Free #MOOC guide and #MobiMOOC on #mLearning resources

After getting requests on a summary of what came out of the recent MobiMOOC course, I gladly share this post with you all. This post is all about mLearning resources and what was/is learned during the MobiMOOC that ran from 2nd April - 14 May 2011.

Free MOOC guide for setting up your own MOOC course
In addition to the MobiMOOC resources, I gladly share the third Beta-version of a MOOC guide on how to set up your own MOOC. The guide is written as a wiki, to enable all MOOC'rs to add to it. You can edit the MOOC guide, by requesting to join the wiki. After you have joined the wiki, you will have editing rights and be able to add your ideas.

MobiMOOC resources
MobiMOOC was a course designed following the natural pathways of a MOOC (or Massive Open Online Course).

Ideally I will be embedding all these content and resources into a WikiVersity page soon.

The mobimooc wiki gives an overview of all the topics of each of the six weeks of the course. The topics included an introduction to mLearning (facilitated by me - Inge de Waard), planning mLearning projects (facilited by Judy Brown), mLearning in development regions (facilitated by Niall Winters), leading edge mLearning (facilitated by David Metcalf), global context of mLearning (facilitated by John Traxler) and mLearning in k12 (facilitated by Andy Black).

To enable discussions between the MobiMOOC participants, we used MobiMOOC Google groups. This works like a list server, enabling all of us to stay in touch of all the discussions, simply by looking at Google Groups, or e-mails.

MobiMOOC bookmarks on a wide variety of mLearning topics can be found here. There are over 300 links, and it is advisable to enter additional keywords to filter the MobiMOOC bookmarks :-)

There were many initiatives taken by the MobiMOOC participants, but one in particular might be of interest to all of you as it uses a wonderful (mobile enabled) crowdsourcing software: the MobiMOOC crowdsourcing map built by Sean Abajian (this is where the picture in the post comes from).

If you want to stay in contact with some of us MobiMOOC'rs, a linkedIn group was started as well.

Reformatting virtual classroom recordings to publish them in #mobile formats

During the last MobiMOOC we had some synchronous sessions where mLearning experts gave their insights in mLearning. Here you see an example of a session given by David Metcalf:

How to publish a virtual classroom recording into a mobile accessible format?

What I usely do to reformat synchronous virtual classroom sessions into mobile accessible files is record the screen + audio of the sessions via Camtasia (there is a 30 day free trail version: http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/ )

With Camtasia you can record the screen and audio of the virtual classroom session. You can then edit the recording (maybe shorten some points, or skip immediately to where the session starts without the intro). After the editing you can produce the movie into a format of your preference (mp4, mp3 are most common and cross-device mobile standards).

You do have to take into account getting used to Camtasia, but it is an intermediately easy software (btw I am only an eLearning developer, not a Camtasia person :-D

There is a useful tutorial here on how to use Camtasia (14 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMwAxdMZOnM

After I have produced my virtual classroom session into mobile formats (e.g. mp4 or mp3 for audio podcast), I cut them up into videos no larger than 15 minutes and load them up to youtube (youtube does not allow videos larger than 15 minutes at first). This allows people with a variety of devices to look at the reformatted virtual classroom movies, as YouTube will now offer those recordings in the mobile YouTube format.

#mLearning at #museum's is a thrill for all #art lovers

mLearning started out to be a more formal, corporate and academic field. After its initial phase a lot of inspiring more thrilling applications started to take shape. One of the most intriguing and inspiring sectors to explore mobile implementations for increased knowledge creation are the museums. So I thought it was high time that I had a peak at some mLearning or mExperiences from the art world. But I must admit, this overview could not be possible without Michael Sean Gallagher and other MobiMOOC'rs that provided these wonderful links.

Mobile initiatives were always one of the key ways to get information across to museum visitors, just recall the audio guides, or the booklets that can accompany visitors. So it is no surprise that these heart and soul of museums everywhere are embracing the new mobile options that cell phones, tablets... are providing.

Starting with the new initiative launched at the Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles.

