Predictions for 2006

E-learning experts map the road ahead

By Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine

As eLearn Magazine nears its fifth anniversary, we have seen the world of online learning change in many significant ways. Who, in 2002, envisioned the popularity of podcasts, wikis, and blogs? Yet for all the emphasis on how content can be created and disseminated, there has been too little focus on the quality of the learning experience. That’s why my prediction for 2006 is that people will realize that technology, no matter how innovative, is just an enabler. New technologies only succeed if they help people learn. Read on for more predictions from some of the most thoughtful and opinionated people in the e-learning field.

“I do not have any brilliant predictions but I do have some high hopes for 2006: First, that the new year will bring an increase in high-quality research on e-learning; and second, that the design of e-learning environments will be based increasingly on scientific evidence and research-based theory of how people learn.”
—Richard E. Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

“Next year will be a ‘building year’ for e-learning, with evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, changes. To begin with, the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) will continue to build momentum and become the darling of online learning, spurring more conversation on workflow in online learning and integration of learning applications. The threat of the Blackboard/WebCT merger will center both discussions around the need for e-learning frameworks, while leading to a grassroots movement for teaching with small tools outside of learning management systems. But the United States Department of Justice likely will quash the merger in the end on antitrust grounds. Finally, in the corporate e-learning world, not much will happen next year. Again.”
—Michael Feldstein, Assistant Director, SUNY Learning Network, USA

“The ‘e’ in e-learning will continue to expand with more electronic gadgets and gizmos capable of delivering learning anywhere at anytime. Audio podcasting will become an accepted and desired method of delivering learning to the mobile workforce quickly and efficiently. Video podcasting will remain in its experimental stages as regards learning, but will gain a foothold toward the end of 2006. Corporations will begin to recognize the power of handheld game platforms like the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which has wireless Internet access, a USB port, and the power to easily download and play audio and video content. Designers will struggle to determine the best strategies and methods to deploy instruction on these devices.”
—Karl M. Kapp, Assistant Director, Institute for Interactive Technologies and Professor of Instructional Technology, Bloomsburg University, USA

“Over the coming year, m-learning begins to grow in earnest. Podcasting, the 2005 New Oxford American Dictionary’s ‘Word of the Year,’ will expand and evolve dramatically. With the advent of enhanced podcasting, the delivery mode will integrate chapters, bookmarks, images, and video clips. The new features will be exploited for e-learning in an expanding array of mobile devices. As a result, e-learners are no longer chained to their computers and network connections; they are learning while hiking in the mountains, strolling on the beach, or jogging along a city street.”
—Ray Schroeder, editor, Online Learning Update blog, University of Illinois at Springfield, USA

“This will be the year that an American Disability Act lawsuit is launched against both a public and a private university system for ‘access’ discrimination caused by their e-learning offerings being not flexible enough for those with visual and other impairments. We will also see at least three e-learning courses in the sciences and engineering at a prestigious university that use the Xbox and/or Playstation as their courseware platform.”
—Michael Schrage, co-director of the MIT Media Lab’s E-Markets Initiative, USA

“Slowly but surely, people are getting ‘real’ about reusable learning objects (RLOs), and that realism will result in more practical approaches to RLOs. Within organizations, RLOs provide a means of inventorying content and ensuring consistency in key messages, such as product and policy descriptions. Across organizations, groups use RLOs to re-use whole courses as-is or with slight modifications. But the idea of automatically creating courses ‘on the fly’ by assembling learning objects seems to have been quietly dropped. Although some wild and impractical uses for mobile learning will be proposed, podcasting is poised to be its first real widespread practical application. Finally, as people look at the data on their investments in LMSs and LCMSs, many will question whether they’ve achieved real cost savings and productivity improvements.”
—Saul Carliner, assistant professor of educational technology, Concordia University, Canada

“This is one of the easiest years to make predictions in some time: 2006 will be the year of video. From video-on-demand services such as sports, to distributed video (Reuters allows Web sites to run video for free), to vodcasting and other forms of consumer video, we will be awash in video this year. Expect also to see a continuation of the copyright debate, the continuing expansion of distributed Web services (the “Web 2.0″ phenomenon), and (as a result) an increasing emphasis on free and open content, at the expense of commercial content. In e-learning proper, the migration away from commercial LMSs to Moodle, Sakai, and Bodington will continue, as will the less visible migration from LMSs altogether. In other words, the universe is unfolding as it should.”
—Stephen Downes, Researcher, National Research Council Canada

“This is what I’ll be wondering and watching in 2006: What will happen to the importance of standards efforts? What will be the impact of unifying technologies such as AJAX and SOAS on the need for open standards? I have a USB drive that can be used to install and run applications from any computer it’s plugged into. How might we use that capability in e-learning? I wonder when we’ll admit that we sell teaching and instruction but that learning is something that happens inside people’s heads and can’t be bought, sold, or packaged? Who will be the first company to come to market with the complete package for which the corporate world waits? (Hint: It won’t include more and larger systems.) I wonder when we, as a marketplace, will understand that the competition is not between products but between the ways people want to learn.”
—Mark Oehlert, Director of Learning Innovations, The MASIE Center, USA

“We’ve all been creating and accumulating large amounts of materials and resources for e-learning. Some are platform-based, others are not. As a result, we are faced with the problem of facilitating the retrieval of information on the Internet. Search engines such as Google give users much information, but not necessarily the systematic knowledge they require. We must provide a portal site for finding courseware that really fits learners’ needs. This portal should be a convenient tool that contributes to the optimal usage of information contained in e-learning systems.”
—Masaaki Kurosu, Professor, National Institute of Multimedia Education, Japan

“Here in the USA and abroad, both in K-12 and at the tertiary levels, we will see a growing acceptance of blended learning in the classroom. Best-in-class teachers can create educational content for CD, DVD, or live broadcast that is designed for classroom presentation guided by a live tutor/teacher. The content will be designed to be stopped and restarted several times during a classroom experience, blending the best of the distant teacher with that of the live resident teacher. In that way, not everyone on site must be expert in all content, such as physics, calculus, or even Machiavelli. And, it is a teaching-labor multiplier, potentially bringing higher quality education in more topics areas and at less cost.”
—Richard C. Larson, Founder and Director, Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC), MIT, USA

“I predict 2006 will be the year of ‘networked learning environments’ where any student, instructor, or researcher can access any learning resource at any time from any place, with:

• greater connection and integration of courses to educational resources such as libraries, research labs, advisors, peers, museums, alumni, parents, and other institutions
• an increase in eReserves, digital content from publishers, and ePortfolios to showcase student achievements
• technology providing greater efficiencies for individual and institutional assessments
• GUI (Graphical User Interfaces) enhancements for e-learning systems that incorporate social networking concepts to strengthen communication, extend interactions beyond the classroom, and facilitate the discovery and creation of new information.”

—Matthew Pittinsky, Chairman, Blackboard Inc.

