Innovations for mLearning: Hammer vs. Lego (part 3 of 4)

Guest post by: David Kruis

Shawn asked me to guest post this week, and as Director of Mobile Strategy at Desire2Learn, he suggested I explore some of the innovations in the mobile industry as they apply to education.  Of course it’s hard to not to immediately think about recent announcements by Apple and how they are entering the school textbook market by using iBooks, iPad apps, and desktop tools to help streamline the creation and delivery of textbooks.  While Apple is not the first ‘etextbook’ solution on the market (Kno.com, Inkling.com, CourseSmart.com, etc), they certainly generate plenty of marketplace buzz, and know how to bring technology to the masses. 

Willy Wonka an Original Innovator?

In last week’spost, we talked about who inspires you to reach for the stars, encourages you to challenge conventional thinking and pushes you to attempting something daring?

Recently, I’ve introduced my six year old to the 1971 classic movie, Charlie and the Chocolate  Factory.  (From Wikipedia..)The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The factory is full of strange and fantastical rooms, including a chocolate-mixing room that looks like a huge garden, where everything is made of candy and there is a chocolate lake in the middle, a research and development room with dozens of complex machines designing new forms of candy, a nut-sorting room with an army of trained squirrels that sort the good nuts from the bad, and a TV studio-like room with a giant "Wonkavision" camera, which can teleport giant bars of chocolate into people's homes through their television. The factory is staffed by small, pygmy-like men called Oompa-Loompas.

Innovation for Dummies?

Over the past weeks I’ve been eagerly anticipating the post-holiday season to indulge in “new music” releases.  As an amateur musician, I appreciate when an artist provides an alternative version of their song. A quick search on YouTube and presto I have an acoustic version of a favorite song that I can enjoy on my iPhone or Blackberry. (we're Bilingual in Canada)  Nothing compares to the capturing the raw essence of a live acoustic performance.  It is honest, organic and innovative (unique from the original)

Speaking of live performances, have you ever been to a concert that was lame? Did they just mail it in? Was it a recycle of their old hits? With all respect to Sammy Hagar the 2004 w/ Van Halen tour was dismal.  Blame it on poor health, band tension, greedy ticket sales or pitching recycled hits – still lame from the seventh row. However, I am awaiting the new album on Feb 7^th – A Different Kind of Truth =-)

mLearning -Students push Admin to do more with mobile

I never understood all the excitement regarding end of year Boxing blow out sales. How do those darn advertisers create so much pent up demand having us wait all season to spend – spend – SPEND? Do people actually stand in line overnight to secure the best possible deal? Is this kinda like the 80’s when you set up camp outside of your local Ticketron (now Ticketmaster) outlet hoping to secure front row tickets to your favourite band? 
I’m still bitter …..for me, it was John Cougar Mellencamp -The Scarecrow Tour 1986. I waited in line for 22hrs for great seats – the outcome, last row nosebleeds @ the Gardens. Now with technology – I can beat the box office – there is a mobile app and connection for that! (U2360 Front Row – best live show ever)

Information overload?

Jerseyville, Ontario 1979. Celebrating a New Year’s Eve bash with 20+ (cousins) counting down America’s Top 40. Between belting our best “M” song impersonation to sliding across the floor doing our best John Travolta – we were fearless.

I grew up listening to AM radio. My small transistor radio could pick up two local stations in Hamilton (CKOC and CFTR) The 70’s provided a wide range of music which led me to cross over to the FM dial to more grass roots music with Q107 and CFNY (80’s). I still remember my first record player – I could play the DJ and spin my own 45’s (over and over and over again) then moved up to the alternative LP’s on upgraded Hi Fi system. The last 20 years (90’s and 00’s) have been transformed by pioneers who provided a vision for how we consume and distribute music.

From a technology perspective; we’ve come a long way from punch cards, the first microprocessor, ARPANET (Internet) and the first personal computer (Wikipedia’s timeline of computing)

Fast forward to 2011, a great deal has changed:

1)      The new desktop is a device that fits in your pocket

2)      Technology is social and highly interactive

3)      The explosion of information is overwhelming

According to the KISS Marketing blog: people see more than 34 billion bits of information per day – an equivalent of 2 books a day online.  In-Stat expects mobile application downloads to reach nearly 48 billion in 2015.

How should we address information overload in 2012?

Are we effectively harnessing the potential of mobile to transform the class room experience?

Who should pay for mLearning? Student, Institution or both?

Happy NY!

Shawn

mLearning is set to become a $9.1 billion industry - what is your game plan?

In our last post we discussed big questions to think about when planning a Campus wide mobile initiative, including:

• Ø      Understanding potential bottlenecks
• Ø      Be diligent in your upfront planning
• Ø      Be aware of scope creep

This week, I’ll socialize the value of the untapped education mobile app community and the potential opportunity this creates to drive incremental revenue.

It is hard to imagine that four years ago there was no app store – no angry birds and no easy way to consume mobile apps on the fly. I cringe to think about the 3 hour plus car drive with my six year old without mobile technology.  

Her world revolves around Phineas & Ferb, Scooby Doo and smart mLearning apps like PBS Kids. Learning can take place anywhere – in the class room, at home and on the go. 

