1. The Changing Mobile Landscape and its
Impact on Education
Joseph Labrecque
Center for Teaching & Learning
© 2011 University of Denver

2. Introduction
Joseph Labrecque, MA
University of Denver - CTL
Senior Interactive Software Engineer
Adjunct Faculty
Fractured Vision Media, LLC
Proprietor
Adobe Community Professional
Adobe Education Leader
What’s New in
Flash Player 11
What’s New in
Adobe AIR 3
© 2011 University of Denver 2

3. Mobile Considerations
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4. Traditional Computing in Education
While mobile has always been
with us in some form, things are
rapidly changing from what once
was a normal computing
experience.
Traditional Computing
 Laptop requirements
 General activities include
research and writing, with
access to online tools
 Fully powered, unrestricted
machines
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5. Mobile Differences: Desktop User Experience
Average user desktop: 1024x768 - 1280x1024
Lots of applications opened simultaneously - Multitasking!
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6. Mobile Differences: Screens
Users generally have very small
screens and therefore not a lot of
room to work with.
Applications take up the entire screen
when running.
This means:
 Serious choices must be made in
terms of what is made available to
the user.
 Interface elements should be kept
to a minimum.
 No clutter!
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7. Mobile Landscape
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8. A Plethora of Devices
Smartphone Operating Systems
 Apple iOS
 Google Android
 Windows Phone 7 (WP7)
 Blackberry QNX
Tablet Operating Systems
 Apple iOS
 Google Android
 Windows 8
 Blackberry Tablet OS
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9. The State of Mobile
Mobile explosion!
 iOS, Android, QNX, WP7…
 Smartphones and tablets
 Android ahead, Apple not far behind
 Other platforms are being crushed
By 2014, mobile internet consumption will
overtake desktop consumption
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10. Example: Android Growth
Fastest-growing Mobile Platform
 550,000 new Android devices
activated every day.
(This is growing by 4.4% EVERY
WEEK)
(August ‘11)
 100 million activated Android
devices to date.
(July ‘11)
 4.5 billion applications have been
installed from Android Market.
(July ‘11)
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11. Android Growth: Detail
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12. Impact on Education
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13. Mobile is Great for Education
Developments in mobile have great
impact because students are now
even more connected to systems and
information than ever before.
 Portable
 Social
 Connected-ness
 Lightweight
 Directed experiences
 Leading…
© 2011 University of Denver 13

14. Challenges of Mobile for Education
Students and faculty expect to be
able to perform the same tasks with
phones and tablets that they are able
to perform on desktops and laptops.
This is a major problem
 Devices are limited in power
 Non-traditional OS
 Limited functionality
 Locked down platforms
 Fragmentation
© 2011 University of Denver 14

15. Pre-Mobile Content
The web has been available for
general use for nearly two decades
and there are many, many useful
systems that were not built with
mobile use in mind at all.
These experiences include
 Websites
 Web Applications
 Rich Experiences (eg: video,
audio, interactivity)
This is a problem because
 All still viable
 All still useful
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16. Mobile Decisions
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17. Delivery to Mobile Device Platforms
Website
 Limited functionality w/ HTML as a
mobile-aware website in presenting
static content
Application
 Native or cross-compile?
 Both provide much more
functionality than “Web”
 Native is platform-specific
 Cross-compile casts a wider net-
but performance and experience
could suffer
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18. Decisions on Delivery Type
Mobile Website
 To convey information.
Mobile Application
 When there is a directed purpose.
 When you need operating system level
interaction.
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19. Mobile Statistics
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20. Average Processing Power
(relative units)
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21. Average Screen Size
TV
Laptop
Tablet
Phone
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22. Mobile at DU – First Day of Classes Autumn 2011
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23. Compared with 1 Year Ago…
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24. Let’s look at some academic apps
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25. Blackboard Mobile Learn
 Allows students to access
course material in a manner
more usable on small screens.
 We have chosen not to enable
this at DU:
 The free version is restricted to
certain devices and networks.
 The paid version is very
expensive and has a limited
feature set.
 There has been no demand on
campus.
© 2011 University of Denver 25

26. iThoughts
 Mindmapping app for iPhone
and iPad.
 No cross-platform support –
iOS only.
 Example of a directed utility
app.
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27. University of Denver
DU mobile application directs users
to certain information channels
 Integrated calendar and map.
 Android and iOS.
Penrose Library mobile
website includes
account access and
search.
 HTML
© 2011 University of Denver 27

28. CourseMedia Mobile
 Extension of directed CourseMedia
functionality to smartphones and
tablets.
 Beta-test on Android… cross-
compile to iOS and other platforms
once solid.
 Images, text slides, meta-data, and
streaming video!
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29. Streaming Video
© 2011 University of Denver 29

30. Students, Faculty, and Staff “get” Mobile
Classes
 Special Topics: Mobile Android Development with Flash Platform Tools
 Independent Study: Rapid ELISA Mobile Assay (REMA)
Research
 Andrei Kutateladze - The ability to “draw” a molecule on a smart phone screen,
submit it to a DU server for calculations of molecular structure and other
properties, have the results sent back to the phone.
Textbooks
 Many students now purchase the electronic version of the textbook: whether PDF,
ePub, Kindle, or some other digital format.
© 2011 University of Denver 30

31. Closing Thoughts
Observations
 Mobile requires a certain directed approach that
is not required with desktop application
development.
 Mobile users still expect everything to work
flawlessly on whatever random device they may
be using. This perspective is flawed.
 Designing good educational applications
requires collaboration between educators and
tech professionals.
 Knowledge of how people learn
(key components include interaction and feedback).
 Awareness of the technical opportunities and
challenges.
© 2011 University of Denver 31

32. Thank You.
© 2011 University of Denver