iPhone University

Transcript

Research points to a future where the typical homework excuse may be: “The dog ate my iPhone.” From the University of Kansas, this is Research Matters. I’m Brendan Lynch.

It was perhaps the most hyped gizmo launch in history. Last summer, throngs camped in lines to snap up the innovative iPhone. But KU researcher Jim Miller saw through the hullabaloo to recognize that the iPhone offered promise as a distance-learning tool.

Jim Miller: It’s pretty much a complete computer system in your hand — and oh, by the way, there’s a phone there too. People are beginning to expect on-demand delivery for education. They may be out in a field someplace or completely away from standard Internet connectivity. Well, if they can pick up their iPhone and turn it on, that technology is making it possible for them to get this on-demand education that they need.

As a phone, audio player and web browser, the iPhone’s functionality gives it the edge on other mobile devices as a learning tool. But miller says there also are challenges to developing content.

Miller: I wondered how you prepare content for what’s a pretty small screen. There are tools built into the iPhone that give it some nice zooming and panning capabilities. We wanted to be able to deliver Java applets that allow you to have mini interactive programs running inside of a web page. Well, that capability isn’t there right now, and it’s not clear whether it ever will be. We just don’t know, so we’re having to rethink some of our original design plans.

Despite such hurdles, Miller says the iPhone’s capacity for delivering instructional material has potential far beyond the lab, both for businesses and educational institutions.

Miller: I don’t know that there necessarily will be an ‘iPhone University,’ but rather it may be an iPhone portal to a university. Educational materials would be housed online and the iPhone will just be one hopefully very popular way to access those materials. Delivery of instructional content for the iPhone may very well turn into a commercial product someday in the future.

For more on the iPhone as a learning tool, log onto research matters dot k-u dot e-d-u. from the University of Kansas, I’m Brendan Lynch.

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KU researcher: iPhone holds promise as a portable classroom

LAWRENCE — Unquestionably, it ranks as one of the most-hyped gizmo launches in history.

Last summer, throngs of technophiles camped in lines to snap up the iPhone, the latest must-have from the innovators at Apple. Some desired the iPhone’s functionality; others liked the product’s stylishness; many simply wanted to be first to flash the red-hot status symbol.

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