How to compare PocketPc smartphones?

We end up buying an awful lot of smartphones - many of them PocketPC based. (probably almost 3000 over the last couple of years)

it is always a really messy business, haggling with suppliers to get the best price. And it gets extra complicated trying to compare different devices when network providers are rebranding and renaming what are often, essentially, the same phones.

If this sounds familiar to you, there is a shining beacon of hope: the fantastic xda-developers.com.

If you want to figure out your Blue Angel from your Wizard, have a look at the wiki (at wiki.xda-developers.com). They list all the different models, and the many names they have been given.

This is especially useful because the vast majority of these phones are all made by a single Taiwanese manufacturer, HTC.

The forums (at forum.xda-developers.com) are also great for technical support. spectacularly better than any of the network providers we have used in fact. The best one stop shop for tips on how to upgrade the operating system, or unlock your phone, or even fix that nagging problem you are having.



Thanks guys - the mobile learning world appreciates your advice.

Which phones are my students using?

We build applications for all sorts of different phones, and despite the hype, many of the development tools and platforms we use are fairly stable: (MMS, SMS, Flash, Flash Lite, C for PPC etc).

The one technology that we seem to be endlessly tweaking is Java for phones (J2ME), because despite the good-karma that surrounds java's "runs on any device" ethos, the harsh reality is that each phone is different, and J2ME applications need to be tweaked endlessly to deal with new phones.

In fact, we have a huge box full of ex-ebay phones we use for testing.

But how do we know WHICH phones to test on, and which to build for?

It is a bit of a black art, and we rely heavily on our friends (thanks Wolf!) but here are a few useful links:

1. top seller lists are a good start:
http://www.ciao.co.uk/charts.php/ListId/3

2. then, you need to try to get some "install base" lists. This is a lot harder to do, as you need access to some insider knowledge, or very expensive reports. Here is a UK list for jan07:

Nokia	6230i	1,614,900
Samsung	D500	981,660
Motorola	RAZR V3 Black Edition	932,760
Sony Ericsson	K800i	879,900
Nokia	6230	860,470
Sony Ericsson	K750i	792,680
Nokia	6280	781,560
Samsung	D600	774,260
Nokia	3310	769,520
Nokia	1100	744,440

but this still doesn't help you narrow down to your target group. What we do for this group is:

3: We make our own lists. Because we offer free previews of many of our java games, we log all incoming connections against phone types. That way we can spot trends, as well as see new phone-variants we don't support yet and do some preventative development!

here is a sneaky screen dump from one of our games. You can see there are two columns - the red (pre-support) shows the number of downloads we missed out on, and the green (post-support) are the success stories. For total attempts you need to add these together.

6 million pounds to buy m-learning kit in UK

Wow! MoLeNET (www.molenet.org.uk)

Hot off the press - the LSC is making £6million available for FE colleges (and their partners) to buy m-learning devices.

Colleges are being invited to apply for grants of between £100 000 and £500 000 for capital expenses, to contribute to mobile learning projects. Colleges will need to contribute other costs, like training and support to a minimum of 20% of the funding they recieve.

This is great news, as it is a clear indication that the mainstream has recognised the potential benefits in mobile learning, and is trying to spread the love

If you are in FE and based in England, come along to the open day on 9 July

keepin' it mobile

Geoff

Make a movie on your PSP!

Have any of you PSP people found out about Go! Edit yet?

If you are using PSP's for education, you have no reason not to! It is a free to download that lets you edit video on your PSP.

Add it to the Go!Cam video camera that plugs into the top of it, and you have a seriously mobile and creative video editing tool.

You can get all the lowdown on the Go!Edit site, though a better place to start would be to download the instruction manual which has some good screen dumps.

Let us know how you get on (and thanks to our inside sources at Sony UK for the details - you know who you are!)

TES: the one that got away?

Last week I was rather shocked by an article in the TES (Times Educational Supplement) that seemed to suggest that we shouldn't bother making an effort to support reluctant learners.