“It seems to me that for three main pillars of e-learning—technology, courseware, and service-the following aspects will have the most impact on researchers, teachers, and learners in 2006. Technology: Web-based simulations and business games, and streaming multimedia (video, audio, animations). Courseware: free and open source authoring tools (open sourseware), open courseware and reusable learning objects for knowledge sharing. Services for: collaborative learning and virtual teaming, mobile (ubiquitous) learning, and IP-based conferencing (including Internet2).”
—Dr. Vladimir Uskov, Professor of Computer Science and Co-Director of the InterLabs Research Institute at Bradley University, USA

“As instructors and trainers continue to become aware of the power and ease of creation of things such as wikibooks, blogs, Webcasts, and podcasts, 2006 will spur an explosion of media-rich and creative instructional approaches. Audio and video will become more expected in e-learning. For instance, instructors will increasingly add audio books to student reading (i.e., listening) lists. At the same time, knowledge repositories and mobile e-learning will lead to a rise in personally selected learning experiences and even self-labeled degrees. Entire certificate and degree programs will be available from content in handheld devices such as an iPod or MP3 player. This will lead a boom in professional development and training opportunities.”
—Curtis J. Bonk, Professor, Indiana University, USA

“From a budget perspective, training will grow at least 15 percent over last year, closing some of the losses of the past few years. Outsourcing models will be scrutinized more closely, including both business processes and e-learning content. Colleges and universities will capture more of the full-time employee market, both serving individuals and enterprises. Simulations, approaches, and techniques will be used increasingly in traditionally non-simulation courses, and there will be the release of between five and ten new educational experiences that closely resemble real-time computer games.”
—Clark Aldrich, Author of Simulations and the Future of Learning and Learning by Doing: A Comprehensive Guide to Simulations, Computer Games, and Pedagogy, USA

“2006 will be the year that companies understand that a new business model is required to get both high quality and reasonable cost in online learning. Until now the choice has been one or the other. The new model will put the provider and the client on the same side of the table, leveraging the cost of compelling quality by syndicating solutions among several ‘client partners.’ That business model will spell even more trouble for library vendors and will open a window of opportunity for those high-end providers who can integrate quality and granularity with a user-centric design schema.”
—Jonathon Levy, Senior Learning Strategist, Monitor Group, USA

“The Power of Us: Mass collaboration online will change the way learning is defined and delivered in 2006, moving away from start/stop courses to continuous learning experiences (acquire and maintain). There will be less connecting people to content, and more connecting people to one another (collective knowledge). Peer-to-peer support will finally augment virtual ILT and online mentoring. Web services will allow specific functionality to be deeply integrated into the enterprise to create new blended solutions and personal online learning spaces. Collaboration will drive content creation and accelerate content development. Innovations from outside the industry will create new business models-think Amazon.com, eBay, and Salesforce.com.”
—Ben Watson, CEO, Ensemble Collaboration, Canada

“Where last year introduced us to mobile learning innovations such as podcasting and VOD (video-on-demand)-casting, 2006 will be the year that mobile learning comes of age. Mobile learning is the practice of supporting cognitive engagement using a variety of personal digital resources that create connections between and among people, information and processes. Whether one is talking about laptops or handhelds, iPods or smartphones, or some combination thereof, mobile learning matters because today’s learning stakeholders are mobile, and want the convenience of getting their information and learning resources when and where they want them, on whatever devices they choose. As mobile device adoption continues to bring new voices to the global learning conversation, learning designers will need to ensure that learning imperatives in the future are less oriented toward a command-and-control style of teaching and training and instead embraces learning solutions that are built upon principles of connectedness, communication, creative expression, collaboration, and competitiveness.”
—Ellen Wagner, Sr. Director, Learning Solutions, Adobe Systems, USA

“2006 may be remembered as the year of more of the same. Two trends appear strong: do it yourself (DIY), and information-as-instruction. DIY e-learning appears to be gaining popularity with no sign of decline. There are an increasing number of DIY e-learning tools for authoring. Some of these educational authoring tools are a bit of a stretch, but then again, spray paint in the right hands can become art! A second and related trend is the continued blurring of the line between information and instruction. Instead of “build it and they will come,” the new mantra may be “publish what you have and consider them trained.” A counterbalance to these trends will be a few well-developed programs from organizations that have enough at stake to demand instruction instead of information.”
—Margaret Driscoll, Learning and Development, Consultant, IBM Global Services, USA

“The collaboration market is changing radically; interactions with collaboration technologies are fluid and can be accessed from any device at anytime. Rapid changes like these require the confluence of a number of trends that converge like a ‘perfect storm.’ The result at the end of this decade will be a collaboration market not recognizable by today’s standards. These ten trends include:

1. The convergence of audio/video/data conferencing
2. Presence (and status) everywhere!
3. Convergence of synchronous and asynchronous collaboration functions
4. Enterprise collaboration convergence and standardization
5. Pushing collaboration into the infrastructure
6. RTC market consolidation
7. Driving collaboration into industries and processes
8. Changing distribution channels
9. Changing buyers for collaboration solutions
10. The rise of mobile collaboration (PDA/cell phone as a platform for collaboration)

As these ten trends impact collaboration, emerging will be human-centric, fluid, rich-media interactions occurring anywhere, anytime, and with anyone that will significantly impact enterprise learning.”
—David Coleman, Founder and Managing Director, Collaborative Strategies

E-learning ultimately changes almost everything for students, whether we’re talking about college kids or mid-level managers. Responsibility for learning moves to the individual. Will that sophomore taking Intro to Religion online keep up with her assignments? Will that sales rep complete the e-Learning modules about the new product? Will that repairperson use the performance support tools and participate in the online community? Many prefer what they know—classroom experiences led by instructors—and are, as Iowa’s Ken Brown found, not particularly adept at learning more independently and online. In 2006, we must go beyond touting the joys and glories of technology to grappling with how to guide, rivet, and serve dispersed and diverse independent e-learners.
—Allison Rossett, Professor, San Diego State University and co-author, Blended Learning Opportunities.

Lisa Neal is Editor-in-Chief of eLearn Magazine and an e-learning consultant.

http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=31-1

Impact of e-learning grows worldwide

Vancouver meeting highlights adoption of IMS specifications

Burlington, Mass. – February 28, 2003 – IMS meetings last week demonstrated advances in the use and adoption of interoperability specifications for online learning.
Nearly 200 participants from Australia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Taiwan, the UK, the U.S. and throughout Canada attended the meetings. Attendees represented major research universities, hardware and software companies, content providers, learning technology suppliers, government agencies, K-12 schools and corporate trainers. Three days of working meetings, a daylong Open Technical Forum, and a series of special briefings by participants highlighted the adoption of online learning projects from around the world.UK and Canada online learning initiatives
“In the UK two primary governmental agencies are taking a strategic lead on the embedding of e-learning standardization – the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Office of the e-Envoy (OeE). April 2003 will see many of the IMS specifications included in the latest version of the e-Government Interoperability Framework,” said Dr. Brian Sutton, Director of Information, Communications, and Technology for Ufi – developer of learndirect, the major network of online learning and information services in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. “The growing UK community of vendors and developers has responded actively and is fully engaged in making the vision on standards a reality, with both a growing number of smaller providers keen to respond positively and larger providers working to adapt existing portfolios of material to conform,” he said.

