1. OU VLE Programme Mobile Learner Support Project Faculty Stakeholder session Wed 13 th Dec 2006

2. Session Aims Further define project strands Refine a set of questions for IET to include in a Student Survey Establish the next set of requirements input

3. Project Overview Use cases: Offline and sporadic access Synchronising to desktops Connected, on-the-go

4. Project Overview Project strands – initial scope ‘Offline Moodle’ SMS alerts and interactivity Instant messaging link to MSG Podcasting Course news via RSS m-Assessment eBooks ‘Mobile Learning Environment’

5. 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

6. SMS and Alerts Central announcements Reminders/prompts from: –OU ‘Central’ –Regions –Tutors Enabling peer support via free SMS

7. SMS and Alerts Widespread work in HE sector http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_innovation/eli_melas.aspx http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/telecoms/smstextservice/ http://library.curtin.edu.au/contact/sms.html Possibility of offering more interactive services (c.f. Banking Services ‘USSD’) http://www.firstdirect.com/textmessagebanking/text_message_banking.shtml Could tie in with Calendar synchronisation to mobile devices http://stadium.open.ac.uk/berrill/ http://www.gcalsync.com/

8. SMS and Alerts Student survey How useful would you find: –Notification of start of course –Prompts on deadlines –Prompts during residential schools –Prompts for tutorials & revision workshops –Tips during course –Notification of TMA scoring –Course results

9. Instant Messaging Enabling connected mobile learners to chat via MSG –Mobile phone provider IM –MSN, Yahoo, Jabber Exploring future possibilities of converging electronic communications under ‘Messaging’

10. Instant Messaging Mobile phone service providers providing linkages to established chat services http://mobilecentral.ninemsn.com.au/mcmobilehotmail/demo.aspx Instant Messenger platforms sharing information on ‘telepresence’ and federating services http://www.jabber.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=832

11. Instant Messaging Student Survey Would you find it helpful to be able to –Chat with fellow students who are online from your mobile device –Chat with your friends on-the-go, linking with your existing chat service

12. Podcasting Reusing existing chunked material for new blended learning opportunities Extending availability of audiovisual content on the web to include: –Channels  Series  Episodes Ensuring an intuitive web-based solution to assembly and publication

13. Podcasting Examples of approach –Handcrafted - Open2 http://www.open2.net/society/education/talking_languages_podcast/index.html http://www.open2.net/society/education/talking_languages_podcast/index.html –Blog - T&L http://conclave.open.ac.uk/TaLGuestLecture/ http://conclave.open.ac.uk/TaLGuestLecture/ –Moodle module http://playpen.monte.nsw.edu.au/course/view.php?id=11 http://playpen.monte.nsw.edu.au/course/view.php?id=11 Issues –Creation – Audio Recording Tool –Publication –Access – free/protected/paid-for –Publicity – iTunes  iTunesU  ‘iTunesOU’?

14. Podcasting Student Survey Would you like to be able to –Subscribe to a channel of audiovisual content to be delivered to your mobile player Should each course/programme series of episodes available to you be: –In a single OU channel –Separated by subject area/programme –Separated by course title

15. Course News - RSS RSS – Really Simple Syndication Providing another way for students to elect to receive news updates, prompts – subscribing and viewing on a news feed ‘aggregator’ Allowing for: –Course level news –Programme level news –Personal news from blogs

16. Course News - RSS Examples –BBC / media http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm –Personal blog syndication http://vledemo.open.ac.uk/blog/index.php?filtertype=user&filterselect=94&edit=0 http://vledemo.open.ac.uk/blog/index.php?filtertype=user&filterselect=94&edit=0

17. Course News - RSS Student Survey Would you like to be able to –Subscribe to a feed delivering news updates on your course What kind of information would you like to receive by this method – urgency etc.

18. m-Assessment 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

19. m-Assessment Examples –Flash http://www.teachandlearn.open.ac.uk/secondary/ped/tl/1000005058/id_1000005058_1_3_16.cfm?passthrough=1 –Java http://www.java.com/en/mobile/crackenglish.jsp

20. m-Assessment Student Survey Would you find it helpful to be able to –Complete short exercises and quizzes to aid in your understanding of course material –Interact with multimedia clips on your device

21. eBooks Providing electronic documents with improved readability, annotation and highlighting options Addressing the challenge in producing content for a variety of preferred formats automatically

22. eBooks Current OU provision – PDFs – Adobe Reader ‘Mobile eBooks’: –DEEP: Microsoft Reader, eBook Reader

23. eBooks Student Survey Would you find it helpful to be able to –Annotate and personalise electronic documents for revision purposes –Make use of ‘auto-reader’ and ‘read aloud’ functions

24. Mobile Learning Environment Deciding what students can access from their homepage on various devices Allowing for user-generated content on devices to be uploaded to myStuff

25. Student survey: mobile usage Existing use of mobile tools and methods - please indicate which technologies/features you currently use: PDAs/Handhelds: Pocket PC (legacy) Windows Mobile Palm Linux/other Mobile phones: ‘Standard’ (1  2.5G) Video (3G) ‘Smartphone’ Other: iPods/equivalent Gaming devices Tablet PCs Ultra-mobile PCs Audiovisual (digital): Voice/audio recording Photography Video capture Field work: Expert Systems/Classification Data logging Surveying GPS Internet/mediated: Browsing/researching Networking/sharing Collaborating Quiz/voting Use of Applications - please indicate which tools you currently use: Word processor Spreadsheets Presentation Email Messaging Calendar Task manager Memos/notes File/Document storage Media (AV) player Photo album Audio books Podcasts News reader eBook reader Dictionary GPS Navigation Games Web Browsing: Pocket Internet Explorer Opera Mini/Mobile Blazer (Palm) NetFront Other Flash Lite

26. 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 Contact: Rhodri.Thomas@open.ac.uk – VLE Mobile Learner Support Project LeaderRhodri.Thomas@open.ac.uk