Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

Hi Saku

Take a look also at
www.streetaccess.co.uk/SA/pages/schools.html
We provide a tool that allows teachers to create their own, interactive activities on mobiles.

John

You can find some examples of what is being done with StreetAccess i-Guide software at www.streetaccess.co.uk/sa.html. No log-in is required to look at these - simply click preview.
i-Guide is a tool that allows teachers to create their own interactive content for any device with an html browser - smartphones, wireless PDAs, Sony PSPs, for example. The content is not device specific. We also work with museum and gallery education staff, hence the numerous museum education tours there. If you are interested I can point you in the direction of other materials created by schools. Probably best to do this offline since these are not made publicly available, though I'm sure the schools in question would welcome publicity if asked.

John

Thanks Graham
We at StreetAccess will be there on stand SW67, demonstrating how teachers can use i-Guide to create their own interactive materials for wireless handhelds, smartphones and more. You'll be able to create materials and view them instantly on a number of devices - including various phones, Sony PSP, and maybe an EDA if Graham can rustle one up for us. Free Quality Street (or similar! while stocks last!) for all Handheld Forum members and friends. Check out our website.

You're right, I am talking about smartphones primarily, by which I mean devices with a recognised browser such as Pocket IE or Opera, and equally importantly a touch screen or other easy means of data entry, since our materials are interactive.

Originally we used Wifi almost exclusively, but more recently the desire for ubiquitous access has meant that all our recent customers are more interested in phones with 3g or HSDPA access as well as wifi. In schools this almost invariably means the school will purchase the devices, and issue them to students, and the school will pay for the access. The cost of this is coming down dramatically and we've seen some amazing deals done lately.

Quite apart from the cost, the problem with trying to create materials for existing mobile phones (and here I should add that I'm not remotely technical and may not know what I'm talking about) is that there are dozens of different operating systems and browsers, and no guarantee that what works on one phone will work on another. Certainly games developers for mobiles have to produce scores of different versions.

"My idea is to try and see if teachers and lecturers whose primary interest is not the technology can develop content for the mobile phone."

Sorry to be commercial on the Forum, but we produce tools that allow teachers to do exactly that, with a minimum of technological know-how. I don't know if you saw Jonny Davey's presentation at Handheld Learning 'Accessing a lesson on your Smartphone'. but his materials are created using i-Guide. The materials produced are web-based, accessible on any device with a browser and internet connection, and record student responses in the form of text, multiple choice, tables, whatever. Students can also upload photos or recordings they make on their devices alongside their responses, and later retrieve them at home or school. More details at http://www.streetaccess.co.uk/SA/pages/schools.html.

Dear Midge

At the risk of blowing my own (commercial) trumpet, i-Guide provides tools that allow teachers to create truly interactive content on any handheld device with an internet connection and browser.

Teachers create materials to which students can respond with text, multiple choice, data entry etc. Student responses are recorded as they work, and can be accessed by the students or their teacher from any computer with an internet connection (at school or home), from where they can be copied to integrate into other work.

See http://www.streetaccess.co.uk/SA/pages/schools.html to find out more

Sounds great. Is the original research behind this story available anywhere?

Hi Umar

Another commercial post I'm afraid. My company offers a service that allows you to create your own online, interactive materials to be accessed on PDAs. It's web-based, so available to any device with a browser. Students enter their responses, which are recorded, and they or their teachers can review the results later from any internet-connected computer. Check it out at http://www.streetaccess.co.uk/SA/pages/schools.html.

Good luck!

John

Not sure if this is exactly what you mean, but our software allows you to create your own interactive online content which, assuming you have wireless for the PDAs and an internet connection for the interactive whiteboard, would allow you to demonstrate your material on-screen while the students access the same (or related) material on their PDAs. It doesn't have voting, but student responses (multiple choice, text entry or whatever) are recorded and stored online where you or the students can access them later.
Sadly, it's not free 

www.i-Guide.org/SA/pages/schools.html

We've been experimenting with a PSP in conjunction with our online lessons and it works beautifully. Great value of course; fast, reliable wireless; and display and sound are far better than any standard PDA. The browser appears to handle everything more elegantly than Pocket IE too.
Excellent for multiple choice questions. The only real problem is that text entry is cumbersome and the screen is not touch sensitive (so no handwriting recognition or features of that sort).
Take a look here: http://www.bardaglea.org.uk/testbed/tb-media-images-result.cfm?id_upload=390&PageNum_get_all_images=2&id_subject=16#top

It took me some time to work out where on the site these presentations were. Since there's still a link to Handheld Learning 2005 on the Home page, could you add a link from there? That's the first place I looked.

Does anyone have any experience of charging devices, carts, cases or whatever, that can charge a classroom set simultaneously, without taking up every socket in the house? I have come across a couple of US maufacturers (www.tribeam.com and www.mobl.com) but none in the UK. Anyone have any experience of these.

And would a home-made one be as easy as I imagine (take all the cradles, stick them inside a case, twist the wires together and attach a single transformer?). Anyone tried this?

I hope I'm not being too commercial for your forum (Graham said you wouldn't mind! ) if I put in a plug here for my company. It seems relevant to the posting, and indeed to the forum in general.

We produce software that allows teachers easily to create interactive learning materials for wireless handlhelds, and maintain a website where these lessons are hosted, and student responses stored: the materials (and the responses) can also be accessed from home, or anywhere, on any device with a browser.

We'll be at the Handheld Forum in October, or check out our website www.i-Guide.org.