In Canada, projects such as “CanCore” and Industry Canada’s “EduSpecs” and “EduSource” show a growing and robust set of tools developers can use to create interoperable online learning – learning that is available to anyone, anywhere and anytime. “Canada has been active in the global development of e-learning technology, first through the SCORM and more recently, through IMS work groups developing specifications for Accessibility and Mobile Learning, Learning Design, Digital Repositories, Metadata and International Conformance,” said Captain Peter Hope, Operations Manager of the DLN Test Lab of the Canadian Department of National Defence. “Now our collective focus is shifting from developing the technologies to fostering learner-to-content interaction and developing learning communities,” he said. “Key to this new phase will be the ability to verify conformance to internationally accepted specifications and standards,” he added.
Pilot certification regimes are currently being launched in the U.S. (e.g. ADL and SIF), Canada and Japan. An International Conformance Program that includes participants from Canada, Japan, Taiwan, the UK and the U.S. is being developed by IMS to provide a platform for achieving consistent testing. This program applies the expertise of the entire IMS membership to testing implementations of the specifications.

Specification developers look to the future
Presenters from industry, government, and education described their vision for the next generation of interoperable e-learning content and environments, referred to as “Active Content and Active Learning Environments.”   Future capabilities include enhanced access to the types of information needed to customize the learning experience, improved communications between content and third-party information services, support for simulation, and improved ability to combine content and maintain visual consistency.

Members support IMS Quarterly Meetings
IMS Contributing Members WebCT, IBM, Microsoft, and Industry Canada were primary supporters of the Vancouver meetings, which were held at facilities provided by the University of British Columbia.  IMS member Giunti Interactive Laboratories will host the next Quarterly Meeting in Genoa, Italy May 12-16, 2003 in tandem with an international summit meeting titled   “eLearning Results 2003.”

About IMS
The IMS Global Learning Consortium develops open technical specifications to support distributed learning. All specifications developed by IMS are made available to the public without charge through the IMS web site. IMS is a non-profit organization supported by members of a worldwide consortium that includes 50 Contributing members and 60 Developers Network subscribers. The IMS in Europe foundation supports activities among European members. Information about IMS specifications, on-going activities, and membership applications is available at the IMS website http://www.imsglobal.org.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Palm Students – Palm Powered Handheld users

by Jen Edwards, PocketGoddess.com and Palm OS User Council

I’ve been a Palm Powered handheld user since April of 1999 and am always looking for new ways to put it to work. Since I’m also a long time student, I’m very interested in ways that my handheld can make my life both easier and more productive. I use my Palm Powered device to organize my time, keep track of my assignments, improve my learning skills, and carry a lot of reference material. I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief of PocketGoddess.com (http://www.pocketgoddess.com) and am also a member of the Palm OS User Council.

Software
    Assignment/Class Organizers
    Ebook Readers
    Art/Music
    English/Language Learning
    Mathematics/Calculators
    Sciences
    Word Processing/Spreadsheet Software
    Other Resources
User Stories
E-Books
    English Literature
    American Literature
    Study Aids
    Reference
    Foreign Language Reference
    History
Online Resources
    General Resources
    eBook/eText Resources
    General Student Resources

Software

These are some of the most helpful applications for students, designed to help you organize your time and assignments,
take notes in class, and manage the demands of your busy schedule

	Agendus Student Edition This application is designed to help students better organize their lives–both in the classroom and out.  Purchase
	ShadowPlan A multipurpose outliner and note-taking program that’s also great for keeping track of assignments and class projects.  Purchase
	WordSmith One of the best word processing applications out there for the Palm OS; WordSmith also acts as an ebook reader and a Memo Pad replacement.  Purchase

Assignment/Class Organizers

4.0 Student Designed to help organize your classes, instructor info, textbooks, and asignments; features grade tracking as well so there aren’t any surprises at the end of the semester. Optional online component with fourostudent.net.  Purchase

A+ Pro A nice homework manager with a convenient tabbed interface.  Purchase

Active Student Organizer A colorful application that helps you keep track of your schedule, homework, tests, projects, teachers, library books, sports activities, and miscellaneous events.  Purchase

College Student’s Starter Pack A bundle of four programs designed to help college students get ahead: GuineaBRAIN for lecture notes and mneumonic memory devices; GuineaSCHEDULE for course information and planning; GuineaPROJECT for keeping track of ideas and bibliographic information; and GuineaCHECK for tracking study progress. The applications are also available individually at the develper’s web site.  Purchase

CoursePro by Keith Meehl Track courses, assignments, and grades, with custom views, customized color schemes, and dynamic assignment sorting.  Purchase   More Information

Due Yesterday Freeware homework manager that tracks your grades as well; optional desktop application.  Purchase

Dynamic Transcript Helps you keep track of the classes you have taken, your grades and GPA, and also features a handy weekview to help you see your workload at a glance.  Purchase

Student Organizer One application that tracks homework assignments, appointments, library books, and more.  Purchase

Study@Hand This application features a class schedule, skectches, and notes, plus a grade calculator and trackers for appointments and library books.  Purchase

ThoughtManager for Students An outliner/idea organizer that includes helpful templates for students.  Purchase

Ebook Readers

These are the programs that allow you to access all of the documents/reference materials available for the Palm OS.

CSpotRun Freeware Palm DOC reader.  Purchase

HandStory Basic Freeware Palm DOC reader that also displays images and web clippings  Purchase

iSilo Provides compressed, “hyperlinked” documents with images and tables for Palm Powered devices.  Purchase

Mobipocket A very full-featured reader program.  Purchase

PalmReader Freeware version reads Palm Digital Media files; Pro version adds more features, including a dictionary for word lookups.  Purchase

ReadThemAll Freeware Palm DOC reader with smooth scrolling.  Purchase

TealDoc A fully featured ebook reader compatible with Palm DOC and TealDoc formats, with smooth scrolling, screen rotation, font selection, and more.  Purchase

TomeRaider Uses a special format to make searching large databases of information quick and easy. A variety of reference tools are available, including dictionaries (English and foreign language), thesauruses, encyclopedias.  Purchase

Art/Music

These applications allow you to draw sketches, create animations, and learn/play music on your Palm Powered handheld.

Bug Band Helps with practice in sight reading, letter names of notes, piano, and guitar, and includes ten levels of difficulty.  Purchase

McChords Graphical display of 60 chords and 48 scales. A must for piano students  Purchase

MusicEar Helps with ear training for cords, scales, melody, and more.  Purchase

ScaleTune A comprehensive music application with a tuner, metronome, timer, note trainer/player, and more.  Purchase

Sketchy A quick sketching tool with many drawing objects and a very nice animation feature.  Purchase

TealPaint A nicely featured drawing program for the Palm OS that includes a slideshow mode, animation features, and a wide array of drawing tools.  Purchase

English/Language Learning

Bdicty One of the best dictionary programs available for the Palm OS. A wide variety of dictionaries is available, including foreign language dictionaries.  Purchase

Conjugator A language student’s dream! Replaces thick grammar books with your Palm Powered handheld. Available in English, French, and German.  Purchase

KidsABC and KidsSpell by Antioch Bell KidsABC uses flash cards to help children learn the alphabet and 100 first words, while KidsSpell focuses on teaching spelling skills.  More Information

