Mobile Learning

Things are unraveling so fast in the tech industry that it is almost difficult to keep up. One day, AllThingsD talks about the poor sales of the HP TouchPad since launch. The New York Times publicizes a report on the near-obsessive demand for the iPad. HP announces the retirement of its TouchPad, followed a few days later by a limited comeback of sorts. With the cheap $99 tablets flying off the shelves, speculation begins that Amazon may be the only player willing to under price its tablet and offer it for $300 apiece, gaining market share against the iPad and helping Amazon spread its tentacles into more wallets in the process. Then comes the shocker – Lenovo announces that it will offer its Android-based tablet for $199. Phew!

The tablet price war has begun, and it is going to reshape the tablet market (ok ok, the iPad market) quickly. However, given how much it costs to make these tablets, and given the low margins in the business, I have a lingering suspicion that Lenovo is under pricing its tablet for the same reason that HP did. Clear its inventory, perhaps, and cut its losses?

For all the noise by these corporations, I think there is only one clear winner so far – the consumer.

Time management is an issue for most folks. Chances are you are a busy parent like me and tend to procrastinate when things get overwhelming, and so do your kids. The regimented life of the average student seems designed to overwhelm your kids. Grades become all-important at a time when distractions and extra-curricular activities explode. As a parent I know that only by being proactive can you help your child to succeed. In this article, we will talk about some tools to help.

Students need to make the most of their time, and the best place they can do it is during their commute to school. The average American spends 100 hours commuting a year. With the average student having a one way commute time of 30 minutes (many rural students commute twice that length of time), this presents an untapped reservoir of time that is usually frittered away.

Whether the student is being driven by you, a bus driver or a horse-drawn carriage, they can make the most of their time with one simple tool: a smart phone or mobile device such as an iPad. These devices allow students to be more effective learners than any generation before. School administrators like Phil Hardin at the Rowan Salisbury School Systems have recognized this potential and equipped students with a mobile device to be used during commutes to and from school. I have the privilege of being involved in this project – as a vendor offering a mobile Internet safety service called Mobicip – and solving a critical problem that schools face.

Unfortunately, most parents haven't installed any Internet child safety software on their mobile devices. As a parent and a developer of Mobicip (a popular Internet content filtering service for the iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Windows 7 and Linux, with extensible parental controls and monitoring), I lead a team that thinks about children’s Internet safety 24/7. After exhaustive research with child development psychologists, high-tech law enforcement officials, Internet safety experts, school IT directors, teachers and parents, we have developed mobile Internet safety solutions specifically with the mobile learning student in mind. A kid-safe mobile device can do wonders for students. With a mobile device you can accomplish so much.

DO PRIMARY RESEARCH: While it may be difficult to write a term paper on the school bus (not that many procrastinators haven't tried to do it), a student's commute is a great time to do a lot of the heavy research lifting. With online notebooks and clipping services like the wonderful Evernote, a student can research a topic on their smart phone, clip an article, web site or whatever to the cloud where it will be available when it comes time to write the term paper. Assuring a child-safe Internet browser experience is why we created Mobicip. Now parents can know that their kids are safely researching school topics while being protected by the latest state of the art kid-safe Internet filter.

OUTLINE, OUTLINE, OUTLINE: The secret weapon of the most prolific writers on the planet is outlining. You may not be able to write out an entire paper, but you certainly can outline one using the word processor on your mobile device. A lot of people make the mistake of waiting to outline after the research is done, but that is a HUGE TIME WASTER. Before you know much about a topic, write out a basic outline. You can do it as 20 questions about the topic. This will help you figure out what research you really need to do.  

FLASHWRITE: Many people think that commuting time is the worst place to do thoughtful writing. They'd be wrong.  Sometimes people get too tense about writing. You can write when you've got distractions, just do it fast without editing yourself. Write as fast as you can about the topic. Much of what you write will need work, but you'd be amazed how much of it doesn't. If you've got a big paper due, take those 20 questions in your outline and write the answers to them as fast as you can. If you don't have to worry about others listening in, many mobile devices have voice recognition software so you could just speak your term paper. (NOTE: even the quietest car is a noisy environment for voice recognition, you will get better results with a microphone very close to your mouth. Throat microphones are the very best for noisy environments like a car. You can pick one up starting at $20.)

PROOF: Read your term paper backwards, in addition to forward. Look at each sentence. See if there is anything that can be tightened, or punctuation that needs to be changed.

THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT: Whatever the topic, chances are there is a study aid app available. Check it out. It may be a separate app or it may be an eBook like CliffsNotes.

FLASHCARDS: Create flashcards to review test material. No matter what the topic, you can find ready-made flashcards, or you can create your own flashcards using software.

LISTEN TO YOUR TEACHER: Most mobile devices can record the audio or video of your classroom lecture. Some note-taking software will actually playback the whole lecture in sync with whatever notes you took. You can play back the whole thing, just the stuff you don't understand, or anything the teacher said would be on the test.

