Mobile Devices & Distance Learning

I agree with the general sentiment of this week’s articles: that mobile devices have become extremely popular and that that educational institutions and libraries must capitalize on this popularity to remain current and effectively reach their students/patrons.  I was especially interested in the idea of increasing the use of mobile phones in education in developing countries where most people have a cell phone though they may not have access to computers or the physical spaces of educational institutions.   While I agree that mobile devices could be invaluable in this type of situation (I remember in particular the example given of villagers in a small local clinic being able to text with a doctor in a city hospital)  I don’t think basic cell phones  can effectively be used as the main access point to distance courses.  While cell phones (think basic phones, not smart phones) can certainly be useful to supplement a distance learner’s experiences, reading or writing large documents can be difficult or impossible.  Once BlackBerries or iPhones are more affordable then I can see distance learning in developing countries  relying more heavily on cell phones, but for now I think that traditional methods – email, mail, CMS websites used on a computer – must remain an important part of distance courses.  That being said, I still believe that libraries can capitalize on the widespread use of cell phones, even in developing countries.  For example, sending text messages to alert patrons about library news could be an effective outreach strategy. 

Integrating library services in CMS

As I read through the materials for the “CMS and LMS” unit of this course, one idea that stood out to me was that students have a “preference to stay inside their own domain (for example WebCT). Students are reluctant to leave their course environment even to access important information and their learning is contextual.”  (Lynn Copeland, “There Be Dragons,” p. 203).  This statement was reiterated in the article “Linking Students to Library Resources through the Learning Management System:” “Students are course-centric in their work and library resources need to be presented to them in that context in a convenient place” (466).  As a student, I definitely agree that having everything you need to complete a course in one place is an ideal situation, and was excited to read about the work being done at Ohio State University to integrate library services into the institution’s LMS. 

After reading about the OSU program, I wonder: How many other schools have programs like this? How much money/resources did it really take for OSU to get this program running (the article mentions the use of grant money several times), and how feasible is it for smaller schools to start up a program like this?  Finally, would it be feasible for OSU to somehow package and provide their system to other academic libraries/IT departments, hopefully for less money that it would take for other schools to start from scratch?