Learn Japanese Japanese flashcard and alphabet training program.  Purchase

Maison de Mystère by X-Act Software An interactive adventure story that helps you practice your French. Also available in a Spanish version.  Purchase   More Information

Mi:D A popup dictionary that also includes a talking function that pronounces words (on supported Palm OS 5 devices). Several dictionaries are available, including foreign languange and English language reference tools.  Purchase

Noah Lite A freeware dictionary program, with a very large database of words and memory card support. A shareware professional version is also available.  Purchase

SlovoEd Offers a wide variety of dictionaries, as well as a special “resident” mode that allows the user to check a definition or get a translation without leaving the primary application.  Purchase

Thesaurus/SpellCheck Improve your writing with a handy thesaurus and spellchecker program for Palm Powered handhelds.  Purchase

UltraLingua Translation dictionary available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.  Purchase

Vocab Tutor by Mobile Tutor A powerful flashcard application that includes a Windows desktop component for speedier database creation.  Purchase   More Information

Words 2 Grow Includes more than 1000 vocabulary words with definitions, synonyms, and antonyms, along with a review feature, TicTacWords, and the Leaf game for fun & educational reviews.  Purchase

My Smartacus Spanish Study Tools by Smartacus Includes both a Spanish verb conjucator and a Spanish vocabulary tutor for a reduced price.  Purchase

Hangman English to Spanish by Mehmet Software A clever program that helps you improve your English and Spanish vocabulary at the same time by playing traditional Hangman with a twist–guess the English word based on Spanish language clues.  Purchase

Mathematics/Calculators

You no longer need an expensive scientific/graphing calculator–a Palm Powered device with one of the following applications is more than powerful enough to solve the equations you need.

ArithmeFish A highly educational game that teaches basic math in an engaging manner.  Purchase

Bunny Math by WagWare A multimedia mathematics learning application for young children with colorful graphics, animation, and sound. Two different modes and 100 learning levels.  Purchase   More Information

CHEMiCALC Perform complex chemical calculations and write equations quickly and easily.  Purchase

Circuits Information Provides diagrams of common electical circuits  Purchase

ImagiMath A fully-featured mathematics suite with graphing, calculation, and equation solving components.  Purchase

Math 123 and Math 456 by Antioch Bell Software Two different math learning programs designed to help teach very young children the basics of arithmetic.  More Information

Math Class A mathematics learning tool for K-6 students that tests addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (with remainders); includes variable difficulty and a missed answer review fuction.  Purchase

Math Guide Includes a wide variety of equations and formulas, including Algebra and Geometry.  Purchase

Math Time and Fraction Math Time Designed to give plenty of fun practice on basic math and fraction skills; educational games are included, as well as an AnswerTrack feature that lets parents and teachers check student progress.  Purchase

MathU Pro Programmable scientific and financial RPN calculator.  Purchase

powerOne Graph A powerful graphing and scientific calculator.  Purchase

Sciences

Includes Astronomy, Biology, Chemisty, Physics, and other science applications.

Anatomy Contains a wealth of information about the body and its systems–arteries, bones, muscles, nerves, the brain, and more.  Purchase

Astro Info Freeware almanac of astronomical information.  Purchase

Biology Study Guide Covers a wide range of biology information with text and diagrams.  Purchase

ChemTable A freeware periodic table of the elements that contains helpful information about each element, such as their physical and chemical properties.  Purchase

College Physics A concise set of notes covering all the basic concepts in the typical college physics class.  Purchase

Crib Sheet Don’t worry, this isn’t a cheating program! Designed as a home for all of your Math, Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering formulas, with color, superscript, and subscript support.  Purchase

Planetarium Plots star charts and calculates the position of celestial bodies.  Purchase

Word Processing/Spreadsheet Software

One of the best uses of Palm Powered devices in the classroom is for laptop/desktop replacement. Instead of typing out all of your notes, you can use a keyboard with your handheld and enter everything directly into one of these applications. Some of the applications are sold in cost-saving bundles of “office apps” including Documents to Go, Quickoffice and iambic Office.

Documents to Go The standard edition includes Word to Go and Sheet to Go, for Word and Excel files. The premium edition adds support for charts, Powerpoint presentations, and PDF support  Purchase

HandOutline by Frank Golazeski A freeware outline/notetaker application that allows you to export information to the Memo Pad or to a memory expansion card in HTML format.  More Information

Quickoffice Includes Quickword, Quicksheet, Quickchart, and Quickpoint, which allows users to work with the full range of Microsoft Office applications in their native file formats  Purchase

WordSmith An excellent word processing program that also functions as an ebook reader and Memo Pad replacement.  Purchase

Other Resources

CIA World Factbook 2002 Learn more about the countries of the world, including their maps and flags.  Purchase

Handy Cards Write your own quizzes and create “virtual flash cards” on your Palm Powered device.  Purchase

Herbert & the Presidents Includes facts on all 43 US Presidents, including George W. Bush, as well as a quiz and answer tracking feature that identifies which questions students had difficulty with. Three educational games are also included.  Purchase

Herbert’s 50 US States Includes information about all 50 states (capital, population, area, state bird/flower/tree), as well as two educational games that reinforce learning.  Purchase

Learn!? A flashcard program for your Palm Powered device that makes it very easy to create your own review cards.  Purchase

SuperMemo A powerful learning system that helps students memorize almost any kind of data: foreign language vocabulary, multiplication tables, etc. Make your own databases or download one of the 65 data sets freely available on the SuperMemo web site.  Purchase

World Geography Helps you learn geography by quizzing various countries, capital cities, and population facts.  Purchase

World Political Map Learn more about countries, states, and cities with this MapMap plugin.  Purchase

FlashCards by Pine Desk A highly customizable flash card application that allows you to create your own cards for individual study.  Purchase   More Information

Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia 2005 Handheld Edition Version by Town Compass An encyclopedia specially geared to the needs of grade school students.  Purchase

iPedia wireless encyclopedia by ArsLexis A wireless English, German and French encyclopedia with more than 420 thousand articles  in the English version alone. An incredible resources that can help you find information fast.  Purchase

HangFlash by Engreitz Studios Use custom databases and an unlimited number of word lists to drill with flashcards or use play Hangman; either way you’re reviewing vocabulary words and reinforcing your learning of any kind of material.  Purchase

User Stories

Third Graders Track Math Skills With Palm Handhelds http://www.palmone.com/education/studies/study43.html

Maryland Students Use Handhelds http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=1951

Medical Students at Several Schools use Palm Handhelds to Stay on Track http://palm.com/education/studies/study41.html

Orland Park IL District 230 http://www.d230.org/Handheld/default.htm

Includes several case studies on disabled students using handhelds http://www.techdis.ac.uk/PDA/casestudies.htm

Tracking assignments by Eric G. I use the PalmOS 5 Tungsten|T PDA from Palm. I am a high school student, and taking down all those notes and daily assignments was taking up too much paper. So I bought the T|T. Not only can I keep track of ALL of my assignments and their due dates, as well as keep all of my notes organized and legible, but using a Bluetooth access point, I can access my email from teachers and access the net almost anywhere in the school. The use of this device has allowed me to become much more organized and helped me miss a grand total of 0 assignments after I began using it. It has greatly helped my GPA in school!