LISTEN TO SOMEONE ELSE: No matter what the topic, chances are excellent that there is a podcast given by a high school or college teacher on the subject. It is pretty easy to find these online. If a student is having difficulty with a topic, it may not be the student's fault. Some teachers can make the most basic topic incomprehensible, boring or so abstract that it is devoid of any real world meaning. But with podcasts, you can learn from the world's best teachers.

LISTEN TO YOUR BOOKS: For kids who are auditory learners or who have reading problems, audio books offer a great way to supplement standard reading. By listening to and simultaneously reading the same text, you process the content in more sections of the brain. This will greatly increase recall during test time. If your child has been diagnosed with a learning difference you may be able to get the audio book for free. Ask your school system which services are available.

WATCH YOUTUBE: YouTube is one of the greatest untapped educational resources on the Internet. Just type in almost any topic and you'll find instructional videos. The problem is that your kids can easily find other less than educational videos as well. That's why we included a robust, kid-safe YouTube filter into the Mobicip child safe browser.

PLAN YOUR SUCCESS: People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. Use the scheduling function in your mobile device to map out homework times, reading times, review times. Many productivity experts swear by writing and reviewing daily to-do lists as a way of keeping on track.

REVIEW EARLY AND REVIEW OFTEN: You can have your entire school experience in your pocket. Most people learn via repetition. Review your notes during all the down times like when you are waiting in line.

CREATE AN ONLINE STUDY GROUP: Sometimes students can help each other learn a topic. Study groups are the key to success in college. They can also be effective during junior high and high school.

EMAIL YOUR TEACHER: Sometimes it can be scary to raise your hand in front of the entire class. A mobile device is a fantastic way to discretely get the extra help you need.
 
GET INSPIRED: If you want to go into a particular field, read, listen or watch YouTube video interviews with leaders in that topic. Sometimes inspiring passion can be the best study aide ever.

Whether the student in question is 8 or 85, these road scholar tips will help you get to the head of the class.

About Author
Suren Ramasubbu is the Founder of Mobicip.com, a leading online child safety service for mobile Internet devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and netbooks. Mobicip's mission is to provide a safe, secure and educational Internet experience for school-age children. Mobicip's dynamic content filtering technology helps parents protect their children from a new wave of Internet hazards stemming from mobility so they can learn and love the mobile web. By delivering an online safety net through its parental control solution, Mobicip gives parents and educators the ability to safeguard their children's mobile devices.  Before launching Mobicip.com, Suren was an Operating Manager at Agilent Technologies, responsible for a division's enterprise web infrastructure strategy and team. At Agilent, Suren has led QA automation strategy, evangelized software engineering methodologies, and developed software for RF and mixed-signal electronic design automation. Suren has also volunteered as a consultant for educational technology projects and led successful United Way volunteering and fundraising campaigns. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Kids learn and grow by pushing boundaries, which is normal and healthy, but Internet safety is one area where we as parents should consider holding the line. In the absence of appropriate parental controls, a few misplaced keystrokes can destroy a child's innocence forever. Installing an Internet filter is just the beginning. Learning how to negotiate online safety and age-appropriate Internet access rules is a major parental challenge. Here are a few Internet safety tips to make it easier.

As a parent and a developer of the Mobicip Safe Browser (a popular Internet content filtering service for the iPod touch, iPhone iPad, Windows 7 and Linux, with extensible parental controls and monitoring), I lead a team that thinks about children’s Internet safety 24/7. After exhaustive research with child development psychologists, high-tech law enforcement officials, Internet safety experts, school IT directors, teachers and parents we have developed mobile Internet safety solutions centered around three content filtering levels:
- The Elementary school level in our kid-friendly browser blocks social networking, gaming, shopping, entertainment, clothing, and news sites/content, in addition to the middle school level restrictions listed below.

- The Middle school level in the Mobicip Safe Browser blocks online shopping, gambling, dating, liquor, and chat sites/content, in addition to the high school level restrictions listed below.

- High school level in the Mobicip Safe Browser is the least restrictive and blocks adult, sexual, weapons, violence, proxy, virus and hacking sites/content.

For parents, these child Internet safety nets are only the beginning. After you've installed the appropriate Internet filters on all the devices your child has access to, then the real debate starts.

The FBI recommends that all computers, whether they are desktops, laptops or handhelds, should have parental controls and filtering installed and should only be accessed by children in a common area within full view of the parents. The Internet is not a babysitter, and children’s time online should be safeguarded with fully robust Internet safety solutions like Mobicip and be strictly limited. You can set time limits with a cooking timer, software, hardware, or a written contract (here's one about cell phone use and here's a great kid computer contract.)

The following time limits are just guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Consider them a starting point for your Internet safety discussions. Obviously every child and situation is unique. There are some children who derive great benefits from extended computer time. If you see your child flourishing with extended computer time, by all means broaden the suggested time limits.

AGE 2-5: Limit time to about 15-20 minutes a day with parental supervision.

