1. OU VLE Programme Mobile Learner Support Project Progress update Tuesday 23 rd Jan 2007

2. ‘MLearn’ Project Overview Use cases – supporting students and ALs: Offline and sporadic / expensive access Synchronising to desktops Connected, on-the-go

3. ‘MLearn’ Project Overview Project strands – refined scope ‘Offline Moodle’ Podcasting, Course News and Alerts Mobile Course Content Social and User Generated Content on-the-move underpinned by a ‘Mobile Learning Environment’ methodology

4. Offline Moodle Parallel activity working with Intel as announced to the Moodle community at MoodleMoot 2006 To benefit offline users in the OU and worldwide where connectivity is unreliable or at a premium Consultation expected, particularly with Students and ALs, from May 2007

5. Podcasting, Course News and Alerts Podcasting – Audio (Video possible), enhancing with transcripts and embedded electronic documents RSS Course News feeds – ensuring these are viewable on mobile readers. Possible aggregation to provide programme-wide updates SMS – central text-based announcements – tie in with Student Services CAMEL enhancement, possible link with Course News Phase I

6. Mobile Course Content Providing electronic documents (eBooks) with improved readability, annotation and highlighting options Addressing the challenge in producing content for a variety of preferred formats automatically Providing short, formative exercises in the form of learning objects for students to try on the move Creating (multimedia/new media) assets that can be used on a variety of platforms Phase II

7. Social and User Generated Content on-the-move Enabling connected mobile learners to ‘chat’ via MSG from mobile phone provider Instant Messaging. Wider links via Jabber to MSN, Yahoo accounts Allowing for students to create their own content and upload to their personal repository, for sharing and collaborative work (possible MMS parsing) Phase II

8. Mobile Learning Environment Deciding what students can access from their homepage on various devices – what will work and what is appropriate Ensuring a device independent approach maximising content that can be viewed on devices

9. Wider consultation 31 st January 2007 @ 2PM-3:30PM - Podcasting, Course News and Alerts 7 th February 2007 @ 2PM-3:30PM - Mobile Course content 14 th February 2007 @ 2PM-3:30PM - Social and User Generated content on-the-move Places limited All sessions held in the HR Learning & Development Centre, Walton Hall Contact: Rhodri.Thomas@open.ac.uk – VLE Mobile Learner Support Project LeaderRhodri.Thomas@open.ac.uk