M-Learning Devices: Performance to Go

By Clark N. Quinn

The very first thing you should know about mobile learning is that it’s not all about technology. Seriously. There are very cool devices out there, and I’ve lusted after many of them. I‘ve even spent my hard-earned dollars for some of them. (I’m a late adopter; I won’t spend a cent until I know the value I’ll get from it.) But it’s not about the devices, it’s about the capabilities. That said, the easy way to get to the capabilities is to talk about some devices, and then abstract from them.

Prototypical devices

Cell phones are the prototypical mobile device. They’re portable, they have audio input and output, and a keypad, and some sort of screen. They may have many other things too, bridging the gap between the phone and other sorts of devices. And, of course, they have connectivity through the wireless phone system. As a note, while common parlance calls these phones cell phones, and occasionally I may use that term, more properly they’re mobile phones, as the cellular technology used in the earliest versions is not really relevant.

Another relatively ubiquitous device, or at least one that many folks understand, is the media player. The most commonly known one is Apple’s iPod and it’s more generic cousin, the MP3 player. They have audio or video output, some form of control, such as the clickwheel, and typically a screen. They generally don’t have regular connectivity, but instead are synchronized (synched) with a computer in which the user gathers or specifies the information to be loaded. Spoken audio is often referred to (from the iPod) as a podcast, while captured video can be a vidcast or vodcast.

An unusual offshoot is the GPS (Global Positioning System) system. Originally for tracking one’s location and providing navigation directions, increasingly these devices are coupled with other systems and can identify addresses, assist with traffic, and provide information on nearby accommodations, restaurants and so forth. Greater integration enables them to serve as mobile phone ‘hands free’ units in cars. They also are starting to include media players, contacts, and other capabilities.

Another ‘out of the box’ device is the game system. There are few, but they’re increasingly capable. From Nintendo’s GameBoy, through Sony’s PSP, to Nintendo’s DS, gaming devices have added or made available wireless capability, media playing capabilities, internet browsing and more. While they’re a bit hard to program, they have great media and interaction. The PSP, in particular, supports the internet as well as a variety of media and is a more open system, providing potential adaptability to learning needs. Nintendo is more proprietary, though it has added a web browser, but has available a personal learning support game, BrainAge which purportedly increases your thinking ability!

Then there’s the standard Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), such as Palm, which typically has a touch-sensitive screen—though they can have a keyboard. They have Personal Information Management (PIM) software capabilities like calendars, ToDo lists, memos, and address books. Some of them are expandable with various types of third-party software; some need to be synched, while others can connect to a wireless network.

At the other end of the spectrum is the traditional laptop. Many people tend to ignore laptops as a mobile device. But they can hold data even when disconnected from the network, and increasingly they can be connected in a variety of ways. You can have one at the park and be taking an e-learning course, or with you to a job site and access relevant data, either on the hard drive or online. They have keyboards and screens, and can have audio and cameras. More important, they can be quite small and light. The distinction between laptop and PDA is diminishing. That said, the subsequent discussion will largely discuss mobile devices not including the laptop. Implicitly, many of the things said will also apply to the laptop, but so also does pretty much everything true of a desktop when a laptop is wirelessly connected.

From here, the picture gets more complicated, as there are many combinations of these capabilities, and others. There are watch versions of PDAs, there are additions of cameras both still and video, availability of full keyboards, and more. That’s not including the data capabilities and communication capabilities. Consider a prototypical smartphone: the Treo. It’s a phone, with a camera and PDA built in. It also has networking, and can connect to the Internet for email and web browsing through the phone connection, as well as synch to your computer.

However, before we can start to review the possible learning applications, we’ve got to find a way to step above the individual devices and think about them in a more generic way.

The Mobile Heart

What do these devices have in common? In short, they’re processors in a lightweight and small housing with connection, input and output, sensors, software, and data storage. That is, they’re basically portable computers with interesting ways of being talked to by people and other computers. So let’s explore the ways we can talk to them and them to us, and the ways they can connect.

Input/output

In human-computer interaction, we talk about input and output—I/O. At issue are the ways for us to input information to the device, and the ways the device can provide output to us. What are our input and output devices?

Another way to think about it is what sensory channels are being used? Our usual channels are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.

As mentioned, most devices have screens. For those that do not, your only feedback is what you hear or feel. Some devices have speakers (or headphone jacks). Most have switches, buttons, keyboards, keypads, or five-way navigator or touchscreens. Some even have motion sensors, and some devices have pretty much all of the above.

Note that the most variety is in the kinesthetic input to the system. These simple distinctions can get more complex, though. For example, a touchscreen is context-sensitive, so what your touch means can differ based on what is on the screen. For that matter, different buttons can mean different things based on what is displayed on an adjacent screen. Coming soon may be keys that change what they say on them depending on the context.

However, it’s useful to think about being able to deliver sounds or images and having users being able to interact with the system in order to distinguish between options or choices. There is a multitude of ways to do it, but it is basically about information coming in and the user’s options about what information they want next.

Connection

Another technical issue that distinguishes between devices is how they’re connected. One of the issues is whether they’re fully connected or only intermittently. If they’re not fully connected, you may have issues determining what must be available at all times and what is required on an as-needed basis. The primary connection is wired, in which the device is connected via a cable to a laptop or desktop and synchronized (synched) so that the specified information is loaded.