As a die-hard techie it is a rare moment that I actually write anything (other than blog postings, of course), but I was enthused enough to send a gobsmacked-type email to the TES Editors.

Shock-horror: they replied! the main editor of the TES wrote back and said:

Thank you for your letter. ...... I'm afraid this leader is one that got away. The TES doesn't support the view that schools and colleges should wash their hands of reluctant students. We are carrying a letter in FE Focus this week making some of the points you raise.

I am not sure if this quite counts as a "simpering apology", but I look forward to reading the letter they publish about it!



For those still reading ... here is what I wrote:

Dear TES

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I read your editorial on the use of m-learning in Pembrokeshire. At first I assumed it was an attempt at a joke, though quickly realised it was in fact serious!

Your writer seems to have missed out on 90% of the work that Pembrokeshire College has done, focusing instead on the headline grabbing (albeit rather tired) issues of loaning phones to students, and the text-inspired slang they may chose to write in.

Right now, the UK sits amongst the leading countries in the world when it comes to using innovative and new technologies to enhance learning. Sadly, it tends to only happen in specific pockets around the country, but these pockets are being held up, world wide, as examples of best practice. They are being used to help us all rethink how we are able to deliver learning to the maximum benefit for the widest range of our citizens.

The Pembrokeshire work, which won a Beacon Award, is exemplary in that it deploys the technology appropriately and in conjunction with many other teaching techniques, technologies and practices. The team there were involved in the very first m-learning project in 2003/2004 which is when I was pleased to get to know them.

Would your editorial writer prefer us not to innovate, but rather sit still and wait to be overtaken by others that do?

Working with new media always presents risks, but despite the hype, the issues raised in your editorial have not featured in any of the many projects that we have been involved with over the last few years, spanning several thousands of learners.

For anyone interested in finding out some of the facts, here are a couple of useful websites which also include some of the research reports that describe what is actually happening:


http://www.m-learning.org (specifically the reports, here: http://www.m-learning.org/knowledge-centre/m-learning-research.htm )

http://www.learning2go.org (for some future gazing schools)

http://mlearning.noe-kaleidoscope.org (for a lot of the current academic study)

as well as some very active blogs and community sites:

http://moblearn.blogspot.com

http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk

http://mlearning.edublogs.org

http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com


I hope this helps set the record straight, and keeps the flag of innovation flying


Yours sincerely

Geoff Stead

Ps: I know that several very influential practitioners and innovators are formulating a reply to your article, which I will be signing up to as well.

How to mix your mobile learning cocktail with some traditional ingredients?

We have been getting a lot of recent interest from mainstream, traditional e-learning providers who are trying to understand how they can add a mobile dimension to what they already have.

This is of course great news, because in my book, "the more formats the better". Why prescribe where and how your learners will access their learning if you don't have to.

I stumbled over an American site today that specialises in creating audio stories, by interviewing customers / employees / managers, editing them and delivering them as podcasts. What especially caught my eye, though, was an excerpt from a presentation they gave, where they summarised the most important things they have learned about creating desireable learning resources.

The most important thing we have learned is that in order to deliver value we must deliver ALL of the following:

• Compelling content. If the content is not interesting, it well never get used and consumed. (Instructionally sound content is not necessarily compelling or interesting)
• Multiple mediums and delivery methods. Web, CDs, Podcasting, elearning – all offer value, but nothing works for everyone.
• Client and user support. The greatest product in the world goes nowhere unless it is promoted, supported and measured properly. This is an area we are still learning about, but we have learned a lot.

This matches pretty much exactly with our finding in www.m-learning.org as well as many other recent projects we have done, and certainly spans well beyond podcasts to embrace PocketPC, Java Games, SMS quizzes and other technologies as well.

And how does this link back to the e-learning service providers I mentioned at the start? Well. to me it helps to put m-learning into a useful context, as well as perhaps challenging the types of learning that are currently in many large, online learning environments.

• Is the content really compelling? (harder to do than it sounds)
• What is my learner wants to view the content on their phone. Can they?
• Are there mobile-ready tutors available to support them?