The same mobile device also contains Daddy’s stuff like my honey do list, social media, hobby apps, (guitar tuner / chords) games (WSOP) and TV Shows. (BSB) Add in my productivity apps, calendar, emails X3 accounts (personal, family - work) and workflow apps (expense approval / travel approval) - my device is an essential extension of my life. It is the medium that I use to interact with my friends; (Facebook / Foursquare) track updates (Twitter and LinkedIn) and communicate via SMS / TXT. 

In the case of a College or University student, accessing information relevant to their academic institution at the touch of a button is an expectation. How the content is delivered and managed greatly impacts the student’s experience and interaction with each school. In a recent survey by the University of Colorado Boulder (and other US local Institutions) provides a glimpse into the lives of students using mobile.

Based on this study we should consider 10 guiding principles when developing mobile apps for higher education.

Ø  Keep it simple and straight forward (minimize registration / sign in)

Ø  Students – grew up in digital & internet age (great creative –use media mix – audio and video)

Ø  Students are social (identify news ways to connect to their peers)

Ø  Empower the Student ( crowd sourcing – keep admin accountable – report on facilities via LBS)

Ø  Integrate with Campus systems (SIS, Admissions, Bookstore, Varsity and Library)

Ø  Allow for content submission

Ø  Provide a framework where applications are easily accessible vs. having to discover and find them

Ø  Provide value added services (bus schedule, community news, electronic book store)

Ø  Consider all platforms (Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows)

Ø  Think security and protecting sensitive data

Accordingly to Ambient Insights mobile learning is set to become a US$9.1 billion industry in the next 5 years. This presents a massive opportunity to shape, design and build simple (free) and complex (premium - $) mobile applications for the education market space.  In our world of LMS / eLearning we touch ~ 7 million students @ ~10 % adoption x $1.00 = $700,000. Surprising SMB and independent mobile developers are thriving in this community providing nimble and targeted applications.

Are you considering building mobile applications for the education community?

How are you currently marketing and promoting your applications? Are you seeking additional channels of distribution?

What mobile application or process is needed to transform education?

If mLearning is not on your radar today – it should be!

Happy Holidays

Shawn

Big questions for your next mLearning project

Last week, we discussed the importance of momentum - putting one foot in front of the other to move forward. Sounds pretty easy….except when you are lying flat on the ground in an open field with a large pine tree poking you in the eye. Add a dull hand saw that looks more like a comb then a cutting tool along with a -10 C wind chill and you have the makings for a swell family outing at your local Tree farm. (thumbs up from wife and daughter - mission accomplished)

There are several options to finding the right tree, here are 3 that we've used over the past few seasons:

> buy a pre-lite tree in any assortment of colors (purple, green, white -even pink) from your local department store (most economic $)

> cut your own tree (or buy a pre-cut tree)  - they make this sound romantic but you are also paying a premium for the experience (AKA free cookies and hot chocolate = expect to pay $$)

> purchase a hand-picked tree from the “we’ll cut it for you” Tree farm at a cost that will crash any holiday budget (they know you by first name = big spender $$$)

Think about your upcoming mobility project for your institution much the same way. Before you can begin you need to ask 3 big question upfront:

Who is my target audience and what process can we automate for students, facility and administration  via mobile devices to make their lives easier? (3 typical use cases)

> students want to be social and engage with their friends, faculty, admin and varsity programs

> students want to feel safe and secure in their surroundings with access to resources in the case of a threat

> students would like to integrate with student information systems, library systems and automate enrolment and admissions

Do we have the right resources and subject matter expertise in-house (IT, Admin etc.)  to build, manage and maintain this mobile initiative?

> device selection - what devices will I need to support? (smartphone, tablets, blackberry, IOS and Android)

> what is the skill set to build the mobile application?  (native, web - support for off-line / wireless coverage)

> how will I handle mass adoption, scalability and security?

 Are there advantages to selecting an out of the box solution like Campus Life that can simplify mobile application development?

> how much flexibility can I expect to have?

> what is the time and effort to deploy a mobile solution in this scenario?

> how can I brand and private label the solution?

Jumping into a mobility project with minimal thought or planning is like buying a Christmas Tree in middle of the summer. Pointless, unless you are Santa Claus carrying a shade umbrella that doubles as a portable Christmas Tree.

 

Smart steps:

                    

1. Gather as much feedback from your end users (students, faculty and admin) as possible throughout your initial planning to prioritize use cases and functionality
2. Know your end goals, objectives and success criteria (one application or many complex integrated apps)
3. Investigate build vs. buy options - understand the big picture - Mat Brogie from Mobility CIO has some great insight into this question
4. Understand your strengths and capabilities as you develop, deploy and maintain your mobile application
5. Plan for turbulence and hiccups through-out your project - mobility is no exception
6. Define your time frame (test / pilot / feedback / rollout) and adoption strategy – how will your end users use this daily vs. occasionally
7. Think about  a unique brand experience that defines your community / spirit that your end user audience can own
8. Make it simple and intuitive to use with thought to user interface and design
9. Provide an outlet for students to contribute ideas and a forum to innovate
10. Instill an agile methodology through-out all phases allows for feedback and collaboration  

What are you struggling with when you think about deploying a mobile strategy?

What are some of the political barriers to building a mobile “field of dreams”?

How have you incorporated some of these smart steps in your own mobile deployment?

Big question – do you have a strategy in place to get all your holiday shopping done before December 24^th? (or have you thought about outsourcing this?)

Cheers,

Shawn