mobile learner

pys60 learning

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:34:00 -0700

pys60 learning
Python programming language, created in 1991 by Guido van Rossum, is the sixth most popular programming language and “the programming language of year 2007“. Nokia Series 60 is a Symbian-based mobile phone platform for high end smart phones which is the most widespread smart phone platform. Python for Series 60 is Python ported to S60. PyS60 is open source .

This essay is a post-mortem for creating a commercial grade PyS60 application. By “commercial” I mean something which is publicly available for end users and meets the criteria of Symbian Signed certification. I hope this essay will shed light on the real world challenges, thus aiding Nokia, mobile application vendors and PyS60 community to know when to use PyS60, to strengthen PyS60 as a platform and to guide people make most of it.

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Python for Series 60 and the alternative platforms

Python has traditionally had strong foothold in the academic world. So it does not come with a surprise that Finnish universities use PyS60 on mobile application software development courses due to Python’s low learning curve.

Python itself has been around longer than the most popular programming language, Java. Python’s suitability for the complex development jobs was largely untested until the rise of modern web. The dynamic, agile, nature of Python does not come for free. So called abstraction penalty (interpreting) slows down Python execution speed. It was not until the 00s when processor were fast enough to make this irrelevant matter: software development costs outrun hardware costs and more agile development tools had to be found.

Python for Series 60. Started as a Nokia’s research effort, Nokia brings this agile environment to mobile software development. Python for Series 60 has also a sister project, PyUIQ, which targets Sony-Ericsson phones.

PyS60 has had the reputation to be “prototype only” technology and it’s use has been counter-argumeted by “serious development needs C++”. This is slowly changing. Nokia has shown serious commitment to Python. With the launch of Mobile Web Server, Nokia proved that Python is feasible in commercial grade applications.

This is how my brain worked when I choose PyS60: Symbian C++ is notorious difficult and no one wants to ever touch it. Java ME might have not enough access to the phone features to fulfill the application requirements My client already used Python on embedded Linux and web servers.

Python is agile

This is maybe the most important argument to pick PyS60. Python tends to reduce development time compared to C++ or Java. The language itself is very easy to learn. Syntax is expressive and developers can achieve much more functionality in less lines of codes: You can focus on getting the task itself done. With higher level concepts and less hassle with lower level things, changes to introduce bugs radically decreases.

Python development does not have traditional compiling phase, though byte code files can be built for the final release to obfuscate the code and optimize loading times. Changes made into Python code are immediately (in seconds) visible in the running application. Even if the application runs on the target device, since code changes can be automatically synchronized over a Bluetooth connection. No wonder Python enjoys legendary fast prototyping language fame – the developers have less time to surf in web when they don’t need to wait compilers to bake yet another test build.

PyS60 is open source

The benefits of open source already: vendor freedom, no licensing cost, not being mercy on others and so on. This all holds true for PyS60 as well.

PyS60 license (Python license) does not place restrictions for creating closed source software. You can have very good development tools for free: Series 60 SDK, Eclipse IDE with PyDev plug-in and PUTools bluetooth synchronization kit for free. This makes the barrier to enter PyS60 development very low.

Since PyS60 is fully available in the source code form, you can customize and fix it for your needs. The traditional horror story from Java ME development is that your application won’t run in the mobile phone model X, since there is a bug in the vendor’s Java Virtual Machine implementation. Unless you are A Very Big Player, don’t ever think about going to talk with the vendor and ask it to fix its bug – hitting one of these issues might prevent you to release product at all. With PyS60 you can control all aspects of the software execution up to the closed parts of the device. No more being mercy on others!

Being open is pop now. Embracing open source gives much for your company: good citizen reputation, hiring pool and free marketing.

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Python is portable

Python runs on Linux, Windows mobile and Symbian – Python runs on almost every smart phone known to man. And not just the phones, it runs on every computer as well: Windows, OSX and Linux server and desktops. Moving your code between these environments is easy. Maybe there isn’t yet “cross-platform Python SDK for mobile phones”, but it might be just a matter of time when something leveraging the idea comes out.

In our project, core files, independent from graphical user interface, were built and unit tested on Linux desktop environment. No emulator was needed. It was not until the late development stages when they had to be moved to Symbian environment. Since you can develop and debug your code in such “easy” environment, you can work more effectively.

Because the full Python is available in the phone and it can run the exactly same modules as your servers, sharing code between these two environments opens possibility for making “smart” clients. Think about the situation where your phone is offline. It can have a subset of the full database loaded on a memory card. Since moving Python code from the server to the mobile is easy, the mobile application can have the same database functions and application logic modules loaded with it. Without the extra duplication of the logic code, one can operate on the small subset of the data and later synchronize it with the main database.

Python is extendable

You can mix C++ and Python. When you run out of ready components or you need unleash all available CPU cycles for CPU sensitive calculation tasks, you can write your own native extensions (DLL files) for PyS60 in Symbian C++. They enjoy all the same privileges as any native built code or application. Actually standalone PyS60 applications are just normal Symbian executables which just happen to have Python interpreter started inside them.

If you are working with phone features which are not yet very common and lack working Java ME implementations, say acceleration sensors, instead of creating a native C++ application you can create a Python application. You need to mix-in low level C++ only for the the critical part of the applications which operate with the native platform API.

Arguments against Python for Series 60

PyS60 has not been around for long

PyS60 is a young project. It still has some maturity issues. If you don’t do preparations well and test that all needed modules work as you want them to work, you might need to do some extra work to get around the issues.

Especially PyS60 user interface lacks some crucial components and polish which may force you to create UI components yourself.

By “getting around” the issues I mean leaping to the native Symbian code world and writing embedded C++. Since this leap is all but a little step, in the terms of development skills and complexity, I recommend preparing for the worst before the roof is falling on your head. I have seen too much “plz reply me asap urgent my boss kills me this afternoon” PyS60 discussion board messages from persons who haven’t done their homework. For example, you could make sure that you have some hired Symbian guns available in the case your own effort was not enough.

Python is for high-end phones only

PyS60 and PyUIQ are available for the high end smart phones only. Nokia’s Series 40 devices, and other devices built around in-house operating systems, cannot run Python. If you are targetting to e.g. consumers markets and Java ME has all the required capabilities to implement the application, it is the only real way to go.

Symbian is powerful platform

Symbian, as a software development platform, is very challenging. Due to its history, the feeling of developing for Symbian differs greatly from other mobile, desktop and server platforms. Things simple elsewhere, like installing an application, might become a development nightmare on Symbian where one has to fight his/her way through capability limitations, artificial device restrictions and signing process just to get the application to the phone.

PyS60 naturally inherits all these challenges. Java ME goes around the issue by having its own custom installation, signing, etc. schemes. On Symbian, even accessing some of the device features – a device you own and hold in your hand – requires you to throw in few hundred bucks cash to get the publisher id – to get the developer certificate – to sign the application – to have all required capabilities – to access the specific features (read: GPS). More cash and third party testing is needed to publish the application. This is the price of virus free DRM’ed platform.

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NOTE: From now we will try to put all the basics of pys60 to advanced programming.This content may be copied/created by own but intention is that to provide all contents in this website/blog for pys60 programmers in single site and i ll be sure that if you follow this site than they is no need of referring other website in creating the applications.
some samples we will take from wiki,forum.nokia.com and other books in future

Certificate Error ,when installing sis files in nokia devices

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:50:00 -0700

As much as I like themes to personalize my Nokia devices they are also a cause for the vast majority of all questions I see in this blog.
Issue-1 :
“I have problems installing softwares please help me” or “I get a “certificate error” message when trying to install a software what do I do” or “I get an “certificate expired” error message when installing a theme please help”
Although this have been covered extensively in the past I guess it is still an issue.
If you try to install a software and see the above error message “Certificate Error. Contact the application supplier” You are trying to installed an application that is not Symbian signed.
The solution is easy. Simply switch the setting in the Application Manager from “Signed only” to accept all – “Software Installation: All”. You can find the application manager in the tools folder, then click on “Option” to bring up “Settings”.