Devices also can be connected wirelessly, using signals to communicate. While the distances can vary across the continuum, three major categories have become familiar:

§       Personal Area Networks, range from 1 – 30 feet

§       Local Area Networks, range as far as 200 feet

§       Wide Area Networks, range almost anywhere.

There are tradeoffs between the various technologies. Some require a fair bit of power, a direct line-of-sight, have little bandwidth, can be interfered with, or have licensing fees attached. Also, some have managed to garner more support than others, or may be a general standard versus proprietary. There’s no one solution; different situations will require different approaches. There are plenty of technical details, but the issue here is just to get you familiar with some of the names and the categories they fit in.

Personal-Area Networks

While it’s got the lowest range, PAN can provide the most detailed location data (though there are other ways to accomplish this). The next level up, Local Area networks, are dominated by what is colloquially known as WiFi, and technically are based on the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Local-Area Networks

There are several standards to WiFi, so they started with b—with a reasonable bandwidth. The current standard is g, which has almost five times as much bandwidth. Currently, n is beginning to show up, which is approximately four to five times faster than g. The code 802.11 is the ‘wireless’ Internet system that can be used in your house, powers the hotspots you find at coffee shops, hotels, and airports, and even the entire downtown sections of certain cities.

Wide-Area Networks

Both GSM and CDMA are mobile phone technologies, and both also handle data. They have various technologies that continually push the bandwidth available for data, with various acronyms (such as EDGE and EVDO). The important thing to note is that they’re available anywhere there is mobile phone service. The available bandwidth will vary depending on carrier and location, however, the downtown areas of major metropolitan areas are most likely to have the highest data capability—just as they’re most likely to have a good signal. The WiMax approach doesn’t piggyback on voice technologies. Instead it relies on Internet, but is capable of Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIP).

Wireless Data Standards

A few more acronyms you should know about include WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), WML (Wireless Markup Language, SMS (Simple Messaging Service, or text-messaging), and MMS (Multimedia Messaging System, or picture mail). The latter two, in particular, have a role in mobile learning.

WAP is a format that allows the creation of a web browser on a mobile device. It’s a lightweight way of bringing in internet data into a readable form. WML was designed to accompany WAP, and provides a stripped-down form of XML suitable for mobile devices. As devices get more powerful browsers, these standards are being largely bypassed. Neither WAP nor WML is a top level issue, but it’s worth knowing the terms.

SMS, or text-messaging, is a way to send a limited number of characters of text (140 or 160), a very brief message, to another phone or to an email address. This may sound limiting, but SMS is being greatly used in the United States and many countries worldwide. More messages are sent per day than there are people in the world, according to the Did You Know 2.0 video. Most phone providers make messaging a low cost option, and younger generations in particular have taken to this new medium.

In addition to interpersonal information, services can provide broadcasts of messages to lists of phone numbers, providing a way to deliver up-to-date, up-to-the-minute information, such as emergency information. The messaging capability has led to new services, so mobile social networking sites like Twitter use this capability for people to post and track what they and their peers are doing.

MMS is a way to send not only text, but also media such as audio, images, and video from mobile devices (specifically, phones) in some way other than email (though some may support that as well). Widely used in Europe, it’s not as prevalent in the United States. In the future, being able to send a media file to share with other individuals may be a powerful support for collaboration.

Sensors

Mobile devices increasingly have some awareness of the world around them—or they have the potential to do so. They can see, feel, or even have a sense of place, as well as some more unique and idiosyncratic senses.

§       Microphone. One of the ways devices can detect the world is by microphone. Phones, obviously, collect data to broadcast to another, or even to store as voice memos. Sound could be used in more interesting ways as well, though little has been done about this to date.

§       Camera. One of the most common forms of sensor increasingly is the camera. Devices can take pictures and video, and make it available for sharing through email or MMS. By the time you read this, new devices may actually incorporate two cameras, one for the front and one for the back. This enables not only picture taking, but viewing the screen while sharing your own image, for video conferencing on the go. Cameras open up a new data communication method: Quick Response codes, which are special tags that camera- and software-equipped devices can read unambiguously and are optimized for quick delivery. So, for instance, a site can have a tag that if scanned, could provide relevant information about a particular place. They can support a URL, text, or a phone number.

§       GPS. Another form of context-sensitive delivery can be accomplished through devices possessing a Global Positioning System. GPS triangulates location through a series of satellites above the earth, allowing precise location (within meters) when there is a reasonable line of sight to the sky. While triangulation between cell phone towers also can yield location, GPS is more precise. If location is important, you want either a PAN telling you where you are if it’s specific locations, or GPS if tracking things anywhere is important.

§       Motion. Motion sensors can tell how a device is being held or moved. Although motion sensors are currently being seen primarily in game platforms (such as Wii), there are new opportunities for ways to communicate to and through this sort of device.

The technology ‘take home’

The point is to have a handle of the high-level capabilities: a device that can interactively deliver information wherever the user happens to be. There may be details about which connection method, what form of input and output, and how portable and how fast it can access and gain data, but the real issue is how we use that capability to provide learning.