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in response to Jen Lavalle's post about games having to go cross-platform to survive. Adobe, makes of the Flash platform, have announced they are stopping further development of the plugin for mobile devices. They are instead now going to focus on open standards (like HTML5), to allow content to be viewed on all modern devices (mobile and computers) with no plug in required. They will also focus on tools to allow developers to push content speciically to the app stores of today's most popular mobile devices. This is a good & bad sign for app developers who use Flash (lots of them, it's been an industry standard for years. Flash has suffered from terrible performance on mobile devices, so it's good to see Adobe acknowledging the need to do something different for their mobile strategy. But what this means for the tools developers will (need to learn to) use? TBD...

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

Founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, Atari played a central role in the early history of video games, going on to create what are still some of the most recognizable arcade games on the planet, like Pac-Man and Pong, to name a few.

very interesting. With the rise and widepsread adoption of mobile devices as the gateway of choice for gaming, more and more game companies are jumping on the mobile app bandwagon. With Atari shifting its focus like this, it instantly makes me think what other founding game company have or will need to do. Sega, another big name in the early gaming days, eventually had to drop out of the hardware game because it couldn't compete. It now produces game content for its former competitor's gaming hardware. And Sega now even ports lots of its classic video games from the 80s and 90s to mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad. Nintendo is still in the hardware game, but it's portable gaming hardware is now competing with directly mobile devices (& apps) head on. Nintendo's revenue and userbase is shrinking, and most analysts and observers are pointing to the rise of iOS and other mobile devices as substitutes to dedicated gaming devices. Will Nintendo still stick around using its current model- making its own gaming hardware to sell its own (highly regarded) 1st-party properties, like Mario, Zelda etc? Lots are predicting (or even encouraging) Nintendo to drop making its own hardware, and to produce content with its prized properties onto mobile devices.

This page has countless links on developing acceptable use policies for mobile technology, as well as examples of policies in existence, varying from traditional "no mobile devices" in school to BYOD related policies. It offers a broad view of what schools are doing with regards to mobile technology policy.

Many students are interested in STEM (suprisingly high) and also use their mobile devices to complete homework, but unfortunately not nearly as many in school (6%). It also seems that mobile device usage in school strongly correlates with those who are also interested in STEM fields.

In light of our conversation of mobile learning, this article provides insight as to the stationary nature of the use of mobile technology. Shadow Cities - a game that prizes 'on the go', 'real world' scenarios within the game, found that most people play mobile games in the spaces where they spend the majority of their time - especially the home, which means mobile games compete with traditional gaming devices. Anyway, some food for thought...

Jennifer, Thanks for sharing this. In this push for mobile, I guess it makes sense if you step back and realize that most of the gaming systems that people started using (PS3, Xbox, Wii) were not built for mobility or portability and perhaps they haven't realized they can "transfer" the gaming experience to anyWHERE? Or maybe it is that gamers are creatures of habit? or superstition (like baseball players who don't shave their face throughout the playoffs so as to not mess with the karma or mojo?) and don't want to upset the environment that they consider the best for their particular performance of the game? The commercial that Prof Dede showed with the Augmented Reality spin and where Shadow Cities is headed really is a whole new way of approaching gaming and I wonder if the same type of gamers who are traditionalists (sit at home and play) would be interested in this new type of mobile gaming or if it might just open up a whole new set of gamers - who despise the sedentary nature of traditional gaming systems - and push them to get involved?

Educators are discovering that iPads and other tablet computers offer new routes to learning for students with disabilities

Hi Bridget, I agree that it may not be for everyone. Would the use of a stylus rather than fingers make it easier to use the app?

Strictly speaking from my experience, the children that I have observed using these devices have Cerebral Palsy (or other muscular issues at work) to the extent where holding any device is not feasible for them. But I can see how a stylus might help specific students overcome this deficiency. Allison has had even more exposure to SN students than I have, so perhaps she can share some insight here.

This is an article on why the classroom PC is out and mobile learning is in, though challenges are expressed such as getting teacher's on board and properly trained on mobile devices. 

Pulling together a social media experience on your mobile phone. This might be work that could lead to educational platforms on the mobile device in the US.

Sesame Street matches kids' mobility via mobile devices

This article discusses the future of gaming and how companies are approaching gaming as platforms develop and evolve. "You have different visions of the future. Some companies think it's primarily browser-based and mobile is kind of an afterthought. Then you have other companies that are more in the social/mobile space and they say mobile is the future. From my point of view, I think Funzio has placed the bet correctly in that they are focusing on a cross-platform approach."

Developers will need to be even more cross-platform after the news today: Adobe has announced they are ending development of the mobile versions of their Flash browser-plugin. They will instead be focusing their resources on tools for developing content for HTML5 (cross-browser compatibility for both computers and mobile devices, no plugins required), or for deploying content as apps designed to be deployed for all the major devices' app stores. http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/09/8717108-adobe-gives-up-on-mobile-flash-focuses-on-open-web-standards

Pros: -Many Students Already Own Devices -Upfront Cost Savings -Shorter Implementations Cons: -Disparate Equipment and Operating Systems -Not all Students Have Their own Devices -IT Service Levels Will Vary Across Devices

mobile devices as a route to 1-1

""Mobile learning is all about changing instruction. Because if the instruction doesn't change, allowing the kids to bring their own device will do nothing,""

A web-based database that integrates data worldwide collected by mobile devices.

Proposed policy framework for student use of mobile devices

An old article from 2007 referenced in my discussion post on infrastructure and mobile learning. It's interesting to consider the capacity and willingness to leverage the power of mobile devices to overcome infrastructure deficiencies in the developing world.

getting started guide on mobile learning

A news story from Cornell talking about integrating mobile devices into higher ed...paints an unfortunate, yet realistic picture of the discrepancies between research/trends and practice  

Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. ''Mobile devices are cheaper, more portable and less obtrusive than other technologies. Yet the challenges of how training students to use sophisticated technology tools is an economic imperative.''

Afghanistan has launched a new literacy program that enables Afghan women deprived of a basic education during decades of war to learn to read and write using a mobile phone.

This is really deep, Janet. I sense that sometimes there's a double standard between our expectations of what children's education should be versus adult education. There's always push-back when we consider using mobile devices as a primary teaching tool for kids. But I sense there's less push-back when we offer it in adult education. Is this because we think adults can learn better on their own? Or perhaps teachers are important in children's socialization process? Or that education is a basic right for all children, but not necessarily for adults? At the core, these women were once children deprived of an education during their most formative years.

I really appreciate your comments on this topic, Pearl. And, like you, I wonder at the effectiveness of a mobile literacy program. But I also find it interesting that there is even an attempt to reach women who were deprived of an education earlier in their lives.