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Issue-2 Expired Certificate error.
The certificate that the theme developer used may have expired. However, there is an even easier fix for this issue.
Simply set the date on your device back 3 to 16 months and then install the software. After you successfully installed the theme don’t forget to set the time correctly on your device.
If none of those option works try to sign the application/theme on Symbian Signed: https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/public/openSignedOnline.do
With that being said I am now off to trawl the internet for some new great themes. If you have any themes to share with us please.
The other simple way is just install Freesigner. Click add then open the application or the theme u want to sign location, click on it then options and click add 3 options will be shown chose “self sign” but if the file is already signed (usually its extension *.sisx) u must click remove sign then go again to the theme’s folder u will find the same theme name but with *.sis extension then do the “self sign”. after that close the FREESIGNER and go to the folder u will find ur theme or app. have the same name with “signed” added and with *.sisx extension congrats u have signed theme.
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freesigner

you got Certificate Error here is the solution

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:48:00 -0700

As much as I like themes to personalize my Nokia devices they are also a cause for the vast majority of all questions I see in this blog.
“I have problems installing themes please help me” or “I get a “certificate error” message when trying to install a theme what do I do” or “I get an “certificate expired” error message when installing a theme please help”
Although this have been covered extensively in the past I guess it is still an issue.
If you try to install a theme and see the above error message “Certificate Error. Contact the application supplier” You are trying to installed an application that is not Symbian signed.
The solution is easy. Simply switch the setting in the Application Manager from “Signed only” to accept all – “Software Installation: All”. You can find the application manager in the tools folder, then click on “Option” to bring up “Settings”.

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Another common issue is the “Expired Certificate” error. The certificate that the theme developer used may have expired. However, there is an even easier fix for this issue.
Simply set the date on your device back 3 to 16 months and then install the theme. After you successfully installed the theme don’t forget to set the time correctly on your device.
If none of those option works try to sign the application/theme on Symbian Signed: https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/public/openSignedOnline.do
With that being said I am now off to trawl the internet for some new great themes. If you have any themes to share with us please.
The other simple way is just install Freesigner. Click add then open the application or the theme u want to sign location, click on it then options and click add 3 options will be shown chose “self sign” but if the file is already signed (usually its extension *.sisx) u must click remove sign then go again to the theme’s folder u will find the same theme name but with *.sis extension then do the “self sign”. after that close the FREESIGNER and go to the folder u will find ur theme or app. have the same name with “signed” added and with *.sisx extension congrats u have signed theme.

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noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:41:00 -0700

Nokia will begin to implement RFID technology to their handset products. So far RFID has been applied to the goods, pet, paper money and so on.

What is RFID? It is a kind of microchip with the half size of grain sand. It works with listening for the radio query and then responds by transmitting its unique code of ID. Without battery, it uses initial radio signal as power.

Wal-Mart has used this chip for reducing the usage of bar codes and hand checking. For Nokia, this technology will much help on monitoring sales stocks and the quicker feedback on its demands.

However, the implementation still needs time for development. Not only that, the privacy laws of European Union will require that European consumers should be able to switch off this tag.

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The Cell Phone: Marty Cooper's Big Idea

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:06:00 -0700

There are seven billion people on the planet, and nearly five billion cell phones - meaning most of the Earth's population is connected for sound, for picture, and for heaven only knows what else.

The cell phone has brought us a world without end of talking, twittering, texting, even of sexting. If you don't know what that is, ask any high school kid.

It is all a result of Marty Cooper's big idea. And he looks at it all with pride, amusement and some dismay. And with good reason: he is the father of the cell phone. He built the first one 37 years ago. It ushered in a technological and social revolution which he believes is far from over. He made the first public cell phone call on the sidewalks of New York, in 1973.

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"This is a time when there were no cordless phones. And certainly no cell phones. And here's this guy talking as he was walking along. And I stepped into the street and nearly got creamed by a New York taxicab. So talk about being prescient and seeing a picture of the future," Cooper told "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer.

It’s a future - of non-stop connection of apps galore, iPhones and Droids, Blackberrys and Blueteeth - or is it Bluetooths?

Marty Cooper checks out the latest at the wireless industry's annual convention in Las Vegas, a huge convergence where geeks meet gizmos.

And unlike some of us of a certain age, he understands all of it.

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Asked if he twitters, Cooper said, "I signed up for Twitter about six months ago, did nothing and I had 17 followers. So now I'm actually twittering. My latest twitter is, 'The secret of successful aging is to have good genes and to show a lot of respect for the genes.'"

Asked if he thinks he's the oldest twitterer in America, Cooper said, "I don't want to be the oldest anything in America. Sorry about that."

But you'll have to look hard to find anyone older on the slopes at Vail, his favorite getaway. Cooper was born in Chicago on the eve of the Great Depression. He's 81, an age, for many, when the most strenuous exercise of the day is getting in and out of bed.

"His tennis and his skiing are better than they've ever been. I have a hard time keeping up with him. And I'm almost 20 years younger," his wife Arlene Harris told Safer.

With his wife, another veteran of the mobile phone business, Cooper is still in the game, awaiting the next big thing in wireless communication. He's convinced that the cell phone, at 37, is still in its infancy.

"Technology has to be invisible. Transparent. Just simple. A modern cell phone in general has an instruction book that's bigger and heavier than the cell phone. That's not right," Cooper said.

Call it the complexity or confusion factor.

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Cooper argues that cell phones designed to do everything - take pictures, play music and videos, surf the Web - don't do any of them really well. He thinks the buyers should be dictating exactly what they want.

"The consumer is king. The consumer ought to make the decisions. And not, certainly not the engineer," Cooper said. "Engineers tend to get enchanted by the technology itself."

So it seems only natural that the latest gadget developed by Cooper and his wife is a retro cell phone called the "Jitterbug." It's a basic phone - there's no camera, no music. Any idiot can operate it.

It sounds simple enough: if you can hear a dial tone on the Jitterbug, you can make a call. "If there's no dial tone you can't," Cooper explained.
BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone (AT&T)

His next target are lost calls, also known as drop outs. Atop his office building, ugly conventional cell phone antennas are disguised as flagpoles.

He's developing so-called smart antennas that can cut through all the competing noise in the radio environment to get your call through.

"And what they do is when we transmit, we send the information only to your phone," Cooper explained.

Asked if we'll reach a day when a cell phone is as perfect as a landline, Cooper said, "That's exactly right."

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What hath Marty Cooper wrought? Let us go, for a moment, back to the future.

The cell's precursor, the car telephone, came in right after World War II.

"A tiny radio transmitter sends your voice out on the airwaves to the nearest central station, where regular telephone operators can connect you with any telephone on land or sea," one newsreel explained.

It was a world of wonders: if someone was sick, you could track down the doctor on the road. Remember: these were the quaint old days when doctors, at least in newsreels, made house calls.

Even then, it was clear that being connected would put everybody on a very short leash.

And when in the 1960s AT&T developed more sophisticated cellular antennas the phone giant still considered car phones the name of the game. But Cooper and his engineers at Motorola thought otherwise, and decided to elbow their way into the business.

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"We really had a basic understanding that people are mobile. And it's personal telephones they wanted. It's handheld portables," Cooper remembered. "So there was a real conflict between this elephant, which was AT&T, and this fly that was Motorola. But we ended up winning."

On a chilly spring day, we took Cooper back to the spot where he made that first call: Sixth Avenue, outside the New York Hilton. For the record, the call went to Joel Engel, Cooper's rival at AT&T.