Creating spreadsheets in class by Andreas K. Before I went off to college, I knew that I was in for a serious lifestyle adjustment. I never would have guessed how much of a change it was going to have been. I bought my Tungsten T to organize myself and keep up what was required of me, and instead of my usual scraps of paper, I put everything into my handheld, even things that I wouldn’t be looking at for years to come. This was such a benefit to me because of all of my future projects and needing to set up times that I carry it with me everywhere. I found that the Tungsten worked so well with my needs that I started to use it in my classes for my Excel worksheets. The sheet works perfectly with my home computer’s Excel and it makes my spreadsheet work much more convenient that I can edit them while in class. Now, my professor even calls on my just to use the spreadsheet to give examples in class. The Palm OS has completely changed the way I do things, I work with my spreadsheets on it, and I listen to my music on it when I work out, I even use it as my permanent alarm clock. It has completely infiltrated my life. I now can’t imagine being without it.

Student depends on handheld daily by Joneil K. I can now say that I’m a cyborg. My daily functioning depends on having my Clie in my coat pocket. It has improved my grades by giving me a compact and fun system for writing my school assignments down. I am able to quickly take notes and I have all my important information with me at all times. Having it has made me a more well-rounded person by allowing me to read news publications from all around the world. And who needs a brain when I can store names, phone numbers, and addresses and not have to worry about forgetting them at critical times. It’s hard to remember life before it was enhanced by Palm. But I know that I never want to go back to the dark ages of pen and paper.

Tracking grades and browsing the web by Zeke W. Palm Powered Handhelds have completely revolutionized the way I live my life. I have owned Palm Powered PDA’s for over a year now, and I have owned the Palm m125, Sony CLIE PEG-T415, and Sony CLIE PEG-N760C since my first purchase last year. I use my CLIE N760C for many different purposes, ranging from grade tracking to web browsing to entertainment. On the organization side of the spectrum, I have experienced great flexibility from the Palm OS platform that I simply would be unable to do with a Pocket PC handheld. Palm OS’s system is open-ended enough that I am able to run replacement PIM applications like DateBk5 and still take advantage of more advanced Palm OS features like vibrating alarms and high resolution color graphics. I use Handmark’s 4.0Student software to track my grades, and again, thanks to Palm’s flexible system, this software is seamlessly integrated with the Palm OS Date Book and To Do List. Though Palm OS is simple enough for even a novice to use easily, its’ capabilities are strong enough for me to utilize many high-powered features such as playing MP3’s, quickly manipulating, viewing, and editing files on expansion media, and managing databases. Many third-party options, often bundled or freeware, push Palm OS to the limit and maximize the functionality of my device. One of the greatest things about Palm OS is the vast multitude of software available. Palm OS’s developer program, which I am a member of, makes it possible for nearly anyone with the tools needed can create software for Palm handhelds. This means that whenever I look at my favorite software site with a certain kind of program in mind, someone has made it, no matter if it is a program that makes my handheld’s screen a mirror, or a program that edits and views Microsoft Office documents. Lastly, Palm OS devices make it easy for anyone to get organized for a very low price. I encounter many PDA users, using devices ranging from $99 budget models to $500, cutting-edge models. But here’s the great part: despite the $400 difference, that $99 Palm handheld can do almost everything the more expensive one can do! So no matter who you are, what you need, or what budget you are on, Palm OS handhelds have something that’ll go above and beyond your expectations. In these ways, and many more, Palm OS has drastically improved my life. I can automate tasks that used to be tedious organizing with paper, entertain myself with games and multimedia content, and all for a very small price tag. Thanks, Palm!

Student takes notes in class by Khalid S. My first ever “digital diary” stood only for its name. I used it to keep track of my schedule and to use it to look-up the telephone numbers, and occasionally use the notepad, which only accepted input through a tiny and troublesome on-screen keyboard. I was quite hyped about it for the first week or so, but it wasn’t long before I realized that it was nothing but a waste of money since the device was simply lying around catching dirt in my closet. This was the time when I came in complete agreement with my parents, who had advised me not to buy the “digital diary” in the first place. I felt defeated at my own game, and decided not to step into the PDA territory of consumer electronics again. Little did I know, Palm had plans that would change the way my family and I looked at these little gadgets. Last year, I saw my friend using the Palm m100. Considering my past experience, I was greatly cynical in my judgment of the device. Though, when my friend started showing the versatility of the product and the ability for it to have software, as well as hardware, upgrades, my curiosity woke up yet once again. I remember I went home the same day and sat on the Internet for hours, researching on almost all the PDAs that were available in the market. This extensive research continued for the next two months. It turned out that within a matter of two years, the PDA product-line had greatly diversified. The two giants competing in this new market were Microsoft and, of course, Palm. Since Palm was a fairly new brand to me, and because I had been using Microsoft Windows since the first time I bought my PC (just like about 80% of the general population), I felt compelled to buy the, then called, Windows CE based handheld. Though, due to the high prices and hearing about the frequent crashes of their operating system (those of you who have Windows on their PCs know exactly what I’m talking about), I had to chain-down my urges to get my hands on the handheld. Contrary to the Windows CE handhelds, Palm’s products were definitely affordable and far more stable, and since I had seen it at work thanks to my friend, I could tell that they served the purpose well enough. After much consideration and spending countless hours trying to compare the two companies’ products, and overcoming my reluctance to spend money to buy another handheld, I decided to give a try to Palm’s m130. And let me tell you, buying this PDA, undoubtedly, was one of the best investments of my life! Despite the fact that I had never used a Palm OS based device before, it took minutes to get comfortable with the PDA. The user interface was extremely easy to get accustomed to and literally everything was a “screen-touch” away. After understanding the simple functionality of the platform (which took no more than 10 minutes), I was on my way to installing the accompanying software like a pro. The multi-functionality of this device was so compelling and so well designed that my PDA started becoming a necessity of my life. Within a matter of days my m130 became one of the four things I can’t leave my home without; the other three being my cell phone, my car-keys, and my wallet-. Since then, my PDA is the one that wakes me up in the morning with its alarm clock. Right before leaving the house, I press the HotSync button on the cradle of the PDA to synchronize it with my PC, which then downloads/update all the information I could possibly need. Heading out of my house to downtown, I quickly browse through the things that need to be taken care of throughout the day to make sure everything is running on schedule and check out the weather for the day to prepare myself physically for the day out. While on my way to the subway, I check on the timings of the next coming train. Making onto the subway right on time, on my way to school, I read the updated news from the top news agencies (such as CNN, ABC, MSNBC, The New York Times etc), that I synchronized in the morning, through the software that downloads full colored websites onto my handheld. Getting off from the subway, I quickly tap into my money-management software (UltraSoft Money) that synchronizes my PDA with my PC’s Microsoft Money to check my account balances before going ahead with my major purchases/expenses for the day. Next, stopping by at the coffee shop, I buy my regular caffeine-free and, while I wait for the cashier to give me back my change, I launch my expense-tracker to quickly “touch-down” my spending right away, which will then be transferred onto my PC when I later synchronize my PDA with it. Stepping into the University, the PDA starts beeping and the screen shows that I have a lecture coming up in five minutes. Rushing through the hallway full of students, I enter the lecture hall and unfold my full-size keyboard, which I then attach to my m130. Throughout the lecture, I “type-down” everything the professor says, while the other students struggle with their pencils and pens barely keeping up with the professor’s speed. At the end of the lecture, I go up to the professor, while the others still busy trying to copy notes, to ask a few questions and, using the built-in Notepad software, I write down his answers in my own handwriting so as to refer back to it whenever I please. During the time I get in-between lectures, I snap on my Xircom wireless LAN card to the m130 and log onto my email account and drop a quick line to my girl friend, while checking the new emails in my inbox. Waiting for the subway on my way back home, I tap into my digital family photo album just to get a bit of relaxation after a long day, checking out the pictures and videos we took at my cousin’s wedding recently and updated onto the PDA the night before. After getting on the subway, I decide to look at the recent work-sheet document that was created using Microsoft Excel. I re-check the calculations in the cells, and making necessary changes I save the document so as to update it with my PC once I get home. After coming back home, I snap my PDA onto the cradle to recharge and “sync” it to my PC, updating all the changes that were made throughout the day. After getting freshened up, I plug out my PDA from the cradle and lie down on my bed and open up the e-book that I couldn’t finish the night before. After getting bored with reading, I decide to play my all-time favourite game, Bejeweled, to see if I can beat my own record. Just before going to sleep though, I make sure to set the alarm for the next morning, or else everything may go haywires! My PDA, as you may be able to notice, has become a significant part of my life now. So now you know some of the reasons why I can’t leave home with out it! 🙂 The best part is that, looking at how much useful this tiny device is and how fast and easy it is to use, my dad is now seriously considering getting one for himself; even though he is the kind of guy who doesn’t like to get himself involved with the new technology. I am trying to push him to take my m130 so that I can go ahead and buy the new Tungsten T and open a whole new world of advancements, including MP3-playing capabilities!!! Regardless of the outcome of this competition, I would like to thank Palm for coming out with such pioneering products and services, and with significantly stable software, something greatly lacking in your counterpart (Pocket PC). I always recommend Palm’s PDAs to all of my friends and, after seeing me in action with my own day-in and day-out, three of them have already purchased their very own and love it just as much as I do! Seeing the strengths and expandability of these devices, I think it won’t be long before the actual secretaries and assistants may have to find other jobs. Keep up the good work Palm, and thank you for reading this through! 🙂

