Live Mobile Distance Learning System for Smart Devices

Abstract

In recent years, mobile and ubiquitous computing has emerged in our daily lives, and extensive studies have been conducted in various areas using smart devices, such as tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators, and smart media devices, in order to realize this computing technology. Especially, the integration of mobile networking technology and intelligent mobile devices has made it possible to develop the advanced mobile distance learning system that supports portable smart devices such as smartphones and tablets for the future IT environment. We present a synchronous mobile learning system that enables both instructor and student to participate in distance learning with their tablets. When an instructor gives a lecture using a tablet with front-face camera by bringing up slides and making annotations on them, students in the distance can watch the instructor and those slides with annotation on their own tablets in real time. A student can also ask a question or have a discussion together using the text chat feature of the system during a learning session. We also show the user evaluation of the system. A user survey shows that about 67% are in favor of the prototype of the system.