"I said 'Joel, this is Marty Cooper.' He says 'Hi.' 'I'm calling you from a cellular phone, but a real cellular phone, a hand-held portable cellular phone.' And there was silence on the end of the line," Cooper remembered.

He couldn't resist rubbing it in.

At a news conference inside the Hilton, Cooper introduced his gadget and encouraged reporters to try it out.

"The first reporter I talked to actually called her mother in Australia. And she was astounded when her mother answered. She couldn't understand how this little phone could talk halfway around the Earth," Cooper explained.

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"Little phone? What are you talking about?" Safer asked, referring to the first cell phones size and heft.

"Well, relatively small. I mean, after all, it only weighed two and a half pounds," Cooper replied.

So where is cell phone technology going?

"I think we are just barely scratching the surface," Cooper said.

Take the issue of health and fitness: a workout fanatic if there ever was one, Cooper says the day is fast approaching when your phone - or something like it - will be checking your vital signs, day and night.

"The health care industry is gonna be revolutionized because you will have sensors at various points on your body measuring different things. And a computer somewhere, or maybe a doctor, will be examining you all the time," Cooper predicted.

It's not that far-fetched. Health monitoring was a major theme at that recent wireless convention in Las Vegas.

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"The concept of the annual physical examination, it's almost worthless because looking at your body at a point in time doesn't really tell doctors very much at all. But if you could measure these things all the time you can predict heart failures. You can predict diabetes. And you could prevent all those things," Cooper explained.

From his hideaway overlooking the Pacific, in Southern California, Cooper contemplates a society where such familiar touchstones, like money and credit cards, simple human contacts are things of the past, replaced by wireless devices that will rule our lives.

"Isn't there almost a Brave New World sensibility behind all of this being connected? What does it do to our privacy?" Safer asked.

"Sorry. Privacy is a thing of the past," Cooper replied.

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He's got a point. Security cameras track our movements, cell phones hold clues to what we've read, where we've been, and where we are. Police track down suspects on Facebook. And police states can no longer suppress instant images of their repression.

"I think the whole concept of privacy requires a new mindset among people. There are people who object to somebody monitoring their buying habits. I'm delighted if people know what I buy because they're gonna tailor their marketing to me and the products that are available to me, to my tastes. Well, that's a good thing," Cooper said.

"Well, yes and no," Safer remarked. "I mean, hiding something is a kind of undeniable human right, you know? To have some sense of a private life. The next gizmo could start reading our thoughts? And who wants that?"

"They're not gonna be able to read our minds for a few generations, if ever," Cooper replied.

"But they're working on it, though," Safer remarked.

"Yes, they are," Cooper agreed.

Cooper is annoyed, as we all are, by his cell phone. The phone butted in as he and Safer were discussing the gadget's history when it made a bird-like sound to alert him that he got a notification.

And he is philosophical on the topic of bad phone manners, that worldwide curse of other peoples' chatter, sound and fury signifying nothing.

"You know, it doesn't take a telephone to make people be either stupid or rude," Cooper said.

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So get used to it and don't take it out on the phone. They're making them shock-proof and waterproof anyway.

And besides, as the future bears down on us, Cooper says eventually, man and machine will become one.

"The optimum telephone is one that I think some day is gonna be embedded behind your ear. It's gonna have an extraordinarily powerful computer running the cell phone. And I'm gonna name my computer Sam, and I'm gonna say, 'Sam, get Morley on the phone for me.' And Sam's gonna respond in my ear, 'Which Morley? Is this your cousin Morley in Toronto? Or the Morley Safer in New York?' And I'm gonna say 'Morley Safer.' And the next thing you know, I'm gonna be talking to you," Cooper said.

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[source]:::www.mobiletechnews.com
HTC Hero Android Phone (Sprint)

Mobile Devices Seen as Key to 21st-Century Learning

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:58:00 -0700

Children’s lives have been caught up in a tide of mobile digital technologies—games, cellphones, and smartphones—that if carefully managed could significantly boost their learning, concludes a report released today by a research center based at the Sesame Workshop.

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“Mobile devices are part of the fabric of children’s lives today: They are here to stay,” Michael H. Levine, the executive director of the New York City-based Joan Ganz Cooney Center, at Sesame Workshop, wrote in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “It is no longer a question of whether we should use these devices to support learning, but how and when to use them.”
The 52-page “Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning” calls for the incoming Obama administration and the business community to invest in more research on the use of mobile phones and other hand-held devices for children in school and after-school settings. It also calls for a gradual lifting of school cellphone bans.
The author of the report is Carly Shuler, a researcher in the children’s media and toy industry who is a fellow at the center.

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“While these devices are undoubtedly a source of fun and entertainment, proponents of mobile learning believe they have significant potential to be a key ally in supporting learning experiences,” she writes, drawing on interviews with mobile-learning experts and a review of scientific literature and industry trends.

Fast-Growing Segment

The report compiles relevant data, such as a finding of the Pew Internet & American Life Project that children under age 12 form one of the fastest-growing segments of users of mobile devices. However, the use of such mobile devices has grown much more rapidly in other sectors, such as health, banking, politics, and citizen journalism, than in education, it says.
The report also includes an inventory of more than 25 projects in which hand-held devices are being used for learning or are the subject of research in the United States and other nations.
“We were really actually quite surprised with how robust the experimentation is, particularly in other countries, with mobile technologies,” Mr. Levine said in an interview.

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Other nations are experimenting more quickly with new technologies than the United States, he said, adding that a more permissive approach to trying new technologies exists in Asia and Europe than in the United States, because of concerns among U.S. parents and educators about mobile devices being used in disruptive ways.
Mr. Levine added, however, that he thinks “the pendulum is swinging back” toward a loosening of those restrictions.

Smartphones for Math

One U.S. project highlighted in the report is Project K-Nect, a pilot program in its second year that has placed smartphones—which are mobile phones that have wireless Internet and computer-like capabilities—in the hands of 9th grade algebra students in four North Carolina high schools. Teachers, from their laptop computers, send specially designed activities related to curriculum topics to students’ smartphones.
The activities include digital simulations and digital manipulatives that turn abstract concepts into real-world examples. Students can use their phones’ video, text-messaging, and instant-messaging functions to send and receive problem-solving strategies and tips to and from students at the other schools and to tutors from the Math Forum at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Shawn Gross, the executive director of the project, said it is proving that smartphones, which in some communities students already own or have access to, can provide “many services that can be used as an educational appliance rather than as a distraction.”
A long list of recommendations in the report begins with a call for government and philanthropies to make new investments in research and development aimed at understanding the impact of mobile technologies on children’s learning and development, including brain and behavioral functioning.
The report calls for creating new industry designs and educational applications rather than applying traditional learning models or downsizing software designed for personal computers to fit mobile devices.
Another recommendation is establishing a digital teacher corps that would train other teachers and after-school caregivers to use digital media to promote 21st-century literacy.

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Presidential Initiative?

The center urges that the incoming administration convene a presidential initiative on digital learning, beginning with an audit of current government spending on digital technologies for learning.
The initiative, including a White House summit, should also set up a digital-investment fund to accelerate education reform and promote mobile innovation to benefit the economy, the report says.
Most pertinent to local school leaders, the report calls for school districts to modify and gradually lift restrictions on student cellphones—which most districts ban from use in classrooms or even altogether from campus. The report recommends steps to gradually introduce mobile devices into schools, starting with experiments in which teachers are trained in how to integrate interactive media, while students learn the needed skills and behavior for using cellphones appropriately in a school setting.

