H. Miyata (Japan)
Mobile-as-participation-platform, Ubiquitous Learning Environment, University Lecture Improvement, Web Database, Text Mining Technology, Knowledge Sharing
Information access by mobile devices is becoming available for anybody at any time in any place. We can clearly see the trend that learning can be happened in the so exciting 4A mode. Mobile computing technology will accelerate the progress and help to build a more convenient learning environment for learners. Web 2.0 websites allow learners to do more than just retrieve information. They can build on the interactive facilities of "Web 1.0" to provide "Network as platform" computing, allowing learners to run software-applications entirely through a browser. Learners can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercise control over that data. These sites may have an "Architecture of participation" that encourages learners to add value to the application as they use it. A comment card system that is compatible with mobile phones (NTT i-mode, ez-web, and vodafone) was developed and has been used for six years since 2002 as part of university lectures with large attendance. As per the approach adopted in these lectures, the lecturer poses a question and the students connect to the comment card system Web site from their mobile phones and submit their opinions or questions. The submitted opinions and questions are categorized according to their themes and are displayed on a large LCD screen facing the students in a lecture room in real time. The lecturer then draws attention to these opinions and questions and uses them to develop the lecture. The system was further improved to enable pictures taken from mobile phones equipped with a digital camera to be submitted along with a title and a comment, which the SQL server automatically stores in a picture database. This enabled the students to search for, extract, and view the pictures and the accompanying comments submitted by themselves and others in a ubiquitous learning environment. The application of this system in actual mass lectures indicates that it can promote the exchange of opinions between students and assist those lectures that aim to realize knowledge sharing.
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