Smart phones, online learning and the iPhone

As the proud and doting owner of an iPhone for two weeks I can start to think of their potential for use as a learning device. The revoutionary aspect of the iPhone is that it is a work in progress rather than a finished product. Almost the entire face is taken up with a touch-screen and there is only one button. Apart from the usual phone features, it can:

1. record and play through speakers
2. accept text through the screen keyboard,
3. store at least 6 Gb of stuff
4. Play video
5. Take photos
6. Respond to movement in its motion sensor
7. Navigate the internet via wireless or phone

It is a small computer with good battery life and storage, with several input types and a large display (for a hand held). Most interesing, it has the Apps (applications store) where hundreds of eager beavers are writing new applications to be sold via the iTunes store or give away free. This means that it is an increasingly personalised device, with the user adding software as desired. So what does it offer for education?

1. Immediacy: This is really valuable. Take it out of your pocket, onto the web in 30 sec. In a lively environment this is very valuable. Desktop, and laptops to a lesser degree, mean that you go to them rather than the other way around. Voice recording and photographs, for example, are more on-hand and therefore productive and relevant.

2. Instant storage: By this I mean instantly available storage. The computer ought to supplement face to face discussion rather than replace it. This little computer allows one ot call up images, text, audio as required. It also can be a means of storing personal files between home school and where-ever.

3. Integration: Integration of phone, and all the other functions, combined with portability  makes this a unique computer. Text, images, voice, audio, video in your pocket. It is a good ebook reader.

4. Apps that have not been invented yet: This is speculation, but it is likely that there will be a huge range of applications of educational value, like simulations, built for the iPhone and similar devices. These can combine built in applications with acces to web data.

5. Motion sensor: This is a big unknown. So far it is displayed in a few very appealing games but has all sorts of potential in a new range of applications. Express yourself my movement?

The major disadvantage of smart phones is a by-product of their portability and instant access: they are really small and so do not offer the full keyboard and visual experience. But just as we drink from portable utensils and also from high quality porcelain, we will work out what is appropriate to each situation.

Tags: iphone online learning
Posted at 02:40PM Jul 30, 2008 by John Travers  | 

Self regulated personalised learning... and climate debate

This entry has two separate motivations: one is to explore a modest example of SRPL (see the title) involging me, and the other is to beat the drum about evidence for climate change.

I have recently been taken-aback a little by some loud climate change skeptics saying that temperatures have actually been falling since 1998, so there! As you can see on the section of the full graph to the right, the top blue dot is 1998, and since then, the temperatures have all been less. On hearing the claim  fell back on my trust in the scientists argument but felt a bit uneasy because the failure of people to reply to the claim in a discussion made me wonder. But today I thought I would try to learn whether there is validity to this or not. So a bit of self regulated personalised learning began. I declare a bias: it set out hoping to find the claim was invalid.

I went to the Wikipedia and looked up the International Climate Change Panel entry, and from there found an entry on Golobal Temperature. The graph is from the University of East Anglia Climate Reserach Centre, with links galore and I am confident that it is a credible source.

Now, here is the graph of temperature change for the last 100 years.

The full graph paints a quite different picture. It is obvious that temperatures shot up in 1998 then down sharply for two years, then up for the next six all of which are higher than 1997. The trend is clearly upwards. Clearly, 1998 is an anomaly. And just look at the trend for the last century! I have learnt something. But, did you notice what the graph is measuring? Not temperature, but temperature "anomaly". But I think that amounts to much the same thing for this argument.

Thinking through a learning process like this, and being able to justify one's conclusions is what SRPL is all about, I think. Seems like a very good activity for learners of all ages.

Tags: online learning iclass
Posted at 01:30PM Jul 30, 2008 by John Travers  |