Means of Data Introduction for Mobile Learning Applications Alin Zamfiroiu 1 (1) The Bucharest University of Economic Studies 15-17, Bucharest Str. Calea Dorobantilor, 010552, Romania E-mail: zamfiroiu@ici.ro Abstract Mobile application development is a challenge for all software developers. M-Learning describes a new trend of learning for mobile users. A very important aspect related to all mobile applications, covered in this paper, especially those for mobile learning is represented by the means of data entering and user-application interaction. Mobile devices present special features which do not allow a user to interact similarly with classic computer applications, therefore special attention should be given to this issue. This paper analyzes the means of users interaction for mobile learning applications. A study about preferred input data ways in mobile learning applications is presented within this article. Keywords: Mobile Learning, Mobile Applications Input Data, QR-code 1. Mobile devices According to NetLingo dictionary (NetLingo, 2012) a mobile device is a computer or communication gadget which the user can carry with him anywhere, such as a phone, smart phone, PDA, laptop, tablet. For mobile devices the input data can be found in many different ways/forms such as (Pocatilu, 12): alphanumeric keyboard the writing is made by repeatedly pressing a key; every key has assigned three or more characters; QWERTY keyboard is similar to the keyboard of a computer with some differences like dimension of the keys and absence of the TAB key; HALF-QWERTY keyboard is a combination of numerical keyboard and QWERTY keyboard. The buttons are larger than the QWERTY keyboard, and each button has two characters. In order to write the first character on the key it is necessary to press once and for writing the second character, twice; touchscreen is specific to smart mobile devices with a large screen; mini-joistick is present additionally on a keyboard and is used to navigate through the phone menu up, down, left and right; camera is used to take pictures and with QR codes it is possible to input a text via camera; voice is a new trend to interact with the phone using the voice. Mobile devices are divided into the next categories(ivan et al, 2012): basic terminals or simple phones are characterized by using an alphanumeric keyboard to enter the data; feature phones, data input is realized via touchscreen or via keyboard, which can be alphanumeric, QWERTY or HALF-QWERTY; multimedia like previous category data input is realized via touchscreen or via keyboard; mobile Internet devices, data input is realized via touchscreen;
The 7 th International Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL 2012 113 mobile standard PCs, data input is realized via touchscreen; fashion terminals include performance functions like multimedia terminals and have a special design; smartphones, data input is realized via touchscreen or via keypad. Mobile devices are cheaper than PCs so they are purchased by a large number of people. Users always take these devices with them because they are small, portable and easy to carry. Courses on mobile devices are always available, even while walking in the park or on the street. Thus the user assumes the new information during other activities. 2. Mobile Learning Applications In (Lee and Salman, 2012) the term of M-Learning is defined as the Science in Hand and includes using mobile devices to obtain performance in education environment. E-Learning on mobile or M-Learning increased a lot lately due to the ubiquity of these devices. According to (Obisat and Hattab, 2009; Ghazvini et al, 2011) M-Learning describes a new trend of learning mode for mobile users. E-Learning and web-based applications have been very popular allowing users to access information via Internet directly from personal computer. M-Learning or Mobile E-Learning allows access to information via Internet from mobile devices. In the M-Learning, the courses or the platform are customized for each user. Modules for a Mobile Learning system are shown in figure 1. Mobile learning application provides a simplistic interface because there are some restrictions on mobile devices: small size of the display, because they are pocket devices and the dimensions are reduced; reduced capacities for data input; reduced computing power; Figure 1. M-Learning Environment (Vucetic and Odadzic, 2010) limited memory capacity. According to (Sayin and Allahverdi, 2011) in all Mobile Learning systems there can be found two basic components: the technical component represented by mobile devices and the pedagogical component represented by the information content presented through the technical component. In (Crane et al, 2011) a survey of 66 students about Virtual Learning Environment is presented and the results are: 10 percent of students are using the mobile websites for learning, 2 percent are using special mobile applications created for learning environment and 88% are not using Virtual Learning Environment. Course content of learning from the mobile device should be adapted to be easy to read and use all gadgets of the device; opportunity of audio play, video playback or possibility for internet connection. The access to tests or projects uploaded on the M-Learning platform should be adapted to the data input mode of the mobile applications. With the current configuration of the mobile devices, students can learn without being limited by space or time.