:-)

Is TES losing the thread?

The hot-topic of the day in the UK technology learning community seems to be a collection of articles in today's TES.

The first article refers to the fantastic, award winning work being done in Pembrokeshire College supporting hard to reach learners with various innovative approaches.

The second article, an editorial, seems to use the work to rampage against investing money into innovation and outreach projects, without fully understanding the work that Geoff Elliott and Pembrokeshire college have been doing or the great strides forward they have made.


Geoff, for what it is worth, the rest of the mobile learning community think you have been doing some fantastic work and making real strides forward with your projects.

Please keep it up!

Learning english via SMS

The mlearn2006 effect must be contagious. Athabasca University in Canada hosted the conference last year, and this year they are in the news for a pilot project using mobile learning to teach english grammar on their phones.

Excellent news!

It is a great subject area, because the learners are often very motivated, and there are ways of supporting language learning via all sorts of media, including podcasts, web, email, skype and of course SMS.

In this case they are doing grammar exercises, working both in and out of their learning center.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/02/09/text-classes.html

The CBS article has some great learner and tutor quotes:

"You're controlling it, which is so nice," said Tracey Woodburn of Athabasca University. "A lot of people have been telling me, 'Oh, I can do this when I am watching my kid's soccer practice or when I am on the bus coming to school.'"

Student Fadieh Al-Kaloti said cellphone learning works well for her.

"You learn where you are — in the bus or in the train or maybe in the plane," she said.

thanks to Andy for the link

mobile assessment?

We have had a lot of interest from schools and HE recently about using mobile quizzes, and mediaBoards for assessment. In fact, I was taken a bit by surprise by the eagerness of different practitioners to assess learner skills - though in hindsight I guess it makes sense.

Assessing learners and learning with technology is both a complex and a rewarding process.

There are many examples of rather crude multiple choice assessments being used as gauges to measure knowledge and understanding. This basic approach has a valid place, but to deal with some of the higher-level knowledge, understanding and "practical-skills" required by many HE and FE learners it is critical to offer a broader range of tools and methodologies, embracing e-evidence as well as multimedia statements from the learners about what they have achieved.

Here are some examples of partners we have been lucky enough to try these ideas out with:

• Mobile, multimedia evidence: Leeds Metropolitan University is using the mediaBoard to collect and collate pictures, sounds and texts captured by their phones, while working directly with clients.

• Mobile skills assessments: London Foyer association used roaming PDAs configured with our locally installed skills checks to assess the basic skills levels of all residents, across 45 different residences. Each learner logs in, takes a few tests, and logs out. Results were stored locally, and then bulk-uploaded to the online tracking system over the air.

• Text message skills checks: We have rolled out contextualised SMS Quizzes to over 150,000 learners across 20 different industries as an "awareness campaign" to get them back into learning

• Online skills checks and, if needed, detailed (adaptive) skills assessment: We currently provide this service, accompanied by learning resources, to plug skills gaps for several very large UK-based employers. This scale of assessment requires robust, audited and quality reviewed systems of delivery, tracking and security

so - this blog post was mostly an update on where we are at with "mobile assessment", as well as a chance to mention the various partners we have been working with to try it out.

Thanks all!

psp, TV, mp3, pda, mobile phones: can we REALLY put learning onto them all?

How do we cope with supporting real, valid, mobile learning on a huge range of devices?

The more time I spend surrounded by mobile learners, the more this question comes back to haunt me. We have used many different approaches and devices already, but still the issue is FAR from simple.

There are a wide spectrum of strategies. At one end we have learning that is VERY device specific - exploiting what each device does best. At the other end is data-pushing, where we have some central resources that get intelligently reformatted for multiple different devices.

But which is best?

Evolving standards for data push us towards the data-push area. I can see the same RSS feed on many different devices. My smart content system will reformat a powerpoint to run on many different devices. A lo of energy has been invested in perfecting data-push, but is that really enough for learners?

