Week one complete and a little smarter...

Communication Plan:

I have now spent my first week working full time on my sabbatical. It has been a productive week since it has give me the opportunity to concentrate on how I want to disseminate my research and also some boundaries on what projects I want to focus on. The plan from my original sabbatical proposal has not changed but some of the technology, topics and products has. With the advent of Android (from Google) and the iPhone from Apple, the climate for mobile computing is perfect for identifying how mobile technology will benefit on-line learning.

Deliverables:

mobileDot Blog: I want to use my Blog for weekly summaries of findings. It will focus on major events. I will also reserve the right to include (during the week) anything with major ramifications.

mobileDot Web Site: Most of the action will take place here. Announcement on sabbatical activities, links to mobile tech web pages, links to important articles on industry changes along with project pages that will contain info, applications, research on my key sabbatical projects. A site summary has been added and soon I will be asking others to help me in testing some of the tools and applications I have developed.

mobileDot Google Groups: The groups site is more for after the sabbatical is completed with the hope that I can share my findings with others and they can in turn share via a mobile app for learning community.

Google Tech... I have trying to take advantage of as much Google cloud technology as I can. I am using Google Sites for my mobileDot web site, Google Groups for discussion and collaboration, Google Docs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Google think this experience will benefit me and my students as I return to GCC this spring and the plan to use Google Tools across MCCCD.

Week in Review:

This week I have been researching what others have done in regards to developing mobile content. This is a thin client approach but I believe is an area which has much benefit to students. If we can use their cell phones to disseminate class information, we can improve chances for success. I have looked at xhtml and css as to how they could be standardized for web page delivery. I have created my own templates for syllabi delivery over a small screen along with a emulator to test their effectiveness. I have looked at a variety of cell phone emulators (various hardware emulators along with symbian, .Net, iPhone and Opera software emulations).

One site in particular was outstanding in support of cell phone emulation and mobile design standards. dev.mobi.com is a must for the mobile developer. See my Thin Client (Generation One) for last weeks work and Thin Client (Generation Two) for my work this week.

Visit my site and comment freely...

I couldn't have said it better ... almost

In the morning news....

In this mornings Wall Street Journal - Tech Blog, Ben Worthen did a very good job summarizing what I believe is the direction of mobile application development. There is no clear platform that has won the standards war so Apple (iPhone), Google (Android), RIM (Blackberry) and Microsoft (Smartphone and Mobile PC) will continue to fight it out. Diversity is good and we can expect the technology to only get better. With no common denominator in regards to platform, the most feasible standard is web page access but with the Mobile device taken in consideration in the design (screen size, app speed, etc.). Also as I have posted in a previous blog, wi-fi access in cell phones is still yet to be a cell phone standard but this is a critical piece for higher ed.

The suggestion is that your organization should not adopt a standard too soon and let your workers investigate the options to see what rises to the top (I guess you might say that what this sabbatical is all about), I think is a good one. You could look at cell phone platforms today being a little like the IBM/Microsoft versus Apple discussion that happened when personal computers were first available (actually that battle still goes on today with the addition of the Linux operating system).

I would add an additional concern to higher ed that was not included in the article. The blog was written for the business world. I think cost is an important factor for higher ed. With the cost of classes and books, students will not have the extra money to invest in costly custom software.

My goal is in my sabbatical to locate software and tools that are open source (preferably) and free for academic use. My feeling is that if enough of us in higher ed pool our resources and expertise, we can come up with cost effective solutions that will make our technology more effective in student learning (or at least that is the plan).

Cell Phone Di$play Emulator$

I am doing some work on cell phone display emulators this week. Since I do not have the budget to purchase a cell phone and contract will all of the major cell phone vendors (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Qwest, AT&T, etc.) in the "Valley of the Sun", I want to rely on emulators that will allow me to put a "faux" cell phone on my computer screen that would look roughly the same as a real cell phone. I can then display web page and run web applications and see how they will look and perform on at least a "faux" cell phone emulation. I am looking at several "free" emulators. Some are web based and some, like MS Device Emulator, are installed on a PC. I have also created my own emulator page which is still a work in progress but can be accessed if you click here.

