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http:// www.nki.no Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning The European Consortium for the learning Organisation, ECLO – 15 th International conference ‘Never Stop Asking – The Age of Life Long Learning’, Budapest, May 15 th -16 th 2008 Aleksander Dye & Torstein Rekkedal NKI Distance Education/Norwegian School of Information Technology Norway
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Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Aug 23, 2014

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Presentation at theThe European Consortium for the learning Organisation, ECLO – 15th International conference
‘Never Stop Asking – The Age of Life Long Learning’, Budapest, May 15th-16th 2008
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Page 1: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

http://ww

w.nki.no

Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

The European Consortium for the learning Organisation, ECLO – 15th International conference‘Never Stop Asking – The Age of Life Long Learning’, Budapest, May 15th-16th 2008

Aleksander Dye & Torstein RekkedalNKI Distance Education/Norwegian School of Information TechnologyNorway

Page 2: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

M-learning for PDAs: Overview

Builds on 4 EU-projects from 2001-2008

1. From e-learning to m-learning (2000-2003)

2. Mobile learning – the next generation of learning (2003-2005)

3. Incorporating mobile learning into mainstream education (2005-2007)

4. The role of mobile learning in European education (2006-2008)

Page 3: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

The Context – NKI Distance education

NKI Internet College – online distance education:

Online distance education since 1987 (100,000 enrolments) One of Europe’s larges providers of online distance education Wide variety of courses from secondary to master level Over 450 courses online 9000 online students in over 35 countries Free starting time and individual progressions schedules

Page 4: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

SESAM Scalable Educational System for Administration and management In-house evolutionary developed LMS for online distance education including universal accessibility and mobile learning

Page 5: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Important aims of the m-learning projects

Extend distribution of learning materials and communication to lighter equipment

Increase the flexibility of distance education Refining the environment to meet the needs to the ‘mobile

learner’ Increase the level of ‘universal accessibility’

Page 6: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Flexibility in distance education Models of teaching and learning Distance Education:

Individualised Flexible Teaching

or Teaching in ’The

Extended Classroom’

Page 7: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

NKI basic philosophies concerning distance learning

Student autonomy and flexibility “NKI Distance Education aims to offer distance education solutions

that make the students attain their learning objectives through optimum individual flexibility where the students shall represent resources for each other without being dependent on each other.”

Views of knowledge and learning The result of learning is a change in the student’s perceptions Learning is a qualitative change in understanding Learning is an active process Learning is a socially supported individual process

Social software Student presentations Student lists with information Software solutions for inviting and accepting partners and establish

connections

Page 8: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Designing and trying out the Environment for Mobile Learners - First project

Studying online and offline

Technology: Content and communication:Pocket PC/PDA Learning content to be downloadedMobile phone Online access to forums for reading/writing Portable keyboard E-mail communication with attachments

Technical solution:

Page 9: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Students’ and tutor’s use of technology when mobile - first project

When mobile the students must be able to:

Study the course materials Make notes Write assignments Access Forum to read Access Forum to submit contributions Send e-mail to fellow students Receive e-mail from fellow students Submit assignments by e-mail including attachments Receive assignments corrected and commented on by the tutor

Page 10: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Results and conclusions - first project The participant’s study situation

Students and tutors working with the course at home, at the office and on travel Increasing/restore flexibility Main advantage of mobile learning according to students Downloading and synchronizing learning content

Technology: Broadband, LAN, modem, ISDN and mobile – few problems Reading and studying on the PDA:

E-book version preferred before HTML Contribution to Forum via PDA and mobile phone:

Direct access to Forum, preprepared message, fast connection Assignment for submission via mobile technology: Few problems, acceptable costs Institutional challenges: Systems development to cater for both mobile and not mobile learners

Page 11: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Designing and Testing an Always – Online Environment for Mobile Learners – 2nd project

Basic assumptions for developments Continue research on m-learning with PDA Develop generic solutions independent on user-end devices Cost-effectiveness - Same course for mobile and not-mobile students Online access to course materials - “Always online environment” Graphical materials and multi-media should be included Trying out the environment for ‘the assumed reality of future mobile

learners’ who are always online via wireless networks at affordable and acceptable costs

Page 12: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

First year developments – 2nd project Development of first year in additional version Texts and graphics specifically developed for small screens Text perfectly adapted to the screen of the PDA Multi-media elements readable but not satisfactory

Screenshots from the PDA of multi-media multiple-choicequestion and “drag and drop” assignment.