The J. Paul Getty Museum collection comes alive with Google Goggles

The Google Goggles team has worked with The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to “Goggles-enable” their permanent collection of paintings.

You can use the Google Goggles app on your phone to take a photo of a painting from the collection and instantly access information about it from the Getty’s mobile-optimized website and the rest of the web. It's possible to fit only a small amount of information on the wall next to a painting but visitors with Goggles can now enjoy the full story online.

For more information about the Getty-Goggles project, visit mobile.getty.edu/gettygoggles or scan the QR code below.

Gallery Tag at the Brooklyn museum
This is an initiative from the chief of technology at the Brooklyn museum (Shelley Bernstein) on a mobile application with which you can add tags to the paintings or art works that you encounter at the Brooklyn museum. The Gallery Tag! is in fact a mobile game, enabling people to add tags to art works, which (the tags) are then openly shareable with other visitors of the museum as well.
Gallery Tag! is a pretty simple mobile tagging game, specifically designed for use in the gallery. Select a tag or create your own, go find works in the galleries that match, enter accession numbers and earn points and prizes.
You can either choose a tag left by other museum visitors, or you can add a tag describing your feeling or impression of a specific painting.

Roam! One of our institutional aims of the Brooklyn museum is to get visitors looking across collections and that’s always a challenge in this very large building. To encourage players of Gallery Tag! to cross boundaries in the building, they gain more points if they tag objects on different floors.

Crossover! One of the big issues we’ve seen with BklynMuse is that it’s chock full of information and various paths to take and that can be an overwhelming amount of choice. The recent simplifications are going to help, but we want to implement different ways to get people into that content. As players use Gallery Tag!, there are links that crossover into BklynMuse.

Convergence! All of the tags created go right back into the online collection, bridging the physical and virtual.

If you are coming here with your device hit m.brooklynmuseum.org to get started!

MuseumPunk: make your own museum tour and share it with others
Of course apart from the mobile apps that are provided by the museums themselves, there are also those mobile initiatives that are run by the visitors themselves. If you browse the Web, you can find many self-made museum tours (e.g. WalkExplorer for iPhone fans), a nice overview on how to build such self-made tours can be found here.

For us Android loving mobilers, take a look at the mobile Android museum applications listed at the MuseumPods website which cover a lot of (mostly NorthAmerican) museums.

If you are interested in interactive museum applications (mobile and others), be sure to link up with Nina Simon's blog called Museum2.0. She keeps track of great museum apps with wonderful interactions and is author of 'The Participatory Museum'.

#MobiMOOC has ended #eduMOOC will start

The MobiMOOC experience was (and is still) a blast. The MOOC format worked well and for many of the MobiMOOC'rs including myself, the knowledge that was shared amongst all of the MobiMOOC participants was incredibly enlightening.

For those interested in getting into another educational MOOC, feel free to join the EduMOOC that will cover the idea of Online Learning Today and ... Tomorrow. This MOOC is organized by the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield and yes, it will be a great experience. Currently over 1800 interested people registered for the course.

The EduMOOC will start this Monday, 27th of June 2011 and it will cover 8 weeks of intense and powerful educational topics. Each EduMOOC week will cover a different educational topic:

• 1. Online Learning Today
• 2. What the Research Tells Us
• 3. Online Technologies Today and Tomorrow
• 4. Online Learning Apps and Mobile Learning
• 5. Public, Private & Open - Online Learning
• 6. Personal Online Learning Networks
• 7. Collaboratives, Collectives and Clouds
• 8. Online Learning Tomorrow 2011-2021

And each topic will be facilitated by a team of knowledgeable educational guru's. The EduMOOC uses googlegroups: When you're ready to participate in the discussions, you may go directly to http://groups.google.com/group/edumooc and they have a twitter hashtag #edumooc.

As with all MOOC's this is a free course, so join all of us participants and register today.

My teacher is two weeks old and I starved him (almost) ...

On the 4th of June 2011 I became a mother of Isaak. Ever since he is born he has been teaching me and I noticed that I have been a poor learner at times but willingly picking up what I can.

