Robin Canuel, MLISLiaison LibrarianHumanities and Social Sciences LibraryMcGill University

Chad Crichton, MA, MLISCoordinator of Reference, Research & InstructionU of T Scarborough LibraryUniversity of Toronto

40th Annual WILU Conference – Regina, Saskatchewan – June 1-3, 2011

Mobile Technology and Learning: Information Literacy Beyond the Classroom

Learning Objectives

Participants will...1) Understand the value of mobile technology in an academic library context2) Appreciate the current state of mobile resources and services, and possible avenues of future mobile development3) Learn about the integration of mobile technology into information literacy instruction in the classroom and beyond

Introduction

• Being available for your users anytime, anywhere, in any context

• New Paradigm - Possibility of never seeing your patrons in person in the future

• Does new mobile technology change what it means to be “information literate”?

Image – Device pile: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/4773693893/

How many of you own a cellphone?

How many of you have a smartphone?

In 2010, 74% of undergraduates owned an internet capable handheld device or planned to purchase one within the next 6 months

ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers1006/rs/ers1006w.pdf

Image – Exam week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosipaw/4328473236/in/photostream/

A World Without Wires

Globally there are over 555 million fixed broadband subscriptions but over 940 million 3G subscriptions

There are now over 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide

The World in 2010, International Telecommunication Union, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/FactsFigures2010.pdf

Image – Earth and clouds: http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/images/technology-CM079001967.aspx#ai:MP900422242|mt:2|is:3|si:1|

70% of internet users in Egypt never or rarely access the internet via desktop, laptop or tablets.

59% of internet users in India are “mobile only”

25% of internet users in the U.S are “mobile only”

Hill, Alistar. (2010) The Mobile Only Internet Generation

• AT&T reported that from 2007-2010 demand for mobile broadband increased 4,932%

Hanson, Cody (2011)

• Soon, 80% of all people accessing the internet will be doing so using their mobile device

(Ericsson (2010), http://www.ericsson.com/jm/news/1430616)

• PEW Internet and American Life: The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the Internet for most people in the world in 2020.

The Future of the Internet III (2008)

The average person engages with their phone 150 times per day. If averaged out over a 16.5 hour day, that works out to an average of once every 6.5 minutes.

Tomi Ahonen

Librarians could become invisible on smartphones unless they reach out to patrons through existing applications…

…Continuing down this road, many libraries could find themselves doing little more than selecting and paying for databases…

…If librarians are not visible in research apps, patrons will go to vendors to get help…

…But if librarians are willing to redefine their roles in the research process, they can not only survive, but thrive in the mobile world.

Boone, Tom (2011)Image - Nesting Dolls: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyi/482006549/

Some Questions

• How many of you already have a mobile initiative at your institution?

• How many of you are going mobile in the next six months? Year?

CARL Members offering no Mobile Web Presence

66%

CARL Members offering some type of Mobile Web

Presence34%

Canuel and Crichton, 2011

Canadian Association of Research Libraries Members Offering a Mobile Web Presence

What does it mean to “go mobile”???

Apps vs. Websites

Library Services for Mobile Devices

• Library Account (Renewals)• Library Chat Help (IM, SMS)• Room Bookings / Availability• Library News (RSS)• Desktop/Laptop Availability• Research Workshop

Schedule/Sign-up• Floor Maps / Stacks Guide• Automated Phone Renewals• VPN/WIFI Configuration

• Mobile Subject Guides• Campus Webcams• Course Reserves• Videos - vodcast (libcasts)• Podcast• Library Finder• Full Text Finders (Article

Finder)• Bus Schedules• Send book location / call

number to phone

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Services offered by Canadian Academic Library Mobile Sites (Canuel and Crichton, 2011)

Services Offered by North American Academic Library Mobile Sites (Aldrich, 2010)

So that’s what people are doing with mobile technology, but why?

Who’s priorities are those?

Who is setting the agenda, users or librarians?

Who should be setting the agenda?

Mobile Search

• As smartphones become more ubiquitous, they increasingly influence the ways in which students search for, find, evaluate, and use information.

• Do current students exhibit information literate behaviour when engaging with information on their phones?

• Do smartphones make it easier for students to demonstrate information literacy, or does this new technology perhaps erect barriers between students and effective searching for, and use, of information?

(Yarmey, 2011)

Mobile Learning

“Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies.”

O’Malley, C., Vavoula, G., Glew, J. P., Taylor, J., Sharples, M., & Lefrere, P. (2003)

“The intersection of mobile computing (the application of small, portable, and wireless computing and communication devices) and e-learning (learning facilitated and supported through the use of information and communications technology).”

Quinn (2000)

Image – Three children: http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/images/results.aspx?qu=cell%20phones#ai:MP900422734|mt:2|is:3|si:1|

Mobile Information LiteracyWhat does it mean to be mobile information literate?

The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information.

The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.

The information literate student communicates the product or performance effectively to others.

The information literate student understands many of the ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding information and information technology.

“The mobile internet . . . will not be just a way to do old things while moving. It will be a way to do things that couldn’t be done before.”

Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Publications, 2002), pp. xiv, xix.

Mobile Search Variety

Searching for information on an internet-capable phone:• Typed keywords• Spoken keywords (voice search)• Other audio (e.g. Shazam)• Camera (e.g. Google Goggles)• Location-aware (GPS/Compass) • Barcode/QR Code Scanning• Augmented Reality

Image: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4

Image: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4

QR Code Uses

• Links to electronic resources• Instructional videos• Useful websites for further information• Directly containing contact details (e.g. link to

QuestionPoint, Subject Librarian)• A way of storing information for future reference

(Scanning catalogue records, Call number and location information – floor maps, scanning search results)

(Ashford, 2010; Walsh, 2010)

Augmented Reality

Video

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamais_cascio/2756996849/

Curation of Apps and LibGudes

Image – iPhone screens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chromatic/3969329831/

In the ClassroomGoogle Goggles – scan and discuss

Location-Based Searching - Local History Courses

Poll software like “Poll Everywhere” - replace “clickers” and add interactivity to your teaching

QR Codes in presentations and handouts

Consider actually taking your class outside of the room!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dickinsonlibrary/1552211138/

Outside the Class / ReferenceMobile Librarians

Utilize discipline-appropriate augmented reality services

Augmented Reality created by you!

QR Codes in the stacks or in the books

http://www.flickr.com/photos/officenow/2630709925/

ChallengesTechnical Expertise

Costs

Perception of Librarians

Licensed vs. Owned content (DRM)

Speed

Coverage (mobile broadband availability)

Competing Priorities

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauramary/233098556/

OpportunitiesOpportunityEngaging students with a compelling technology

Taking the expertise of librarians beyond the library

Opportunities to re-emphasize traditional IL concepts

New ways of searching for data, new ways to manipulate and use data

An opportunity to challenge the strong connection of our profession to a place and collections of THINGS and make us more present in our students’ everyday lives

Image - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opportunity_in_Endurance_Crater.jpg

Image - http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/images/results.aspx?qu=success+failure&origin=FX010132103#ai:MP900442210

Conclusions

Jump on the mobile bandwagon now, in the future this won’t even be a “thing”, but you and your students will benefit greatly from having been ahead of the curve!

“If I have one prediction about the future of mobile computing, it’s this: The future of mobile is the future of computing.”

(Hanson, 2011)

In the future, we’ll all simply be moving from screen to screen to screen, with no difference between one’s laptop and TV and desktop computer and cell phone…

THANK YOU!!!

Image – Talking on the Jeejah: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/3977296146/in/photostream/

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