iUOC: enhanced mobile learning at UOC_EUNIS 2011

1. iUOC
enhanced mobile learning at UOC
Eva P. Gil-Rodríguez
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC

2. Our university
• more than 50,000 students & 2,000
teachers who teach and learn
through a virtual learning
environment
• learning contents in different
formats (xml technology): paper, pdf,
web, audiobooks, videobooks, daisy,
electronic books…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvhek_kHnME

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But why mobile?
Mobile society From Virtual Learning
Environments to Mobile Learning Environments

4. Our approach: UCD perspective in m-learning
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mobile scenario =
reading & news!
•e-mail
•virtual classrooms
•institutional news
•agenda
•self-assessment
activities
•contents
e-mail
contents
agenda
news…
notifications
from
classrooms

5. What’s i-UOC? Main Goal:
To enable students & teachers
to access to learning contents
and alerts from the spaces of
communication of our Virtual
Learning Environment in
different mobile devices, such
as the iPad tablet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvhek_kHnME

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6. And how does it work?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxtIJp04hUI

7. But… how is it possible?
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8. The iUOC App
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14. Pilot test
•Agreement with Orange Spain:45 iPad’s 3G for
students and teachers in order to test this native app


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15. Assessment
•Qualitative & Quantitative Assessment
•Focus group with teachers
•User Satisfaction Scale (both students and teachers)


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Students and teachers evaluated iUOC 4 iPad
positively as a Communication tool between
them and as an Interactive support for
learning!

16. Results: about the iPad device
•The iPad with 3G connection is a good tool for education; apart from the
iUOC, different applications help students and teachers in their daily tasks
•The iPad is well accepted and used for reading, visualizing and
searching Information
•Despite its positive feature of fast access to information, the iPad is not a
good tool for writing and creating content!


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17. Results: regarding Pedagogical Innovation
•The iPad could help teachers to imagine and conceptualize new ways of
designing activities in a more dynamic way, which could involve a change in
the pedagogical model
•Students and Teachers do not know exactly which are the pedagogical and
technical possibilities of the iPad devices


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18. Results: about Connectivity
•Referring to the iUOC, both teachers and students reveal that the application
is user friendly and intuitive
•3G connection is highly valued, like that of other technical aspects such as
speed and wifi connection
•3G connection facilitates the use of the iPad anytime-anywhere, and this is
essential in order to incorporate this device in mobile learning environments


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19. Next steps
•Development of iUOC app for Android and smartphone tablets (iPhone,
Android, BlackBerry…)
•Optimization of iUOC for other profiles (teachers and management staff)
•Beyond connection to the Mobile Learning Environment: conceptualization of
pedagogical apps


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20. Conclusions
•The iUOC project provides fast access to learning contents and spaces of
communication of the Virtual Learning Environment of the Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya in a scalable way
•Results from pilot test show how the iPad can catalyze new learning
experiences, owing to the tablet’s interactive capabilities
In that sense, we should complete the experience of access to our Virtual
Learning Environment and digital contents with interactive and
specific native apps for education, according to the subject area chosen


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21. learningtechnologies.uoc.edu
More information: [email protected]
@evapatriciagil