Young children (ages 2-5) should play games (whether they are educational or not) only under adult supervision. Even pre-literate children can become addicted to Internet games and simply put, very young kids don't respect technology and might bang it about. Without child Internet safety measures, kids can accidentally open menu items and paint themselves into corners. They will need your help and now is a good time to put on parental controls and establish ground rules about how to respect computers. Don't hit this. Don't lick that. You can only access these web sites via these shortcuts or icons.

AGE 5-9: Limit time to about 30 minutes a day for play with parental supervision.  Allow more time for online schoolwork.

Once your child learns to read, it becomes more important to monitor what they do on the Internet. Now is the time to upgrade online safety and install additional Internet monitoring safeguards such as Mobicip.

If you decide to set up your child's first email account at this time (which might be necessary for many kid sites), use filtered email service providers like Zoobuh, Zilladog, Gaggle, KidseMail, etc.

Once your child has their own email account, now might also be a good time to talk about Internet filters and spam. You need to explain what it is, how you get on spam lists, how to recognize it and why they should never respond to spam. That's the easy discussion.

Here's the hard one - online safety. After a kid gets their own email account, the world can access them. You need to establish whom they communicate with (only people they know in real life) and what information they share. Kids are too trusting of Internet "friends” they meet through gaming sites. As a guideline, the Children's Privacy Protection Act says that by age 13 most kids can understand what they should and shouldn't share online.

Now is a good time to remind them that they should let you know if anyone online makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened. If they tell you about something, don't panic and don't punish the child. They did the right thing by alerting you to a problem with their online safety. You want to keep the lines of communication open between you and your child.

Age 9-12: Limit time to about 45 minutes a day for play with parental supervision.  Allow more time for online schoolwork.

As your tween (age 9-12) grows, you enter the real Internet danger zone. This is when child Internet safety and content filtering will become increasingly important because of all the questionable sites and chat groups out there. This is also the time when your child will begin to chafe at content restrictions and parental controls and want more privacy. They may want to hide their activities from you. They may get computer access at school or friends' homes that lack Internet filters. This when secretly cloning your kid's email account will really pay off.

As they start to register with different web sites, you should emphasize online safety and teach your child how to create a screen name and account information that doesn't reveal personal information such as their age, location, school, etc.

Studies show that the average U.S. kid gets their first cell phone between 9-12. (In the UK, the average age for a kid’s first cell phone is EIGHT.) Always install a mobile, kid-safe content filtering solution like Mobicip. Remember that kids email and text much more than call. (The average U.S. teenager sends 3,339 texts a month.)  Even the most basic cell phone requires mobile Internet safety solutions.

Most cellular providers have an optional package to monitor calls and text messages, limit call times, time of day they’re made and received, and logging the call history. AT&T has the Smart Limits program and Verizon has the Safe Guards program. These services complement Mobicip’s web filtering options.

Age 13-18: Limit time to about 60 minutes a day for play with parental supervision.  Allow more time for online school work.

With powerful computers in every cell phone, it is important to discuss online safety and the dangers of cyberbullying, sexting, online gambling, file sharing and identity theft. At age 13 your kids may still look like kids, but they are living in a very adult world with adult dangers. Empower them by teaching them about it.

Remind them that the Internet is searchable forever, and that sharing an inappropriate joke or photo could cost them dearly in the future. If they don't believe you, show them the latest articles when they search Facebook fired.

Hopefully, by the time they reach 18, your kids have absorbed all the important online safety lessons you’ve shared. They will be aware of potential Internet dangers and able to handle them with confidence.

About Author
Suren Ramasubbu is the Founder of Mobicip.com, a leading online child safety service for mobile Internet devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and netbooks. Mobicip's mission is to provide a safe, secure and educational Internet experience for school-age children. Mobicip's dynamic content filtering technology helps parents protect their children from a new wave of Internet hazards stemming from mobility so they can learn and love the mobile web. By delivering an online safety net through its parental control solution, Mobicip gives parents and educators the ability to safeguard their children's mobile devices.  Before launching Mobicip.com, Suren was an Operating Manager at Agilent Technologies, responsible for a division's enterprise web infrastructure strategy and team. At Agilent, Suren has led QA automation strategy, evangelized software engineering methodologies, and developed software for RF and mixed-signal electronic design automation. Suren has also volunteered as a consultant for educational technology projects and led successful United Way volunteering and fundraising campaigns. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
 

At Mobicip, we recently read a great article by Frank Catalano, "How Educators are Finding Ways to Mix it Up", published by Tina Barseghian at Mind/Shift.  The  article is full of ways teachers are increasing the use of technology and mobile learning in the classroom. Catalono writes: "It’s clear that digital resources and technology are on the upswing in schools." 

He also shares a great question and concern: "So what should education companies learn from these wildly varying, yet deep, implementations of technology in classrooms? For one, modular—and modifiable—educational content remains a strong need, as evidenced by comments from both students and teachers. It probably comes as no surprise that if these educators aren’t getting resources they can chunk and change from traditional publishers, they’ll turn—and are turning—to free content and Open Educational Resources."