114 University of Bucharest and "Transilvania" University of Brasov 3. QR - codes, a short way of data introducing QR codes, Quick Response, are similar to bar code that stores a number of information bits. Although these codes are not popular, people with class based devices, holders of PDAs, smartphones or other smart devices find these codes extremely useful. QR Code was created by a Japanese company in 1994. They wanted to create a barcode able to respond very quickly to scan. From here comes the name of QR. Taking into consideration the fact that up to a few years ago this code was popular only in Asia, especially Japan, now it is beginning to gain popularity in America and Europe. The increasing popularity is mainly due to the spread of smartphones and 3G networks. A QR code stores information larger than normal bar codes. To use this code one must, firstly, generate it using an online generator like KAYWA QR code (Kaywa, 2012). After the code was created with the information desired inside, a reader is required to see what information was stored in the image generated. The Figure 2. QR Code application uses the camera of the mobile phone to scan the code. The camera must have autofocus in order to scan the code quickly and accurately. For a Mobile Learning system QR-codes are generated for: students and teachers e-mail addresses; content of the courses; the content web links on the platform. In (Worldit, 2010) it is shown how to create a QR code. The steps to obtain a QR code are: choosing the desired information which may be a link, an email address or other content as simple text or course title; find a QR code generator; providing desired content coding; check the code generated with a QR code reader and check if the text provided is the expected text; save the obtained image and post it in places accessible to the participants in the Mobile Learning System. These codes are used across in Mobile Learning Systems for faster access to the content, to facilitate communication between teachers and students and also to send large homework as a single image representing a QR code. 4. Voice - mean of data introducing SIRI is a personal assistant application that helps the user to get the things desired by a simple voice request. This allows using voice to send messages, to schedule meetings, and many others. SIRI is not like traditional software voice recognition, which requires remembering keywords to perform some commands. SIRI understands natural language and asks questions if it needs more information to complete a task. In (Apple, 12) it is shown how to use the application SIRI. To speak with SIRI the user must keeps the iphone Home button pressed and when the text What can I help you with? appears, the user begins to talk to him. SIRI uses speech recognition algorithms, the learning characteristics and accents for a better understanding of all dialects. Also, in time, SIRI begins to learn the main things about the user for a better understanding.
The 7 th International Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL 2012 115 According to (Gadget, 2011) after launching the application SIRI, the department of Android applications development, also called Dexetra team, worked on a similar application called Iris. It allows different searches by voice, content and recent conversations or topics in art, literature, history, biology, etc. For general knowledge questions IRIS answers with a phrase in text taken from Wikipedia and using speech-to-text function to understand the questions, which means that it writes what hears and then analyzes the command. Iris is more of a clone application of SIRI and in future will receive many improvements to compete with Apple's application. In May 2012 Samsung Galaxy S3 is launched and has an application similar to SIRI and IRIS named S-Voice. With that application the user can interact with the phone via voice commands. These three applications are useful in the Mobile Learning Environment because through them the user has the opportunity to solve the test on the platform using his voice. The question is audio played and the response is registered through these applications. 5. Means of interaction with mobile phones A collectivity of 281 people of different ages was analyzed by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about occupation, experience with a mobile phone and the preferred mean of interaction with the mobile phone. The questionnaire was completed by 109 men and 172 women with an average age of 22.3 years. The collectivity was predominated by students or people who activate in a learning system, table 1. Table 1. Occupation of respondents Occupation Number of respondents Pupil 13 Student 161 PHD Student 9 Employee 98 The experience of respondents using a mobile phone is represented in figure 3. Many of them have a phone for seven, eight or more years, so they have experience in using mobile phones. Figure 3. Experience with a mobile phone The last question and most important was about which way they use to interact with their mobile phone. The means used were those presented of the beginning of this paper. The most used mean of interaction with the mobile phone by the respondents of this survey is touchscreen, table 2, figure 4.