At the other, device specific end, think about simple mp3 players. All they can do is audio. Nothing else. But they have a really useful place in learning. Why can’t I listen to key lessons, and reminders?

Or think about camera phones. Encouraging learners to collect media samples can be a rich and rewarding addition to their learning.

But data push doesn't even get a look in on either of these examples. And most mobile web standards are irrelevant.

So where should we put our energy?

My personal philosophy on this is that we need to be able to do both. We should rejoice in the standards, and wherever possible support the emerging mobile web and data standards like XHTML, RSS, Wap, XML, CSS etc. But we also need to make the most of the unique features of specific devices. Just because the web browser on my smart phone doesn’t talk to my camera, does that mean I shouldn’t take a picture as part of my learning? Of course not! But I can guarantee that if all the learning is too standards or even browser centric this will be neglected.

So - I go for both. Some materials can be pushed out to multiple devices. But beware of losing the (possibly even richer) learning that happens with device specific features.

Stop ActiveSync asking about partnerships!

Every now and again I stumble over a small technical solution that makes a big difference to my sanity. Here is an essential one for anybody managing multiple PocketPC devices.

If, like us, you use your PocketPc as a shareable learning device and NOT as businessman's tool you will know the frustration of having to tell ActiveSync NOT to form a lasting friendship with your devices everytime you connect them. This is especially true if all you are doing is uploading files to them.

Well, did you know you can turn this off?

You can configure ActiveSync to always assume you want to be a guest.

The trick is that you need to change a registery setting, but Bob, one of our mobile developers, has kindly created this little utility so you can do it yourself:

You will need to download and open our handy ActiveSync Dialog Tweaker utility

To switch "Guest only" mode on, run this file: active_sync_guest_only.reg

To switch back to "Ask me" mode, run this file: active_sync_guest_ask.reg

You can run both of these files directly, just say Yes when it asks if you want to add the information to the registry.

hope these tips find a use somewhere in the mobile ether!

:)

Smallprint1: any registry settings are changed at your own risk

Smallprint2: Guest only mode will only work if no partnerships have already been established on the desktop.
If a previous partnership has been established, the ActiveSync UI can be suppressed by clearing the Open ActiveSync when my device connects checkbox in ActiveSync's Connection Settings dialog.

Pocket PCs: storing them and charging them safely

If you are responsible for managing a whole lot of PDAs, where do you store them? How safe are they? How can you keep them charged up?

We currently own about 300 PDAs, and have had to set up and manage more than that number for other people as well. It makes you very aware of every step of the way, when it comes to setting up the devices, pre-installing good software, and getting them ready to give to learners.

Here are a couple of top tips we have found helpful:


1: storing them safely, and keeping them charged

this was our biggest logistical challenge, and we spent quite a while looking for commercial alternatives, but in the end we did it ourselves

We bought a large, lockable, metal cupboard; drilled air-vents and cable slots in the back; and ran extension leads into the multiple shelves. At first we were worried about too much power drain, but in fact the power drain is really minimal, and the cicuit copes fine with the load.

(thanks to Dom who made it, and Santa who manages it!)

2: installing the same software and settings to multiple devices:

This is ridiculously time consuming, unless you have discovered backing up and restoring to your SD card. Your PocketPC has an integrated backup utility - probably somewhere like Start / Programs / XBackup.

• First, set up one device with all the settings / themes / contacts you need.
  
• Then use the backup software to back up the entire device to an SD Card.
• Then put the card in a new PDA, and use the same program to restore. This will replace all files and settings with those of the earlier device.
• (of course, if you have different types of PDA, this may not be advised. It works fine when they are all the same)

We have tried many other software based alternatives, including OTA (over the air) upgrades, but none have yet beaten the SD backup on cost / reliability / speed.

