This document discusses finding and designing content for mobile devices. It identifies sources of pre-built content such as app stores, which offer a wide variety but can be costly and raise privacy concerns, and web-based open content, which is free but hard to search. It also discusses content repositories, which are easier to search but have limited topics. Finally, it provides tips for designing original content, such as including subtitles, descriptions and using accessibility features.

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Module 4:
Finding, Using &
Designing Content for
Mobile Devices

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Finding, Using & Designing
Content for Mobile Devices
“...we need to be designing learning
experiences. And those experiences
should be - and we’ve known this for a
long time - should be varied
experiences.”
- Seann Dikkers, Ohio University

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Ways to Find Content
- Find Pre-Built Content
- Design Your Own

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
App Stores -
ADVANTAGES
- Easy to Use
- Lots of Variety in Various Content Areas
- Some Content is Free (at least to begin with)

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
App Stores-DISADVANTAGES
- Huge Variety Can Be Confusing
-Buying Content for Each Student is Costly
- Concerns About Student Privacy with Some
Apps (see Common Sense Education Report:
www.commonsense.org/education/teaching-strategie

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
App Stores-Importance of
Finding Reviews by Educators
Review Sites:
-Common Sense Education Reviews
-(www.commonsense.org/education/edtech-
reviews-resources)
- The Mobile Native (www.themobilenative.org)

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
Web-based Content that is Open for
Use - ADVANTAGES
- Available for free on the Web
- Often from highly reputable sources, such as universities
- Examples:
- Ted Ed http://ed.ted.com/lessons
- WikiEducatorhttp://www.wikieducator.org
- MIT Open CourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
Web-based Content that is Open for
Use - DISADVANTAGES
- Hard to search by grade level, content area
- Content often is not originally designed for K-12
- Content may not display correctly on mobile
devices

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Sources of Pre-Built
Content
Content Repositories - ADVANTAGES
- Easy to search by grade level, content area
Examples:
- PBS LearningMedia
(www.pbslearningmedia.org/)
- Merlot (www.merlot.org)

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Sources of Pre-Built Content
Content Repositories - ADVANTAGES
- Some collections, such as Merlot below,
are searchable for specific mobile devices

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Sources of Pre-Built Content
Content Repositories -
DISADVANTAGES
- Limited number of collections and topics

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Designing Your Own
Content
Making Content Accessible for
Students with Disabilities
-Add subtitles or transcripts for all video
- Add descriptions of all image files
- Take advantage of built-in accessibility features
of mobile devices (e.g., VoiceOver text-to-speech
playback ability on all iPads)