Mobile Learning Content and Services Market Accelerating in the U.S., Says Ambient Insight

The so-called "iPod generation" is one of the most significant long-term factors accelerating the growth of the mobile learning content and services market in the U.S., according to an indepth study by Ambient Insight. The analysts say market conditions could hardly be more favorable. The largest buyers of mobile learning content and services will be public sector -- local, state, and federal governments -- followed by consumers. The single largest vertical demand is in the healthcare industry.

According to Ambient Insight, the current business climate for Mobile Learning products and services could hardly be more favorable. There is a very large user demographic in place; there are powerful handheld multimedia devices on the market; and the US is rolling out next-generation high-speed wireless technology at a rapid pace. These trends create very favorable market conditions for Mobile Learning suppliers.

Ambient Insights sizes the current market for Mobile Learning products and services in the US at $460.4 million. The analysts say the market is growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.3% and will reach $1.5 billion by 2011.

The largest revenue opportunity for suppliers throughout the forecast period is the demand for Mobile Learning packaged content. The second largest revenue opportunity for suppliers is the demand for content development services and content conversion services.

In its new research study, Ambient Insights cites several major growth factors drivers in the U.S. Mobile Learning market. Highlights include:

-- Content developers and publishers are aggressively converting legacy content and developing new rich multimedia Mobile Learning content

-- The rapid evolution of powerful convergent and connected wireless handheld devices with mobile Web browsers

-- The availability of advanced mobile operating systems, robust mobile application software, and rich client interfaces

-- User interface technology that overcomes the limitations of the small device footprint of most handheld devices

-- The aggressive continuation of the rollout of third-generation (3G) cellular networks in the US that began in 2005

-- The rollout of fixed wireless broadband (such as WiMAX) in 2006-2007

The amount of mobile content on the market is growing exponentially. There are now waves of mobile content hitting the market including music, radio, TV, ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts, mobile Web sites, social networking sites, mobile blogs, movies, phonecasting and video conferencing, news, search, advertising, and rich interactive games. Mobile Learning content is one of the products arriving on these waves.

About the market research study

Ambient Insights' 64-page research study, "The US Market for Mobile Learning Products and Services: 2006-2011 Forecast and Analysis", forecasts the expenditures for Mobile Learning products and services across seven customer buying segments: consumer, corporations and businesses, federal government, state and local government, PreK-12 academic, higher education, and non-profits and associations.

Six major types of Mobile Learning products are included in the forecast: software tools, mobile decision support, packaged content, location-based learning, services, and hardware-based technology. There are many variations of each of these products and they are broken out in this forecast when necessary.

Mobile Learning packaged content is broken out by seven additional subcategories in this report: audio books, ebook learning & reference, language learning, exam prep, general training, handheld educational gaming, and tutoring content.

The suppliers covered in this report include: Adobe Macromedia, AcroDesign Technologies, ActSoft, Apple, Audible, Audience Voting, Blackboard, BuddyPing, Cerner, CP Wireless Audience Response, Dallas Semiconductor, DodgeBal, eInstruction, FieldCentrix, Fleetwood, Global Knowledge, Go Test Go, Groenstedt Group, GTCO CalComp, Guide by Cell, Herecast, Hot Lava Software, Hyper Interactive Teaching Technology (H-ITT), Incentivize Solutions, Intelligent Spatial Technologies, Kallisto Productions, LearningSoft, LearnStar, Lexi-Comp, Linguatronics, Lingvosoft, Libsyn, Lynda.com, The Maxwell Group, MentorMate, Meridia Audience Response, Microsoft, Microvision, Museum411, NetLibrary, Nokia, No Island Media, One True Media, OnPoint Digital, PaperClick, Perago, PodOmatic, Pod2Mobile, Questionmark, Questra, Quick Tally Interactive Systems, Quizdom, Rabble, Random House, Reed Elsevier, Ripple Training, Salesforce.com, Samsung, SAT, Sendia, Socialight, Spatial Adventures, Spotlight Mobile, SquareLoop, Still Motion Media, StoryQuest, StreetHive, Tegrity, Sun Microsystems, Thomson Learning, Trinity Workplace Learning, Turning Technologies, TwigPod Productions, Waterhouse Group, WeComply, WideRay, Wireless Generation, and Zipit.

