Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning in Edufiesta Blog

Posted: June 19, 2008 at 00:50:44 by Dani Iswara. Words count: 905.
Last updated: June 19, 2008 at 00:54:36.

Learning mean sharing and transfer of information between users. Mobile and ubiquitous learning allow information delivered through mobile (notebook) and handheld (personal digital assistants or PDAs and its derivatives, cellular phones) devices with the help of networking system. We know the types of learning may include individual, collaborative, formal, informal, incidental, synchronous, asynchronous, electronic and non-electronic scenarios. The other challenges are integration & interoperability of those modalities. How the different technologies can support learning process across different media types. Blogs which have 'edufiesta' (elearning blog competition), elearning (electronic learning), mlearning (mobile learning), ilearning (Internet learning) and ulearning (ubiquitous learning)-related category will post their opinions and experiences on learning process. A few blogs will be accessible through small screen devices. I can learn from those weblogs. Ubiquitous, the term for

being or seeming to be everywhere at once

will be based on user centric. Users have an option to choose the proper media to access the learning content. Web-based technology is one of the modalities for the mobile and ubiquitous learning. With latest & improved technology (known as web 2.0), the web has become more dynamic. User centric puts interactivity of blog as one of the important point. Users can interact with the content and leave comments. Web logs or blogs are easy to manage, maintain and update. We don't need a special knowledge about it. Now we found many students, teachers and lecturers shared their ideas, concepts and experiences on the Internet. The discussion among them is an interactive collaboration process. In medical, a user / student-centered learning process called problem-based learning (PBL) and collaborative learning (CL) has made student to use any available resources effectively. Within edufiesta and ulearning category on Dani Iswara .Net weblog, I'd like to share another web-based learning resources in medical environment.

E-Learning Resources in Medical Environment

Web 2.0 the Future of Medicine and Healthcare is another jargon of web collaboration over the Internet. If we have Wikipedia, medical world has Physician Medical Wiki. See Ask Dr Wiki, Wikinya Kedokteran in Bahasa Indonesia. A far as I know, Indonesia don't have this kind of wiki. But, Indonesia Medical Informatics Association, PIKIN ('Perhimpunan Informatika Kedokteran Indonesia') has a medical elearning project called Continuing Professional Development Dokter Indonesia (CPDDokter.com). Medical elearning users should go to CPD Dokter Indonesia - E-Learning (CPDDokter.com - E-Learning login page). Passively, users can subscribe the latest online medical journals, news & updates via email or feeds (RSS). See this post, Latest BioMed Central subscribed by Users. In eMedicine CME (Figure 1) and CME Case Studies, registered users will receive a case of the week delivered via email. In my opinion, Indonesia physicians can use this modality for the credit system (SKP). For your information, in Indonesia we have these sites for formal and informal medical learning resources:

• The Indonesian Journal of Clinical Nutrition by 'Program Studi S1 Gizi Kesehatan', Medical Faculty, University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) Yogyakarta.
• Journal of Medical Science by Medical Faculty of Riau University.
• Cermin Dunia Kedokteran. CDK is available in PDF and printed edition by Kalbe Medical Portal.
• Medical Publications by Dexa Medica.
• Video and Animation of Medical Science by Ilmu Kedokteran .Net.

For the free (and legal) medical PDAs-related content you should try Freeware Palm: Medical - latest addition and Freeware Pocket PC - Medical - latest addition. It only for educational / learning purposes.

E-Learning Barriers

Sue Childs, et al, (2005) on their research article of "Effective e-learning for health professionals and students - barriers and their solutions. A systematic review of the literature - findings from the HeXL project", found the main barriers of elearning are:

• requirement for change
• costs
• poorly designed packages
• inadequate technology
• lack of skills
• need for a component of face-to-face teaching
• time intensive nature of e-learning
• computer anxiety.

And their main solutions are:

• standardization
• strategies
• funding
• integration of e-learning into the curriculum
• blended teaching
• user friendly packages
• access to technology
• skills training
• support
• employers paying e-learning costs
• dedicated work time for e-learning.

The authors have opinion that librarians can take place an important role to support elearning by:

• providing support and support materials
• teaching information skills
• managing and providing access to online information resources
• producing their own e-learning packages
• assisting in the development of other packages.

What do you think? :) There are currently some research on mobile and ubiquitous learning environment (MULE). To allow web-based learning environment to be ubiquitous, the web pages should apply a content adaptation architecture, mobile-friendly and bandwidth-aware. Information shared through the web should be usable & understandable in many different contexts. So it can be accessed by a variety of mobile and handheld devices, e.g. notebook, mobile / cellular phones, smartphones, tablets (PC), Blackberry, PDAs, PDA phones and iPhones. It would be efficiently delivered ubiquitous -- everywhere at any time. The next dream is ubiquitous healthcare with semantic web.. :)

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Dani Iswara, mail me: [myfirstnamelastname]@gmail.com.