Mobile Technology at the University of Washington - It is about the community
The University of Washington has embraced the delivery of mobile content for it's faculty and students. The University serves over 65,000 students, faculty, and staff. The University noticed that around 90% of the 15,000 handheld devices connecting to its network were running the iPhone OS. This led the University to develop it's own app for the iPhone. Below are some quotes from a business profile on Apple's website
“Our students and staff are global, and we need to be connected wherever we are,” says David Morton, Director of Mobile Communication Strategies. “The community, because of its nature, is always on the go.”
“Whether a student is sitting at a desk, walking across campus, or halfway around the world, we make sure they are part of the university community,” Morton says.
"The community isn’t defined any longer by where we are,” says Grant Kollet, Director of First-Year Programs at the university. “It’s not about place; the community is about activity, and the activity depends on communication and interaction ... "
I like the quote from Grant Kollet above. I think he is right when he says the education community is not about where we are. He says it is about activity. I like to say it is about access. The internet and mobile technology is changing the nature of how we learn. It is no longer limited to professors in ivory towers. As online learning continues to expand where and how a student learns will become less important.The key is in educating students how to access the information and how to sift through all the data and determine what is relevant information and what is simply noise. I think that is the challenge for educators as we move forward.