http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=7146

Franklin Wireless Appoints New Chief Executive : Friday May 13, 9:00 am, 2005 ET

SAN DIEGO, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--May 13, 2005 -- Franklin Wireless Corporation (Other OTC:FKLT.PK - News) (http://www.fklt.com/), an emerging developer/manufacturer/marketer of wireless communications devices, today announced the appointment of Ha Jin Jhun as Chief Executive Officer as of April 15th, 2005. Mr. Jhun brings 20 years of high tech high-level management experience to Franklin Wireless. Mr. Jhun was chosen as one of the world's 100 "Technology Pioneers" by the World Economic Forum (http://www.weforum.org/) in 2001 for his outstanding managerial and marketing performance as the CEO of Haansoft, Korea's most prestigious software company.
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During the time he served as the CEO of Haansoft, his managerial skills proved to be the driving force behind the company's dramatic rise to the top of the industry while the rest of the Asia struggled during the financial crisis of 1998. Haansoft, producer and marketer of the Korean word processor software ('Hangul'), has been quipped the 'Microsoft of Korea.' Holder of the largest market share in Korea since 1990, Haansoft has even fended off competition from the ominous Microsoft, the second largest market shareholder in Korea. Despite the company's hardship during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, Mr. Jhun successfully recapitalized the company and turned the company back to profitability. Mr. Jhun's success in turning around the company raised the value of Haansoft to a whole new level -- increasing the market cap of the company to $2.5 billion during late 1999.

Mr. Jhun started his professional career at LG Electronics as the system/marketing engineer. After getting the taste of the startup industry during his one-year stay in Japan, he began his own education-related startup software company in the US. Under the name of 'ZOI World,' his US-based company profited by exporting its software to sixteen different countries.

Mr. Jhun is currently the Vice Chairman of 'KOVA (Korea Venture Business Association)' and represents 10,000 Korea-based startup companies. Furthermore, as the Chairman of the 'INKE (International Network of Korean Entrepreneur)' since 2002, he has skillfully managed the global business network for the Korean startup companies with their western counterparts.

He majored in Industrial Engineering at 'Inha University' of Korea and has an MBA degree from 'Yonsei University.' He also completed the SEIT course at the Stanford University.

"We are extremely pleased welcome Mr. Jhun to Franklin Wireless and look forward to benefiting from his strong expertise in high tech organization leadership and his vast amount of experience in turn-arounds," stated Gary Nelson, an outside director of the Company. "The addition of Mr. Jhun is critical to Franklin Wireless, which is in need of strong leadership. We are expecting a lot from him."

"I am delighted to join Franklin and look forward to making an impact by developing and implementing new company vision and strategies to turn this entity around to profitability. I believe Franklin has a lot of potential going forward with its current sales and marketing channels with global wireless carriers and major telecom equipment distributors as well as its strong affiliation to Korea, where CDMA technology was bred. Along with the existing management members, I look forward to restructuring the company's business model, achieving profitability, sustaining growth and expanding our market globally."

About Franklin Wireless

Based in San Diego, California, Franklin Wireless Corporation (Other OTC:FKLT.PK - News), an emerging developer of wireless communications devices for the wireless telecommunications industry, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets wireless products for the global wireless subscribers. The company's product lines incorporate both GSM and CDMA technology, the world's leading cellular standards. At present, the company markets its products to small to medium-sized North, Central, and South American carriers and major distributors.

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.



Contact:
Hugh Kim
858-623-0000 x102
hkim@fklt.com

http://www.franklin-wireless.com/news/view_newsbody.php?page=1

Mobile e-learning via phone achieves real success with the young

Key findings from mobile e-learning trials are published this month by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) in a report Mobile technologies and learning.

This report presents some innovative ideas on how mobile technologies, such as smartphones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), can be useful learning aids - particularly with young people who have not succeeded through traditional education.