Mobicip content filter is the solution for those teachers and students. Mobicip is the leading Internet safety and parental control service for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  Mobicip is now offering a new Windows 7 content filter for parents and educators to ensure their children’s internet safety while browsing the web.

The best-selling Mobicip Safe Browser app has been consistently rated among top paid apps, downloaded and used by tens of thousands of parents and several K-12 schools and school districts in the US, and was recently recognized by the 2010 Parents’ Choice Awards as a Top Mobile App. Mobicip's dynamic content filtering includes a new YouTube filter and Linux content filter for parents and educators to ensure their children’s Internet safety while they are on the web.

There is something happening in K-12 education. A movement. A revolution. A paradigm shift. Call it what you may, but something is changing for sure. For lack of a better phrase, it is has been termed "Mobile Learning". You have probably heard this term bandied about at various K-12 technology conferences already. What does it really mean?

I have been thinking about this change and what it means to students, educators and parents. I realized that this was a movement only when I attended the Mobile 2011 conference. There were K-12 educators, administrators, technology staff and even app developers at the conference. As the founder of Mobicip.com - a safe Internet filter for student mobile devices - you could say I was one of the early converts that believed that students were going to use a mobile device in lieu of textbooks, notebooks and basically to replace the backpack. As much as I believed in the certainty of this change happening, I did not fully comprehend the implications of this change until I listened to Graham Brown-Martin, founder of Learning Without Frontiers and organizer-in-chief of the Handheld Learning conference in London.

During his keynote speech at Mobile 2011, Graham had an interesting take on the implications of mobile learning.

Think about what the automobile did to horse-drawn carts. That is exactly what mobile learning means to K-12 education. In fact, the phrase "Mobile Learning" by itself is slightly misleading. It is not about the mobility, although it is an important component. This change is about ubiquitous, equitable connectivity and access to information at the students' fingertips. What does such access do? It gives them access to high-quality interactions that allow them to learn by doing, learn by practice, learn by repetition, learn by enjoyment of a game, learn by the instant-on nature of the connectivity. If you have any iota of doubt, talk to Travis Allen, the founder of iSchoolInitiative.

According to Graham, mobile learning will eventually lead to the "Napster"-ification of how K-12 students learn. Let's think about this for a minute. The diligent student would seek the information, app, and content she wants at the time she wants it. Given that there will be an incredible number of options available, she would try to seek the best quality learning experience available. There is no question that high-quality content is available online. Lets look at a few examples.

1. MIT Open Courseware
According to their website, OCW is "a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity." This is incredible, isn't it? And its not just MIT. Several higher education institutions have followed the example and created online courses accessible to anyone with a web browser.

2. iTunesU
According to Apple, iTunesU has "more than 350,000 free lectures, videos, films, and other resources — from all over the world." All free.

3. Connexions
According to the Connexions website, it "is one of the most popular open education sites in the world. Its more than 17,000 learning objects or modules in its repository  and over 1000 collections (textbooks, journal articles, etc.) are used by over 2 million people per month."

4. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is inspiring simply due to the incredible fact that one person has created 2100 videos which have been viewed 44.3 million times and counting. To learn more, watch this video of Sal Khan at TED 2011.

5. App Store
But of course. The App Store has brought about a whole new level of instant interactivity to learning that was not possible before. The most common recurring theme at Mobile 2011 has been about the incredible apps that people are using. Every school, every educator, every student has a personalized list of favorite apps that they are more than happy to share with the rest of the world.

Clearly, Graham is on to something when he says that mobile learning is about instant access and connectivity. However, I have a feeling that everything discussed at Mobile 2011, every back channel conversation, every article on this blog, put together, is still the tip of the iceberg. If Graham's prediction is true, ubiquitous connectivity and instant access will change the fundamental definition of learning as we know it. The flow of education, from institutional entities to students, will be irrevocably reversed. The student now becomes the learner, the seeker, the ultimate arbiter of what a quality learning experience means to her at a personalized and individualized level. The teacher, especially the good ones, will be incredibly valuable and sought-after and will command an income proportionate to their value to society. A new class of "mentor/coach" might arise who will be the friend, philosopher and guide to the learner, but with perhaps little authority to dictate terms over the why and the what, but simply guide the how. The institution's role will undergo a transformation into a commoditized aggregator of high-quality learning resources, its survival at the mercy of the choice of the discerning learner. Institutions that do not transform themselves will be left by the wayside as relics of an older time.

Will Graham's prediction come true? Will there be a disruptive change in education as we know it? Is it simply inevitable as a consequence of truly "mobile" learning?

Only time will tell. Mobile 2011 will then be seen as a harbinger of times to come.

Thanks to the organizers for a wonderful and inspiring conference.

This article was written at the Mobile Learning Experience 2011 conference inspired by Graham Brown-Martin's (Founder of the Handheld Learning Conference) keynote.

