uLearning Blog

Jonathan Nalder
Twitter: jnxyz
Homepage: www.jnxyz.net
EdTech blog: http://uLearning.edublogs.org

Sent from an iPhone 3GS

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The iPhone 3GS is the most advanced converged mobile device and as such, is one that teachers and educators need to be familiar with. Its really a signpost on the road to ubiquitous computing, where mobile, miniaturised, wirless and cloud-based devices proliferate.

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I was recently fortunate enough to be able to present at the Innovative Technology in Schools Conference in Brisbane on the topic of mobile learning. Imagine my excitement at having a set of 30 iPod Touch’s available for the participants to learn on! This was a chance to show what the combination of current developments like ubiquitous mobile devices, wireless connectivity and cloud computing (via services like Evernote) will mean for learning in the near-future.

Despite various technical hurdles (ie. batteries being flat, proxies keeping us from using the wifi fully, twitter search being down!) the attendees seemed to have a great time discovering what possibilities mobile devices hold for education. So here are several ways that you too can experience what I was able to share:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on1GNs3193w

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/jnxyz/ipod-touch-for-mobile-learning

Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/16041976/iPod-touch-for-mobile-learning

By Jonathan Nalder, and Shane Roberts

One common problem for educators seeking to use the iPhone or iPod touch in their learning environment is the fact that the most common uses of the devices for things such as taking attendance, voice recording or interfacing with learning management systems (such as Moodle) require constant exiting and switching between several different apps. All this switching has the potential to keep teacher eyes off students for the precious seconds it takes for them to go off-task.  Excessive app-switching will also increase the number of applications accessing the device memory, resulting in a slower operational and response time.

Helping to solve this problem is a new app from iKonstrukt thats simply titled ‘Educate’. Unlike many other education apps released so far for the platform, ‘Educate’ groups several common functions into one program, meaning that running a lesson requires less app-switching. These multiple functions include an inbuilt calendar with welcome widescreen mode, an attendance and grade marking database, a stopwatch, voice recorder, photo tool (take images and add text to them), reference area (with numerous teaching strategy tips) and link to online learning system Moodle (apparently integration with the other main LMS Blackboard is being looked at for a future release).

So can this app live up to its ambitious name of providing everything needed to educate a student? Bearing in mind that this is a 1.0 release, and still has a few quirks (that running the ‘free memory’ app first often helps with), it has in our 3 days of testing proved to be a great start at accomplishing just this lofty goal. It does need the ability to import student names as well as calendar data before time-poor teachers may really start to use all of its planner and tracker features to the full.

What may really convince some Teachers to purchase Educate is its Moodle integration, but I haven’t been able to test this, with my school being Blackboard-based. The app does however seem at this point to only allow the posting of content to Moodle; I’m not sure if …

Another unique Educate feature that should be noted is its in-built link to the app’s Facebook support page where help forums and the growing number of other educators using the app can be directly accessed, again all without closing the app itself.

So is it worth its price of US$6.99 ($8.99 in Australian store)? The answer to this question may depend on how much your school could benefit from mobile access to Moodle, but for those doing the math (one function which you do still have to switch out of Educate for – think I’ll make a calculator a feature request), Educate’s price is cheaper by quite a bit than buying separate apps to get the same functionality.

On the other hand: Why I won’t purchase Educate (personal opinion of shanetechteach);
1. Lesson planning is “trapped” within the device.  I can’t access it from my other devices, or share it with others.  How can my students see my planning?
2. Doesn’t integrate with BlackBoard.
3. Grade and attendance data seems to be trapped within the application.

I will stick to the use of multiple and free applications until it has a process to copy data from the iPhone or iPod Touch to your laptop or desktop.  Where recording of grades and attendance is completed in one program, export is required for school specific processes so that teacher work is not increased by double input. For example, my school uses IDAttend for attendance and OneSchool for reporting. Cohort grades are centrally recorded on a network spreadsheet. As a Head of Department it would not be in my interests to have each of my teacher’s grades stored separately, and only on their device.

So I personally will stick with Google calandar (synced to the iPod Touch calendar) for my lesson planning; iTalk and Evernote for images, notes and voice recording.  BlackBoard will still require me to use my computer so no advantage there.

In summary, its great to see a specific education application developed for teachers, however it does not offer the services that would convince me to purchase it - yet?

By the way readers, there’s an active feature request page HERE:

Full details:
Educate: iPhone & iTouch App for Teachers

Educate is an iPhone/iTouch application designed to support teaching professionals in schools, universities and colleges. Featuring inbuilt lesson planning, student tracking, teaching strategies and eLearning tools, Educate provides teachers with a holistic approach to engaging students in 21st century learning environments.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWzPFgZKY9w

Key Features:

Plan lessons: Educate’s inbuilt weekly planner allows teachers to personalise their timetable and plan lessons all from a single interface.

Monitor student attendance and progress: Quickly and easily track student attendance or performance in classes via ready made scales.

Engage students at a deeper level: Access easy to follow strategies for engaging students during individual or collaborative activities.

Implement eLearning: Post real time content to Moodle learning spaces, anywhere, anytime. Also, access critical tools such as a voice recorder for anecdotal notes, a camera that allows you to label images and a stopwatch for time-critical tasks.

Collaborate with other Educate users: Connect online through Facebook with other Educate users to discuss pedagogical practice, suggest application features and seek support.

Price: $6.99 US

Itunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313379802&mt=8

This new paper describes how Australian teachers are using the iPhone and iPod Touch to A. assist them as Educators, and B. to enhance learning. As such, it presents a vital survey of apps and ideas to be shared with other teachers also beginning to use this platform. Thanks to the included Teachers for their keen responses.

6 Educators Talk About iPhone Use High Qual

Google releases Books browser for iPhone

Via TUAW.com

Posted via email from Jonathan’s posterous

Posted via email from Jonathan’s posterous

TechCrunch has this great article up on the state of education apps for the iPhone platform:

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> So, this whole ‘buying software just for mobile devices’ thing is > really taking off! Educators should take note that a major shift > from PCs to mobile/ everywhere computing I’d under way -I mean > 500,000,000 app downloads in 6 months is a huge number by any > technology platforms standards, and with Android, Palm and > Blackberry all having app stores of their own ok the way, it’s clear > that anytime access to software via wireless connections will be an > important part of our students futures. Now to working out what the > educational opportunities if this are … !
>
> Read more about it here:
>
> http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/app-store-500-million-downloads-15000-apps/

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Productivity – well all want to increase it right? If you’re an iPhone user, take a look at this browser app which purports to let you copy and paste, save images of any part of a webpage, email slected text and the pages URL, – all with one search bar (ala Google’s Chrome) and easier tab navigation. There are no reviews yet though – any one like to give it a go?

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