The report contains the findings of a three-year pan-European research and development project, called m-learning, that set out to investigate whether mobile technologies can engage ‘hard to reach’ young people (the ‘NEETs’ group) in learning, and help those with literacy and numeracy difficulties. The project ended with the largest trials of mobile learning materials and systems conducted to date, involving nearly 250 young people (aged 16- 24) in the UK, Italy and Sweden. Most were unemployed, many had dropped out of education (or were considered to be at risk of doing so) and some were homeless or travellers.

The two mobile devices most used in the project were
(1) hybrid PDA/phone devices running the Pocket PC operating system (the XDA II) and
(2) hybrid phone/PDA devices running the Symbian operating system (Sony Ericsson P800/P900s). Although these devices are more sophisticated than the cheaper mobile phones used by most people, sales are soaring and it is likely that they will become affordable for many young people in the near future.

The m-learners gained access to m-learning project systems and materials via a microportal (mPortal) that consists of a series of mini web pages with navigation that points to the following:
> learning materials
> mini web Page Build tools
> a collaborative activities tool (the mediaBoard); peer-to-peer communication services (messages, chat, discussion and blogs)
> the learning management system
> simple help guides for the system
> links to places on the Web that may be helpful or interesting for the target audience (eg: advice about alcohol drugs and sexual health, job hunting and online services).

Collaborative tools developed included the MediaBoard that enables tutors to set up

Their own multimedia message boards for a class or project. Students add comments by sending text messages or picture messages from their mobile phones. The mPortal page builder tools allows people to create and edit their own mini web pages for viewing on mobile devices. These pages can contain a number of different elements including text, pictures, movies, animations, audio, web logs, etc.
Key findings are that mobile learning can
> engage young people who have been put off by traditional education methods. (Almost all the young people in the trials were enthusiastic about mobile learning and nearly two-thirds said they were likely to take part in further learning in the future. The majority were most interested in using a laptop, PC or mobile device.)

> help young people to improve their literacy and numeracy skills and to recognise their existing abilities. (About four out of five felt that the mobile games could help them to improve their reading, spelling or maths. Mentors reported perceived improvements in these areas, particularly among those young people initially described as being ‘less able’ or with ‘very limited ability’.)

> help to remove some of the formality from the learning experience and engage reluctant learners. (Collaborative mobile learning tools were popular, but some young people appreciated the opportunity offered by mobile devices to learn independently and privately in their own time.)

> help to combat resistance to technology and bridge the gap between mobile phone literacy and ICT literacy. (One group of IT-shy young adults studying English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), were more confident about using PCs after using the mobile palmtop computers.)

> help young people to remain more focused for longer periods

> help to improve self-confidence. Being trusted with ‘cool’, expensive technology was a new experience for some young people, which helped to raise self esteem, build trust and encourage greater personal responsibility.
Jill Attewell, Programme manager for the m-learning project, LSDA, says:

‘There are many different ways of learning. The traditional classroom situation doesn’t suit everyone. What we set out to discover was whether we could use young people’s interest in, and enthusiasm for, mobile technologies to engage them in learning. The findings were very positive. It’s clear that mobile phones and PDAs have enormous potential as learning tools - and we now have pocket sized computers with the ability to deliver learning and provide access to online systems and services that are very sophisticated. Although the aim was to find out whether this mode of learning worked with the disengaged, it clearly has huge potential for others as well.’

Demonstrations of some of the learning materials developed can be viewed on www.m-learning.org.uk They can also be viewed on a PC or on mobile devices.

There are estimated to be 1.5 billion mobile phones in the world today – more than three times the number of personal computers (PCs). Today’s most sophisticated phones have the processing power of a mid-1990s PC and many people in the near future will start to see the mobile phone as an alternative to a PC. Hybrid mobile phone/personal digital assistants (or PDAs) devices currently make up only a relatively small percentage of mobile phone sales. ‘Smartphones’ overtook sales of PDAs in 2003 and estimates are that by 2010 global sales of smart phones will reach 170 million, from around 20 million this year. Sales of camera phones exceeded those of digital cameras for the first time in 2003 when camera phone sales increased almost fivefold from 2002.