Suren Ramasubbu
President & CEO
http://www.mobicip.com
suren@mobicip.com
805-906-7270

About Author
Suren Ramasubbu is the Founder of Mobicip.com, a leading online child safety service for mobile Internet devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and netbooks. Mobicip's mission is to provide a safe, secure and educational Internet experience for school-age children. Mobicip's dynamic content filtering technology helps parents protect their children from a new wave of Internet hazards stemming from mobility so they can learn and love the mobile web. By delivering an online safety net through its parental control solution, Mobicip gives parents and educators the ability to safeguard their children's mobile devices.  Before launching Mobicip.com, Suren was an Operating Manager at Agilent Technologies, responsible for a division's enterprise web infrastructure strategy and team. At Agilent, Suren has led QA automation strategy, evangelized software engineering methodologies, and developed software for RF and mixed-signal electronic design automation. Suren has also volunteered as a consultant for educational technology projects and led successful United Way volunteering and fundraising campaigns. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Thousand Oaks, CA - Mobicip.com, the leading Internet safety and parental control service  for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, is now offering a new  Windows 7 content filter for parents and educators to ensure their children’s internet safety while browsing the web. Mobicip for Windows 7 is available for purchase at Mobicip.com.

Mobicip for Windows 7 is designed to provide a safe, secure and educational Internet for families and school-age children. It is based on the same path-breaking dynamic cloud content filtering engine as their award-winning solution for iOS devices. On Windows, Mobicip is a system application that protects Internet access through ANY browser anytime, anywhere.

Mobicip brings enterprise-quality content filtering to homes and classrooms by offering these features:

- Web-based Parental Controls: A rich and easy to use parental control application can be accessed from any browser at any time of the day.
- User & Device Management: Setup the global filtering level for each user protects and monitor multiple users on multiple devices (subscription is per device) under a single parent account.
- Category Blocking: Allow or block categories of websites in the Mobicip database, for example: parents and educators can choose to block social networking or instant messaging websites.
- YouTube Filtering: YouTube is filtered dynamically based on your filtering level. Customize the YouTube filter to allow or block specific YouTube sub-categories, for example: parents or educators can choose to allow Education and News categories.
- Blacklist: Add specific websites to block, for example, users can choose to allow social networking websites, and block MySpace.com.
- Whitelist: Add specific websites that are allowed – example: users can choose to block news related websites, and allow sites like CNN.com. Mobicip’s real-time intelligent content filtering is applied to allowed websites as well, so parents and educators can be rest assured that dynamic classification will protect your child on allowed websites.
- Whitelist Only: Add specific websites that users would like to allow, and restrict access to only these websites. Users can setup their own customized list of websites that they want to allow, and all other websites will be blocked.
- Time Limits: Setup specific windows of time during the day or week when Internet access is not allowed using a simple and intuitive interface.
- Internet Activity Reports: View detailed activity reports of Internet usage for each user across all devices setup under your account. The report includes time of access, a log of all the websites visited, including the ones that were blocked and the reason for blocking.
- Email Reports: Avoid the tedious task of repeat logging in to check activity and simply elect to receive the reports by email on a weekly or monthly basis in PDF, CSV or plain text formats. Review the reports via email and stay in the loop.

Visit the  Mobicip blog or forum  to learn How to Setup Internet Parental Controls on Windows 7.

Mobicip for Windows 7 application is available on Mobicip.com .  The full press release is available at www.mobicip.com/press.

About Mobicip’s Web Filtering and Dynamic Parental Control Software
Mobicip is the most popular content filtering solution available on the App Store. The best-selling Mobicip Safe Browser app has been consistently rated among top paid apps, downloaded and used by tens of thousands of parents and several K-12 schools and school districts  in the US, and was recently recognized by the 2010 Parents’ Choice Awards as a Top Mobile App. Mobicip's dynamic content filtering includes a  new YouTube filter  and  Windows 7 Content Filter  for parents and educators to ensure their children’s Internet safety while they are on the web. In addition to enabling online learning by supporting iOS-based devices, Mobicip partners with schools like Comal ISD to create custom app solutions that further enable online learning.  Learn more at www.mobicip.com/.

Media contact: Nicki Gauthier / Mobicip / 501-I South Reino Rd. Ste 212. Newbury Park CA 91320 / Email: pr@mobicip.com  / Phone: 805-380-5687 / website: http://www.mobicip.com/



 

Suren Ramasubbu, Mobicip.com co-founder, is speaking at ISTE "Unplugged" 2011 this week (one on each day of the conference.) Today his session is about creating a mobile learning environment using Mobicip, from 6:00 - 6:30 pm.  It is session #19 on this page: http://www.isteunplugged.com/.  The presentation description and the Elluminate link are below.

ISTE Unplugged is held during and as a part of the International Society for Technology in Education Conference (ISTE) June 27th - 29th. All ISTE Unplugged sessions will be streamed live through Elluminate and recorded as well. (To make sure your computer is configured for Elluminate, go to http://www.elluminate.com/support.) On the 28th, Suren will be speaking at 5:30 pm and on the 29th he will be speaking at 9:30 am.