All of a sudden all the books on cognitive learning, child evolution and so on fall into pieces. As always learning can only really happen when doing and ... from this time onward (if all the gods and sciences are willing) I will do it for the rest of this life thanks to this new life.

I had never imagined that all of a sudden my ways of handling and taking care of the baby connects me not only to my deeper self, but also to my forefathers and -mothers, my peers and friends. In my actions I see and feel all of them, as if time is willing to lift up its veil for a moment and show me timelessness in Isaak's eyes.

In his short life, I have been overheating him, under-cooling him, giving him not enough food, changing his diapers in ways he clearly stated was not the right way (apparently not to be used as a turban, nor low hanging skirt). On many occasions I simply looked at him with a startled face not knowing what to do. Time and time again he showed me what to do with basic feedback of cries and gestures, oh yes immediate feedback is important.
This learning cannot be done on my own and there is no formal training. Parenthood is clearly learned informally and luckily it happens in collaboration with other, more experienced people who are willing to share what they know.

It is startling to see how all learning follows the same paths. We probably could make a unified learning theory?

So within two weeks Isaak taught me that in life we will always stay learners, and that a network of friends, family, connections will help each and everyone of us to find solutions enabling us to live a better life. I am humbled by his simplicity and the universal aspect of life and learning at every stage in our lives. And although people say babies learn the most, I feel they teach us even more.

For those who wonder, Isaak is doing well despite my rather poor parenting skills, and he laughs at my feeble baby wisdom that I got out of books. His name actually means 'he laughs', and ... it fits him.

How to have an impact and how to make the world a better place through innovative learning?

"Let's come up with ideas to relief some of the harsh situations people around the world are facing!", this simple motivational sentence was launched at the MobiMOOC course.

The MobiMOOC course is in its fourth week and discussions and exchanges of ideas keep on going. This week’s facilitator of the course is David Metcalf from MetilLab in California, US. He offered a view on some of the latest mobile innovative edge projects ranging from sports to learn statistics, over free mobile medical applications, to aid relief and augmented reality. If you are interested, his webinar was recorded and if you are interested you can follow the four part YouTube movies here or via the depicted QR code below.

(QR code kindly provided by Lavender)

There was one specific thought that David raised which has given me gray hairs for the past few days, so I want to share it in the hope some of you can come up with some ideas.

David raised the idea that we need to look at collaborations between the academic world, companies, non-profit organizations and possible funding agencies to solve some of the world’s high priority issues, pointing towards the Millennium Goals that are only 4 years off and are still hot issues (primary education for all, gender equality,…)

The only problem is, what can we do? How can we make this beautiful globe a better place while using mobile technology? There have been many initiatives, and some really make a difference (empowering women, mobile literacy classes…) but what is within our power AND who is willing to go for a grand impact collaboration?

CIDER free webinar: Facilitating quality learning in a Personal Learning Environment through Educational Research

Next Wednesday (4 May 2011) you can follow a free webinar featuring a presentation and discussion with Dr. Rita Kop and Dr. Helene Fournier of the National Research Council, Canada. After speculation in the literature about the nature of possible Personal Learning Environments, research in the design and development of a PLE is now in progress. The researchers speaking in this session will report on the educational research involved in the National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Information Technology’s Personal Learning Environment project. This presentation will highlight important components, applications and tools in a PLE as identified through surveys of potential end users. The learner experience and the minimum set of components required to facilitate quality learning will be placed at the forefront.

When: Wed., May 4th, 2011, 11am – 12pm Mountain Time (Canada)
*Local times for the CIDER sessions for those living in other areas around the world, look here for different timezones.

Where: Online via Elluminate at: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.8B71B60F2931D029AC3837DC06B70D

Pre-Configuration:
Please make sure your Mac or PC is equipped with a microphone and speakers, so that you can use the audio functionality built into the web conferencing software.
Please note that it is extremely important that you get your system set up prior to the start of the event. Information on installing the necessary software and configuring your PC is available at http://www.elluminate.com/support/ in the “First Time Users” section.

Mobile Diabetic: new invention for painless blood glucose monitoring via smartphones

As I was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 a month ago, I have been reading up on some mobile solutions that are in the pipeline. So from time to time I will put in a diabetic post as it is related to health and mobile solutions.