Chinese K12 Teachers Use Blog to Communicate with Parents

There are fair amount of K12 instructors in China use blog to communicate and exchange information with the students' parents.

Today's China has a rapid growing economy where parents are often experiencing lack of communication to their kids and the school. Blogs become the best and most efficient tool for them to learn and understand more about their own children. Parents also use blogs to send their feed backs, questions and concerns to the school and teachers. This helps to avoid Unessasary misunderstandings and assures the transparencies when conflicts occur.

According to a recent report, there are over 60% parents surf on Internet in the major cities of China.

http://blog.loaz.com/timwang/chinese-e-learning-industry.php

E-learning - a driver for Continuing Professional Development?

Implicit in the question is the assumption that CPD needs a driver – a mechanism or a system that will somehow provide the means to establish it as the major paradigm for lifelong learning. It might well be that CPD is in need of a makeover so that the values and beliefs that underpin it will be more widely recognised and adopted – but is e-learning the tool for the job? One way of generating some answers to this question is to examine some models of CPD and to explore how these might fit with models of e-learning in a way that could be mutually beneficial.

CPD – quantitative or qualitative?
CPD is a concept that includes what a colleague refers to as the warm fuzzies; that is words that have a strong feel good factor and set ideals to strive for. Paulo Friere1, the Brazilian educator and philosopher calls these generative words; words that resonate with people and provide a focus for making changes. Empowerment, democratising education, learner centred, personal growth and development, personal responsibility are some of the words and phrases that come to mind – and these are classed by philosophers as hortative; that is emotive calls to action rather than literal guidelines. Just what kind of action is required is not often clear and tends to exist within the tacit understanding of a group of people who are the product champions, the proselytisers, the agents of change. Of course the changes to be made do vary; for example CPD can mean the process of filling knowledge and skill gaps in an organisational profile – it can also mean a strategy for developing the potential of individuals. These two ideals are not mutually exclusive but we do need to be clear which is the dominant motive in any organisation that is seeking to use e-learning as the driver for change.

Cutting-edge learning?
In contrast to the warm fuzzies of CPD, e-learning appears to have a number of cutting edges – cost cutting being the main one! The attraction of cutting travelling (transport) costs and of just-in-time learning have strong affiliations with the cost-effective production methods developed by Japanese companies. Computer mediated learning (CML) and computer based training (CBT) do provide the potential to bring the white heat of the technological revolution to education in a way that the field of educational technology has long aimed for. Arguably, in the recent past, educational technology has been let down by the technology that underpinned it, so much so that a former pro-vice chancellor of the Open University is credited with the claim that the only piece of educational technology that is anywhere near reliable is the school bus! Managers currently struggling with the complexities and vagaries of learning management systems (LMS) might well agree! However, the technology is getting more robust, more reliable and user-friendly. What we do need to bear in mind is that educational technology is rooted in the sharp-edged paradigm of behaviourist psychology 2 which tends to treat the learner as a function learning to respond to a stimulus. Is this a desirable driver for CPD?

What do we mean by better?
Having exposed some sharp differences, what might the similarities be? Models of the reflective practitioner 3 and the reflective learner 4 are a useful starting point. Both imply that the individual has to take a large measure of responsibility for planning a way forward by analysing the way they do things in order to do them better. We need to re-visit later what is meant by better, but both concepts are based on the belief that we are constrained by custom and practice which can restrict and constrain change. Referring to the limited thinking of some trainers, Marcus Hill, writing in the May 2001 issue of Training Journal refers to this phenomenon as the comfort zone of mediocrity. In moving out of the comfort zone, learners can learn better by understanding how they learn and by selecting styles and methods that suit them best in different situations. Managers and companies that are prepared to change the way they think and work are more responsive to changing situations and tend to be more successful. This begs the question What is meant by better? Better for the individual or better for the company – and can it be better for both? There is inevitably a tension between a CPD model that encourages personal growth through reflection and decisions based on alternatives – and a deficiency model of the employee as lacking certain competencies that must be identified and rectified through the medium of new technology. E-learning can offer a rich choice of learning experiences that fit in with my need, my pace, my place, my aspirations and my learning styles, and so it can, as never before, facilitate personal growth and professional development. So can the new technology be harnessed to this end?

