location-based mlearning reminders
TRANSCRIPT
Björn Hedin
Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
http://twitter.com/bjornh
Slides available at http://tinyurl.com/iadis09
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Location-based mLearning reminders
Quick overviewIn this study we have…
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Built a J2ME application to study chemistry on mobile phones
Built a J2ME application to remind students to use the chemistry application when they leave or arrive at places they have chosen are suitable for mobile studies
Evaluated the use in two university level chemistry courses
Research questions
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What are students’ attitudes to Location Based Reminders for mLearning?
How well can learning opportunities be detected using such a system?
Which places are added, what strategies are used to detect learning opportunities?
What are students’ attitudes to a simple (flashcard) system for mobile learning?
BackgroundPrevious studies/projects
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MUSIS project- Various content pushed to university students' mobile phonesEducation related reminders most popular
content (more than fun videos, music etc)SimpleLearn - Reminders to study sent via
email and SMS at times determined by an algorithm.Flashcard system for mobiles/desktopReminders often occurred at inconvenient
times
IdeaThe objectives of this study
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Why not try to send mLearning reminders based on location rather than time
Easier to determine that "when I am on the bus on my way to the university" is a good time to study than "at 8.43 AM".
Location can be determined using positioning of the student's mobile phone
Determining your locationMobile positioning
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Location Based Services for mobile phones is a rapidly growing area
GPS often used but...No coverage indoors or undergroundDrains battery very rapidly
Position of current GSM cell an alternative Available on low-end phonesCoverage everywhereLow power consumptionbut less precise location (or not even a
location at all)
Level of precision needed?Do we need 5, 50 or 500 meter accuracy?
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Symbolic places more important than coordinates, i.e. "At home", "At the university" or "On the metro”
Changes are important, i.e. "when I leave home and enter the metro”Especially the metro is easy to detect
For this functionality GSM cell based location could work out fine for Location Based Reminders (LBR)
The reminder applicationBasic functionality
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Detects places through GSM cell id (no coordinates)
Students can “add places” (or “meaningful locations”)The phone searches for nearby GSM cells, and the
students attaches a label to them (At home, Metro…)Attach study reminders to places for “arrive-”, “at-”
or “leave”-events.Next time the student enters or leaves such a
place, a reminder is triggered asking if the student would like to study using the chemistry application
The reminder applicationAdding a new place
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The chemistry applicationBasic functionality
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Flashcard-like systemSee a questionPress button to see answerSelf assessment – Knew answer well, to some
extent or not at allSession of 10 questions
Questions you didn’t know answer to will appear again next time, questions you know will be replaced by new questions
The chemistry applicationPicture questions + self assessment
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The chemistry applicationText questions with short answers
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The chemistry applicationText questions with long answers
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Results
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Technical problems encounteredResults from user study
11 university students in two coursesContent adapted for the coursesUsed applications for one week
Suggested improvements
Implementation issues
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APIs to get cell information not available on all Java implementations and/or platforms
Problems with implementing sound- and vibration alerts from Java programs running in the background
Autostart of application
Problems with “places”One place associated with several cells
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Cell changes can be changed several times per minute even if the phone remains stationary
Some cells appear very rarely, thereby making them difficult to detect
Right: One hour at my office (red dot). Three cells detected. Five cells during whole day
(Scale: Smaller circles = 500m)
Problems with “places”(2)One cell associated with several places
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The cells to the right can be connected to “the university”“Metro station Tekniska
Högskolan” “Bus 4”
Difficult to know whether I arrived at the university or if I am just passing by in a bus
User study resultsReminders
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Sometimes forgot to start application ->Autostart would be a good feature.
Long time to detect departures from less densely populated areas (with large cells)
Most appreciated reminders: When travelling by public transport.
“On-place”-reminders not used much
User study resultsPlaces
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Most places added were “informal learning environments”
The university was only added to be reminded when leaving the campus
Everyone added “at home”Detecting places worked fairly well
User study resultsSuitable mLearning places
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Public transport was considered bestPhone size convenient in cramped placesFelt it was “Bonus study time” – they don’t
do much else useful anywayHome
Nice break from other activitiesEasier to study on phone for 10 minutes than
to open your books
User study resultsMotivation
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Bonus time – study at places not possible otherwise
Fun way to learnPromotes regular studies“Microlearning” possible
Suggested improvements
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Add questions/flashcards of your ownShare questions/flashcards with friendsLet learning content be anything accessible
via a URLMobile web, video, audio, Evernote, Google
Docs, eBooks, local filesWeb interface + synchronization for easier
editing of tags/URLsLearning portal with learning
content/activities to choose from
Suggested improvements(2)
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Make it possible to attach several tags to one cell
Implement ”add tag to current cell”Implement continuous tagging modeAdd time restrictions, i.e. “Only weekdays
between 8 A.M. and 8 P.M.Adaptive reminders, i.e. if reminders don’t
trigger actions, remind less often
Discussion
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Do we really want students to get such reminders?Planning yourself?
Increased stress? Perhaps very infrequent reminders could be
good?“You took the exam XXX six months ago.
Would you like to review the exam questions”?
That’s it – Questions?
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Slides available at http://tinyurl.com/iadis09 Follow me on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/bjornhContact me via email at [email protected]