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Trial Results from a Personalized Wireless On-Site Reference Distance Learning Solution

Carlos R. Morales, Jason Sole Purdue University

Abstract This paper provides results from an implementation trial of a mobile, wireless, streaming- video instructional-delivery system developed by the authors. Specifically, the authors present their findings from their experiment to determine the effectiveness of using wireless PDA’s for on-site instructional delivery. The authors have subjects attempt to perform a procedural task that is foreign to them. They measure the time and number of mistakes made by the subjects in five different scenarios.

From a technical perspective, the authors employ a system capable of delivering full- screen full-motion streaming video, and hyperlinked context sensitive illustrations and schematics to learners over an 11- megabit IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

I. Introduction The pervasiveness of Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs] and wireless technologies has created a new form of instructional delivery. Until recently the delivery of instructional materials to computing devices required the use of full-blown computers or laptops. Thus, most distance learning occurred within the confines of rooms for that purpose. This has changed.

A new term has emerged to describe the delivery of training to mobile devices such as PDA or WAP enabled phones. M-Learning or Mobile-Learning attempts to bring knowledge to users on-site at their primary activity or environment. Companies such as InterWise, GlobalKnowledge, and KnowledgePlanet have made it a priority to address this new market. “All of these companies see huge opportunity for this type of delivery, as millions of mobile professionals worldwide use handheld wireless devices, with mullions more expected to join their ranks in the coming years.” [1]

This proliferation can be partially attributed to a few factors. First, it is relative inexpensive to set-up a system capable of delivering training on-site. Morales details a system than can be assembled for less than one thousand dollars [2]. Second, the types of skills to set-up a delivery system of this type are relatively easy to obtain. With a basic knowledge of server-side web-development and networking any organization can set-up an m-learning system.

Intuitively, it would seem that one could create an extremely efficient learning system by focusing on the delivery of instructional-materials to users while they are engaged in their primary environment. This would contribute to efficiency in three ways. First, learners would not have to be pulled off-line while being trained. They would be asked to perform tasks and provided with the requisite knowledge in a “just-in-time” manner [3]. This would eliminate the down-time often associated with training. Second, there would

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2002, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Sole, J., & Morales, C. (2002, June), Trial Results From A Personalized Wireless On Site Reference Distance Learning Solution Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10867