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Summer Training Program on “Mobile architecture & Programming”

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:52:00 -0700

A Summer Training Program on “Mobile architecture & Programming” is being organized by by IGIT, IP University in collaboration with Nokia (From 31-05-2010 to 09-07-2010) .
This program is being offered by the IGIT, IP University in association with Nokia on Python, Symbian, Maemo, and Qt mobile technologies. This also includes minor projects based on these technologies, implemented on the real mobile devices. Attending
this course will help you to understand and program the concepts of the various on device (Mobile) peripherals like Keyboard, Display, Sensors, Camera, Bluetooth, Networking, SMS services etc and the practicals is based on the real mobile devices.
1. Devices: Nokia Mobile devices are used for practical purposes.
2. Training Material: Training material and the software’s required for developing the
mobile applications will be provided [Python, Symbian, Qt, Maemo].
3. Resource Pensions: Internal and external from Nokia and experts from industry.
4. Course Content: Topic wise is attached in the schedule.
5. Fee and Mode of Payment: Participants are required to submit a demand draft of Rs.3500/- in favour of “Principal, IGIT”. The Demand Draft will not be refunded in
case a selected participant does not attend the program. TA and DA will be paid for the participants.
6. Certificate: All successfully completed participants will get the certificate jointly from IGIT and Nokia.
7. Last date of registration: On or before 20-05-2010. Only 60 seats are available and the conformation of the registration is based on the First Come First Serve manor. All selected participants will be informed on 22-05-2010 through mail.
8. Who can attend the program: Student studying or completed B.Tech/ M.Tech
(CSE, ECE, IT)/ MCA (preferably B.Tech students who have completed three
semesters). Faculty members who are teaching (or willing to teach) Embedded
Systems/ Mobile Computing/ Mobile Communication etc can also attend)

contact:
S. Ramanarayana Reddy, Asstt. Prof. CSE Department,
Electrical Block, IGIT, GGS Indraprastha University, Kashmere Gate,
Delhi – 110 006 Tele: 9810101742, 011-23869784,
Email: rammallik@yahoo.com

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The Use of Mobile Phones in Education in Developing Countries

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:08:00 -0700

The World Bank is embarking on a new study investigating issues related to the use of mobile phones in education in developing countries.

The study is intended to help to raise awareness among key decisionmakers in the public, private and civil society sectors about the potential importance of the use of low cost mobile devices -- especially mobile phones -- to help benefit a variety of educational objectives. By documenting the existing landscape of initiatives in this area and emerging 'good practice', it is also hoped that this work will serve as a common base for further analytical work in this area, and inform the impending explosion of development of new hardware, software and business services occurring on mobile devices, to the benefit of these educational objectives.

This activity is one component of a larger 'mobile flagship' program at the World Bank consisting of studies and activities related to mobile services and applications in selected sectors, including “Mobile Banking Users and Non Users Behavior Study”; “Extending Mobile Applications in Africa through Social Networking"; and “Mobile Applications for Sectoral Development”.

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Activity Description

Drawing on examples of the use of mobile phones and related handheld technologies for educational purposes in advanced economies like Korea, Japan, the U.K., the United States and Finland, and an emerging evidence base of pilot projects from countries as diverse as Tanzania, Kenya, the Philippines, Mongolia, China and South Africa, this study proposes to:

Map the existing universe of projects and initiatives exploring the use of mobile phones in education in developing countries.
Map the existing and potential uses of mobile phones in this regard, comparing and contrasting such uses with other ICT devices..
Document lessons learned so far from key initiatives in this area, proposing tentative guidance for policymakers and various stakeholder groups in this fast moving area.
Propose a conceptual framework and way forward for further analytical work to aid in the documentation and rigorous impact cost and impact assessment of the use of mobile phones in education.

While ‘education’ is the focus here, the area of inquiry is not be limited to the formal education sector itself. Lifelong learning and educational outreach activities utilizing the mobile phone to benefit the health and agricultural sectors will also fall within the scope of this study. This work will draw heavily on organizations and expertise active in these areas on-the-ground.

The results of this study will be disseminated and discussed at a landmark global event on mobile applications sponsored by the World Bank as part of the 'mobile flagship' initiative, involving sets of key stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors.

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Background and Context

Going forward, isn't it more likely that the ICT tool of choice for students in developing countries will be the mobile phone, and not the computer?

This is a question of hot debate in many circles. Whatever the eventual resolution of this debate (and no doubt it will not yield a simple either/or answer), there are still precious few widespread examples of the use of phones for education purposes inside or outside of classrooms in developing countries that have been well documented, and fewer still that have been evaluated with any sort of rigor.

28% of Africans now have a mobile phone subscription, according to data released by the ITU earlier this year, part of a larger trend that sees two out of every three mobile subscribers around the world living in a developing country. The flagship ITU publication Measuring the Information Society notes that two-thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with Africa, which has a 2% subscriber rate as recently as 2000, growing the fastest. And it is not only adults who are making use of this new technology. Recent survey work at a low-income high school in South Africa's Samora Machel township (for example) suggests that mobile penetration among youth in some places might be higher than one might suspect.

While the explosive use of mobile phones in developing countries is well-documented -- and undeniable -- and evidence is emerging that phones are slowly making their way into the hands of teens, just what this might mean for the delivery of education in developing countries is a little less clear.

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Five years ago infoDev commissioned work to map out what was known about the nascent topic of ‘mobile banking’, and the resulting study, the first of its kind, helped frame the issues for donor agencies, governments, NGOs and private sector firms alike. ‘M-banking’ has exploded since then, and this study proposes to do for the use of mobile phones in education what the earlier infoDev study did for the use of mobile phones in the financial services sector. We are at a similar point now with where we were with m-banking five years ago, and this study will provide guidance for World Bank technical assistance and investment activities related to the much-hyped potential for the use of mobile phones in education. There is an opportunity here to contribute to the global knowledgebase in the very early stages of what is poised to become a potentially massive area of investment by ministries of education, civil society and (especially) the private sector in the decade to come.

Nascent efforts are underway to explore various aspects of the emerging phenomenon of the use of mobile phones in education, but no institution has stepped forward to help catalyze global collaboration and cooperation around research directions and agenda setting in this area. This work will tap the expertise and convening power of a number of key partner organizations and experts active in this area.

This work, expected to run through December 2010, is being funded by the Korean ICT Trust Fund at the World Bank. Updates on this project will be posted periodically on the World Bank's ICT and Education blog, EduTech.

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[ SOURCE ]::::::http://web.worldbank.org

Five Mobile Learning Implementation Tips

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:55:00 -0700

Five Mobile Learning Implementation Tips

There really is very little different about designing mobile learning from other forms of learning. The guidelines that apply for effective learning are really not much different but for the change in context. These are five tips I give customers who are setting about implementing some form of mobile learning, even if it is the smallest component in a blended solution. These tips may seem self-evident, yet I felt it good to reiterate.

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1. KISS Keep it short and simple – a rule applied to all types of learning content also applies for mobile learning content. This rule is significant in light of the nature of mobile devices and the situations in which they tend to be used. There can be frequent interruptions and learner attention to the device tends to be of a short span.

Typically, we wouldn’t design any sort of mobile learning intervention to run beyond five minutes. As with elearning, complex navigation and interaction is best avoided in mobile learning, as mobile devices differ in screen size and input types from typical personal computers.

2. Low Information Density – do not attempt to duplicate the length and information density of elearning modules. The technology may make it possible to deliver dense content, but in practice the situations and devices with which the content is accessed isn’t amenable to such content density. The types of content suitable for mobile learning have low information density.

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3. Easy with the Multimedia – again, just like elearning, the careful use of media elements are important in mobile learning. Do NOT use media in situations where it’s not required, splash animations, graphics that are purely aesthetic and unnecessary interaction. In most cases, there is a cost associated with developing and accessing such content, as it is likely that there is cost for downloads and bandwidth.

However, it’s important to mention that some mobile devices like the iPod can be used offline; they can be connected to a computer and files copied onto them, avoiding download and bandwidth costs. We see this as true of an increasing number of devices, and eventually perhaps all will support some form of tethering.