Carlos Kiyan is one of my closest colleagues and friends. Carlos pointed me in the direction of the painless GlucoReader that monitors blood glucose levels via micro-needles (which have been tested for the flue before). Painless glucose monitoring immediately got my attention, as the glucose finger stick pricking is PAINFUL and a bit difficult to do depending on the situation (one should not do it while driving a car!).

Four engineering students got their heads together and came up with a start-up company that would allow diabetics to monitor their glucose via a micro-needle patch which sends the blood glucose level to an android and/or iphone smartphone. The transmission is done via bluetooth, which is used for other diabetic innovations as well. The start-up is located in Boston, US.

The estimated price would be around 500 - 600 USD which is somewhat affordable (I would gladly donate one to someone I know on top of the one I would be using if it would decrease the finger-prick pain. It is a US invention, so not sure if it will be available outside of the US, but ... I would fly over and get it if I could. It is still in the R&D-phase, the engineering team has only started their trial period and it will still take a year before any FDA approval (Food and Drug Administration) could get the production going, but still ... it is worthwhile following. For easy following: follow them on twitter via @mobilifeinc

How can health within clinics be improved by mLearning? A research report with 29 recommendations

Full research reports sometimes stop me from really reading it in full, so I was very happy when the Epic newsletter dropped this summary research report on mLearning for NHS (UK's National Health Service, but also accessible for other countries health services) in my mailbox.

The report is relevant for everyone working in the health field or interested in setting up mobile learning for their companies as many of the recommendations can easily be translated to a different corporate field.

The report starts of with a nice overview on the benefits of mLearning (just-in-time, any place, context...) and moves on to show which type of mobiles are already in use at a specific NHS region (both looking at practitioners and managers). After having analyzed the possibilities of mLearning (both as a stand-alone, or for blended training use) the report delivers a great set of 29 recommendations to increase mLearning at NHS level, while taking into account the context and the contemporary mobile devices.

I gladly share 5 recommendations here:

1. Always undertake small-scale pilot studies that entail opportunities for users to give feedback on prototypes and engage in co-design;
2. Design all mobile learning and assessment with an offline capability;
3. Host a bi-annual m-Health symposium with key people working at the forefront of research and delivery of mobile health, and who attend mobile learning conferences across the world, to
4. ensure the NHS is able to exploit mobile learning to benefit staff professional development, both in current times and into the future.
5. A communications campaign is put in place to raise awareness among NHS staff and key stakeholders of the multitude of benefits to mobile learning.

Measuring Quality in eLearning through 33 indicators

Quality Assurance (QA) hits all of us at some point, but QA in eLearning is fairly new.

I was looking for something else when coming across this nice quality assurance online manual that is the result of a European Research on quality assurance. Although I do have some constraints while reading through the benchmarks (the term quality assurance does that to me), some of the pointers are indeed helpful.

This online manual features six chapters each focusing on a specific eLearning part and in total it features 33 eLearning benchmarks. In the guide you can find criteria and indicators which are useful if you want to screen your own institutional eLearning. The structure of the instrument is identical to the sections in the guide and are organized into six sections.

• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Strategic Management
• Chapter 3: Curriculum Design
• Chapter 4: Course Design
• Chapter 5: Course Delivery
• Chapter 6: Staff Support
• Chapter 7: Student Support
  
  Annexes:
• Glossary
• Assessors notes

The authors recommend that we first do a quickscan of the manual. Based on the results of the quickscan, you can restrict your focus in the manual to certain chapters.

While the benchmarks sometimes stay a bit vague: benchmark
7. E-learning components should conform to qualification frameworks, codes of practice, subject benchmarks and other institutional or national quality requirements.

The manual is useful, I particularly liked the fact that they make a distinction between indicators and expert indicators. E.g. "At excellence level: There is extensive institutional experience of delivery using blended learning and this experience is widely shared through the organisation. Well informed decisions on the use of pedagogic components are made routinely and reflect institutional policies regarding the development of learner knowledge and skills."