Screenshots from PC from of PDA version.

Page 13: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Second year: Developing the mLMS

Aspects of an always-online solution that would possibly increase the quality of the services for mobile learners:

High bandwidth gives fast downloading of course content and use of audio, video and advanced graphics

Independence of synchronization with desktop PC Access to resources on the Internet at all times Easy access to e-mail at all times Possibilities for online assessment and assignments Options for easier co-operation with fellow students Possibilities for synchronous communication, chat and IP telephony ADSL or free access to WLAN give control over costs

Page 14: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

mLMS - System requirements

Overall framework needs Support mobile and traditional clients OK Present content device dependent OK Comfortable learning environment OK

Course content Store course content OK Easy navigation OK Zoom function for illustrations/pictures OK

Page 15: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

mLMS - System requirements

Access to courseware Access to resources OK Access to course planning tools Possibility for submitting assignments OK- Possibility for tutors to comment and return assignments OK- Access to class list and personal information OK Possibilities for multiple choice and other types of exercises OK Text to speech possibilities OK Support text, graphics, audio and video OK- Provide immediate feedback on exercises OK Searchable course content OK-

Page 16: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

mLMS - System requirements

Communication Online synchronous communication - chat etc. OK Online asynchronous communication - e-mail OK SMS service between tutors and students MMS service SMS from the system for reminders and information etc. Access for writing and reading in course forums OK Access to lists with tutor and student information OK Message board OK Announcements OK

Page 17: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

mLMS - System requirements

Administration of usersNot a part of the end user system for the mobile student or tutor Possibility to register for exams Access to student records OK Student tracking OK

Other Possibilities for enrolling Export features for offline course access Changing personal settings and information OK Access to FAQ OK Access to contact information OK Access to general study information - exams handbooks, regulations etc. OK Access to sitemap OK Area for uploading and storing personal files Possibilities for printing from the device OK- Access to technical support services OK

Page 18: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Example: Course forum

Screen shot from the discussions forum using an ordinary browser

Screen shot from the discussions forum on the PDA

Page 19: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Trial and testing

The following features were tested Logging in and navigation on the NKI Internet College personal page Navigating in the course Reading text materials Submissions of assignments Multi-media (Sound, Video, Multiple-choice questions, Drag and drop exercises,

Graphics, Synthetic speech, Talking pages) Reading in the course Forum Writing messages to the Forum Synchronous communication (chat and IP telephony)

Page 20: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Conclusions after 2nd project Research on mobile learning in connection with the two EU Leonardo

projects has resulted in better solutions for serving distance online learners in general

Cost efficiency considerations do not allow for developing parallel versions of courses

Courses must be developed, presented and distributed in ways that allow both mobile and not mobile learners to participate in the same course

Course materials can be accessed both by standard and mobile technology with acceptable quality of all content elements

Interaction with course content and multi-media materials and communication with tutors and fellow students function adequately both through standard and mobile technology

There are difficulties in presenting graphical materials on small screens Test students found equipment easy to use – test persons with technical

background less enthusiastic Mobile learning increases access and flexibility and possibilities for

cooperation

Page 21: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

SMS message containing practical information on ‘how-to’ log on to the NKI Internet College with username, password, etc. sent to new students whom we for some reason were not able to reach by e-mail, including a link to the course called ‘Learning to learn’ (introductory course in all online programmes) describing how to study and what to expect as an online student at NKI. This was designed and developed as a lightweight WAP version of the original course.