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4. Include Elements of Collaboration – Mobile devices have unprecedented adoption levelssimply because their ability to provide synchronous communication makes them unparalleled social tools. When used as a part of blended program, mobile technology can be used to facilitate interaction between peers, experts, mentors, etc. Done properly, there is tremendous learning value in these human interactions. If you’re thinking of using mobile technology in your blend, this (in my opinion) is the best use, provided its done right.

5. Provide Tools (Applications) and Not Just Content – Mobile devices do render content; however they are far better as utilitarian tools. Their ability to compute and display combined their personal and intimate nature open up a world of possibilities. The newer ability to write applications for specific hardware also provides lots of possibilities. Geo-location based tools, social networking tools, access to search and information databases, customized calculators, newsreaders, games, simulations – the options are quite varied. If you are considering mobile learning, this is one application of the technology you definitely want to consider.

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You’ll notice this doesn’t say anything about the mobile devices themselves. While designing mobile learning, there are points where we need to reference mobile devices, this is done so the design can be specifically targeted for the platform those devices present. At times, this is done very early in the design cycle, where possible influencing the choice of target device. A fairly comprehensive evaluation of mobile devices can be done using the following framework and criteria.

This framework has been adopted from a wonderful paper published in the International Journal of Engineering Education; Economides, A.A. & Nikolaou, N. – Evaluation of handheld devices for mobile learning(from questia). It suggests that mobile devices can be evaluated in three distinct areas – usability, technical, and functional.

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Usability – relates to the ease of understanding, remembering and learning to use the device itself and its varied tools. Devices should be easy to carry and have an easy to use interface for their functions.

Technical – relates to the device’s performance, compatibility, connectivity, security and reliability. Processing power, memory capacities, and ability to view and run a variety of software file formats are important. Compatibility and support for varied protocols and platforms. Bandwidth and connectivity limitations must also be examined. Security is a growing concern as mobile devices can be prone to loss or theft.

Functional – relates to the number of features, functions and tools of the devices. Both synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication should be supported. The ability to access, retrieval, process and display varied types of information is important.

This framework for evaluation can prove useful when considering the varied devices available in the market and with users today.

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GRE learning on mobile

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:15:00 -0700

GRE coaching on the mobile - that's what this player offers, tapping the mobile as an adaptive learning tool. eWorld tunes in.

Don't forget to carry your mobile

No, it's no girlfriend reminding the guy but a sharp parent calling out to son/daughter to have the mobile handy so as to catch up on some GRE coaching during the hours-long commute to and back from college.

This is the scenario the people behind the Chennai-based Valued Epistemics Pvt Ltd hope to see once their Adaptive Learning Programs - under the brand name WIZDOM.in - gain wider acceptance.

What's on offer? The programs seek to coach students for the Graduate Record Examination — through the medium of the mobile phone. The student who signs up can access the lessons on his mobile phone any time, any place that is convenient to him. The programs can be downloaded on mobile phones that are Java and GPRS-enabled. Alternatively, they can also be downloaded on a PC.

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But aren't there coaching centres aplenty? And isn't the Internet also full of software offering help with GRE, GMAT, the works? What would make the WIZDOM.in initiative unique? According to Anand Kannan, Managing Director, Valued Epistemics, WIZDOM.in is different because it looks to combine the best of both worlds - classroom coaching and learning on one's own. The sessions are offered in the form of modules, so a student can take up and break off wherever, whenever he wants - during the daily train commute, during inter-city travel, or simply while killing minutes in a bus. Within this flexibility, each session is made as gripping as possible to ensure concentration.

Kannan lists five features distinctive to the service: It is analytical, interactive, convenient, ensures complete student control and is flexible. Hence it is stress-free, which has been a big part of student feedback, he says.

There are two layers to the learning: As the student takes the tests, the software underlying the learning platform generates a performance metrics. This analysis is used to adapt the subsequent coaching to suit that individual student's needs, says Yogish Lavanis, Director (R&D).

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Kannan puts the difference between his company's service, and software on the Web, thus: "Individual attention, flexible access (from any device — mobile or PC) and trained human support are not available at most Web sites." He provides an analogy: Just downloading software would be like using a dictionary on a CD, when one wants to look up words, as against the richer, fuller experience of using a Web search engine, such as Google.

"Trying and experiencing WIZDOM.in is free," but the actual coaching is charged, he stresses. Long-term service and exam-oriented preparation is priced according to subscription. However, this is about one-third the price of classroom with a small overhead of GPRS or Internet access charges. By contrast, a lot of the software on the Internet is free and therefore the user is not supported by a teacher," he says. While there are enough traditional alternatives such as classroom coaching, books and free software, "we are well differentiated from and superior to these," he asserts.

Currently, WIZDOM.in offers the Verbal Master Program (60 sessions), Complete GRE Program (110 sessions) and a Fast Track Verbal Program. The fast track program will help students prepare for the exam in three-four weeks.

Next frontier application

Mobile learning is relatively new and not well established as an industry. Also, in general, mobile learning refers to learning using PDAs (personal digital assistants), laptops with Wi-Fi, iPods and, of course, the mobile phone.

This is widely recognised as the next frontier application of mobiles along with mobile payments, multimedia entertainment and location-based services, says Kannan. (see `Hierarchy of needs.') He adds candidly: "I do not know if this will turn out to be an industry. However Adaptive Learning, where computational intelligence is increasingly used to supplement a teacher's pedagogy, will be an industry in and of itself in the foreseeable future."

Telecom domain

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Founded in September 2004, Valued Epistemics is promoted by Anand Kannan, Yogish Lavanis and Darini Raman. Anand Kannan holds a Ph.D, from Purdue University, US. He was earlier with Nokia and has also worked as part of Arraycomm Inc, a Silicon Valley company.

Lavanis was earlier with Motorola India Electronics, Bangalore, and Tata Elxsi. He has also served as Engineer (R&D), Centre for Development of Telematics, Bangalore.

`No different from an MNC'

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For eWorld, Anand Kannan and Yogish Lavanis trace a two-year-journey of highs and lows.

What started it all?, we ask.

"At the heart of this, we have a great desire to build a company that is based here — global in outlook, as good as it gets with respect to technology, facing an end-user market."

They offer examples from a software context: "If you take a typical software company that works according to a global delivery model, every one of them charges their US client approximately $4,000 per month. It varies slightly from company to company, but that is a benchmark. That translates into a per person revenue of Rs 1.8 lakh. Now in the case of these companies, their clients are global players — through their channel partner, the value created reaches the end user — but he never knows who are doing this."

Now look at the other model. Take the 1.8 lakh and divide it by 200 students. That comes to about 900 per student. Those 200 can get access to a high-quality knowledge worker to service them in the same way as, say, an Infosys, gives a well-qualified engineer to service their customer."

"We want one teacher to help "N" number of students effectively. So there can be no compromise on the productivity or efficiency of tools that we use. Every student should feel he is getting individual attention. There is 90 per cent grunt work or repetitive activity in the provision of individual attention. We have to identify that and put it on the computer. And the human aspect has to come from a teacher who necessarily has to be of high quality. Our vision is no different from that of any top MNC," they say.

3rd or 4th generation platform

It has not been a smooth ride. Every time the company had to change the system based on the feedback. "We can say we are in the third or fourth generation platform." "Every few 100 or so who have tried this system have significantly impacted the design. In our mind, we want something scalable - something where a few 100 very high-quality people work and, based on that, the rest of India and the world is learning."

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They put the challenge in a nutshell: "Can we do it for a million students - with a few hundred or thousand facilitators?"

They feel that the economy achieved by global delivery model software companies can be achieved by consumer-based technology with similar quality people.

What about e-learning?

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Kannan and Lavanis say that if one looks at the typical e-learning scene, what is often offered is PowerPoint slides with flash animations. That, they say, "doesn't constitute learning. It is interesting content and for a large corporation that works to substitute training, it is a good alternative." But "when one is largely in a self-motivated learning situation or independent goal-oriented learning structure, the provision of learning, and entirely from a distance, entails complex technology. The time has just come when it has become feasible."

