m learning in agriculture - possibilities and barriers

Danish Agricultural Advisory ServiceNational Centre

M-learning in agriculture– possibilities and barriers

Jens Peter Hansen & Nicolai Fog HansenDanish Agricultural Advisory Service, National Centre


Danish Agricultural Advisory Service • Owned by farmers – used by farmers• 35 local agricultural advisory centres and 1

national centre• Turnover: 240 mill. €• 3.500 employees• Denmark's largest

consultancy• 50.000 farmers


• 2007-2008 project• Goal was to develop a number of digital

based prototypes, supporting m-learning in the workplace with farmers and farm employees as the target group.

•Definition of M-learning

• Learning that is facilitated and enhanced by the use of digital mobile devices, which can be carried and used anywhere and anytime.


• Potential Content should not be a problem. An

organization providing m-learning must have a steady production of content (created in advance) for other media.

Authoring tools that can smooth out the process of building and administrating learning objects.

• Barriers• Bringing learning objects within reach of the

farmer.


Conclusion

• Wait for WiMax and Android


Farmers don’t have time for learning

- they are busy working and solving problems


Use of mobile devices• 99 % of farmers use a mobile phone,• 96 % read and 73 % write SMS messages, • 73 % would like to be able to get a local weather

forecast on their mobile phone – 2 % do this on a regular basis,

• 63 % expressed interest in receiving news,• 55 % expressed interest in receiving market

information,• 17 % have a PDA but one out of three of these are

not used because of problems with usability and lack of sturdiness.


Learning styles• Theorists like to understand the theory behind

the actions. • Reflectors learn by observing and thinking

about what happened.

• Activists are those people who learn by doing• Pragmatists need to be able to see how to put

the learning into practice in the real world


• Learning objects• Discrete elements of learning content that meet a

defined learning objective, and are possibly independently assessable, which may take the form of text, graphics, video, stills, animations, diagrams audio.

•Learning context

• Situated learning, there the mental representation of a concept occurs not in an abstract or isolated form, but in connection with the social and material context of a specific learning situation.


• Bluetongue FAQ• Danish authorities implemented a number of measures

including restriction zones and a vaccination campaign including more than 1.5 million animals.


• The castration of piglets• A general introduction to the subject followed by a 2 minute video

explaining how and why. To check that the employee understands, the video is followed by a multiple choice test with 4-6 choices per question and one or several correct answers


• Weed recognition• As a farmer, if you see weeds in their full

grown stage, it is often an indication that you didn’t notice that weed as a seedling and therefore did not choose the right preventive spraying.

• In this small game, the user shall match a picture of some weed in their full grown stage with a picture of the weed as seedling.


• Podcasts - listen to agriculture• Information through your ears while working


• Harvesting time for maize• Yearly decision, which means that most farmers need to brush up

on their knowledge • An intelligent and location aware learning object could be created


Delivery devices• Mobile phones• MP3 player• Hearing protection ear-muffs• Internet radio• GPS car navigation• ... and more


Learning styles• Theorists like to understand the theory behind the actions. • Reflectors learn by observing and thinking about what happened.

• Activists are those people who learn by doing• Pragmatists need to be able to see how to put

the learning into practice in the real world

It’s all about performance support.

m learning in agriculture - possibilities and barriers

Education

learning learning

learning context

putthe learning

learning stylestheorists

national centre turnover

adefined learning objective

learning styles theorists

location aware learning