Qusay Mahmoud: In my field, Computer Science, I have integrated the BlackBerry smartphones into my computer programming courses, and students have enjoyed the experience of learning about the challenges and opportunities in developing applications for mobile devices. More importantly, though, I've noticed that students were able to grasp some topics more easily when demonstrated using features on the smartphone, such as handling network connections. In other fields, one example of enhancing the learning through cell phones is having the students do multiple choice quizzes while they are on the go.

Mobile learning thus far has more or less been treated as enabling access to course material using a mobile device, but I believe the vision of mobile learning is well beyond that. It may involve context and choice, as well as realizing the full vision of mobile learning, for which there is a need for novel applications and services.

So while mobile learning means different things to different people, one thing we all agree on is that there is a need for applications and services to make the vision of mobile learning real, whatever it might be. At CMER (see below), we believe that students will play a key role in driving innovations in the mobile space, and we hope that the work we're doing will help computer science departments in preparing students for playing that key role in the mobile space.

Which cell phone applications are most useful in mobile learning?

Qusay Mahmoud: First, let me say that the average cell phone today has more computing power than many of the computers a few years ago. In addition, such devices come equipped with video recorder and player, camera, etc. All of these features could be used to improve learning.

Imagine a student on a field trip who is able to take photos for a project using a cell phone or collect data using an application on the phone. And then the data can be synchronized back to the server over a wireless link.

There are all kinds of applications that could be useful for learning, and we really need the help of our students in defining the best applications from their point of view.

As for instructors, they would want a platform that would allow them to create or port teaching material to cell phones easily. In short, there is no single killer application for mobile learning; we have a killer environment -- the wireless network and the smartphone, so anything is possible.

And what can you tell us about cell phones in developing nations?

Qusay Mahmoud: Cell phones are much more popular in developing countries simply because there is hardly any wired infrastructure, making the wireless infrastructure cheaper and faster to deploy. In addition, most people access the Internet through their cell phones because they have no access at home or school or because a desktop connection is very expensive. So the cell phone is the computer for students in those developing nations. And we have to recognize that many people in the world would prefer to experience the Internet through a cell phone rather than a desktop computer.

And just as an observation, North America is already behind in the mobile space, and I believe that's why data service in this part of the world is much more expensive than in places like Germany, Japan, and the Middle East.

Are there any disadvantages to using cell phones for mobile learning?

Qusay Mahmoud: I think it depends on the context in which they are used. For example, some faculty might be worried about how disturbing the use of cell phones in a classroom setting can be. So distraction is a possibility, but that is really where faculty can come in and educate students about appropriate use.

Also, some faculty may feel that they are under pressure to respond to questions right away just because they are encouraging their students to use their cell phones for learning. Again, it is the faculty's responsibility to educate students about appropriate use.

From a financial point of view, the disadvantage of using cell phones for mobile learning is the extra money for the bandwidth or airtime. However, this will improve as service providers start offering unlimited data service packages, and also as wi-fi -enabled cell phones start to appear on the market.

What is the Centre for Mobile Education and Research and what is it doing?

Qusay Mahmoud: The Centre for Mobile Education and Research is funded in part by Research In Motion (RIM), and its mission is to engage in cutting-edge research to develop state-of-the-art applications and services to facilitate and enhance mobile education and learning. We also seek to provide leadership in integrating mobile devices into the computer-science curriculum.

We do this through research projects, partnerships, and technology transfer. We want to help computer-science departments in revitalizing computer-science education to reflect today's reality. We are designing and developing educational tools, pedagogical methods, and an academic kit that will be released in July 2009 to make it easier for instructors to integrate mobile devices and mobile application development into their courses. The academic kit will provide a collection of instructor resources, such as tutorials, sample code, presentation slides, lab description and experiments, sample quizzes and assignments with solutions, and case studies.

The academic kit will be released at the upcoming fourteenth annual ACM-SIGCSE
Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITICSE 2009) that will take place in Paris in July 2009. It will be available online as well.