Keeping track of college life by Dave R. I bought a Palm m100 my senior year of high school to keep track of when I worked and my lengthy list of extra-curricular activities. During the last month of school, I asked all of my friends for their address info (since all I had before was an email address book and a piece of notebook paper with some phone numbers). When I went to college the next fall, it was so nice to know where my friends were and how to get in touch with them when the weekend rolled around. Now I have a Palm m125 and I would be lost without it. Keeping track of college life is unbelievably easier for me. I schedule meetings, put my assignments on the To Do list (it’s such a good feeling to finally clear that last To Do of your list in the wee hours of the morning), and keep track of my Professors when I have a question. When I have time I have a few games on it that I can play ;-).

Managing shooting schedules in film school by Victor A. After trying to use early “PDAs” from other vendors, I finally bit the bullet and bought a Palm device after going on a video shoot and seeing the DP using his Palm handheld for all sorts of amazing things. Since then, I upgraded to a Handspring Visor (thinking I would need accessories). But my Handspring has been all I’ve ever needed pretty much out of the box– thanks to the efficient Palm OS. While in film school I used the Palm handheld to manage classes, shooting schedules, and a huge list of contacts (it’s WHO you know). Whenever I had a creative jolt, I could always quietly enter it into my Notes. Since getting married, I can now keep track of all birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc. on my Palm handheld. I also teach at a technical school, and I’m using software to integrate with Office applications so I can enter grades with my Palm handheld! Instead of flying around the room with a load of papers like the proverbial absent-minded professor (which I sort of am without my Palm handheld), I can efficiently enter necessary data in one tiny, convenient package. I’m hoping to learn enough about programming to develop a way to sync my Palm handheld with our gradebooks! And when my students have a question I can’t answer, I just use the Acrobat reader for Palm OS to look up a reference book answer… I tried using pen and paper for a long time, but I’m glad I have the flexibility and ease of use in my Visor. Oh, and when I get bored, I can always relax with a nice game of chess or something. Now, in closing, I should mention I’ve considered PocketPC. But after a long hard look I decided to stick with Palm OS, because of the better OS, better applications, MORE software, and reliability. Besides, I use a Mac at home, and only Palm allows me to natively sync up with iSync from Apple.

E-Books

This is one of the best uses of Palm Powered devices for students. Instead of carrying a backpack full of books, you can keep literally thousands of pages of reference materials in one tiny device. Everything is ready at a moment’s notice, and instantly searchable. No need to flip pages anymore! This is only a very small sampling of what is actually available.

English Literature

These books are examples of those generally assigned in English Literature classes. Instead of taking a pile of paper books to class, download them to your Palm Powered device instead.

Complete Histories & Poems of William Shakespeare Includes the ten historical plays and all of Shakespeare’s narrative poems. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/1406

Complete Tragedies of William Shakespeare Includes all thirteen tragedies by William Shakespeare. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/1416

Complete Comedies of William Shakespeare Includes all fourteen comedic plays by William Shakespeare. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/1404

Complete Poetry & Selected Prose of John Donne http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/1395

Complete Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/1414

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/17195

American Literature

These are examples of classic novels typically assigned in English classes. They’re much more portable in electronic format on your Palm Powered device.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/17039

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/8286

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/15715

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/11284

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/6318

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/6495

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/10628

1984 by George Orwell http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/5709

Moby Dick by Herman Melville http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/2668

Study Aids

Cliffs Notes Available for most of the popularly assigned literary classics. Why run to all of the bookstores in town when you can download Cliffs Notes from Palm Digital Media? http://www.ereader.com/search?keywords=cliffs&x=0&y=0

Spark Notes Available for a wide variety of titles that are often required reading for literature classes http://www.ereader.com/search?keywords=sparknotes&x=0&y=0

Reference

Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary A great resource for looking up words when you need quick definitions. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/11673

Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus Very helpful tool for improving your writing. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/12713

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage For help with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and general writing style. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/4927

How to Write by Herbert E. Meyer and Jill M. Meyer http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/10308

Foreign Language Reference

Merriam Webster’s Spanish-English Dictionary Why carry a paper dictionary when you can carry this handy Spanish-English Dictionary in your Palm Powered device? http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/10429

Langenscheidt’s Spanish Dictionary Includes verb conjugation tables and idiomatic expressions as well as 50,000 definitions http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/16012

Random House Webster’s Pocket Spanish Dictionary A slightly smaller dictionary of 50,000 words for a bargain price http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/5462

Merriam Webster’s French-English Dictionary An invaluable reference for students taking French language classes. http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/10406

Lagenscheidt’s French Dictionary http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/16773

Langenscheidt’s German Dictionary http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/12118

How to Learn a Foreign Language Hints, tips, and skills necessary for students learning any foreign language http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/10310

History

The History of England from the Accession of James II (Vols. I-V) by Thomas Babington Macaulay http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=7841&p=category^!History&start=75

USA Historical Documents http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=12387&p=category^!History&start=25

Documents From the American Revolution http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=2223&p=category^!History&start=150

Alphabetical List of Battles During the American Revolutionary War http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=605&p=category^!History&start=225

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=10067&p=category^!History&start=75

Speeches of Winston Churchill http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=11805&p=category^!History&start=25

US President Roosevelt’s Speech Declaring War http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=10614&p=category^!History&start=50

2003 World Almanac by Town Compass, LLC http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=11988&p=category^!History&start=25

US State of the Union Address (January 28, 2003) http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=11925&p=category^!History&start=25

U.S. Presidential Biographies by Ashley Hall Requires TomeRaider http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=10220&p=category^!History&start=75

Online Resources

General Resources

Tips, tricks, and software reviews for students.

