Living in the 4th Screen

According to this post on the Wall Street Journal online Cisco thinks wireless-data traffic will double every year through 2014. Part of this increase will be driven by the explosion of handheld wireless devices. Cisco thinks there could be more than 5 billion mobile handheld devices connected to wireless networks by the year 2014.

Mobile video content, which is expected to more than double, will account for almost two-thirds of the world’s wireless data traffic in 2014, making it the highest-growing application category within the report.

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This post on Nature.com explores the increasing use of smartphones within scientific laboratories. The article specifically mentions the iPhone and apps that are targeted for those in the scientific community.

With a seemingly unlimited number of apps available, the iPhone can be quite a handy tool. An increasing number of apps are targeted to scientists, and lists of must-have apps for researchers have proliferated. There are apps to calculate how to prepare solutions, view restriction enzyme information, search online databases for papers and even store downloaded papers. Well-known product vendors for biological research are also beginning to release laboratory apps for the iPhone. Promega has an app with product information, tutorials, protocols and unit conversion calculators, and Bio-Rad has a quantitative PCR app.

The article goes on to mention Google and it's open-source Android operating system and the potential that platform brings to the scientific community. Another area the smartphone is reaching into scientific circles is through the publishing of scientific journals for mobile handsets.

But for the present, the most immediate potential for these devices is in providing a painless way for researchers to keep up with their reading wherever they happen to be. Mass media publishers have embraced the iPhone for delivering their content, but there has been little activity in the scientific publishing arena—RSS news feeds notwithstanding. But the situation is changing. Several publishers, including Nature Publishing Group, have apps that will go live any day. The nature.com app will let you read full-text articles, view full-size figures and save references.

This article adds to the continuing proliferation of mobile computing and its encroachment into all areas of our life. In my mind this only begs the question, "What are the implications for current students sitting in our high school classrooms?" These students will be using mobile computing devices throughout their entire day by the time they enter the workforce. Mobile computing ubiquity and the fact that I find many students use their mobile devices in an irresponsible way and they know very little of the full potential these devices offer them, leads me to say there is a huge gap that needs to be filled with today's generation. Current high school students need training in the responsible use of all forms of electronic media and they need to be taught the positive ways these devices can be used to assist them in their daily lives.

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In a new report by recent Google acquisition, AdMob, the iPhone is dominating the mobile phone space. The iPhone accounts for more than half of the total overall smartphone usage throughout the world. Basically this means that iPhone users use their phones a lot more than anyone else. This has to be good news for Apple.

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Update: Found the Today Show video of an interview with Dan Wooley and his wife.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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I never thought of mobile learning as a "New and Evolving Arrow" in our "Learning Quiver", but after I read the quote on this blog post I got to thinking about it. Mobile Learning does present options that were previously unavailable to us. Not just in schools, but in all areas of life. I consume lots of information via Google Reader on my iPhone. Whenever I have a free minute I will pop open Google Reader and blast through a slew of blog posts. The ones I want to comment on I send to my gmail account. I also read most of my news from my mobile phone. I have the Reuters and AP mobile apps loaded on my phone. I read articles, look at photos, and even watch videos all from my mobile phone. I do not watch any television. All of my information comes from the web or the few magazines or periodicals I read. What implications does this provide for education in the 21st century?

In the blog post I mentioned above it also says this:

"...solving business problems is still what’s most critical. We need to consider the design that delivers the maximum benefit to the learner and the business."

The writer is speaking of business solutions of course, but I speculate we could ask similar questions about K-12 education. Here are two that I thought of:

As schools how do we deliver instruction that provides the maximum benefit to the learner?

What is the best way to educate children today to prepare them for life beyond high school?

We should be asking these questions and others like it. We cannot be afraid of the answers, wherever they lead us.

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If I was still a Technology Coordinator, a position I held for 6 years in one district, I would be looking into the iPod Touch very seriously. The iPod Touch is Apple's versatile little handheld computer that packs a punch. If you are unfamiliar with the iPod Touch, think of it as an iPhone without the calling capabilities. The device has Bluetooth and WIFI connectivity on-board. It can run basically all the apps that are available in the App Store on iTunes. A week does not go by that I do not read a story about some school district that is doing something very unique or cool using these devices. At times I feel I could devote this entire blog to just educational uses of the iPod Touch and never run out of things to write about. 

Why do I like the iPod Touch for schools? First the device is cheaper than netbooks, and a cost effective option for budget conscience schools. It can fit in your pocket. It has pretty good battery life. The Safari browser works very well for surfing the web. The Voice Memo app allows you to record and post podcasts very quickly. There are so many cheap and or free apps available for the iPod Touch when compared to a netbook.The device does not have a camera so it removes the concern that schools have with students misusing cell phone cameras and the like, on unsuspecting staff or students. It can be used to play videos and podcasts.

Are there tasks and skills that you cannot do on the iPod Touch that you can do on a netbook? Yes. Absolutely. An equally comparative question to ask is - Are there things you can do very simply and easily on the iPod Touch that you can't do on a netbook? Yes. Absolutely. The decision comes down to what are your goals and the answers to questions like:

What do you want your students to know and be able to do by the time they graduate?

What are your learning outcomes?

What budget constaints do you have?

What will the students actually do with the devices during the school day?

When I was the technology coordinator for a school district I standardized the tablet pc we used. This way I was able to train all the staff on the same machine and the early adopters were able to train fellow colleagues as well. Having the same machine provided tremendous advantages in many ways. It was the same way when I issued every student in my Honors Algebra II course a TI-89 graphing calculator back in the 90's. Since all the students had the same device it allowed us to explore concepts we never would have without the devices. I could assign different homework assignments knowing they all had a graphing calculator. Similar things could be done if every student was issued an iPod Touch. The possibilities are endless. 

Louise Duncan has a post on her blog Personalising Learning with the iPod Touch that provides links to a host of things you can do with the iPod Touch. Give it a look.

LearningA-Z, the company that created Reading A-Z and Raz-kids, recently uploaded 111 leveled readers in the iTunes App store (Click Here for iTunes link). K-6 students can now practice reading at their ability level using their iPod Touches! Many of the readers are free.

If you are in a decision making position about what devices to purchase for your district I think you should give the iPod Touch a serious look.

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