SMS message to get in touch with students who were registered with invalid e-mail addresses

SMS message for reminding students to register for exams

SMS message to students having lost their password for logging on

SMS message informing that assignments had been commented on by the teacher

SMS message on exam results

SMS messages from students to order prospectus

One tutor sent SMS welcome message to students whose e-mail welcome generated error message

SMS services tried out in the project

Page 22: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Results and conclusions – SMS services

In the project the SMS message system was handled manually The system seemed to function well, e.g. concerning students with invalid

e-mail addresses, resulted in 70 percent of the students who received the SMS messages corrected their e-mail address

SMS services involve some extra costs - these costs may seem marginal relative to the increased level of service

There are numerous possibilities for the use of SMS/MMS services that could be suitable for supporting online distance learners

Advanced support systems for following up both students and tutors have been developed and should be integrated into the mobile learning context

Page 23: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

The role of mobile learning in European education – 4th project

Survey on status and trends of mobile learning internationally and in Europe

Continued developments of mobile learning services in the NKI LMS and distance learning systems – developments hindered by changing the technological platform of SESAM

Survey on NKI online students access to mobile technology and attitudes towards use of mobile phones in their studies

Page 24: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Results from the student surveyTechnology and access

Mobile phone with access to web pages

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Yes No

Using the phone to access web pages

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Yes No

Knowledge of possibility of accessing NKI course pages from the mobile phone

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Yes No

Read literature and study guides on the mobile phone

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Yes Don’t know No

Per

cent

age

Page 25: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Results from the student surveyViews on SMS Services

Incorrect m ail address

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Verypositive

Positive Neutral Negative Verynegative

Perc

ent

Follow up

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Verypositive

Positive Neutral Negative Verynegative

Perc

ent

Tim e and place for exam s

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Verypositive

Positive Neutral Negative Verynegative

Perc

ent

Exam res ults

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Verypositive

Positive Neutral Negative Verynegative

Perc

ent

Page 26: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Results from the student surveyUsing the mobile phone in online study

Usefulness of mobile access to course pages

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Yes Don’t know No

Per

cent

age

Plan studies, submit assignments or update personal data from the mobile phone

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Yes Don’t know No

Per

cent

age

Read forum contributions from the mobile phone

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Yes Don’t know No

Per

cent

age

Write forum contributions from the mobile phone

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Yes Don’t know No

Per

cent

age

Page 27: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Mobile learning at NKI – discussions and conclusions

Developments and research on mobile learning have resulted in betters solutions for NKI online learners in general

Cost efficiency considerations do not allow for developing parallel versions of courses

M-learning solutions must allow both mobile and not mobile learners to participate and enrol in the same course

M-learning solutions must allow course materials to be assessed both by standard and mobile technology with acceptable quality of all content elements

Interaction with course content and multi-media materials and communication with tutors and fellow students must function adequately both through standard and mobile technology

Page 28: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Mobile learning – discussions and conclusions

It is still a question of what the ‘ideal’ device and solution for mobile learning really is. Probably is the answer a result of the learner’s individual preferences. That is why NKI has found it extremely important to experiment with different solutions that have inspired developments towards finding course design and systems solutions that may serve the needs of the learner independent of the technology used by the students.

A main aim in the mobile learning projects has been to extend and enhance (or restore) the flexibility of distance education, that to some extent took a step backwards when converting from paper based to online learning, which created a situation where students largely were required to study at a place (and at a time) where a computer with access to the Internet was available. The research on mobile learning and developing new services to students on the move have been an important step in the right direction.

Page 29: Enhancing the flexibility of distance education through mobile learning

Thank you!

NKI Internet College:http://nettskolen.nki.no/

Torstein Rekkedal home page: http://home.nettskolen.nki.no/~torstein/

Aleksander Dye home page: http://www.dye.no/