going mobile
TRANSCRIPT
Going Mobile
Julie Usher
The University of Northampton
16th Mar 2012
Drivers
Why mobile?
– Strategic planning and pedagogy
– Marketing
– Demand?
Anticipated challenges (pt 1)
Why not?
“not everyone has a smartphone”
“not everyone can ‘do’ mobile learning”
Challenges or opportunities?
1. Inclusion
– Device provision?
– Wireless campus
– Mi-fi units
Challenges or opportunities?
2. Accessibility
– Choice
– Personalisation
– Control
3. Usability and skills gaps
– Training and support
What are the needs?
Different audiences (students, staff, prospects)
What’s possible?
Choosing a supplier
• ‘Most of the people, most of the time’... Audiences, platforms and the pace of change
• Creating learning opportunities
• Works ‘out of the box’ and customisable
• Cost
Anticipated challenges to openness (pt 2)
Where’s the data?
Creating a ‘one stop shop’
Web team and CIS
Marketing
Library systems
LearnTech
Creating mobile learning opportunities
• Putting Mobile Learn through its paces
– Lots of in-house testing
– Blackboard support resources
– Getting help from external experts
Creating mobile learning opportunities
What’s great about it?
– Checking/adding announcements
– Checking content (slides, docs, pdf, audio and video)
– Discussion boards
– Blogs and journals
– Tasks
Creating mobile learning opportunities
• What still needs work?
– Contacts / Roster and email tools
– Calendar tool
– Text formatting (especially iOS)
– Platform parity
• What would we like to see in the future?
– Push notifications
– Integration with plug-ins
– Assessment and grading
Creating mobile learning opportunities
• Introducing Mobile Learn to staff
– course design considerations
– support resources
– inspiration
Launch & promotion
Welcome weekend (21st and 22nd September 2011)
• Print marketing
– Posters
– Door hangers
– Stands
• Web promotion
– University website
– Blackboard
Is it working? Measuring adoption
2774 unique users of Mobile Learn (32.5% of downloads)
Nearly 20,000 logins to date
Analytics:
1000 downloads of iNorthampton one week after launch
8543 downloads to date
Is it working? Feedback from users
• Twitter (#iNorthampton)• Email• Blog• Spot surveys• Focus groups• Pilots
Get the @UniNorthants app immediately! Dream!!
Get the @UniNorthants app immediately! Dream!!
@UniNorthants has an app!! This is tres exciting! I'm actually having a physical reaction I am that excited. Will make life so much easier!
@UniNorthants has an app!! This is tres exciting! I'm actually having a physical reaction I am that excited. Will make life so much easier!
@UniNorthants now have their own app. Snazzy.
@UniNorthants now have their own app. Snazzy.
Am not tryna gas but thank God for the Northampton app because now I left my timetable at home, I would have been lost.
Am not tryna gas but thank God for the Northampton app because now I left my timetable at home, I would have been lost.
Bloody good idea!Bloody good idea!
Is it still working? 5 months later...
• 85% of students rate Mobile Learn as ‘useful’ / ‘very useful’
• Library, Directory and Timetables score over 70%
• “it enables me to see students work as and when they produce it, even when they are off campus … and this means I can respond and comment instantly.” (Staff)
• “Can access NILE when ever I need to and if I need to check something quickly I can do. Also comes in handy if can’t see properly in lectures as can bring them up on my phone.” (Student)
Top five tips
1. Identify needs (and decide which ones you can meet)
2. Bring together a project team with range of experience
3. Find a provider who can satisfy the immediate need and
provide extensions for the future (SDKs)
4. The app stores are your friends (?)
5. Stay in the loop
Next Steps
– Dissemination and case studies: what could a mobile VLE do for you?
– Feedback and new iterations
– Customisations (SDK)
– Investigating support models
Questions?
Contact details:
Julie Usher
@jules_u
References etc.
Useful links
•More about the iNorthampton project:http://www.northampton.ac.uk/mobile
•Guidelines on accessibility for the mobile web:http://www.w3.org/Mobile/
•TechDis on mobile learning: http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/techdis/investinyourself/freeresources/accessiblemobilelearning
•Traxler, J. (2010) “Students and mobile devices.” ALT-J Research in Learning Technology [online] 18.2, p149-160. Available from: http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/10759 [Accessed 10th February 2012]
•More info on JADU MyAPI (presentation by Steve Martin): http://speakerdeck.com/u/s2martin/p/inorthampton-and-jadu
Image credits
•Photography by Rob Farmer, University of Northampton
•3d characters from http://www.canstockphoto.com/3pod