Following Leslie’s advice I am going to build and not think too much for a bit.

Turns out that I will be able to mock up my interface pretty closely to what it would really look like if it was a real application for the iPhone – I am starting to play around with it – open with Safari: http://www.lucaslongo.com/iphone

Once the navigation is done, the only thing missing would be the control of camera features and some other built in functionalities. And that will require quite a bit more than some simple web pages.

I also realized that there will be a lot of content production on my side in terms of taking pictures to illustrate the concepts, creating videos and narration for the assignments.

In any case, I am thinking of creating 3 or 4 assignments/exercises:

MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY LESSON PLANS

Hold it steady

1. Show accelerometer data
2. Show why shaking makes image blurry
3. Turn camera on
4. Alert if camera is shaking too much
5. Assignments:
* take a picture of an object on your desk trying to hold camera steady
* now put iPhone the desk and take a picture of the same object
6. Show the difference in the two pictures

Framing Your Subject – Rule of Thirds

1. Photos with grid appearing on them
2. Audio explains the interest points
3. Turn camera on
4. Buttons:
* grid toggle
* capture
* all pictures
* send picture
* rate pictures
* next assignment

Get close

1. Show wide shots and then close shots
2. Audio explains resolution limitation of camera
3. Turn camera on
4. Tell user to point camera to something far
5. Tell user to point to something close
6. Assignment – send 3 pictures of interesting details you never observed before
7. Buttons
* capture
* all pictures
* send picture
* rate pictures
* next assignment

Try Unusual Angles – Change your perspective

1. Show examples
2. Audio talks about always seeing from while walking.
3. Assignments
* take a picture from below, get close to the ground
* take a picture looking up
* take a picture looking down
* put the camera in an unusual place

Some other candidates:

Pay Attention to Lines
Interesting Reflections and Shadows
Portraits
Shoot from the hip
Simplicity
Different times of day

More advanced lessons:

Back lighting exercise
Shutter delay compensation
Avoiding Cluttered Backgrounds
Fast moving subjects
Groups of people
Landscapes
Focal Point

So I think I am feeling better about my thesis project idea.
I narrowed it down to the question:
“Is the iPhone a viable platform for casual learning?”
I scaled the idea down from the generalist approach I had to an experiment or rehearsal in mobile learning. Here’s the presentation – not the best design (this is Power Point’s standard output)

Is the iPhone the first platform that allows for “true” m-learning? Mobile phones have become ubiquitous and indispensable but seldom used as a tool in education mainly because of small screens, slow connection speeds, incompatibilities and complicated interfaces. The iPhone elegantly created a paradigm shift in the way we interact with applications. I want to experiment with this interface as an educational platform.

As an example I will be creating a series of photography exercises to be completed by the users and then reviewed by other users of this same application. These exercises are geared towards demonstrating techniques to take better pictures. After the user submits his picture for a particular exercise he has to evaluate at one or more pictures taken by other users to be able to continue. With this, the user will be guaranteed to also receive a review of the picture he submitted.

The user’s motivation would be something like this:

1. Read the assignment
2. Complete the assignment
3. Submit their work
4. Critique/review another person’s work
5. Receive the following assignment

Other assignments might even have software analyze the picture automatically and make suggestions for improvements (over/under exposure for example)

Keywords

teaching, mobile, application, software, photography, web 2.0

External Project Link

http://lucaslongo.blogspot.com/search/label/thesis

Personal Statement

I have worked for a long time with mobile applications and believe that they still have not been explored to the maximum of its potential as a tool to facilitate new forms of interaction.

At the Learning Technologies conference in London UK the former Vodafone Director of Global Learning Management Gordon Bull was talking of the prospects of m-learning but conceded that it was perhaps 2-3 years away because of issues with infrastructure (lack of super Internet Speeds) and devices (compatibility and not being able to access webpages properly), towards the end of his lecture he added that if anything that came close to the m-learning reality at this moment in time would be [for students] to be equipped with the iPhone.

Background

Photo sharing applications – some of them have tips for taking better pictures but none have an interactive tutorial

Online photo tutorials – reviewed many tutorials – only one or two of them allows users to upload their own pictures.

Photo analysis tools

Audience

People interested in learning the basics of photography in a simple, fun, and interactive way.

User Scenario

Sign up – user gives us basic information about the camera they are using.

Assign to groups – user is informed that a group of 10 other people will be his “classmates” – they will critique each other’s work. Grouping people into smaller groups facilitates the task of “grading” the assignments and commenting on composition, quality and content.

Receive assignments – the assignments are sent out to the user’s cellphone or emails. Each assignment has a specific goal it is trying to achieve. The pictures will be evaluated according to these goals.

Complete assignment – the user takes several pictures and then selects up to 3 pictures to submit for review.

Review – the application will evaluate the incoming pictures and make suggestions on how to improve the image according to what the content of the assignment was. In some cases the final part of the assignment is to comment and analyze the photos of your group according to the goals of the assignment.The reviews will be either using multiple-choice questions or voice recordings with comments.

Web – on the web you can go over your assignments, read comments and “grades” given to your pictures and check your progress within the course.

Implementation

Conclusion

References

How People Learn – Donovan Bransford Pellgrino
Wireless Generation
OLPC – Squeakland.org
Bob Tinker – Concord Consortium
Terc
Exploratorium (C.I.L.T)
Low Residency Programs

Mobile Photography Tutorial Application

A mobile application with tutorials for taking better photographs with your mobile phone. A web site to process your images, manage them, and share with small groups of people in your group.