As Kannan puts it: "There are some groups who are working on how to automate teaching - He is the next guy to get automated after the clerk and the accountant! (Laughs)! But what you are really doing is not automating, but taking the population of teachers, taking the good ones and giving them access to a larger population of students."

The macro logic

Kannan and Lavanis present the larger picture thus: "We have 25 per cent of our population in services, 25 per cent in manufacturing and 50 per cent in agriculture. But in terms of production, 50 per cent comes from services, 25 per cent comes from agriculture and 25 per cent from manufacturing. So going by that average, the person in services is four times more productive and wealthier than the person in farming. Among the services, the knowledge sector is 10 times to 100 times more productive. So naturally, people are going to shift from agricultural and manufacturing to services and from less knowledge-oriented services to more knowledge-oriented services. It is a global trend and we can't buck it. It is going to happen here. And the service industry is the one where you need systematic education. In all other situations, you have mostly on-the-job training. As a society we have a challenge of training somewhere in the region of 100 to 200 million people in 20 years. I don't think we are producing that many teachers. The whole process of how learning is being done has to be re-examined.We have to move from older methods to newer methods. That is not in the scope of our company's objectives. But we are working in the leading edge of that movement and we see that whatever we are doing has application in traditional education as well - even though we picked GRE - because we are both comfortable with that. (We had done that exam ourselves and knew what it took)."

Kannan traps us with a sudden question: "Suppose I ask what is the most common use of the mobile?"

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Our response: "Talking?"

Kannan: "Wrong! There is a more fundamental need. You keep the mobile switched on? Why?"

"To be connected. To be available to someone trying to reach us," we reply.

Kannan concurs: "Yes. It covers for some insecurity that you have. Security is, therefore, the most fundamental value that you get. Communication comes second. So you can build a hierarchy of needs on this with safety coming at the bottom." (see Hierarchy of Needs.)

Consumer knows best

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Kannan and Lavanis reminisce: "We were experimenting, building a quick prototype, understanding what it means to provide learning. Talking to students, surveying them. In about six months, we had a crude prototype (compared to the current system), and we had it tested. We had a professor of market research who did a study for us." (see box).

They point out that two years ago, phones were much more primitive. "Only about 10 per cent of the phones would actually support this. We got lucky. Because the model that we picked to test it on happened to be a stable steady model. Everything worked."

They relive events, with some relief. "Had we tried this on a less stable model - we might have come to a different conclusion. So lucky things happened on the way. We got a lot of feedback from our market research.

No one gives it like your customer. He'll tell you, `It has this, and this but not this.' So you rectify it and then you hear, `It's got this, this and this, but not that.' So the process goes on and that's what helps you discover what is of benefit to the user."

The company decided to commercialise the service first in the Chennai area. And they came up against marketing: "Nobody had the experience of marketing it. Is it an educational product? Is it a mobile product? Is it a computing product? Somewhere along the way we realised we had to provide a PC-based option. Then it had to work smoothly — that also came from the market — and seamlessly with the mobile option. Suppose you took the mobile version, you should feel that you start where you left off on the PC and vice-versa. Once you start asking for money, the nature of feedback changes. But the feedback that comes out then is the best feedback. Nobody parts with money without asking questions," they point out.

GRE, for starters

The Graduate Record Examination or GRE is a standardised test for admission to US universities, which seeks to measure the verbal, analytical and mathematical skills of candidates. It is developed and administered by the ETS (Educational Testing Services) under the direction of the Graduate Record Examination Board. ETS has appointed testing agencies in various countries that act as its franchisees. In India, Sylvan Testing Services Pvt Ltd administers the test, for ETS, at nine centres: Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Thiruvananthapuram.

An important step

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Does the population of, say around 50,000 students who take the GRE annually present a viable market, eWorld asked Anand Kannan and Yogish Lavanis.

"IF we did only GRE we would be viable - but still small business. Scalability would not come from GRE alone. Eventually we have to take GRE global and get into systematically fulfilling other learning needs. So GRE for us is an important step. It goes to a market that has some discretionary spending power - that has a learning need which, in many cases, is not adequately fulfilled. It covers Math/English - two major prototypes," they say.

They elaborate: "Suppose we need to teach Std 6 students - only the lessons need to be changed - but the prototype would work. Same model would work. It is a strategic choice. We'll have to diversify later."

A lot of work needs to be done on the marketing side, building the correct eco system, channel partners. There is a lot of interest from publishers, we have been approached by authors too. We talk to everyone who approaches us. We need a network. For now, having a small passionate team helps."

Fun... and fruitful

eWorld sought to get a first-hand feel of the GRE training.

We downloaded the vocabulary session... and promptly got hooked.

The screen interface and instructions were clear and crisp. The learning was interactive - you couldn't move on unless you gave the correct option and understood why it was correct. It was friendly rather than patronising.

The instant feedback was encouraging and made one feel, as the company says, that a "high-quality, devoted teacher is always present nearby." The subtle progression to higher levels of complexity, with more scope for error, was good training for the real thing.

The scores that popped up periodically were a reminder that even as one took the test, at a deeper level, the software platform was generating a performance metrics chart.

This knowledge will be used to provide detailed feedback and to adapt subsequent lessons and tests to suit individual needs.

So insightful is the analysis, says Anand Kannan, that the student facilitator at the other end can make out whether the test participant is vacillating, inattentive ... . or simply sleeping! Something that a CD can't detect.

The technology used to administer the courses is Adaptive Learning through Measurement of Interactions (ALMI), supplemented with processes and systems that enable high-quality delivery of services.

Watch out for one thing though - the cheery little icon that applauds you when you are correct could become so addictive that you might pause for timely pats while doing your actual GRE.

`Useful guidance'

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This is what Seethalakshmi Hariharan, a student who opted for Wizdom's coaching, says: "The lessons were set in such a manner that the first set was slightly easy and the level of difficulty increased as one got acquainted better. So, it was easy to cope.

If I faced any difficulty between sessions, I had the option of getting my doubt clarified through the mobile. I would get replies within a day either through SMS or through mail.

The queries were well solved, and a good example was provided to ensure better understanding of the word in question. There were tests at the end of each session that helped me understand how well or otherwise I had fared. After every test, I received feedback through mail. The feedback would tell me how many questions I had answered right or wrong. For those questions I had missed, the right answer would be given with an example stating the usage of the word.

Sometimes I found it difficult to understand why that particular word should fit in that sentence. So, I got back to the company, suggesting that instead of giving a sentence showing the usage of the word in question, it would be better to explain why and how that word fit into the sentence.

After every session I took up, the words I learned got added to the word bank, which can be used anytime for revision. Although I took up the coaching while I was in my hometown (Madurai), since it was all mail-based I was in touch with WIZDOM wherever I went. As far as cost is concerned, it is cost-effective as you need only a GPRS-activated mobile connection."

Heeding the market's call

Prof Rajendra Nargundkar
Valued Epistemics had market research done, with the help of Dr Rajendra Nargundkar. The professor shared his findings with eWorld.

The research was done in two stages, he says. "One before the product was actually launched, with a group of Bangalore-based engineering students. This was a concept test with a statement describing the concept followed by questions regarding the interest in the concept. This also included a qualitative research component, a focus group discussion with a smaller group, before conducting which Wizdom executives gave a prototype demo). The discussion was on the merits and demerits of mobile-based learning for GRE."

The second study was at a remote location college between Bangalore and Chennai among a group of engineering students preparing for GRE a few months after the product was launched, to test awareness and interest.