Learning in the Palm of Your Hand Home page for the Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education. http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/

Palm for Academics http://palminfo.8m.com/

PalmOne.com- Education Includes user stories, along with ideas for furthering the use of handhelds in education. http://palmone.com/education/

pdaED.com A great resource for news about handhelds in education, along with product reviews. http://www.pdaed.com/vertical/home.xml

eBook/eText Resources

Fictionwise You won’t find any educational texts here, but when you need a break Fictionwise is the place to go: short stories and novels of every description, with a strong emphasis on science fiction and fantasy. http://www.fictionwise.com

Memoware One of the largest collections of free Palm OS-formatted documents available on the Internet. http://www.memoware.com

Palm Digital Media The home of hundreds of ebooks from a variety of publishers, all in Palm Reader format. http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com

Project Gutenberg Contains a wealth of free ebooks, conversion generally required to format for Palm Powered devices. http://gutenberg.net/

Virginia Etext Library An excellent resource for documents in history and the humanities. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/eng-on.html

General Student Resources

Ectopic Cortex A primer on Palm Powered devices for medical students, but should be helpful to those studying other subjects as well. http://dmi-www.mc.duke.edu/oem/palm.htm

GoKnow Home to several freeware educational applications for the Palm OS. http://www.goknow.com

Hi-CE The Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education. http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/

Hot Lava Mobile Learning For Kids by Hot Lava Software Six different Palm OS-based courses are available, generally focusing on math skills for elementary school children.

New Media Medicine Devoted mainly to technology and learning for medical students. http://www.newmediamedicine.com/

PDAGrad.com A recently-launched site for students who use handheld devices. http://www.pdagrad.com

eLearning Resources and News

Think education – The bottom line is not the bottom line: “As networks shrink the world, business priorities change. Efficient production used to call the shots. Make lots of stuff, gain economies of scale, and sell, sell, sell, even if what you were selling wasn’t quite what your customers were asking for. But now customers can buy whatever they want from anywhere in the world, whenever they want to.”

I’ve been happily collecting neuroscience resources in my bloglines account. Here are some that I’ve found most useful:
Redwood Centre Symposium (video lectures)
Online Neuroscience Lectures (I think I’ve linked to this before)
Caltech Neuroscience Lectures
Mind and Brain Portal (wikipedia)
BrainTutor – highly recommended! (a free download educational program on the human brain)
Cognitive science video interviews
Neuroscience podcasts
The Neuroscience of Leadership
Cognitive science podcasts

Stephen links to a great introductory resource on personal learning environments

News, music, TV, (media as a whole) are all experiencing the same crises of openness: Web Users Open the Gates – “Containers in which news had been packaged broke apart because the Internet could deliver content without the wrapping…The basic idea of what defines a news “consumer” morphs when consumers gain access to producers’ tools, and can float between being a reader and an editor.”
As I’ve stated (numerous times) before, educators need to watch what’s happening in those industries that are facing the first impact of decentralization and shifted end-user control. Learners want to be more than learners – they want to co-create, engage, and teach – a blurring of the functional lines we have artificially created to enable “knowledge transfer”. How these trends will impact our learning spaces and structures should be a key concern (or, at minimum, the subject of research – which so far is dismally lacking) for corporate trainers and public educators.

Mirror Neuron Research: Implications for Education: “Every so often, there arises a topic which grabs the imagination, not so much for its current implementation in educational practice, but rather by virtue of the exciting possibilities it seems to present. Mirror neuron research is one of these, having finally accumulated a critical mass sufficient to support a degree of popular currency in the mass media – people are at last asking, not simply ‘ What are mirror neurons?’, but also ‘How does this knowledge fit with current educational practice?’ and ‘What new educational strategies are suggested by trends in neuroscience?””

A lesson for educators to learn (i.e. not one, but many approaches, allowing each to live/die on their own merits) Creating Strategy in an Unkowable Universe: “Strategy as a portfolio of experiments”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

ROI on training

The ROI of training can be determined (if it indeed has one). There
is a chain of evidence to be followed that goes beyond the acquisition
of knowledge (although that makes a good starting point).

Presumably, the training results in the acquisition of knowledge and
skill. Let’s treat them separately for now.

The acquisition of a new skill means the trainees are able to do
something they could not do before. Typically, skills are taught or
developed when what the trainees are to do is known and specified in
advance.

Knowledge has value with respect to performance only when it is
applied in some way. Knowledge provides the capability or capacity
for action. However, the precise nature of the application can’t be
specified in advance and so it is often the case that the performer
must, at least in part, figure out what to do.

Both cases (skill and knowledge) tie eventually to the performer doing
something in an on-the-job setting. That something, whatever it is,
has direct and immediate effects. These effects might be felt in the
form of changed information, transformed materials, or changes in
other people. The direct and immediate effects of action also “ripple
through” the structure of the larger situation or context in which the
performance takes place, making themselves felt elsewhere. For
example, a direct, immediate effect of a salesperson’s proposal to a
customer might be an order. That order is then booked and later shows
up as an incremental increase in the organization’s sales. It might
also be used in some functional calculation such as
orders-per-salesperson, etc. In any case, there are indirect and
delayed effects of actions to be considered.

The chain of evidence of the ROI of training that I referred to
earlier goes something like this:

Training –> Improved/Increased Skill/Knowledge –> New and Different
Actions –> Direct and Immediate Effects of Actions –> Indirect and
Delayed Effects of Actions.

The effects of actions, whether direct and immediate or indirect and
delayed, are typically such that economic value can be assigned to
them. This is what makes it possible to ascertain the ROI of
training. The typical focal point for evaluating training (i.e., the
acquisition of skill and/or knowledge) is only a starting point in the
chain of evidence.

PARIS, France and CUPERTINO, Calif. – July 11, 2006
SEQUANS Communications, a leading developer and provider of fixed and mobile WiMAX silicon and software, announced that it is now sampling its WiMAX mobile station chips to select customers.

Supporting the recently ratified 802.16e-2005 broadband wireless access standard, the chip provides equipment makers with a fully integrated physical layer and media access control (MAC) layer solution and the lowest power consumption for developing low cost and high performance WiMAX mobile stations.

“The results of our tests so far exceed our expectations and we are now confident in releasing the mobile station chip to our key customers and ODM partners,” said Bertrand Debray, Sequans VP of engineering. “The team executed brilliantly in developing a high performance chip in record time.”