116 University of Bucharest and "Transilvania" University of Brasov Table 2. Means of interact with a mobile phone Way of interact Number of answers Alphanumeric keyboard 64 QWERTY keyboard 72 HALF-QWERTY keyboard 9 Touchscreen 132 Mini-Joistick 0 Camera (QR-code) 1 Voice (SIRI, IRIS, S-Voice) 3 The data from table 2 is graphically represented in figure 4. Figure 4. Results for means of interaction with a mobile phone Touchscreen is followed by QWERTY keyboard and alphanumeric keyboard. These means are mostly used by people who can t use the tactile screen. Camera and voice are two means which are not much used by the users because they are not very productive in this moment. Future research in these domains will make these means more utilized and more common for the users. The analysis of this survey shows that the most utilized mean for interaction with a mobile phone is touchscreen and also how the majority of the respondents are students who use learning systems. To attract these persons to use Mobile Learning System it is necessary that the application of this system should be developed in such a manner to allow the interaction with users by these three most used means: touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard and alphanumeric keyboard. 6. Conclusions Mobile devices used a few years ago only for making calls and sending text messages, have now become devices used in any activity by their users. The technology continues to grow bringing new tools and new concepts in mobile devices environment and for that, development in that area is a challenge for all software developers because every day mobiles are changed and their power is changed too, so the developer should adapt very fast to the new tools. Nowadays mobile devices have configurations which allow a person to use these devices everywhere without being limited by space or time. Mobile Learning Systems are very important because these systems allow students to learn anywhere and at any time. I also presented the restrictions of mobile devices for the mobile learning applications and how much mobile learning is used among students. In this paper there is a description of the means of interaction with mobile phones like QR-codes and voice and a presentation of the results of a survey about the means of
The 7 th International Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL 2012 117 interaction with the mobile device. The most used means of interaction with a mobile phone are touchscreen, alphanumeric keyboard and QWERTY keyboard. These means should be applied in the development of mobile learning applications for a good interaction with the device in a learning environment. 7. References 1. Crane, L., Benachour, P. and Coulton, P. (2011) Virtual Learning Environments For Mobile Learning: Constrained By Infrastructural And Sociological Boundaries?, ITALICS Volume 10, Issue 1, February. 2. Ghazvini, F., Earnshaw, R., Moeini, A., Robinson, D. and Excell, P. (2011) From E-Learning to M- Learning The use of Mixed Reality Games as a New Educational Paradigm, International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, vol. 5, nr. 2, 17-25. 3. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ 4. http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri-faq.html 5. http://www.gadget.ro/iris-rivalul-siri-al-android/ 6. http://www.netlingo.com/dictionary/m.php 7. http://www.worldit.info/articole/cum-creati-si-implementati-un-cod-qr/ 8. Ivan, I., Boja, C. and Zamfiroiu, A. (2012): Self-Healing, Quality Characteristic of Mobile Applications, In Proceedings of 19th International Economic Conference IECS 2012, 15-18 iunie, Sibiu, România. 9. Lee, K.B. and Salman, R. (2012) The Design and Development of Mobile Collaborative Learning Application Using Android, Journal of Information Technology and Application in Education, vol. 1, nr. 1, 1-8. 10. Obisat, F. and Hattab, E. (2009) A Proposed Model for Individualized Learning through Mobile Technologies, International Journal of Communications, vol. 3, nr. 1. 11. Pocatilu, P. (2012): Programarea Dispozitivelor Mobile, ASE, Bucharest. 12. Sayin, Z. and Allahverdi, N. (2011): Mobile Training Components and a Model Application, In Proceedings of the International Conference On E-Learning And The Knowldge Society, E-Learning 11, 25-26 August, Bucharest, Romania, ASE Publishing House, Bucharest Romania, 197-202. Vucetic, Z. and Odadzic, B. (2010) Mobile School Service(MSS), International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, vol. 4, nr. 2, 29-33.