The findings from the first study (pre-launch concept and product test) were that though the product concept was innovative, people had reservations. Anxieties included the small screen of the mobile phone which might be unsuitable for quantitative analysis and comprehension questions, quality of cell connections which may cut off in the middle of learning, and scepticism about M-learning as a full-fledged tool to replace other forms of learning totally — particularly, classroom and Net-based, says the professor. Still, one-third of participants were interested in the concept, saying they would buy such a service.

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From the second survey in a smaller town with mainly a hostel-based population, the results indicated that awareness was low for the product concept and brand, but interest was high. Almost 70 per cent students said they would be interested, at the indicative price mentioned. This study was more detailed in measuring preferences in the buying process, price, payment mode and the role of influencers. A wide range of questions was asked through a questionnaire.

An important change between stage one and stage two was that the service metamorphosed from being only mobile based (M-learning) to a mobile and PC-based (Adaptive Learning). Significant decisions based on first stage of research and inputs from brain storming included user-friendly features such as online counselling, some promotional tours with a demo in Chennai colleges (where the company is located), and the pricing of the product. Future markets where interest would be high have also been identified. The second stage has given inputs for further modification in plans, says Prof Nargundkar.

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[source]::::Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications

Top 50 Mobile Learning Resources

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:00:00 -0700

Top 50 Mobile Learning Resources

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mobile learning:a brief list

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:42:00 -0700

To further your exploration into the world of mobile learning, here is a list of 10 blog post, articles and other musing on the topic of mobile learning that I have read recently:

1. iTouch Learning: A page on Jane Hart’s Centre for Learning & Performance Technologieswebsite that lists of reasons why the iPhone/iPod Touch are ideal for mlearning.

http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/iTouchLearning/index.html

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2. Lift the Cell Phone Ban: Hosted on the Scholastic website, this article is a plea to lift the ban on cell phones in schools and to use these devices to help students learn.

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751073

3. From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning: Liz Kolb’s blog on using cell phones for learning.

http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/

4. 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better: The title says it all. A post found on the iPod Hacker Blog.

http://the-ipod-hacker.blogspot.com/2008/02/100-ways-to-use-your-ipod-to-learn-and.html

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5. Why an iPod Touch in Education? Chris Webb’s blog post with links to resources that can be used on an iPod Touch to help students learn.

http://projects.minot.k12.nd.us/groups/chris/weblog/5ce29/Why_an_iPod_Touch_in_education_.html

6. School Axes Textbooks as Pupils Download their Homework onto their Mobile Phones: A news article in the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper on a school that is moving away from analog content and toward digital content.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1082928/School-axes-textbooks-pupils-download-homework-mobile-phones.html

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7. Using the iPod for Learning: A slideshare presentation from an Grace Poli, Media Specialist and Apple Distinguished Educator.

http://www.slideshare.net/gpoli/an-ipod-in-your-classroom-toolbox-presentation-736951?type=powerpoint

8. Mobile Phones and Citizen Journalism: A wiki on the MobileActive.org website on using cell phones in citizen journalism.

http://mobileactive.org/wiki/Mobile_Phones_and_Citizen_Journalism

9. MurMur: A concept where oral histories are collected and shared in various areas in 8 cities around the world (as of this writing) where the general public is free to both record and listen to personal histories connected to their neighbourhoods.

http://murmurtoronto.ca/

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10. Enabling Mobile Learning: An article about enabling mobile learning on the Educase Connect website.

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/EnablingMobileLearning/40549?time=1220792835

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Mobile phones

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:22:00 -0700

There are estimated to be 1.5 billion mobile phones in the world today (Prensky, 2004). This is more than three times the number of personal computers (PCs), and today’s most sophisticated phones have the processing power of a mid-1990s PC. These facts, and the range of computer-like functionality offered by top-of-the-range devices, are leading some observers to speculate that many people in the not so distant future will start to see the mobile phone as an alternative to a PC. For example Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the
Palm Pilot, was recently quoted (Stone 2004) as saying, ‘One day, 2 or 3 billion people will have cell phones, and they are not all going to have PCs … The mobile phone will become their digital life’. Sean Maloney,
an executive vice-president at Intel (also interviewed by Stone) disagrees, on the grounds that, ‘Hundreds of millions of people are not going to replace the full screen, mouse and keyboard experience with staring at
a little screen’. Clearly, neither view is likely to be completely objective, but the fact that the debate is happening is an indication of how powerful and sophisticated mobile devices are becoming.

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In the m-learning project we chose to provide learners taking part in our learner research and learning materials and systems trials with the most sophisticated devices available at the time in an attempt to ensure that our findings do not become out of date too quickly. We tried to focus on the types of devices that will be owned by, or reasonably easily accessible to, our target audience (16–24 year olds not in full-time education or training) within 2 or 3 years of the end of the project. We are aware that the hybrid mobile phone/personal digital assistant (or PDA) devices we used (sometimes known as ‘smartphones’) currently make up only a relatively small percentage of mobile phone sales. However, sales are growing and the potential market for ‘smartphones’ is thought to be much bigger than the handheld computers market; indeed, ‘smartphones’ overtook sales of PDAs in 2003. Market research from Gartner, Canalys and others (quoted by van Grinsven 2004) indicates that ‘in four to five years, global sales of “smartphones” will reach 170 million, compared with slightly more than 20 million this year’. Also, the very rapid and widespread adoption
of camera phones suggests that our target audience is willing to invest in more expensive devices if they are attractive enough and offer significant actual or perceived benefits. Sales of camera phones exceeded those
of digital cameras for the first time in 2003, when camera phone sales increased almost fivefold from 2002, resulting in 84m unit sales.

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The modern mobile phone market caters for a wide variety of customer tastes and lifestyles. Some phones are tiny and discreet, some are chosen for their appearance (like a fashion accessory, with alternative covers that allow that appearance to be changed to match the owner’s outfit), some just offer basic functionality while some others provide a wide range of business and leisure services to their users. Manufacturers are marketing diverse product ranges, including devices that specialise in providing particular services or are aimed at particular users. Instead of describing a product as a mobile phone, manufacturers often use descriptions like ‘game deck’, ‘communicator’ or ‘mobile multimedia machine’.

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python programming in mobile

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sat, 1 May 2010 22:20:00 -0700

python dudes,

We all know that PyS60 team in the new PyS60 1.9.x releases have preferred a html based document over pdf document, which was the case in the earlier and stable PyS6o 1.4.x releases.

So if we observe there are many requests at the forum nokia Python discussion boards about the docs to be in Pdf, but that was not implemented yet by the Team.

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No worries now one of the PyS60 aspirants Hitesh Tailor aka the86Hitman has converted the html based docs into a pdf one so that you can easily and comfortably go through that.

pys60 material from the following links:

pys60-1

pys60-2

Maemo

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:21:00 -0700

Maemo is a software platform developed by Nokia for smartphones and Internet Tablets.[ It is based on the Debian Linux distribution.

The platform comprises the Maemo operating system and the Maemo SDK.

Maemo is mostly based on open source code, and has been developed by Maemo Devices within Nokia in collaboration with many open source projects such as the Linux kernel, Debian, and GNOME. Maemo is based on Debian GNU/Linux and draws much of its GUI, frameworks, and libraries from the GNOME project. It uses the Matchbox window manager, and the GTK-based Hildon as its GUI and application framework.

Amazon.com Widgets

The UI in Maemo 4 is similar to many handheld interfaces, and features a "Home" screen, which acts as a central point from which all applications and settings are accessed. The Home Screen is divided into areas for launching applications, a menu bar, and a large customisable area that can display information such as an RSS reader, Internet radio player, and Google search box.