Title: Use Mobicip to Create a "Truly" Mobile Learning Environment
(Monday June 27th @ 6:00 pm)

Description: Mobile devices like the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone are increasingly being adopted as the mobile learning device of choice by K-12 schools. Most mobile learning initiatives today restrict the use of the mobile device to the classroom or school. Is this truly mobile learning? Isn't anytime anywhere access the goal? The biggest barrier is that your network is filtered, but what about unsecured hotspots accessed from school or an off-campus or home network? Well, there is an app for that and it can make your students truly mobile. In this session, we will see how to create a safe, secure and educational Internet experience for your students on these always-on devices that can be used anytime, anywhere.

Session 19 at 6:00 - 6:30 pm, Elluminate Link:
https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.06BD786EFDD9CFE55D61D3664F0ECC+

"62 percent of responding parents report that if their child’s school allowed devices to be used for educational purposes, they would likely purchase a mobile device for their child."

"90 percent of the Mobile Learning Explorer administrators state that mobile computers increase students’ potential for success, as compared to 59 percent of the non-Mobile Learning Explorer administrators."
Source: Speak Up survey quoted in Learning in the 21st Century: Taking it Mobile!

The evening news screams scary headlines ("Pedophilia!" "Sexting! "Cyber-bullying!") that make it seem as if mobile devices in the hands of children are more dangerous than handguns. As a parent myself, I obviously agree that every parent needs to safeguard their child's mobile computing experience. However, mobile devices can be the key to learning and dare I even say it...success.

The question is not IF your child should use a mobile device in school, but HOW to do it safely. As mobile devices like iOS devices (like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc); Android (the Barnes & Noble Nook, a variety of tablets and cell phones) or other platform (such as Windows Mobile, Palm, BlackBerry, Nokia, etc.) make their way into classrooms, students, parents, teachers and administrators need to implement best practices that increase learning without compromising safety.

In the United States, many schools are seeing six-year-olds with cell phones. The average UK kid gets their first cell phone at eight. Children's access to mobile devices is staggering, as you can see from the "Learning in the 21st Century: Taking it Mobile!" survey. For instance, among middle school (6th-8th grade) students:
    •    59 percent have a cell phone
    •    24 percent have an Internet-enabled Smartphone
    •    53 percent have a personal laptop or tablet

A generation of students is growing up with a different level of access to information at their collective fingertips.

Mobile Education 101
: Mobile learning, aka mlearning, is one of education's fastest growing trends (starting in kindergarten and going all the way through university, as well as professional learning environments). Properly used, these devices are effective educational tools.


Benefits of mobile learning include:

Individualized Instructions and Learning: With automatic personalization, all learning styles are engaged so there is no “one size fits all” program. Most programs adapt to the individual learner's strengths, allowing the learner to work through their weak spots in the privacy of their handheld. If a student has problems grasping a concept, they can do additional work on their device whenever they choose.

Learning is seen as fun: Subjects like algebra are more palatable when placed in a game format and students can relate the relevancy of real world experiences.

Collaborative and Interactive: Mobile learning tends to increase communication between peers and instructors. Young people communicate differently based on today’s technology. Teaching on their terms helps this information sink in faster.

Discipline issues nearly vanish: Discipline issues went down by 90% after the Rowan-Salisbury School Systems implemented a mobile learning project according to Phil Hardin, Executive Director of Technology. This is because students were more engaged on learning activities on the school bus and had less time to play pranks or bother other students.

Class attendance and participation: There is no need to cancel class due to bad weather, or fall behind as a result of extended absences if mobile devices are set up with online content filtering technology to protect the content they view when they are not in the classroom. Students can attend class and submit homework from any location with devices that have a two-camera system that allows collaboration and participation. This has particular relevance for disadvantaged and special needs students.

Saves schools money: Cash strapped school districts are also attracted to mobile learning technology as a way to save money over the long term. The iSchool Initiative estimates each $150 iPod touch would save at least $600 per student per year.
 
Inexpensive lessons and materials: Ebooks for ereaders and other online educational tools like mobile apps are less expensive to produce than traditional textbooks and will save money. Some online materials such as OpenTextbook are free. Amazon recently introduced a new ad-supported e-ink Kindle at a reduced rate (less than half of a comparable tablet). Whether schools will allow ad-supported technology in the classroom remains to be seen. Ebooks shouldn't be seen as a separate device like an ereader, but as a free application that exists on almost every platform. The ebook learning experience can be enjoyed anywhere for free. Today a student can read a free textbook on her school PC, continue reading on her BlackBerry smartphone during the bus ride home and then open the reading app on her iPad to the exact point where she stopped reading on her phone. Any notes she made on any platform would be saved automatically. This content and extra portability costs the student and the school nothing.

Given these pluses, instead of confiscating handhelds, today's teachers want more of them in the classroom. According to a great report (PDF) -- "The New 3 Es of Education: Enabled, Engaged, Empowered How Today’s Educators are Advancing a New Vision for Teaching and Learning,"

"Teachers highly value the ability of the devices to increase student engagement in learning (77 percent), to facilitate improved communications between teachers, parents and students (64 percent) and to access online textbooks anytime, anywhere (64 percent). Administrators note the same benefits but with stronger validation of the student engagement component (84 percent) and adding in the idea that the devices can extend learning beyond the school day (66 percent) or create opportunities for more personalized learning experiences (64 percent)."