Sequans’ SQN1110 system-on-chip (SoC) is a highly integrated, low power 802.16e-compliant, baseband solution. Its high level of integration and ultra-low power consumption make it suitable for use in mobile devices¯handsets, smartphones, PDAs, PC cards, USB dongles—as well as fixed devices.

Sequans new mobile station chip was designed to include all MAC and PHY features required to attain WiMAX certification, expected later this year. The SQN1110 mobile station chips are sampling now along with evaluation kits for the SQN2110 base station chipsets; general availability for both is scheduled for September 2006.

For more:
http://www.sequans.com/site/news_july1106.html

The mobile market authority, today issued the findings of its May Benchmark Survey. The firm found that while smart-phone owners comprise a small percentage of the overall population of mobile phone users, large percentages of smart-phone users are consuming mobile content.  Contrary to popular belief, those carrying these powerful devices are not using them exclusively for productivity applications, but are also using them to view mobile video, play mobile games and listen to mobile music in addition to using them for personal e-mail and wireless Web access.  

Table 1: Smart-phone penetration and consumption

Country

Smart-phone penetration

Played downloaded game

Watched mobile video

Used E-Mail

Listened to mobile music

Sent photo or video over network

Accessed news and information

 

Compared to the average mobile phone subscribers, smart-phone owners are avid users of mobile multimedia. In
France and
Germany, nearly half of smart-phone owners sent video or a photo over the network, compared with a market average of (18.6) percent in
France, and (19.5) percent in
Germany. Nearly a quarter of
UK smart-phone owners reported listening to music on their handset, versus the average of 5.8 percent.  

The parallels are similar across the geographies. French smart-phone owners are a staggering 11 times more likely to listen to music on their handset compared with the market average of 1.7 percent, while their American counterparts are more than eight times more likely to do so. Video has been particularly popular among French smart-phone owners, at 15.1 percent, versus a countrywide average of 1.8 percent. There is also a relatively high conversion rate to video among
U.S. smart-phone owners, who are more than six times more likely to watch video than a random subscriber, as the
U.S. average for video consumption is 1.3 percent. 

 

“Whereas mass-market Symbian devices have flooded the European market, the smart-phones in the hands of most U.S. consumers are high-end devices produced by Palm and RIM that are targeted  to appeal to mobile professionals concerned with personal productivity,” said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst and chief product architect, M:Metrics. “The Motorola Q, which is being marketed heavily as a stylish device that’s fun as well as productive, and is being offered at consumer-friendly price points, could help broaden the market for smart-phones and spur content consumption.” 

At two percent penetration, the
U.S. lags
Western Europe in Smart-phone ownership.
Britain tops
France and
Germany, at 6.6 percent market adoption. All the top three devices in
France,
Germany and the
United Kingdom are Nokia devices. The Palm Treo is the smart device of choice for Americans, followed by the BlackBerry.  

Table 2: Most Popular Smart-phones Used as Primary Handset

 

 “Without a doubt, Symbian devices compel their owners to use mobile content. Varying by networks in the
UK, 45 to 70 percent of N-70 users report that they used their phone to download or browse for content,” said Paul Goode, vice president and senior analyst, M:Metrics. “We’re seeing impressive conversion rates across all forms of mobile content among users of these handsets, and see a direct correlation between device attributes (screen size, screen resolution and network speed) and propensity to consume content.”  

Metrics applies trusted media measurement methodologies to assess the audience for mobile content and applications. As the world’s most authoritative mobile market measurement firm, M:Metrics delivers the most accurate mobile market metrics through the largest monthly survey of mobile subscribers in the U.S., U.K., Germany and France, as well as automated data collection methodologies. Below are the findings of its June Benchmark Survey.  

French Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: May 2006
Activity	Subscribers (000s)	Percent	% Change
Sent Text Message	29,355	69.1%	0.7%
Used Photo Messaging	7,919	18.6%	8.1%
Browsed News and Information	3,319	7.8%	7.6%
Purchased Ringtone	2,748	6.5%	(-3.4%)
Used Personal E-Mail	2,548	6.0%	11.6%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver	1,313	3.1%	(-0.6%)
Used Mobile Instant Messenger	1,241	2.9%	7.9%
Used Work E-Mail	857	2.0%	9.7%
Downloaded Mobile Game	500	1.2%	13.9%
Source:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of French mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31 May, 2006, n= 12,631

 

German Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: May 2006
Activity	Subscribers (000s)	Percent	% Change
Sent Text Message	35,606	80.0%	2.6%
Used Photo Messaging	8,696	19.5%	4.0%
Purchased Ringtone	3,007	6.8%	(-0.2%)
Used Personal E-Mail	2,716	6.1%	0.4%
Browsed News and Information	1,763	4.0%	(-3.5%)
Used Mobile Instant Messenger	1,547	3.5%	(-0.9%)
Used Work E-Mail	1,399	3.1%	3.8%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver	1,289	2.9%	0.2%
Downloaded Mobile Game	1,079	2.4%	1.6%
Source: Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of German mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31 May, 2006, n= 15,122

 

 

U.K. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: May 2006
Activity	Subscribers (000s)	Percent	% Change
Sent Text Message	36,359	84.6%	(-0.1%)
Used Photo Messaging	12,879	30.0%	1.6%
Browsed News and Information	6,376	14.8%	(-1.1%)
Used Personal E-Mail	2,892	6.7%	0.0%
Purchased Ringtone	2,562	6.0%	(-6.6%)
Downloaded Mobile Game	1,953	4.5%	(-4.9%)
Used Mobile Instant Messenger	1,754	4.1%	1.4%
Used Work E-Mail	1,337	3.1%	3.9%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver	994	2.3%	(-2.4%)
Source: Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of U.K. mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31 May, 2006, n= 14,913

 

U.S. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: May 2006
Activity	Subscribers (000s)	Percent	% Change
Sent Text Message	69,048	36.3%	5.9%
Used Photo Messaging	22,644	11.9%	8.0%
Browsed News and Information	19,038	10.0%	5.4%
Purchased Ringtone	18,830	9.9%	4.0%
Used Personal E-Mail	13,823	7.3%	7.2%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger	12,221	6.4%	4.6%
Used Work E-Mail	7,984	4.2%	8.4%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver	6,609	3.5%	(-1.8%)
Downloaded Mobile Game	4,840	2.5%	8.5%
Source:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of U.S. mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31 May, 2006, n= 33,952

 

The Economist article in 2005 says it best …

 Written by Dr. Larry Wasserman, Hot Lava Software, Inc. 

Rather than trying to close the (digital) divide for the sake of it, the more sensible goal is to determine how best to use technology to promote bottom-up development. And the answer to that question turns out to be remarkably clear: by promoting the spread not of PCs and the internet, but of mobile phones. Plenty of evidence suggests that the mobile phone is the technology with the greatest impact on development. A new paper finds that mobile phones raise long-term growth rates, that their impact is twice as big in developing nations as in developed ones, and that an extra ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country increases GDP growth by 0.6 percentage .And when it comes to mobile phones, there is no need for intervention or funding from the UN: even the world’s poorest people are already rushing to embrace mobile phones, because their economic benefits are so apparent. Mobile phones do not rely on a permanent electricity supply and can be used by people who cannot read or write.