There are more resources on my sabbatical web site at http://sites.google.com/site/mobiledotsite/Home

Wi-Fi makes progress on Cell Phones

Perhaps the technology with the most potential for the classroom is cell phones with built in wi-fi. This presents the best of many worlds. Most campuses have wi-fi support already so the infra structure is in place at no cost to the student or faculty. In addition, the Internet standard of contetn delivery represents a known commodity for faculty to publish content. With some estimates of 94% of students owning cell phones, if they also contain wi-fi support that means 94% of are students walking around with network devices. Read this c/Net article on the status of wi-fi in cell phones (yes, it is almost here).

Cell Phone Features/Standards - A helpful web site

One of the goals of my sabbatical is to attempt to identify if a standard is emerging in cell phones as it pertains to the delivery of academic content (web pages, mp3, video, files, etc). If we are going to bring online mobile content to students, cell phones are truly ubiquitous and they certainly are pervasive and therefore a central point of connectivity to academic materials. Issues like the ability of the cell phone company to allow downloads and the cell phone technology they employ (CDMA versus GSM) is also critical to understanding if an open system standard is emerging and which companies will be following it.

Students at MCCCD need a cost effective solution that will be easy to use and hopefully come without any additional cost. One of my challenges to isolate the features and directions of the cell phone plans in the Phoenix area. Since these features are connected to the marketing and sales of each the fine print is important.

The other part of the equation is the phone itself. Not all phones are created equal so comparing phones in regards to size of display, keyboard and wi-fi access is also an important piece of information.

I was Googling terms this morning and came across a helpful web site to get a snap shot of cell phone provider services and cell phone features. The PhoneDog.com web site http://www.phonedog.com is very helpful in evaluating side by side feature comparisons of providers and phones. The site appears both comprehensive and neutral although it is obviously benefiting from numbers cell phone provider and manufacturer advertising.

Check it out. It could save you some search time.

My Sabbatical Timeline

As August 18 approaches and the official start of my sabbatical, I thought those reading this blog might be interested in what I hope to accomplish (at a minimum). I expect that given the changes that we have seen in the cell phone market regarding applications, much new material will be added and the project will grow.

Stayed tuned… much more to come.

Sabbatical Timeline

• Sabbatical Setup (August 2008)
  
  • Select blog site with RSS support
    
  • Enable web site location
    
  • Plan web site design
    
• Documentation and Findings (August – December 2008)
  
  • Weekly Blog updates
    
  • Weekly Web site updates from Blog and Development
    
• Phase One (August –October 2008)
  
  • Research and Planning
    
    • Survey electronic resources (small screen technology)
      
    • Survey print resources (small screen technology)
      
    • Search for conference workshop opportunities (small screen technology)
      
    • Research mobile style topics with Cascading Style Sheets
      
    • Research Opera small screen rendering support
      
  • Design
    
    • Select best of breed technologies for 5 case studies
      
    • Determine if additional tools need to be developed
      
  • Development
    
    • Create five working examples of small screen technology
      
    • Development of software tools (if necessary)
      
    • Enable examples on Sabbatical Web Site
      
• Phase Two (October – December 2008)
  
  • Research and Planning
    
    • Survey small screen technology futures
      
    • Meet with personal wireless device vendors in Phoenix area
      
    • Search for conference workshop opportunities (small screen technology)
      
  • Design
    
    • Design five future feasible small screen technologies research with vendors
      
    • Describe the design development for web content five years out
      
  • Development
    
    • Create five working examples of future small screen technology
      
    • Document five futures examples on Sabbatical Web Site
      
• Wrap up (December 2008)
  
  • Finalize documentation on Web site
    
  • Setup of web site discussion forum
    
  • Prepare PowerPoint presentation for web site and interested parties
    
  • Sabbatical final report
    

Expected Outcomes

My hope is that the culmination of this sabbatical will create a dialog across the district on how to effectively use personal wireless device technology for teaching and learning. The benefit will be to both students and faculty. Any software tools I can develop will only help adoption and use of personal wireless devices.

Mobile Apps - A new openness

There is an interesting story in today's online New York Times on the effect the iPhone has had on previously reluctant cell phone companies to give users freedom to place non-sponsored apps on their cell phone. The article Aug. 4th by Laura Holson describes the change of heart at Verizon (to name one company) and gives a nice survey of topics and factors that influence the mobile app market.

What is clear is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel but there is also much to still do. The consumer is now putting pressure on their cell phone providers to supply the services seen on the iPhone (and their PC). A good read and a good step for more educational uses of the cell phone in higher ed.