Readiness of 802.11 Infrastructure for Mobile Learning Communities

Advances in wireless technologies such as 802.11 have allowed students to communicate ubiquitously on our campuses and made it possible for them to exchange information through mobile devices such as cell-phones, tablets and laptops. In this paper, we explore the premise of Google Android phones as educational tools for undergraduate students in our educational institution, and creation of effective mobile learning communities through the usage of cellphones. We present one year investigation, where we want to answer one of the many questions: is the WiFi communication infrastructure at the educational institution ready for massive phone deployment in and out of classroom? Through combination of discussions with undergraduate students, deployment of phones and the ‘mi-clicker’ learning application, and measurements of WiFi infrastructure during phone usage in selected classrooms, we present the complexity of the issues when answering the question about mobile learning communities on a university campus.

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