The Original Project Proposal

I had a couple of people ask if I would share the original proposal for the Learning on the Go at Brookdale project so this short post is to provide it for people.

It also gives me the chance to introduce the Brookdale Innovation Grant program that the College's Grant Office holds each spring. Here's a short description of the program from the Grant's Office website.

"The purpose of Brookdale Innovation Grants (BIG) is to encourage creative thinking and innovation to enhance educational programs and improve services to students. This grant program is sponsored by the Brookdale Community College Foundation, the College’s General Fund, and the Professional Development Standing Committee of Governance."

We are fortunate to have support for this type of program. Its a great opportunity for individuals to learn and try new things. Also it is very interesting to see what innovative things other people are doing at the College.

Thanks again to the Grants Office for this opportunity!

So what are mobile apps all about?!?

For this project, I will be developing several mobile applications.

While that actual development might have its own complexity, the whole concept of mobile applications makes everything a bit more challenging.

For example, there are two broad categories (or types) of mobile applications that are currently being developed.

Native applications are design specifically to run on the mobile device's operating system (OS).  So for example Apple mobile products (iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches) run the iOS platform. If you want to develop an application for one of these devices you need to specifically write the code or use tools to support it.

The other dominant mobile operating system presently is Google's Android OS.  So while there are similarities between this OS and iOS, applications developed for one of them will  not run on the other.

That's never the situation a developer wants to deal with but it is what it is.

This means if you want to develop an application that runs on both an iPad and a Droid phone, you really need to develop the application twice. It even gets more complicated since both iOS and Android have different OS versions (which have different features available) and device sizes that they support.

For example, an application that works great on an iPad may not be usable on an iPhone due to screen size or operating system version so now here is another set variables to contend with during your development.

If you expand your support to other devices like Blackberry, Palm or Windows tablets, you have even more work to do.

Is there a way to develop an application that works on multiple devices? Not yet but the closest solution is using a web-browser approach and HTML 5.  The benefit is that since it is a browser application and should work on any device as long as the device has a browser that can handle HTML 5.

So is HTML 5 the way to go? Well ... maybe. HTML 5 isn't able to leverage as much of the device features as a a native (and custom OS) application. So while you may be able to achieve a wider audience with HTML 5, you might need to give up on some functionality like cool application interfaces or database system access or GPS tools. Another possible disadvantage of the HTML 5 approach is that your application is dependent on the device's ability to access the internet.  A native application may or may not need Internet access to work.

How about are there tools to make this all easier? I hope to find that this is true as the project unfolds. There is a lot of hype about using Adobe Flash CS5, some companies are testing possible solutions, and the native application tools continue to evolve.

I'll share what I find on this BLOG about the tools and application development in general.

For this project we'll try a combination and collect feedback from students on the use of the developed applications.  Can I predict the best answer?  I doubt it but at least I hope to gain and share more insight on mobile application development and the pros and cons of the different approaches. Lastly, HTML 5 is a still evolving standard and how an application may run is depended on the device's web browser's implementation of delivering HTML 5.

Please share your comments and suggestions.

Thanks, Dan

Getting Started ...

So what is this project all about ...?

The proliferation of mobile devices like Smartphones and tablets such as Apple’s iPad is readily apparent on today’s college campuses. Students and faculty have an expectation of mobility and anytime, anywhere access to virtually every aspect of their daily life, including their education. Furthermore, mobile devices have become critical to the businesses and industries for which we are preparing our students.

Currently, most learning objects - materials designed to enhance learning - are delivered using the Internet. Generally, they are provided to the students using the College’s Learning Management System (ANGEL).  While this approach provides a significant benefit for students by giving them access to course materials 24/7 using laptops and desktop computers, many of these learning objects are not available on or optimized for smaller mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Android Smartphones and the like. 

What is the reason for this problem? Many learning objects were developed with applications that create Adobe Flash format files which may not run on some of these mobile devices. For example, Apple doesn’t support the Flash player required for much of this type of content. Additionally, content developed for a desktop or laptop computer may not have the correct screen dimensions to display properly on mobile devices.  Lastly, applications designed for a traditional keyboard and mouse-based user interface may not be suitable for mobile devices using a touch-based interface.

One of the goals of this project is to investigate and migrate some existing learning objects to different types of mobile devices in order to see if current course materials can be leveraged within this new mobile learning pedagogy. Can we reuse or re-publish materials that have already proven successful in student learning and deliver them on a variety of devices that students rely on daily or even hourly?

Another goal for the project is to develop new learning objects that can benefit from some of the unique technology, such as a touch screen interface, that today’s mobile devices support.