
grown stage, it is often an indication that you
didn’t notice that weed as a seedling and
therefore did not choose the right preventive
spraying.
• In this small game, the user shall match a
picture of some weed in their full grown stage
with a picture of the weed as seedling.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
18. • Podcasts - listen to agriculture
• Information through your ears while working
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
19. • Harvesting time for maize
• Yearly decision, which means that most farmers need to brush up
on their knowledge
• An intelligent and location aware learning object could be created
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
20. Delivery devices
• Mobile phones
• MP3 player
• Hearing protection ear-muffs
• Internet radio
• GPS car navigation
• ... and more
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre
21. Learning styles
• Theorists like to understand the theory behind the actions.
• Reflectors learn by observing and thinking about what happened.
• Activists are those people who learn by doing
• Pragmatists need to be able to see how to put
the learning into practice in the real world
It’s all about performance support.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre