Development of eContent for Delivery of an Undergraduate Electromagnetic Course Using Mobile Devices Al-Zoubi A. Y., Princess Sumaya University of Technology, Jordan, Ammar Al-Atiat, International Turnkey Systems, Egypt.

DistanceLearning eLearning MobileLearning Web-BasedLearning Computer-BasedLearning CD-ROMBasedLearning Many universities worldwide are re-examining their tools and methodologies for creating and delivering educational material.

In particular, engineering and science education requires a great deal of animation and simulation in order to reach into the students minds. The electromagnetic course, for example, is one of the most difficult subjects to teach, both for students and lecturers, because it requires an understanding of complex mathematics to solve complicated electric and magnetic field problems.

Very few textbooks and course syllabi have deviated from the traditional approach. Electromagnetics is taught today much as it has been taught for the last several decades. Yet, no body has seen the electron or touched the wave.

The student needs to visualize the problem and its associatedvisualize the problem conditions to be able to solve the equations and then to understand the solutions for the variation and propagation of electromagnetic fieldselectromagnetic fields. The EM course is delivered at PSUT in a variety of blended learning ways. These including text, equations, simulation and animationsequationssimulation animations of problem formulation and solving.problem formulation

eLearning is seen as a strong contender to become the technology of choice for students and faculty at leading Universities. Thus, an EM course module was designed at PSUT, as a pilot project. The design was based on the standard (analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation) method.

Several work sessions had been conducted between the subject matter expert and the instructional designer to cover: needs analysis, target audience, technology issues, current infrastructure for deployment, learning objectives and instructional goals and content analysis. EM eContent

The mobile communication industry has evolved exponentially in the past decade. It has added a lot of functionality to the simple mobile phone to open up a new era to users. Mobile learning will enable access to all kinds of resources. Advancement as such can also be used to assist people to learn on an “Anytime, Anywhere” basis.

The Four Screens Developed for Coulomb’s Law lesson.

Mobile Learning Version of Line Charge Problem Formulation.

A research was conducted in the first quarter of 2007 to collect feedback and analyze students and teachers awareness on mLearning. An online questionnaire was setup containing questions ranging from acceptance of the EM eCourse to devices used for mLearning: 1- Factors that Influence the Choice of a Mobile Device for Use, 2- Mobile Learning Platform, 3- Services Offered by Mobile Learning.

The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions addressed over s for professors in the 22 universities, and 415 student. Only 137 professors and students responded of whom 41.61% were student and 51.83% were lecturers and researchers. Almost all possessed a mobile phone while only 15.33% possessed a handheld computer or a PDA.

Degree of Importance Screen Size Weight Wireless Capabilities Input Methods Processi ng Power Battery Life 1 (not important) (very important) Table (1) The Percentage Degree of Importance of the of the Factors that Influence the Choice of a Mobile Device for Use in a Mobile Learning Environment.

Degree of Importance UserFriendliness Speed of DownloadCostGraphicsEdutainmentVariety 1 (not important) (very important) Table (2) The Percentage Degree of Importance of the Mobile Learning Platform.

Degree of Importance Accessing notes Notification of events InteractionQuizzesComm. with lecturers Comm. with peers Add or drop courses 1 (not important) (very important) Table (3) The Percentage Degree of Importance of the Services Offered Through the Use of Mobile Learning.

Results reveal that: 1- screen size and resolution and battery life were the most important factors that influence the choice of a mobile device used in a mobile learning environment 2- the speed and cost of downloading new content were the most important features of the mobile learning platform, 3- its user friendliness and graphics capabilities such as videos, audios and illustrations in the course content were less important, 4- half of the sample considered accessing notes and course content as the most important of the function and services expected from the use of mobile learning,

The development of mobile learning is not intended to replace the classroom learning, but rather to offer another way to deliver content and to embed learning into daily life.

Thank you

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