Report: Wireless Devices, Internet Impact Schools

AUSTIN, Texas — Wireless technology will continue to impact the way professors teach students as the use of cellular technology increases at colleges and universities, according to a recent report.

The increased availability, interconnectivity and capabilities of wireless technology at campuses create an environment where a smartphone — a cell phone that has functions similar to a PC — can enhance the learning experience, according to the 2008 Horizon report that was released by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning initiative.

Smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone and the LG Electronics Voyage, allow professors to take the learning experience outside of the classroom, according to the report.

“Smaller and less expensive than a laptop, yet increasingly useful, the mobile is fast becoming the ultimate portable computer,” the report states.

As the devices continue to advance, the prices for the smartphones will also become more reasonable, according to the report.

Students doing fieldwork can now send photos and notes directly to a blog that a professor can view from his or her office. The devices can also be used to take quizzes online and for directions. In emergencies, text or audio security messages can be delivered to a phone.

At campuses, such as the University of Oregon, students and the community use mobile devices to create safe walking maps, according to the report.

“Better displays and new interfaces make it easier to interact with an ever-expanding variety of content — not just content formatted specially for mobiles, but nearly any content available on the Internet,” according to the report.

The report outlined five other emerging technologies that are expected to have a significant impact at higher education campuses: grass-roots video, collaboration Webs, data mashups, collective intelligence and social operating systems.

Grass-roots video is becoming more prevalent on the Internet and the tools to create video are more accessible to the public. Grass-roots videos are already appearing in the form of news clips, tutorials and informative videos, and that technology will eventually work its way into the classroom setting, according to the report.

Collaboration Webs are currently serving offices as a place where colleagues can communicate and work together without leaving their desks, the report states. The programs will be in use at college campuses within another year, according to the report.

Data mashups are “custom applications where combinations of data from different sources are ‘mashed up’ into a single tool,” according to the report. The tool is already being used on Web sites such as Flickr and the study predicts the mashups will appear in the learning environment within the next two to three years.

Within the next four to five years, the study predicts collective intelligence will find its way into higher education. Explicit collective intelligence is being applied in Wikis and specifically Web sites such as Wikipedia. An example of implicit collective intelligence is data gathered from monitoring patterns or other areas where it is passively collected. In education, both forms will work with data mashups to expand students’ knowledge, according to the report.

Social operating systems are expected to be in the education realm within the next four to five years, according to the study, and be essential for social networking. The systems will allow individuals to meet and connect based on networking between individuals instead of content-based interactions.