Hansen, J.P, Fog Hansen, N. 2009. M-learning in agriculture – possibilities and barriers. . In: C. Lokhorst, J.F.M Huijsmans, R.P.M de Louw (Eds.), EFITA conference '09. Proceedings of the 7th EFITA conference, Wageningen, Holland, July 6-8 2009, pp. 463-469. On DVD.

1. M-learning in agriculture
– possibilities and barriers
Jens Peter Hansen & Nicolai Fog Hansen
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, National Centre
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

2. 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
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

3. • 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

4. • 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

5. Conclusion
• Wait for WiMax and Android
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

6. Farmers don’t have time for
learning
- they are busy working and solving problems
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

7. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

8. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

9. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

10. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

11. Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

12. 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

13. 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
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

14. • 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

15. • Bluetongue FAQ
• Danish authorities implemented a number of measures
including restriction zones and a vaccination campaign
including more than 1.5 million animals.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

16. • 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
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

17. • 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

18. • Podcasts - listen to agriculture
• Information through your ears while working
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

19. • 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
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

20. Delivery devices
• Mobile phones
• MP3 player
• Hearing protection ear-muffs
• Internet radio
• GPS car navigation
• ... and more
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre

21. 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.
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
National Centre