The wireless Internet stretches the concept of self-paced learning towards anywhere-anytime learning. It supports the seamless continuation of interaction with learning resources and services even when a student is away from the desktop PC. There is, however, much doubt about the use of omnipresent ICT devices like cellular phones for pedagogically valuable learning settings. In a recently concluded EU project we have examined the potential of such devices for learning by developing a Java-based application, called Histobrick. It supports spontaneous short study phases while students are on the move and particularly aims to provide a ubiquitous tool for examining and deepening a student's knowledge about statistic distributions and their most important characteristic numbers. The pedagogy behind histobrick is inspired by recent ideas about learning in constructivist settings and the findings of game-based learning. The paper sketches the rationale behind histobrick, discusses some technical challenges we met, presents the final solution, and reports on a first evaluation we performed with a small sample of students
[1]
Judith Calder,et al.
Programme Evaluation and Quality: A Comprehensive Guide to Setting Up an Evaluation System
,
1994
.
[2]
Kurt Squire,et al.
Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Games
,
2002,
Game Stud..
[3]
Wei Yang,et al.
Roles for mobile learner models
,
2004,
The 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, 2004. Proceedings..
[4]
Georg Ströhlein.
Mobile Learning Using Mobiles: Hype or Tripe?
,
2007
.
[5]
Georg Ströhlein,et al.
Test and Evaluation of a Course Designed for Mobile Learning. ZIFF Papiere.
,
2003
.
[6]
Marc Prensky,et al.
Digital game-based learning
,
2000,
CIE.
[7]
Siobhan Thomas,et al.
Pervasive, persuasive elearning: modeling the pervasive learning space
,
2005,
Third IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops.
[8]
D. Jonassen.
Thinking Technology: Toward a Constructivist Design Model
,
1994
.