Mobile computing has made huge strides in terms of adoption over the the last five years. The popularity of products like Apple's iPhone and mobile operating systems like Android have led to an explosion of apps leveraging the unique qualities of these computer systems, e.g. always present, always connected, location aware, with the ability to capture photos, videos and audio. How have these qualities been incorporated into higher ed course design, though? What opportunities are there for designing course activities that take into account ubiquitous access to knowledge and peers? These are the questions we will be exploring in Jim Jansen's TLT fellowship team this summer.
The first stage of the project has two components.
1) We will be surveying the market to catalog and understand what apps already exist, identifying the state of the art as well as gaps in what is available as it relates to utilizing mobile for higher educational.
2) Partha Mukherjee is Jim's grad assistant working on this project and he is getting warmed up with iOS development. The goal is to have a working prototype of an app by the end of the summer.
Longer term, this coming fall semester will be an opportunity to refine the app with feedback from Jim's students which will lead to a more complete app that can be piloted in Spring semester with a formal evaluation.
In addition to Jim, Partha, and myself, the team also consists of Heather Hughes, Zac Zidik, and Matt Meyer.
Really looking forward to this project! Already off to a great start. Several folks have contacted me concerning this, sharing what they are working on in related areas.
Sounds like a good learning experience for us as well. I'm pretty interested in the pedagogical side of this - how the availability of information changes in-class activities. That's something that Jim and I discussed when we met a few weeks ago.
Another thought: one of the apps that I saw during the annual ELI Meeting called "Heads UP" by Abeline Christian University (http://blogs.acu.edu/headsup/about-headsup/). It has a simple function: organize a large group of students into random discussion groups with assigned roles and positions. It's the typical clasroom management issue that is typically solved by having students sound off, pair-up with a neighbor, or (more likely) work with their friends. I think it's a web app, not a specific iOS app, but it would be interesting to talk with ACU about it.
I'm confused - what is this app supposed to do? Also, why the emphasis on a single platform? Won't that exclude the significant percentage of users with a different type of smartphone?
As an update, the mobile app is developed and is implemented in a Spring 2012 keyword advertising course. We are collecting analytics data during the semester, following up with a survey on usability and learning. Fingers crossed!