projectBluetooth - delivering large-scale content and support to the mobile generation

by DR Christopher Dennett, Mr John Traxler

Contribution
Cheap to implement, easy to install, free to run - Bluetooth technologies have considerable potential for local delivery of learning material, multimedia objects, pastoral support and attendance monitoring. The session will be valuable to innovators and adopters from all sectors and any subject

Background
It is established that personal informal learning on mobile devices is a valuable tool and is more likely to take place on devices that users own and value (Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler 2005). The problem to be addressed, therefore, is how to get content on to student devices so that they can make use of it. Messaging technologies go some way to bridging this divide and have met with considerable success (Traxler, J. & Riordan, B. 2005), but SMS has limited capabilities and MMS is expensive. This paper focuses on another technology, Bluetooth, that is widely available on mobile devices, requires very little capital expenditure and has virtually no running costs.

Methods
projectBluetooth is designed to enhance the teaching experience through wireless communication from a lecturer controlled, Bluetooth 'Hub' to mobile phones, handhelds and laptops. The tool transmits files (ranging from text and picture files to PDF and MP3) to one, some or all of these devices and allows lecturers to manage user groups (e.g., students from different cohorts) and transmit to them asynchronously, so that members of the group are updated with new materials as soon as they come within range of the Hub. The hub therefore becomes a secondary point of contact between staff and student, extending contact time and acting as another dissemination tool.

Contribution
The "Collaborative Mobile Learning using Bluetooth" Project is funded as part of a University initiative supported by its Graduate School and Centre of Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Students author and reversion learning materials to reinforce and extend their understanding and engagement with the concepts that they are learning as part of their course. They design these materials specifically for mobile devices and fellow students have instant access to this material to take away and use on their own mobile device via the hub.

The Information and Computer Sciences Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy subsequently funded a further small project, "Bluetooth Support for Computing First Years ", to explore how the technology could be used to provide pastoral and organisational support. The system 'broadcasts' a variety of content, administrative and pastoral support, revision and study skills and evaluation and monitoring material. The content can be stored on students' devices indefinitely, facilitating opportunistic learning off-site.

Evaluation
The system has passed technical trials and is now being field tested to establish usability, performance and potential learning gains. The focus of the subsequent evaluation in spring 2007 will be the learner experience and will use techniques developed for the EU m-learning project designed to elicit authentic, timely and appropriate evaluation, in keeping with the ethos of the project. Issues of acceptance by staff and students will then be looked at, in the expectation that identified good practice will then become embedded.

Kukulska-Hulme, A. & Traxler, J (2005). Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers (F. Lockwood, Series Ed.). London: Routledge.

Traxler, J. & Riordan, B. (2005). The Use of Targeted Bulk SMS Texting to Enhance Student Support, Inclusion and Retention

ID Number: 1228

Date: Tuesday, 4th September 2007

Time: 1415

Location: Law and Social Sciences Building, Room A4

Theme: Large-scale implementation