It really works!!

I thought it only appropriate the the ending blog post of 2008 have a picture of a web page created in MLEX.  I wanted to show the page on my unSmartPhone which is very much a garden variety Motorola mobile that a student might have (actually they have better phones).  As you can see with a $15 unlimited Internet fee to Verizon, I can browse the Internet and see my page (with text and graphics) quite easily. I guess it works ;)

See you next year!

T-Minus 1...

T-minus 1 day before the Fall semester ends and my sabbatical with it.  Not that the projects will not end.  The MLEX project will continue.  I have recently added some new features to the MLEX program and my hope is that I can make it more available for public comment after the New Year.  I eventually would like to make the project open source but I am still building a base level of function that will give others an idea of what the goal of the program is. Once the concept is understood others will be able to add to what has been done so far.  I will communicate the changes and updates to MLEX via my Google Group and one of my web sites (most likely www.yeomanresearch.com).

I have created a discussion within the LinkedIn Educause group and I have also joined the Educause Ning site. I want to continue to act as a "pied piper" to help others move their web pages to a format that can be displayed on a mobile device. 

The rest of my Sabbatical time will be spent finishing my final report and thinking of the best ways to share what I have accomplished.  It has been a great experience and I am very thankful for those at the Maricopa Community College District who selected my project. 

Check the mobileDot web site for the Final Report.  

Happy Holidays !

What's next

As my sabbatical draws to a close,  I have been working on plans to distribute my mobile tech findings. I have been working to better publicise what I have built this fall during my sabbatical and also working with MCLI and GCC to set up demonstrations and workshops to show others how to create contents for mobile devices. 

With MCLI I hope to create a presentation for a dialogue day workshop to show other faculty how to use my MLEX application and document conversion tools.  

For the Spring MCLI technology event at GCC, my plans are to review some of the findings that speak to trends in mobile technology as it relates to teaching and learning.  

I am assisting the MCCCD National Center for Teacher Education - ATLAST Project in creating a demonstration for 11th and 12th grade teachers on how to use a mobile technology in the classroom and a discussion of mobile trends.  

I also hope to have a industry sponsored project at GCC that will include cellular equipment / training on mobile tech programming or mobile assisted learning. 

Finally, I have also submitted my MLEX (Mobile Learning Experiment) project to be published in the Educause / New Media Consortium Horizon 2009 Report.  My hope is that I can get a lot of faculty to use the tool and provide feedback to make it better. 

With these meetings and presentations, my goal is one (which I specified in my sabbatical proposal) which was to create a District / National Dialog on mobile tech for Higher Ed. learning.  I will be using my existing mobileDot Google Site along with a mobileDot Google Group which has been in place for some time but has yet to solicit traffic for mobile tech discussion. 

Stay tuned....

SMS Server - Final Chapter?

My final project is to create a SMS (Simple Mail Service) Server which would function in a similar fashion as the BlueTooth Kiosk Server.

Since most SMS traffic is handled by the carrier I thought this might be a show stopper. Turns out Microsoft India has created a SMS Server for farmers in India (now Vietnam) that provided a low cost ubiquitous solution that replaced a PC network solution. The project is call Warana and you can click here for more information and the SMS SDK they created to develop the SMS server. If you Google Warana SMS Server, you will see several articles on the project.

Although poor farmers in India do not share much with American community college students, the use of SMS to inexpensive SMS servers controlled by someone other than the carrier can ver a very attractive option for cash strapped I/T budgets.

How it might work

A MS Smartphone is connected via a USB connection to a personal computer. The client uses their cell phone to send the Smartphone a message. The Smartphone receives the message ands hands it over to the PC via the Microsoft ActiveSync software bridge. The message is evaluated with a Visual Studio created program that is using the SMS SDK. If the message requires a data update or response, the database connected to the PC is called with the appropriate file maintenance commands. If data needs to be returned to the caller, a SMS message sends back a SMS message.

It could be class information, school calendar, a message to the instructor to be picked up later, etc..

Now the Show Stopper... :(

I have tried to replicate what was done in India but without a MS Smartphone, I am more or less at a dead end. Where as I have been able to use emulation or my MS PDA for other projects, this one may require the real deal (i.e. A MS Smartphone as opposed to my non-MS Dumb one..)
I am going to see if I can get around this issue but this project might have to be another grant where monies can be reserved for acquisition of a MS-SmartPhone.

Wrapping Up

As it getting close to the end of the semester so goes my sabbatical. I will be finishing up editing the mobileDot web site and seeing if I can get some traffic to my mobileDot Google group. I am also going to see about presenting at one or two events next semester at GCC and at another MCCCD location on mobile learning tech.