When mobile devices are introduced, studies show that students become more excited about learning and teachers become more enthusiastic about teaching. The benefits are showing in higher test scores, decreases in disciplinary actions and increases in attendance. Some school programs are beginning to require an iPod touch. (A few schools will even standardize over to the iPod touch's big brother, the larger and more expensive iPad.)

But don't think mlearning is an expensive way of throwing new money at an old problem. In the developing world, mlearning is seen as the best and cheapest approach to leapfrogging into the 21st century. Mlearning has the benefit of a cheap display technology that the student probably already has. (The majority of the world accesses the Internet through a mobile device instead of a desktop PC.) Most of the infrastructure isn't in the school but in the cloud, which means that an mlearning program's back office hardware costs are negligible.

What Parents and Educators Can do to Support Mobile Learning

Mobile learning must enjoy the same investment in time from parents and teachers that other classroom activities do. Technology does not run itself, it needs management. Collaboration is key for all aspects of mobile learning, including child safety, content filtering and safeguarding against the Internet’s unsavory elements. Adults need continuing education. Events like the Global Education Conference help support mobile learning from a place of knowledge and understanding.

Last November, the first Global Education Conference was held entirely online (which seems appropriate!). It operated as a platform for discussion on mobile learning practices and showed how technology can enable learning anywhere and everywhere. Engaging presenters ranged from seasoned educators to technology experts. “Mobile Learning Using the iPod touch – In Hindsight was a unique discussion that I moderated. As a mobile Internet safety expert, parent and CEO and co-founder of Mobicip, a leading online child safety service for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PCs, laptops and netbooks, I love being part of the mobile education conversation. This informative discussion joined educators with educational technology experts to discuss ways in which learning can be encouraged in the mobile age. Also covered were acceptable use policies, security and deployment management, as well as anecdotal student benefits. Panelists discussed how these programs evolved from concept to reality and how Mobicip’s content filtering service helped reach and exceed goals. You can click here to listen to the recorded session.



The Future


The future of mobile learning means moving into a more virtual educational environment.  More government dollars will be granted for pilot projects such as Learning On-The-Go 2011 Wireless Pilot Projects (partially funded by the FCC). Corporate and business expenditures for mobile learning products and services in the US alone are expected to reach over $246.9 million in 2011. As mobile learning continues to grow, school districts will see more regulation, oversight and safety mandates that, if not met, could result in restricted funding. Clear Child Internet Safety Guidelines will need to be established and safe browser technology implemented to make sure investments in education continue to flow.

Clearly, more money needs to be spent on research and development of mobile technology as statistics report glowing successes in current school programs. An ongoing open dialogue with all parties including educators, technology experts, parents, business leaders and politicians must recognize the importance of mobile learning and support it.

Whatever modality is used for teaching, whether a book or a touch screen, the principles and discipline of learning remain the same – parents and teachers stand at the podium of a child’s education. Mobile learning blends traditional pedagogy with technology to reach every child. Implementing proper web filtering tools will put them on the fast track to success.

If you want to start your an Mlearning program, check out these resources:

To get the latest examples of mobile learning best practices, click here.

Tony Vincent's fantastic web site Learning in Hand is an educator's resources for mobile learning. It was started in 2002 as part of Tony Vincent's classroom website. At first focusing on Palm handhelds, Learning in Hand now covers podcasting, iPods, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, and netbooks. He takes his 15 years of teaching experience and shows educators (and parents) how to use handhelds to educate with easy to follow examples. 

Learning in the 21st Century: Taking it Mobile! by Blackboard and Project Tomorrow.

The Consortium for School Networking has a very well thought out mlearning guidelines in their Acceptable Use Policies in Web 2.0 & Mobile Era

Mobile Learning Experience 2011

Learning2Go: Great approach for teachers on how to finance and implement an mlearning program.

UpsideLearning.com has produced agreat slide show on mobile learning.

To see how such a program would work, check out ProjectKnect which helped North Carolina's at risk students learn math and more via their mobile phones. You should also check out their instructive blog.

About the Author

Suren Ramasubbu is a mobile Internet safety expert and CEO of Mobicip.com, the leading Internet safety and parental control service for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Mobicip (http: www.mobicip.com) has won Parent Choice awards and is used by schools all over the country to filter out dangerous and inappropriate content. There are a number of child-safe iPod browsers on the market.

We recently received news in the Mobicip Forum that the App Store ratings are not accurate. For example, Bing is rated as 4+ and anyone can download and search.  This needs to be changed ASAP so that kids are not allowed to use this for open searches.  One of our customers recently created a Facebook page called "Protect Kids From the App Store" to promote safe browsing and downloading from the App Store.