3: Unlocking / upgrading / supporting different PocketPCs

The more years pass, the more different brand labels I see on different devices. And the more I struggle to know which is which! But there has been one constant: the fantastic xda-developers.com. If you want to figure out your Blue Angel from your Wizard, have a look at the wiki (at wiki.xda-developers.com). You get the low down on which model is which

And what about support? From our experience, we have NEVER had decent technical support from ANY of the phone companies who have supplied the devices. This is because, very often, the support desk has never even seen the devices. They get made in Taiwan by HTC, and then come straight to you. If you want technical tips you need to rely on the world-wide community. So, for tips on how to upgrade the operating system, or fix a problem you are having try the forums (at forum.xda-developers.com). They are great.

The mobile web is alive and well ... in Africa!

We know the take up of mobile phones in Africa has been way faster than ever expected:

• 18 months ago, there were already more mobile than fixed-line phones
• many more people have access to a mobile phone than a landline one
• mobile networks are sidestepping official, goverment run chaos

We also know the picture isn't all rosy, as there are still vast areas with no coverage and call charges are still high.

But with that as a background, I saw some great statistics on the BBC website today:

• The vast majority of international visitors accessing the BBC website from their phones come from Africa!
• Nigeria = 61%
• South Africa = 19%

So, there may not be enough broadband and PCs around, but it is reassuring that "web on your phone" is still a really useful technology.

Thanks for the phone friendly website, BBC

A Beacon award for mobile learning!

We have had a couple of loyal, enthusiastic user-groups who have been involved with mobile learning from our earliest public trials back in 2003 right through to today.

One of them, Pembrokeshire College on the beautiful west coast of Wales, has just won a Beacon Award for their use of mobile learning.

Congratulations to Geoff Elliot and the team!

They have been doing amazing work, and deserve all the credit coming your way. (Geoff is the guy hiding at the back of the photo taken from the college news page)

For those not yet in the know, Beacon Awards recognise imaginative and innovatory teaching and learning practice. In the case of Pembrokeshire they won the FENC award with recognises the leading work they are doing allowing learners to build their own learning via collaboration and sharing.

The FENC ethos is: "Take, Shape and Share" - and Geoff's team have made that work via mobile learning.

This news is so hot off the press, that at the time of writing, the AoC Beacon site doesn't even have this years winners listed yet!

more and more hands are holding handhelds ...

I was puzzled by a flurry of messages on some of my favourite mobile learning forums and email groups triggreed by Epic, a UK-based multimedia company, who were predicting that PDAs were on there way out.

For every set of figures saying sales are waning, others tell us that business for handheld vendors is booming.

As somebody who is sitting in the middle of this debate, it feels VERY much to me like more and more people are using mobile devices for learning. In fact, I know this is true.

Every few weeks I am asked for advice on setting up mobile learning friendly environments. Or to advise on which devices might work for a specific school or college.

2 years ago this hardly ever happened.

We bought 25 Vario2's today for a couple of schools we are supporting.

Lets all just enjoy the flow, and make sure our concepts of learning are fluid enough to embrace multi-device, user-driven, multi-modal, collaborative, mobile learning!

mobile learning myopia?

I am very enthused by how many educators are starting to think seriously about mobile learning. There is great stuff happening out there. But at the same time I am increasingly depressed by comments I keep stumbling over in forums, and by certain published research studies that seem to be missing the point entirely.

It seems that several strains of myopia are afflicting the educational community

myopia strain 1: No-woods-in-sight-because-of-all-the-trees

People getting all worked up about minutiae: how the keyboards are so small, or the processor is so slow, or which brands of device are the best ones without noticing the major shifts in learning styles (and media consumption) that are happening at the same time

surely that is the most important thing of all?


myopia strain 2: It-may-be-OK-for-your-learners-but-mine-are-different

For some reason many people in HE don't seem to grasp that lessons being learned in schools, in work-places or in FE may actually be relevant to them or their learners. (I think this is often connected with them struggling to think outside the rather old-fashioned box of how HE traditionally delivers learning)

maybe if the learning works well, the delivery ought to adapt itself to follow the learning?



myopia strain 3: If-we-haven't-researched-it-enough-it-can't-be-useful

I get invited to research conferences every now and again, and there really seems a firm belief that more (and more and more) research is needed to show how we can use mobile learning. But the people saying this normally haven't got a clue about what is already happening out there in hundreds of places of learning. The evidence - though not well written up - is there already, and it is being actively used right now.

research reinforces and justifies what we are doing - but we don't need to wait for it before improving our skills and techniques. take a risk!


