The Changing Mobile Landscape and its Impact on Education

The Changing Mobile Landscape and its
Impact on Education
Joseph Labrecque
Center for Teaching & Learning

© 2011 University of Denver

Introduction

Joseph Labrecque, MA
University of Denver - CTL
Senior Interactive Software Engineer
Adjunct Faculty
Fractured Vision Media, LLC
Proprietor

Adobe Community Professional
Adobe Education Leader
What’s New in
Flash Player 11
What’s New in
Adobe AIR 3

© 2011 University of Denver 2

Mobile Considerations


Traditional Computing in Education

While mobile has always been
with us in some form, things are
rapidly changing from what once
was a normal computing
experience.
Traditional Computing
 Laptop requirements
 General activities include
research and writing, with
access to online tools
 Fully powered, unrestricted
machines


Mobile Differences: Desktop User Experience

Average user desktop: 1024x768 - 1280x1024
Lots of applications opened simultaneously - Multitasking!


Mobile Differences: Screens

Users generally have very small
screens and therefore not a lot of
room to work with.
Applications take up the entire screen
when running.
This means:
 Serious choices must be made in
terms of what is made available to
the user.
 Interface elements should be kept
to a minimum.
 No clutter!


Mobile Landscape


A Plethora of Devices

Smartphone Operating Systems
 Apple iOS
 Google Android
 Windows Phone 7 (WP7)
 Blackberry QNX

Tablet Operating Systems
 Apple iOS
 Google Android
 Windows 8
 Blackberry Tablet OS


The State of Mobile

Mobile explosion!
 iOS, Android, QNX, WP7…
 Smartphones and tablets
 Android ahead, Apple not far behind
 Other platforms are being crushed

By 2014, mobile internet consumption will
overtake desktop consumption


Example: Android Growth

Fastest-growing Mobile Platform
 550,000 new Android devices
activated every day.
(This is growing by 4.4% EVERY
WEEK)
(August ‘11)
 100 million activated Android
devices to date.
(July ‘11)
 4.5 billion applications have been
installed from Android Market.
(July ‘11)


Android Growth: Detail


Impact on Education


Mobile is Great for Education

Developments in mobile have great
impact because students are now
even more connected to systems and
information than ever before.
 Portable
 Social
 Connected-ness
 Lightweight
 Directed experiences
 Leading…


Challenges of Mobile for Education

Students and faculty expect to be
able to perform the same tasks with
phones and tablets that they are able
to perform on desktops and laptops.
This is a major problem
 Devices are limited in power
 Non-traditional OS
 Limited functionality
 Locked down platforms
 Fragmentation


Pre-Mobile Content

The web has been available for
general use for nearly two decades
and there are many, many useful
systems that were not built with
mobile use in mind at all.
These experiences include
 Websites
 Web Applications
 Rich Experiences (eg: video,
audio, interactivity)
This is a problem because
 All still viable
 All still useful


Mobile Decisions


Delivery to Mobile Device Platforms

Website
 Limited functionality w/ HTML as a
mobile-aware website in presenting
static content
Application
 Native or cross-compile?
 Both provide much more
functionality than “Web”
 Native is platform-specific
 Cross-compile casts a wider net-
but performance and experience
could suffer


Decisions on Delivery Type

Mobile Website
 To convey information.

Mobile Application
 When there is a directed purpose.
 When you need operating system level
interaction.


Mobile Statistics


Average Processing Power

(relative units)


Average Screen Size

TV

Laptop

Tablet

Phone


Mobile at DU – First Day of Classes Autumn 2011


Compared with 1 Year Ago…


Let’s look at some academic apps


Blackboard Mobile Learn

 Allows students to access
course material in a manner
more usable on small screens.
 We have chosen not to enable
this at DU:
 The free version is restricted to
certain devices and networks.
 The paid version is very
expensive and has a limited
feature set.
 There has been no demand on
campus.


iThoughts

 Mindmapping app for iPhone
and iPad.
 No cross-platform support –
iOS only.
 Example of a directed utility
app.


University of Denver

DU mobile application directs users
to certain information channels
 Integrated calendar and map.
 Android and iOS.

Penrose Library mobile
website includes
account access and
search.
 HTML


CourseMedia Mobile

 Extension of directed CourseMedia
functionality to smartphones and
tablets.
 Beta-test on Android… cross-
compile to iOS and other platforms
once solid.
 Images, text slides, meta-data, and
streaming video!


Streaming Video


Students, Faculty, and Staff “get” Mobile

Classes
 Special Topics: Mobile Android Development with Flash Platform Tools
 Independent Study: Rapid ELISA Mobile Assay (REMA)
Research
 Andrei Kutateladze - The ability to “draw” a molecule on a smart phone screen,
submit it to a DU server for calculations of molecular structure and other
properties, have the results sent back to the phone.
Textbooks
 Many students now purchase the electronic version of the textbook: whether PDF,
ePub, Kindle, or some other digital format.


Closing Thoughts

Observations
 Mobile requires a certain directed approach that
is not required with desktop application
development.
 Mobile users still expect everything to work
flawlessly on whatever random device they may
be using. This perspective is flawed.
 Designing good educational applications
requires collaboration between educators and
tech professionals.
 Knowledge of how people learn
(key components include interaction and feedback).
 Awareness of the technical opportunities and
challenges.


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