"Survey confirms that majority of Canadians agree mobile phones are an invaluable tool for students; unlimited mobile data plans enable Mobile Student 2.0 movement
Toronto, ON - August 9, 2012 - Mobilicity today released new research findings pointing to the increasing role smartphones are playing in and out of the classroom.
The Mobile Student 2.0 Survey found that 66 per cent of Canadians would use a mobile phone to conduct online research anywhere, anytime; 46 per cent would download mobile apps to help stay organized; 41 per cent would record lectures and tutorial sessions; and 42 per cent would coordinate school and social activities if they were a student. Moreover, the majority of Canadians (56 per cent) think that mobile phones are an invaluable tool for students.
The Mobile Student 2.0 refers to the next-gen student who relies on a smartphone with Internet usage to enhance their education and social life. "
"What is lost with this settlement is the chance for something better. The shift away from Access Copyright in recent months has led to a growing awareness of the large number of licensed materials on university campuses, the benefits of open access, the emergence of open educational resources, and the move to digital course materials. Investing in new open materials - which pay the creator but allow for more flexible use and reuse - would offer innovative teaching materials at the very time that Canadian higher education should be rethinking how course materials are developed and disseminated in a digital world. This is hard work as new models require real investment, commitment from faculty, and patience from students. The payoff would have been significant, but the AUCC is seemingly more interested in "cost certainty" than in education innovation. The big question now is whether its members feel the same. My guess is that most will sign, but perhaps some will carefully assess their experience of operating outside the collective and see some short term pain for long term gain.
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"This is the 6th annual conference on blended learning sponsored by COHERE (Collaboration for Online Higher Education & Research) and CSSHE (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education). It will feature Dr. Tony Bates, the well known scholar and commentator on the use of technology in higher education. His latest book is Managing Technology in Higher Education: Strategies for Transforming Teaching and Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2011).
In addition to taking an active part in the entire conference and doing the conference wrap-up, Tony will deliver the following keynotes:
Meeting the challenge of technology: are we failing as managers?
Designing university teaching to meet the needs of 21st century students
The conference will also feature a number of concurrent sessions, for which we invite proposals related to one of the following streams:
1. Taking stock of blended learning in higher education: Management, policy, and research issues
2. Case studies of teaching and learning issues related to blended learning"
"The applications tested by the university encompassed:
* Blackboard Mobile Learn, on which all clients simultaneously accessed course curriculum and viewed on-demand streaming video;
* Video-based curriculum, video delivered by Distribution Access, a Canadian educational video provider;
* Apple Facetime for video conferencing;
* Apple AirPlay for wireless streaming of multimedia content to an Apple TV connected to a classroom projector;
* Live, local video content streamed through Haivision Network Video gear;
* ResponseWare real-time polling from Turning Technologies.
The university used VeriWave WaveInsite to set up and run the test and to measure performance.
Each application was delivered simultaneously to all 100 devices. According to a statement issued by Aruba, the applications performed "with the highest quality and without any noticeable jitter, delay, or frame loss.""