Students mobile learning study

21 Jul 2010

by: Margaret Snell

Four colleges in the south east of England are taking part in a summer long study to assess the impact of on-demand learning. Almost 500 vocational learners and apprentices have been selected to receive Blackberry smartphones and be given access to the latest mobile learning apps.

Developed with the support of X:OR, it is claimed that the new mobile learning delivery system can facilitate mobile education apps robust enough to play a formal role in the assessment processes used by UK awarding bodies. The app allows course tutors to create content, tests and sharable knowledge base resources which students can access via a Blackberry device. Blackberry 8900, 9520, Curve and Storm 2 are all being assessed over the course of the pilot.

Students using the apps can access their colleges' existing wi-fi infrastructure, other public wi-fi zones or use 3G to access mobile learning, upload course work and participate in formal, formative assessments. Employers and tutors will help to assess the new process and the final report and recommendations will be produced in the autumn.

Terry Salt, Head of computing, IT and e- learning, at Barnfield College said: "Initially, we're focusing efforts in areas like plumbing or hairdressing, where skills are often developed outside of the college and in the workplace. It's here that we believe the new mobile education apps will demonstrate greatest benefit first.”

John O'Sullivan from X:OR said: “We need to understand the real impact that mobile learning has on students' opportunities. Clearly we're working with a medium that the typical student age group is extremely comfortable with, but is a student using the new mobile education apps actually prone to completing qualifications better or faster?”

 

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