The Maemo 5 UI is slightly different: The menu bar and info area are consolidated to the top of the display, and the four desktops can be customized with shortcuts and widgets.
User Interface
[edit] OS2005–OS2008

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Up to Maemo 4 (a.k.a OS2008), the default screen is the "Home" screen—the central point from which all applications and settings are accessed. The Home Screen is divided into the following areas:

* Vertically down the left hand side of the screen is the Taskbar, with applets for the web browser, communications, and application menu by default, but these can be modified using third party plugins (to provide a favorites menu, or a command menu, for example).
* Horizontally across the top left half is the Menubar, which shows the application name and window title and gives access to the application's menu (which contains the typical, File, Edit, View, Tools, etc, menus and submenus)
* Horizontally across the top right half is the Statusbar, containing icons such as battery life, wireless connection, volume, Bluetooth, and brightness by default, but these can be expanded using third party plugins in the same manner as the Taskbar.
* The remaining large part of the display contains Home applets (roughly analogous to Apple Inc.'s Dashboard widgets), which can display data as well as being a shortcut to applications. These include an RSS reader, Internet radio player, Google search box and contact list by default, but can also be expanded with third party plugins.

The interface uses either the touch screen, or a directional pad and select button, with separate back, menu, and home buttons. It is capable of two modes of text input: handwriting recognition, and two different sizes of onscreen keyboard, as well as hardware keyboard input with the N810.[
Maemo 5 (Fremantle)

The UI in Maemo 5 has changed with respect to its predecessors. It provides four fully customizable (add/remove widgets, move widgets around, change the background, shortcut to applications/contacts) "Home" screens,[ called Panorama Desktop. Switching from one desktop to the others is done by sliding one's finger horizontally on the background. The dashboard is accessed via the upper left icon and shows all the running applications, in a manner similar to the Exposé feature in Apple's MacOS X operating system. From the dashboard, running applications can be brought back to fullscreen by tapping the preview window or applications can be closed by tapping an X-symbol located in the top right corner of the preview window, similar to the concept of closing applications in other operating systems. The application launcher, where all the installed applications can be launched, can be accessed as well from the dashboard by tapping the same area again in the upper left corner of the screen which invokes the dashboard.[5][6] If no task or application is running in the background, tapping the top left icon skips the dashboard and directly displays the application launcher.

Maemo provides the Mozilla-based MicroB web-browser with complete Adobe Flash support, which can operate over a wireless connection. It supports an 800x480 display resolution, so some web pages can be viewed without horizontal scrolling. It can automatically connect to known wireless networks and download RSS feeds and email and disconnect automatically without user intervention.[

Software is installed or uninstalled using the Application manager. The X Terminal can also be used to install applications using the "apt-get" command (Although this is discouraged for inexperienced users). Users can subscribe to different software repositories which can then be used to automatically keep software up to date. The Application manager also provides an overview of everything currently installed on the system. Data can be synchronized with a PC via a USB connection, and the users files can be accessed using the standard Removable Storage Device protocol.

Maemo devices can be updated using a simple flashing method with a computer over USB.

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Since Diablo (Maemo 4.1), Maemo supports "Seamless Software Update" (SSU), which allows incremental operating system upgrades "over the air" using apt without the need for a full flash with every update.

Flashing remains available as a way to start over from scratch with a clean install (much like formatting your hard drive and reinstalling your OS on a PC).
Security

The quick start guide for developers warns that Maemo security concentrates on preventing remote attacks (e.g. by wireless networking and Bluetooth). In particular, it warns that Maemo makes use of a root account, but has a trivial default password (sudo gainroot, pw:rootme).[

Independent of the root password, Maemo provides a way to lock the device's controls and display with a numeric access code to help prevent unauthorised access.[10]
Components

Maemo is a modified version of the Debian Linux distribution, slimmed down for mobile devices.[11] It uses an X Window System-based graphical user interface using Xomap and the Matchbox window manager; the GUI uses the GTK+ toolkit and Hildon user interface widgets and API.

BusyBox, a software package for embedded and mobile devices, replaces the GNU Core Utilities used in Debian-proper to reduce memory usage and storage requirements (at the expense of some functionality).

ESD is used as the primary sound server, and GStreamer is used by the shipped media player to play back sounds and movies. The formats supported by GStreamer can be extended by compiling GStreamer plugins in scratchbox (Maemo SDK), which was done, for example, to bring Ogg support to the platform.[14] 3rd party media players can access GStreamer directly or via "osso-media-server".[citation needed]

Window management is handled by the Matchbox window manager, which limits the screen to showing a single window at a time (Ubuntu Netbook Remix implements a similar system). This is to improve handheld usability on a mobile device with a small screen.

Although Maemo is based on Linux and open source software, some parts of Maemo remain closed source. These include some user-space software, like certain statusbar and taskbar applets (including the display brightness applet) and applications, and some system daemons related to connectivity and power management.[citation needed]

Maemo comes with a number of built-in applications, but additional applications can be installed from a number of sources, including various official and community software repositories and deb files through either the built-in package manager "Application manager" or apt and dpkg.

Bundled applications include the Mozilla-based MicroB browser, Macromedia Flash, Gizmo5, and Skype.
Third-party applications

Due in part to the free and open source nature of Linux and Maemo, porting applications to Maemo is a straightforward procedure. Because of this, there are many third-party applications available for the platform. Some applications are original software written specifically for Maemo, while other applications are straight ports of existing Linux programs. Some notable software includes:

Media players
Canola (with network streaming), MPlayer
Internet
Claws Mail, Modest, Midori, Firefox for mobile
Office applications
Gnumeric (spreadsheet), Abiword (word processing)
Instant Messaging
Pidgin
VOIP
Gizmo5, Skype
Games
The Battle for Wesnoth, Wormux, Doom
Others
FBReader (e-book reader), GPE (OpenSync compatible PIM), rdesktop (RDP remote access), Rhapsody (subscription music, US only), ScummVM (game emulator), Wayfinder (fully featured GPS navigation software), Free42S (HP 42S calculator emulator), gPodder (podcast client), Maemo Mapper (includes GPS functionality), MaemoMyth (MythTV frontend that uses GMythStream), Monsoon HAVA (TV viewer and controller), Navit (GPS navigation software), Obscura Photo Manager, Palm Emulator from Access (ARM based Palm emulator), Phonelink (SMS and voice caller via BT), Quiver Image Viewer, SDict Viewer (sdict-based dictionary/encyclopedia viewer), Vagalume (Last.FM player), VNC, YouAmp (music player), LogMeIn Browser Plugin
Fremantle Stars
Applications developed by the community and supported by Nokia as Fremantle Stars will be part of Maemo 5.[ notable applications: Mauku (micro-blogging client),[ Maemo Mapper (map application),[ Physics (game),[ ScummVM (game, includes Beneath a Steel Sky),[ Xournal (notes/sketch utility),[ Fennec (web browser)[, FBReader (e-book reader),[22] OSM2Go (OpenStreetMap editor)
Debian

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OpenOffice.org running on Maemo 5 using Easy Debian.
The complete ARM Debian distribution can be installed as a Maemo application.[24], making thousands of software packages available (including OpenOffice, Firefox, Java, the GNOME, and LXDE desktops, etc). Debian ARM packages can also be used if they are modified with the maemo-optify tool for example). The ability to run largely-unmodified linux packages is the main difference compared to other Linux based mobile operating systems such as Android and webOS.

noreply@blogger.com (mobile teacher) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:52:00 -0700

i have collected some sites usefull for python developers in maemo....

N900

http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-developers/2009-October/021433.html
http://www.pygtk.org/
http://docs.python.org/distutils/index.html
http://www.symbiantalk.net/showthread.php?14561-Python-for-Maemo
http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation_device.html
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43663&highlight=python
http://croozeus.com/blogs/?p=1403
http://www.allmeegodevices.com/category/mobile-phones/
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=19009
http://www.themaemo.com/python-for-newbies/
http://www.themaemo.com/tag/n900/
http://www.themaemo.com/python-for-newbies/
http://wiki.maemo.org/PyMaemo/Using_Python_in_Maemo