E-Learning:
December 1st, 2000
By Paul Stacey
I'm
what the high tech world calls a "mobile
professional". Most days I'm out of the office
working in a liaison role with companies and
organizations.
Last
year I gave up a desktop computer for a Toshiba Portege
notebook, which at around 4 pounds and an inch thin, is
light enough for me to take everywhere with me right in
my briefcase. I've also got a cell phone (http://www.kyocera-wireless.com)
and 3Com Palm Pilot (http://www.palm.com/products).
I
can compute and communicate anywhere. That makes me a
prime candidate for wireless e-learning.
Most
people equate wireless "personal digital
assistants" (PDA's) with toys, so with Christmas
fast approaching and visions of toys dancing in our
heads I thought I'd explore what's happening on the
wireless side of e-learning.
In
thinking about wireless its helpful to distinguish
between wireless access through a notebook computer and
wireless access using a cell phone or Palm Pilot. Their
are several reasons for this distinction:
-
screen real estate. Cell
phones and PDA's have small screens, tiny in comparison
with notebook computers. This makes something as simple
as browsing on the Internet problematic as regular web
pages are too big for PDA viewing. To get web-based
applications or data to a cell phone or PDA, providers
use web clipping strategies and special protocols like
the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
-
ease of use. Cell phones and PDA's can be quickly
accessed or always left on, no irksome waiting for
bloatware operating systems to load. Their small size
can be easily carried in a pocket and held in the palm
of your hand. However the keyboards are often tiny or
input may rely on a pen device, or voice.
-
power and bandwidth. Lets face it a computer is still
far more powerful than a cell phone or PDA when it comes
to processing speed, memory, and throughput required for
high bandwidth applications.
OK
so lets talk about wireless access from a notebook
computer first. Imagine being able to wirelessly walk
with your notebook computer from room to room in your
home, school, or office and always be connected to the
web. Vancouver based firm Sierra Wireless (http://www.sierrawireless.com)
has
PC Card modems and Network Interface Cards that slide
into a slot in your notebook and allow you to connect
wirelessly to the Internet, Intranet, corporate e-mail
or other applications - without the need for a phone
land line connection. Getting the card is the first step
but you also require the appropriate service from a
telecommunications provider like Telus, Sprint, or
whomever.
For
those of you who are Apple Macintosh users check out
Apple's AirPort technology (http://www.apple.com/airport).
Like the cradle for a cordless phone, the Airport Base
Station uses a physically connected hub to access the
Internet and wireless connections to communicate with
Airport-enabled computers. You can even wirelessly
transfer files from your Airport enabled Mac to another
Airport enabled Mac up to 150 feet away.
One
of the cool things about this wireless technology is
that it uses radio signals which can communicate through
solid objects, unlike say your TV remote control which
uses infrared signals and requires an unobstructed line
of sight.
So
what's the big deal with wireless computing? Well
primarily freedom. Being untethered is exhilarating. I
particularly enjoyed Gillian Shaw's Afloat In the Future
and Snapshots from a Wireless Journey articles in the
Networks section of the Vancouver Sun this past summer.
Gillian wrote and submitted her articles wirelessly
while cruising the gulf islands with her family in a
sail boat off the coast of British Columbia.
The
biggest early adopters of wireless computing are senior
executives, sales force professionals, and field support
technicians who are on the road. Wireless technology is
a perfect enabler of performance support e-learning that
occurs just-in-time, right on the job, wherever you are.
From an e-learning perspective the biggest advantage of
wireless computing is the way it enables learning to be
de-coupled from a place-based classroom or learning
centre. You can be anywhere
The
big buzz in wireless is not notebook computers but cell
phones and PDA's. Consumer adoption of these devices has
been nothing less than astounding. Industry estimates
place the number of cell phone handsets in use at around
300 million by end of 2000 and the number of PDA's at
around 35 million. Adding fuel to the fire is the
convergence of Internet and mobile telephony with most
cell phone and PDA vendors web-enabling their devices.
(For more industry stats see http://www.wirelessweek.com/industry/indtoc.htm.)
Most
of the focus has been on using these devices to enhance
communication and enable mobile e-commerce (m-commerce).
However, over the last six months various wireless
e-learning initiatives, products, and services have been
announced. I'm going to focus on them.
Lets
start with something basic. The AlphaSmart (http://www.alphasmart.com)
is a lightweight (under 2 lbs.) easy to use writing tool
that allows you to enter and edit text, then send it
wirelessly using infrared to any computer for formatting
and printing. This is the perfect device for taking
notes in class or a meeting and works right out of the
box. There are no manuals, no programs to install, just
turn it on and start typing. You get 200-500 hours of
use powered by 3 AA batteries. Oh, if only my notebook
batteries had that kind of longevity!
Lets
face it, one of the big appeals of wireless devices
compared to computers is price. Cybiko (http://www.cybiko.com)
at approx. $129 U.S. is the first PDA specifically
created for teens at a truly awesome price point. Its
got wireless chat applications enabling friends to find
and talk to each other, multi-player and single-player
wireless games (games are available for download, free
from Cybiko's site where they add one new game every
day), personal applications (planner, address book,
alarm clock, calendar, journal, organizer, ...) and PC
and Internet connectivity. OK I admit it I want one!
