So far in this week’s series on mobile technology in education I have discussed: Are UMPCs Going to Convert Courses from Paper Based to Digital? Mobile Web Usage is Increasing – How Will You Use It With Students? Today I am going to discuss how a simple request for spyglasses made my boss think I was absolutely nuts! She thought my spyglasses were so funny she included them in the show they put on at the work Christmas party. What…
This week I will be doing a series of posts on the use of mobile technology in education. Yesterday I asked the question are UMPCs Going to Convert Courses from Paper Based to Digital? So today – I want to know how do you plan to use the Mobile Web with students?… and I will show examples of how educators are currently using it with students. What is the Mobile Web? The Mobile Web refers to accessing the Internet from…
This week I will be doing a series of posts on the use of mobile technology in education. So being the first post – I decided to start off with probably the most thought provoking… the Ultra-Mobile PC (commonly termed UMPC)… and show you a school in the UK that has set up a wireless network to handle the 245 UMPCs they have purchased for their students. What is a UMPC? For those that have never heard of a UMPC…
New term has begun and out come the PDAs for the students to work with (PDAs are small pocket size computers that run mobile applications like mobile Word, Excel and Internet Explorer). Always fascinating to hear their response the first time they start using them, such as “Do we get to keep them?”, “How much do they cost?”, “Surely with the fees we pay we should get to keep them?”, “I have no hope of using one of these as…
The thought process: Part of my role is m-learning – and yet I have no wireless. How can I talk and demonstrate wireless technology if I have not experienced it first hand. Definitely a valid reason for me to spend my time and hard earned money investing in setting up a wireless network for my home (also thought it would make it appear that I was spending more time with the family since I could sit with them and be…
Aquaculture lecturer fainted when she recieved the SMS from Telstra, when she was in Geraldton this morning, apparently she has exceeded her data plan limit by 259% – not sure whether the words are oops or sheesh. So while the solution to lack of Internet access on my laptop was solved by using my PDA – perhaps it was not the best solution (make sure you check out the best data plan for what you want to do – 3G…
Tomorrow morning I am flying (small plane – Fokker 50 – and weather is really bad) to Central West TAFE in Geraldton for their Quality week (as part of my commitment to the fresh thinking program) where I will be doing workshops on e-learning and m-learning. So far I have been to Swan TAFE and Pilbara TAFE. I am finding the Fresh Thinking program has been a great opportunity to see and experience what is happening at other TAFEWA colleges….
The shift from classroom based delivery to workplace delivery and workforce development means VET lecturers will need tools to ensure greater mobility. I don’t believe that one size will fit all; individual preferences and varying workplace environments circumstances will need different solutions. However I do believe that you need to start by focusing what is your desired outcome and then focus on the technology. Too often we focus on a piece of technology and then try to make it meet…
Marcus Ragus and Daniel Dacey were invited to Perth for the WA Training Forum (they were here from 14 to 17 May) to do a presentation on Smart Tags for Smart Learning. This meant Frances McLean and myself got to spend most of the week with Marcus and Daniel talking about mobile technology and m-learning. Shame poor Frances was not well all week and Daniel also got sick; but other than that it all went well. As a result of…
Some people really love shopping and find it really easy to make fast decisions on what product to buy. I am not one of those lucky people, with my scientific background I have to thoroughly research the product before I can make a buying decision. I am so bad that my friends and family refuse to go shopping with me. So imagine the frustrations I am having deciding which PDA will meet our work requirements (and to make it worse…