Of course there are some wonderful HE people, as well as some very switched on researchers. But sadly they seem to be in the minority when it comes to mobile learning. What's happening? Are we going backwards as we get more mainstream?

more PSP learning please!

I am just back from the handheld learning conference in London, where I showcased our content authoring, and in particular the PSP materials.

It seems we have tapped into a latent, and unfulfilled need. We know that there are a lot of PSPs out there. What we didn't know was that there were so many people interested in using them for learning. Fantastic news!

(the hits on my blog have escalated by about 10 times since posting about our PSP content authoring)

But now the tricky bit. As PSPs stand, they have great batteries, a fantastic screen, good video playback, but no real educational content. Certainly nothing to compete with the games I can buy for it.

I have met a couple of people in the UK already looking to use the PSP as a glorified memory stick in education. They are about to start trialling PSPs with a couple of schools - but as their website isn't live at the moment, I will not post any links.

This is a good idea, but seems like only the beginning. What we need is tools for educators to be able, more simply, to create more relevent, more meaningful content of their own - personalised to their learners.

At the moment, our PSP authoring isn't scheduled to be included in the release version of Mylearning author. Mostly, because we don't have many teachers interested.

I am sure they exist, so if you are one, and if you think it ought to be included, please post a comment to let me know. The more momentum we can get, the more likely I can get it into the next release!

Make your own Playstation (PSP) resources!

Wow! This is a hot-off-the-press sneak preview.

I have just seen some of our mobile learning materials running on a PSP!



We have been dabbling with it for a while, but what I am looking at right now is materials, built by a non-technical author, using our Mylearning authoring tool.



The games were intended for display on a PocketPC, but the team here in cambridge have been reconfiguring our mobile framework, and now it runs just fine on the PSP as well!!!

It looks awesome. (if I say so myself)



Yet another step forward to give authoring tool to the masses, so they can transform all sorts of mobile devices into learning tools!

So far, I know that they have been used on TabletPCs, UMPCs, PCs. PocketPCs and Whiteboards - but this is the first real gaming platform to be included.

Huge thanks to Juan, Ivars and Chris who helped make this rather out-there dream into a reality!

Put those podcasts to work on your PDA!

I am part of the team creating several different mobile learning tools. We make:

• mobile content
• tools to help teachers make their own mobile content
• platforms to help people use SMS and MMS as educational resources

as well as spending much of our time exploring the pedagogies around mobile learning.

That was a rather long buildup to a very specific bit of news. One of our tools, Mylearning author, creates interactive content for mobile devices. But we never made enough use of audio. Sure we included sound effects and voice overs, but audio was always an extra.

I guess we were still struggling to shake off the prejudices of "e-learning on your PC".

Today, I am very pleased to announce that our author also lets you add in audio files. Not audio plus text, or audio as a background, but pure, podcast-style audio files.

We have had learners recording their own pep-talks, to remind them of things they learned before.

We have had recordings of lessons, or public talks

We have a few online e-learning courses that include podcast summaries.

All of these can now be more easily included into the mix when you make your mobile content.

Cool huh?

With huge thanks to Chris - the man who made our very first flash-based mobile content all those years ago, and who is still working magic in 2006 - this time with audios.

free SIM cards?

if, like us, you have a lot of mobile devices hanging around for trialling and testing, you will also be familiar with the pain of SIM swapping.

(picture the scene. You have 10 different phones you need to test your new phone game on. Each of the phones need a SIM in them to start up. But since you only lkeep the phones for testing you don't have a contract per phone.)

well, the solution to your problem may be pay-as-you-go, and every now and again the phone providers offer free PAYG sim cards.

now is one of those times: here is a free sim promotion from Orange. I haven't noticed any nasty smallprint, yet.

thanks for the link, Kelly