This past summer eHomeRoom (http://www.ehomeroom.com)
announced their school and family Internet calendar
application portfolio would be added to Cybiko.
I
think Cybiko is trying to replicate the wildly
successful adoption of NTT-DoCoMo's "imode" by
young people (and not so young) in Japan. There have
been over 13 million subscribers to imode in the past
year or so with the number of users increasing by about
50,000 every day. Its fascinating to see howteens have
adopted instant messaging with great enthusiasm. In
Japan its imode, in North America its ICQ or MSN
Messenger. For more information on imode check out http://www.eurotechnology.com/imode/faq-gen.html
But
wait a minute what does any of this have to do with
e-learning? Well good question. The number of
applications being built for wireless e-learning is, at
this time, relatively small. Part of the problem seems
to be a lack of ideas on how wireless devices
could/should be used to support learning.
Let
me make some suggestions. At last month's Telelearning
conference in Toronto http://www.telelearn.ca
the following possibilities for wireless e-learning
applications were identified:
-
course schedules
-
just-in-time course & assignment
changes/clarifications
-
social events/announcements
-
on-line quizzes
-
learning games
-
interactive peer help/teaching help systems
-
e-books
-
real-time collaboration among learners
-
real-time on-the-fly research during lecture
I've
been imagining some of the culture changes wireless
e-learning will bring. Take the last suggestion from the
list above. Imagine students being able to browse the
web while listening to a lecture. They'll be able to
search and find background and up-to-date information on
the topic being presented and formulate questions that
will really keep the lecturer on their toes. Or imagine
its final exam time. If students can collaborate in real
time wirelessly are we going to frisk them and make sure
no wireless devices make it into the exam hall?
With
an approximately 80% market share of the handheld PDA
marketplace Palm has a large number of e-learning
software applications for both students and teachers
alike http://www.palmcentral.com/3com/education.shtml.
In October Scholastic announced plans to provide
educational content for students and planning tools for
teachers via Palm handheld computers and wireless
service.
For
the high tech worker Global Knowledge has started to
offer "m-learning", mobile learning for your
Palm Pilot. The first offering is Telecommunications
Fundamentals I. I tried out the free demo at:
http://am.globalknowledge.com/promo/mlearn.html
and thought it was really great. I could see myself
learning this way on the Skytrain, waiting in lineups,
... Global Knowledge's m-learning has four learning
modes:
1.
Fact Mode allows the user to browse material in
bite-sized chunks designed for the small screen
interface.
2.
Q&A Mode is a multiple-choice format, with correct
answers and supplementary information available to the
user after each question.
3.
Challenge Mode is similar to Q&A mode, but results
are summarized by category at the end of the test.
4.
Search Mode enables users to "Search" and
"Go" to any information in the course.
The
Global Knowledge m-learning offering was created using
an authoring application from ibrite http://www.ibrite.com.
Microsoft
has been trying to get in on the action for some time by
providing an alternative to the Palm OS. Their first
offering, Windows CE, never really gained any fans but
things might change with their recent release, PocketPC.
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/default.asp
Compaq, HP and Casio are all starting to use it.
Casio
(http://www.casio.com/education)
has wireless e-learning devices and applications.
Particularly intriguing are the calculators, probes and
collecting devices that can be used to gather data as
part of a physics, chemistry or math lesson.
A
competitor to Palm and Casio, Handspring has a variety
of e-learning applications. Check out the Educational
link off this page; http://www.palmgear.com/handspring.
You can get applications for quizzes, grade tracking,
and tools for speeding your learning.
Although
they aren't currently playing in the e-learning market I
feel compelled to mention Canada's Research In Motion http://www.rim.net.
RIM's wireless handhelds have been optimized for e-mail.
The handhelds are designed to remain on and continuously
connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be
discreetly notified as new e-mail arrives. No
dialing-in. No initiating connections. No antennas to
raise. At this time Rim's devices have limited web
access and surfing capability but its a natural
extension.
By
now you've probably all heard about e-books. Rocket-eBook.com
and SoftBook.com are now ebook-Gemstar.com (http://www.ebook-Gemstar.com).
While adoption of e-books by the general public has not
been as fast as hoped, more and more titles are coming
out in e-book format. An interesting new player in the
e-book market is goReader (http://www.goreader.com).
GoReader is specifically targeted to the higher
education market. The basic idea is for students to be
able to purchase textbooks, study guides, trade books,
magazines and newspapers in electronic format and
download them to their goReader. The lightweight
goReader weighs less than five pounds and can hold more
than 150 e-textbooks -- enough for four years worth of
student books. GoReader is going after the $5.5 billion
dollar domestic college and university textbook market.
Its
still very early days for wireless e-learning but if I
had to say where I think the real innovation will come
from is with Personal Area Network's (PAN's) and
Bluetooth http://www.bluetooth.com.
Bluetooth is a new short-range wireless technology being
introduced into electronic devices such as cell phones
and PDA's this year that eliminates the need for cables
between the devices to allow them to communicate.
Let
me leave you with this vision of potential Bluetooth
uses http://www.motorola.com/bluetooth/action/index.html
as a prelude to next years Christmas wish list.
Peace,
and happy holidays
Paul
Stacey is the Director of Corporate Education and
Training at the Technical University of British
Columbia, a long time education professional in the high
tech private sector, and an e-learner.
Contact: Paul
Stacey
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