Please read comments below from the forum thread:
Posted by Guest on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 09:22:  "Unfortunately, Bing is back to being rated 4+.  And worse, Bing is just the tip of the iceberg.  I would estimate that about 50% of the apps available on the App Store have an unfiltered embedded browser.  I have contacted Apple about the problem, and they say that they will work on a solution, but they are moving incredibly slowly.  I'm hoping that we can get enough people to put pressure on them (and maybe put them in the media spotlight a little), that they will make a concrete change in their policy.

To that end, I've started a Facebook Page called "Protect Kids From the App Store".  I've included a list of other apps that allow unfiltered access to the Internet (along with the number of links to get there).  If you would like to help, then please spread the word on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Kids-From-the-App-Store/137201153016417

Thanks for the help."

The Mobicip forum guest is absolutely right.  While Apple has corrected the ratings for most other browser apps (like Opera, Privately, etc.)  Bing and Google continue to be incorrectly rated at 4+.  It will certainly help if parents like you contact Apple and voice your concern.  Also, thank you for taking action and creating the "Protect Kids From the App Store" facebook page.

At Mobicip, we are very lucky to serve quality customers. They are a great support team, they notify us when they need help and they let us know when they are satisfied and happy. We are grateful to have an open communication with our customers and supporters. Our number one goal is to provide safe and protected mobile learning and browsing. Thank you Sandy Plains Elementary School Principal Harry Walker, The Daily Digi and WickedLocal.com! Please review and visit their sites below:

"It (Mobicip) might be the answer for schools like ours who are struggling with the idea of letting our kids take their IPods home at night.  I'm not as worried about devices being damaged as I am about kids being exposed to inappropriate content.  Until we address how to help kids self-filter on the Internet, this might be the next best thing.  Check it out: http://www.mobicip.com"
- I Teach Therefore IPod

"Mobicip is an app that I use on all i-devices (iPod Touch, iPhones, iPads) that has parental control settings and you can also view histories.  I know there are similar apps for other mobile devices, but don’t know their names.  It lets filter YouTube as well.  The app is free but you do have to sign up for a paid account for it to work.  It becomes the default internet browser on those apps after you deactivate Safari. I’ve been really glad to have it on our devices and know that my kids are safe in their surfing."
- The Daily Digi

"You can also install an app like Mobicip on your child’s iTouch or iPhone, which replaces the Safari browser with a more child-friendly one and provides reports for monitoring your child’s Internet-related activities."
- WickedLocal.com/Cohasset

Mobicip's Safe Browser has been nominated for IEducational Apps Review's Best Educational App Awards 2010.

When you get a chance, please vote for Mobicip in the Best Web Browser App category. Follow this link to submit your vote.

Ballots must be completed by 6:00 PM EST December 15, 2010. Listen to the iEAR Podcast and check the iEAR community websites for the results.

Thank you for your kind help and support!

If you are at ISTE 2010, make sure to stop by this ISTE Unplugged event on Tuesday, Jun 29 at 10:30 am.

Title: Individualized Instruction and Learning Using the iPod Touch

Description:
Comal ISD and Grey Culbreth Middle have implemented iPod Touch-based mobile learning programs. Middle schoolers who participate in these programs are each given an iPod Touch that includes restricted Internet access, apps, music, documents, presentations and instructional videos that allow the students to learn on their own time outside of school hours. The panelists will discuss how the programs evolved from concept to reality, cover acceptable use policy, security and deployment management, and anecdotal evidence of the benefits derived by students participating in the program.

• Comal ISD in New Braunfels, TX, has implemented a 1:1 learning program using the Apple iPod Touch for its special education English language learners.
• Grey Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC has implemented a similar program for the entire 8th grade class.
• Travis Allen from the iSchool Initiative will also participate in the session and bring a refreshing student perspective.
• The session is hosted by Suren Ramasubbu (HuffPost blogger and CEO of Mobicip.com)

Panelists:

Suren Ramasubbu http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu

Sandra Shelton http://www.comalisd.org/mobile_learning/index.html

Travis Allen http://www.ischoolinitiative.com

Susan Wells http://www.youtube.com/greyculbreth

Click here to join the Elluminate room

Comal Independent School District in New Braunfels, Texas had identified a subset of the student population as English Language Learners (ELL). The district launched an ELL program for these students, as part of which each student was provided an iPod Touch. Given that the iPod Touch is an internet-enabled powerful computing device, the school had to overcome several challenges before they could deploy the solution.

Comal ISD decided to deploy Mobicip’s Safe Browser app as the window to the Internet on the iPod Touch. The Safe Browser app offers a safe, secure and educational Internet environment for school-age children.

“Mobicip fills a critical need for us. Students still have access to the Internet on any WiFi network and teachers and parents can feel confident that they are not accessing inappropriate sites.”, says Jennifer Wivagg, technology coordinator at Comal ISD.

Comal ISD has found Mobicipʼs solution to be effective, affordable and instrumental in enforcing CIPA compliance and implementing a managed one to one learning program using the iPod Touch, while allowing teachers to find innovative educational uses for safe and secure Internet access.

Click here to download the full case study.