Who makes the decisions?
Writing in 1961 in The Long Revolution, Raymond Williams 5 argued for the need for a technologically literate population able to make informed decisions about how technology would change their lives – rather than have the decisions made on their behalf by technologists. Decisions about the technology of e-learning are too important to be left in the hands of instant experts or the pressures of the market place. We do need to be cognisant of these influences but we also need to take responsibility for visualising how it can be and, as Jean Luc-Picard 6 of the star ship Enterprise might say, to make it so. We also need to build on what we know of learning – both in and out of the comfort zone.

The real challenge for e-learning
Martin Sloman, another contributor to the May issue of Training Journal rightly points out that we simply do not know enough about how people learn. We do however know a great deal about creating face to face and distance-based environments in which people learn more effectively. We know the importance of making clear to the learner what will be learned, why it is important to learn it, how the learning will take place (in terms of structure and methods) and how s/he will know if the learning had been achieved. We know the importance of engaging learners in activities, of creating an inclusive environment and the provision of subtle support, challenge, guidance and encouragement – and you may wish to add to this list of attributes. The real challenge for e-learning is not in the use of technology to deliver the material but in using the technology to build on what we know about managing learners – and how learners manage themselves. There are promising developments; we are seeing evidence of e-learning providers using (with feeling!) the term learning experience in place of learning materials or courses. There is also an increasing awareness of the need to provide learning support using e-moderators, facilitated peer support and an appropriate blend of online and offline (face to face) environments. What is even more exciting is evidence of the growth in online learning communities; groups that share knowledge and generate new learning that can be mined later, and recorded for others. There are also moves to free trainers from the tyranny of ill-informed managers who want instant e-learning solutions and obstructive IT specialists who do not. Systems are being developed that provide a supportive environment and an appropriate delivery technology that enables trainers to make use of the resources that they are well used to and adept at producing. Full multi media it is not – but it does enable trainers to maintain control and provides a transition period in which to develop the skills needed for more sophisticated presentation.

A learning revolution?
Much has been written about the e-learning revolution and the need for a new learning paradigm – and even a move to replace pedagogy with andragogy 7.

A pervasive error consists of seeing the technology as a way to improve the practices of contemporary school. In fact the technology makes them obsolete.
Symour Papert 8- in a report to the United States House of Representatives

Because over ten years, pretty well everything will be negotiable. Economics, technology, skills needs and changes in society will shape the future of education and training - structures, institutions and ideologies that are not fit for purpose will simply be swept away.
Clive Caseley 9, Learning and Skills Development Agency

Talk of a new paradigm is suggestive of the search for the holy grail, the philosophers stone, a magical solution – one that will absolve us from the baggage of the past. However, as Thomas Kuhn 10 points out, any new paradigm draws on much of the knowledge and procedures of the one that it replaces. The new paradigm (if any) will not be one based on learning but one based on the development of environments that facilitate learning – and this should prove to be a catalyst for the development of a learning paradigm in which we can have some confidence.

So can e-learning be a driver for CPD? Instead of taking refuge in Well it depends on what you mean by e-learning and CPD, we need to answer with an unequivocal Yes, and take responsibility for making it so.

Jim can be contacted at j.m.flood@corous.com - or visit www.corous.com

Webliography

1 http://nlu.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Freire.html
2 http://www.ed.sc.edu/caw/di2.htm
3 http://hci.stanford.edu/other/schon87.htm
4 http://www.ncl.ac.uk/pimd/DS/PDP4.HTM
5 http://sunsite.queensu.ca/memorypalace/parlour/Williams02/index01.html
5 http://www.signsofthetimes.org.uk/pamphlet1/The%20Long%20Revolution.html
6 http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/st-tng/char/picard.html
7 http://www.learnativity.com/andragogy.html
8 http://search.britannica.com/frm_redir.jsp?query=symour+papert+house+of+representatives&redir=http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/school/sp-talk.html

9 http://www.feda.ac.uk/home.asp
10 http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/07099.html