Description

An application on your mobile phone that gives you assignments to improve the quality of the pictures you take with your cell phone.

The application will analyze the “best” picture you took for that assignment and suggest improvements to it.

These suggestions or tips, depending on the assignment, will be automated or receive feedback from the members of your group.

Keywords

teaching, mobile, application, software, photography, web 2.0

External Project Link

http://lucaslongo.blogspot.com/search/label/thesis

Personal Statement

I have worked for a long time with mobile applications and believe that they still have not been explored to the maximum of its potential as a tool to facilitate new forms of interaction.

Background

Audience

People who own a camera-phone and is interested in taking better pictures with them.

User Scenario

Sign up – user gives us information about the cellphone or photo device they are using.

Assign to groups – user is informed that a group of 10 other people will be his “classmates” – they will critique each other’s work. Grouping people into smaller groups facilitates the task of “grading” the assignments and commenting on composition, quality and content.

Receive assignments – the assignments are sent out to the user’s cellphones. Each assignment has a specific goal it is trying to achieve. The pictures will be evaluated according to these goals.

Complete assignment – the user takes several pictures and then selects up to 3 pictures to submit for review.

Review – the application will evaluate the incoming pictures and make suggestions on how to improve the image according to what the content of the assignment was. In some cases the final part of the assignment is to comment and analyze the photos of your group according to the goals of the assignment.The reviews will be either using multiple-choice questions or voice recordings with comments.

Web – on the web you can go over your assignments, read comments made on your pictures and check your progress within the course.

Implementation

Mobile application – the interface the user will see on the phone. Have to figure out how to access the features of the camera in the phone.

Web – interface to sign up for the classes, show user’s work and interact with their classmates.

Curriculum – design what is going to be taught in each class.

Conclusion

References

How People Learn – Donovan Bransford Pellgrino
Wireless Generation
OLPC – Squeakland.org
Bob Tinker – Concord Consortium
Terc
Exploratorium (C.I.L.T)
Low Residency Programs

Mobile Class Management Platform

A web tool for teachers and students to collaborate inside and outside of class adding cell phones as a method to interact and update the system.

A mash up of blogs, wikis, forums, web albums, video blogs, and file sharing geared towards a classroom setting.

The tool that all ITP teachers would want to use.

The “basic” platform would be a web interface that allows teachers to manage the collaboration and sharing of students online. Sign up to mailing lists, forums, wikis and so on. Cellphones would be integrated to the platform’s functioning to allow for interactive exercises/activities/games for a class. A step-by-step interface allows the teacher to creates the rules, formats, and goals of the exercises.

Features:

– Publishing the syllabus
– Attendance
– Office hour sign up
– Lesson notes
– Homework assignments and posting
– Grading/comments
– Testing
– Polls
– Announcements
– Collaboration
– Content management tools

Mobile Platform for Classrooms

A mobile device, software and curriculum for teaching.

Description

A mobile device based curriculum that will facilitate the teaching process and enrich the classroom environment. 

An example class: Photography

Each student has this mobile device that will be used to take and submit pictures during class, receive the professor’s assignments, comments, and grades as well as share the pictures and comments amongst each other. 

The professor would have the “master” device that is capable of creating the assignments, sending them out, receive the pictures from the students, reply with voice recorded comments, and grade each student. This could potentially be done on a PC/Mac for convenience. 

The devices will communicate via a wireless peer to peer network ideally.

Process:

Students get their assignment on the device.

Students go out and take pictures. 

Each picture is automatically sent back to the teacher’s device. 

The pictures are tagged with ambient sound, music being played on iPod, and GPS location.

The teacher replies to the student with his voice recorded comments. 

Student takes more pictures or goes to the next assignment.

At the end of the class the teacher will give out each student’s grade based on their work.

The students can share the pictures and comments received between them after class.

Possibly develop into a platform with applications that facilitate and enrich the educational process in developing nations or in classrooms with no PCs or multimedia presentation tools.

Keywords

teaching, mobile, application, software, network,

External Project Link

http://lucaslongo.blogspot.com/search/label/thesis

Personal Statement

I have worked for a long time with mobile applications and believe that they still have not been explored to the maximum of its potential as a tool to facilitate new forms of interaction.

Background

Audience

Teachers and students in classrooms with no computers or any multimedia aid. 

Teachers can use it to present multimedia content in class, assign, collect and grade assignments, give tests and quizzes.

Students can do research, homework, exchange notes, plan study groups and have fun with the device.

User Scenario

Example classes:

– photography course

– math course

Implementation

Master/slave Network

– The teacher’s phone controls all of the student’s phone when they are in the classroom.

– Students can also create networks with friends

– Auto sync features.

Homework tool

– create content, due date, distribute to students, auto collect on due date, grade – send grades

Test tool 

– create test, distribute to students, auto-grade

Notes tool

– annotated during class, record audio/video, share notes, wiki

Study tool

– access quizzes, more reading material, class notes by teacher, student notes wiki, plan study groups, take fake tests with friends to see who gets it better. 

Search and download classes

– A repository of classes you can search and download

An open source platform for creating lessons, presentations and apps.

Conclusion

References

How People Learn – Donovan Bransford Pellgrino

Wireless Generation

OLPC – Squeakland.org

Bob Tinker – Concord Consortium

Terc

Exploratorium (C.I.L.T)

Low Residency Programs

Here are my ideas for my thesis so far:

Photography Class Platform