Abilene Christian University to Advance the Future of Books, Student Engagement in Year Three of its Mobile-Learning Initi

Posted August 26, 2010

ABILENE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- With a fall 2010 freshman class of digital natives and a campus fully saturated with iOS devices, Abilene Christian University’s (ACU) mobile-learning initiative, Connected, enters its third year with dozens of real-world projects designed to find new ways to learn, work and collaborate in the digital age.

ACU’s mobile-learning initiative, which is based on Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, has attracted partners including Cambridge University Press, Alcatel Lucent, Inkling, McGraw-Hill and GetYa Learn On. ACU’s 5,000-student/faculty campus is the test-bed for the partner projects.

Over two years of empirical investigations of the impact of mobile learning on student outcomes at ACU have shown that:

Faculty and students are consistently positive about the overall impact and potential of the program.
Complete ubiquity with devices for all students in a class is essential.
iPhones present a more attractive platform for learning in comparison to iPod touches.
Learning activities can be successfully transitioned to mobile-device platforms with no reduction of learning efficiency or content mastery.

2010-2011 CONNECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS

Inkling / McGraw-Hill / ACU Digital Book Pilot Classes

As part of ACU’s partnership with Cambridge University Press and Alcatel Lucent to research the future of digital books, 50 students taking ACU’s fall 2010 economics course, Principles of Microeconomics, will explore Apple’s iPad using McGraw-Hill’s digital text, “The Micro Economy Today 12/e” by Schiller and Inkling’s iPad app that displays interactive digital textbooks.

“The students and their instructor will be regularly surveyed throughout the semester,” said Scott Perkins, Ph.D., coordinator of research for ACU's mobile-learning initiative. “These surveys will provide insight on the benefits and challenges of using a digital platform for an entire college course – feedback that will likely reach to the upper levels of corporate interest.”

A second Inkling / McGraw-Hill / ACU pilot will occur in ACU’s Marketing Strategy course. The text, “Marketing 10/e” by Kerin et al, will be delivered on iPad. In addition to this digital text, students will also use iPads as survey/data collection devices, involving the assessment of the microeconomics pilot class as well as their own class.

“What we're discovering in mobility is driving new needs for flexible texts, and that's driving lots of creative thinking and activity for us about digital texts,” said Dr. William Rankin, ACU's director of educational innovation. “But before we head down that road, we want to understand how digital texts influence learning and how people interact with digital texts.”

Prototype testing from ACU’s partnership with Cambridge University Press and Alcatel Lucent’s Bell Labs are planned for later in the fall 2010 semester on the ACU campus.

2010-2011 Mobile-Learning Fellows / Projects

Each year ACU names a handful of Mobile-Learning Fellows, ACU faculty selected through a competitive, peer-review process to examine a topic or issue relevant to the initiative. Mobile-Learning Fellows / Projects selected for 2010-2011:

How do designing, programming and content influence the use of media by students in mobile computing
Brian Burton, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Information Technology
Susan Lewis, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Kenneth Pybus, J.D., Assistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Mike Wiggins, Assistant Professor of Art & Design
Longitudinal Evaluation of a University-Wide Initiative: Students and Devices Year 3, A Case Study on the Efficacy of Mobile Computing Platforms
Brad Crisp, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Information Systems
A Case Study on the Efficacy of Mobile Computing Platforms
John Ehrke, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Mobile Jumpstarts in a Calculus Course
Jason Holland, Ph.D., Associate Professor Mathematics
Use of Augmented Reality Interfaces to Enhance Art Student Learning: An Experimental Comparison of Learning Platforms
Kenny Jones, Associate Professor of Art
Student Creation of An Electronic Text: Is Learning Enhanced?
Mark Phillips, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Management Sciences
Using iPhones / iPod Touches in Biochemistry and General Science Laboratories to Support Student Learning
Cynthia Powell, Instructor of Chemistry
Autumn Sutherlin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biochemistry

Exploring the iPad as an Educational Tool

A new generation of mobile devices is changing the education landscape, offering students opportunities for dynamic, individualized learning. Abilene Christian University faculty members have experimented with iPhones and iPod touches in education for the past three years. With the introduction of the iPad in the spring of 2010, ACU faculty will explore the use of this new touchscreen device as an educational tool. Individual and small team iPad projects for the coming year include, but are not limited to:

eReader Usage for Students with Disabilities			Language Coach for Study Abroad
Free Range Teaching			Typography, Design, Layout on Digital Readers
Digital Media Delivery and eReserves			Consume and Disseminate Media
Handheld Script			Publication Design of Digital Textbooks
Visual Learning of Logic Structures			Interface Design and Usability of Digital Textbooks
Classroom Sketchup			Interface Design of Mobile News
Training of Grad Students in Assessment and Therapy Skills

GetYa Learn On (GYLO)

The GYLO-ACU research collaboration will be expanded to also compare student experiences using GYLO’s Statistics I application on the iPhone/iPod touch verses the iPad in an introductory-level course.

Three Interrelated Mobile-Learning Initiatives

A three-year, $1.8 million contribution from AT&T will support building the infrastructure for three initiatives that will serve as a laboratory for the ongoing exploration of mobility in education:

The AT&T Learning Studio will be a curricular laboratory designed to support experimentation with media by students and faculty and will serve as a center of innovation related to the educational uses of media-enhanced learning materials in traditional and mobile settings.
The K-12 Digital Learning Institute will help facilitate the training of primary and secondary teachers from around the world with a special emphasis on ways to leverage mobile technologies for teaching and learning.
The mobile-learning research program at ACU will be significantly expanded, allowing greater support for ACU’s ongoing efforts to investigate the effects of mobility on teaching and learning.

ACU Online

ACU’s Leadership of Digital Learning program, a graduate certificate designed to produce innovative K-12 leaders for the 21st century classroom, provides each student with a 3G-enabled Apple iPad, connected to new learning applications embedded in the curriculum.

2010-2011 DEVICE BREAKDOWN ON THE ACU CAMPUS

Freshmen – iPhone 4

Sophomores – iPhone 3GS (same phone as given freshman year, fall 2009)

Juniors – upgrading to iPhone 4 (first class given devices in fall 2008)

Seniors – iPod touch (fall 2010 will be first year with devices)

All Faculty – iPhone 4

iPads – 150 units split between students and faculty

ABOUT ACU’S MOBILE-LEARNING INITIATIVE, CONNECTED

In a world of search engines, social networking, and mobile computers, students have access to more information than one could process in a lifetime, Abilene Christian University launched a mobile-learning initiative, Connected, in 2008. The initiative trains students to not merely consume these vast amounts of information, but to assess information, to synthesize thoughts, to generate new ideas, and to contribute meaningfully to conversations of global importance. ACU is committed to exploring how these technologies can be used to help people learn in new ways and discovering how these tools can aid us in its mission to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.

U.S. News & World Report named ACU one of “America’s Best Colleges” in 2011 ranking 19th overall; ranked first up-and-coming school in its 14-state western region and ranked second for undergraduate quality teaching in its region. In 2010, Forbes rated ACU in the top seven percent of colleges and universities in the USA. Nearly 5,000 students attend ACU, including about 630 graduate students, from 49 states and provinces in the USA and about 40 nations.

For more information visit

http://www.acu.edu/connected

http://blogs.acu.edu/connected

http://issuu.com/abilenechristian/docs/acumobilelearningreport2009

iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc.