Mobile Web 2.0 Tools and Applications in Online Training and Tutoring

Abstract

Today over six billion people have access to a connected mobile device, and for every one person who accesses the Internet from a computer do so from a mobile device as well. Mobile technology is changing the way we live, and it is beginning to change the way we learn (UNESCO. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/).

Mobile learning (m-learning), referred also as “anytime and anyplace learning,” has evolved with the introduction of mobile and handheld devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, notebooks, and tablet PCs, in teaching and learning, together with broadband and wireless data transmission. This greater connectivity creates opportunities for flexible, collaborative modes of learning while supporting stronger links between learning at work, in the home, at school, and in the community.

As main advantages of mobile technologies in education can be considered spontaneity (learning activities take place when the learner feels ready or can be used to fill “dead time”), immediacy (learning becomes possible at the point of need, regardless of location), increased access (learning resources can be accessed from the workplace and in the field while traveling, during classes, and lectures), and last but not least portability (communication with peers and tutors and the capture, storage, and retrieval of information in multimedia formats are possible from one device at any location).

This chapter aimed to present the new trends for education – mobile learning, through the outcomes of the Leonardo da Vinci project MobiVET 2.0 – Mobile Web 2.0 e-Training for Vocational Education Trainers (MobiVET 2.0. 2014. Retrieved from www.mobivet2.eu). The MobiVET 2.0 project aimed at filling the online training gap between the self-directed learners and VET trainers by developing mobile e-learning 2.0 knowledge and skills of the trainers, thus turning them from in-class trainers to skilled online tutors (e-tutors).

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

1 Introduction

From the last 10 years, e-learning technologies use interactive multimedia and allow user interaction with controlling computer software programs and may be used effectively in education and training (see Chap. 2, “Characteristics of Mobile Teaching and Learning”). Sophisticated computer hardware and software are available for the production of high-quality flexible training materials and at low cost.

Interactive learning materials enhance the learning process; are enjoyable; and, using wireless networks, may be used anywhere, at any time, and by anyone. An individual has the freedom to learn at one’s own pace, to select the appropriate level, and to pick times for study, so as to be able to study at work, at home, or in travel. The use of these forms of materials, if prepared carefully and comprehensively, can eliminate the need for face-to-face workshops, seminars, conferences, site visits, and attendance at technical fairs, saving time, travel, and fuels and so also reducing polluting emissions to air.

2 A Brief History of e-Learning

In the last century, an effort to carry out the educational process through new technologies occurred when at the half of the twentieth century, linear (Skinner 1954) or ramified (Crowder 1969) training programs were used within the program learning in order to increase the effectiveness of the educational process. In the coming years, this effort was supported by some philosophical theories (Wiener 1961), characters of which became to be a basin for some programming languages (e.g., Prolog, Cobol).

In a field of hardware, development carried over air-conditioned computer halls onto work tables in the form of PCs; however, at the turn of the 1970s–1980s, information and communication technologies occurred in the educational process without any complex conception. Attention was focused on the study of informatics or on programming as an individual study subject.

The start of multimedia computers provided more options for video and audio presentation. The requirement on training programs’ interactivity is highlighted, and the view on possibilities of ICT application in education significantly changed. A beginning of new millennium brings a necessity of lifelong learning, causing a development of distance learning based on principles of ICT exploitation in education. “Internetization” of all levels and forms of schooling is getting to be one of the main program objectives of the EU states’ national governments, various “information strategies” are being formed, and virtual training centers interconnecting universities, libraries, research institutes, government, and public and commercial organizations are being created (e.g., virtual collaboration (Hossain 2004; Wainfan 2004)).

Historically, educational and corporate training managers have always looked for ways to reduce the cost and improve the effectiveness of training programs and processes through the use of technological advances. Prior to 1980, in-class instructor-led training dominated, although some organizations used mainframe and interactive video approaches. By 1990, the delivery of CD-ROM content became possible. Since 1998, Internet-based approaches (e.g., web-based learning) have become the dominant delivery method for creating fast, scalable, low-cost learning and corporate training (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Evolution of e-learning technologies

Those methods usually follow the “classic” form of class-based learning, moving only the content from the paper book pages on to the computer screen. The participants in the process (teachers and students) still remain “tied” to the school LAN, which connects them to the learning content and the school learning management system (LMS). The “traditional” pen has been replaced by the keyboard and mouse. But, in most cases, these changes do not give the freedom that teacher’s and student’s “hands” may need, especially teaching and studying some specific subjects, such as art, drawing, design, and architecture.

3 Key Trends in e-Learning

During the last few years, e-learning has rapidly entered the educational sector, and, as a result, more and more new learning tools are appearing. This changes the way how teachers and students work and interact thus enabling a more effective learning process.

Advances in ICT define the latest trends in the e-learning industry. New hardware devices and application programming interfaces (APIs) are shaping the present and future of how learning organizations will manage (e) learning. In 2014, new technology developments are making their way into e-learning delivery. Some of the more significant trends in e-learning in 2014 include (Learndash 2013; JRC 2009):

• Social networking services (SNSs) – virtual communities of practice constructed through SNSs enable learners to connect and collaborate on global platforms, transcending geographical boundaries (McCann 2009).

• Massive open online courses (MOOCs) – possibly is the most promising trend as more and more courses will be published online offering free (open) access to the learners.

• Gamification – learning (or “serious”) games and simulations (in 2D and 3D worlds) can be implemented quite easily into many e-learning courses and learning management systems (LMSs).

• Mobile technology – devices like netbooks, e-book readers, tablets, smartphones, and Wi-Fi communication technology are allowing e-learning to be on the move.

• HTML5 – this new web publishing standard offers better performance, multimedia, connectivity, and many other benefits for e-learning content design (W3C 2014).

• TinCan API – is the next generation of API software developed for reporting for e-learning in LMSs used. TinCan API is expected to replace the old SCORM standard (Tincanapi 2014).

• Responsive web design (RWD) – focuses on mobile technology and it is intended that web content displays properly on all devices (no matter desktop or mobile).

3.1 Web 2.0-Based Technologies and Tools for Learning

By Tim O’Reilly (2007), who firstly has defined this term as Web 2.0, technologies can be tagged open-source software, online services as blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, etc., which facilitate a more socially connected web where everyone is able to add and edit the information space. Main ideas of Web 2.0 change the key aspects of schools’ curricula and form of learning (Bartolomé 2008):

• NET technology as a platform oriented on multiple tools changes the concept of the learning anytime and anywhere.

• Collective intelligence and wide experiences of users influence the meaning of the expression “authority” in learning systems.

• Tags and RSS give opportunity to repeat browsing of traditional systems, organization of knowledge, and finding information.

• Lots of alternative tools used for the learning activities (tablet, smartphone, notebook, netbook, etc.) give the learners the possibility to learn anywhere and anytime – in a cafeteria or library, waiting on the train, etc. Web 2.0 deletes the difference between time for study and other activities.

Web 2.0 represents a new term for e-learning. What makes Web 2.0 so attractive for learners is that it is almost free and interactive in nature and could be accessible from anywhere and via any mobile device. Because of the accessibility feature of Web 2.0 applications, learners are now able to interact in a virtual community and be exposed to sounds, images, moving pictures, colors, and text that are characterized to be ideal for the cognitively diverse classroom.

In this context, the Web 2.0 is the next level of the World Wide Web (W3C 2014). The most basic characteristics of Web 2.0 include:

• The read/write web

• The web as a platform

• Rich user experiences

• Data as the driving force

• An architecture of participation

• Harnessing collective intelligence

• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface

• Leveraging of popular trends, including blogging, social tagging, wikis, and peer-to- peer sharing

• Inclusion of emerging web technologies like RSS, AJAX, APIs (and accompanying mashups), Ruby on Rails, and others

• Open-source or sharable/editable frameworks in the form of user-oriented “create your own” APIs

New innovative learning methods require new training methodologies as well as new ways to deliver the learning content to the target groups, considering the growing need of mobility, availability, information aggregation, and very fast response times among both students and adults in the labor market. Between up-to-date Web 2.0-based technologies and tools for e-learning, we can include:

• RSS (Rich Site Summary) feeds offer the ability to automatically fetch new content instead of having to search for it. By using special software called RSS aggregators, teachers or trainers can subscribe to multiple web pages that publish material relevant to the subject that they teach. This way, students can visit a single place that is constantly updated when new articles are published. Feed aggregation clients are available for all platforms, including mobile devices.

• Audio/video conferencing refers to services and tools that allow conferencing events to be shared with remote locations. These are sometimes referred to as webinars or, for interactive conferences, online workshops. These tools can be used to record and share live events. The teacher/trainers can use them to cover a real-time event such as a lecture or a tutorial, to capture teaching resources, and at the same time to allow students to collaborate with their own responses. Example tools are Skype, BigBlueButton, and eLecta Live.

• Online presentation tools give teachers or trainers the ability to share their presentations as well as enhance them with added functionality and take advantage of user feedback to replace traditional desktop presentations. These tools have no software requirements since everything is done online through the web browser. The presentations can be embedded into websites, blogs, and wikis and can be used by students and teachers to collaborate remotely. Example tools are VoiceThread, Prezi, and SlideShare.

• Social media/networking applications offer users the ability to easily communicate and share resources. Most of them offer capabilities to create groups or communities so they can be used for specific courses or learning topics. The main advantage of these applications is that the students are already familiar with their use and are highly motivated to use them. Example tools are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Edmodo, and Elgg.

• Content management systems allow publishing, editing, and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface. Such systems of content management provide procedures to manage workflow in a collaborative environment. Furthermore they can easily integrate most of the above technologies. Learning management systems are specialized for the needs of teachers offering a great set of tools for every aspect of the learning experience. Examples tools are Wordpress, Drupal, Moodle, and Schoology.

3.2 The Technologies for Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is not a new network technology but a network application (Anderson 2007), and most used techniques of the Web 2.0 website can be defined as follows:

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), semantically valid XHTML markup, and microformats

• Significant and clean URLs

• Aggregation of RSS/ATOM data

• Syndication of data in RSS/ATOM

• REST or XML Webservice APIs

• Some social networking aspects

• Support posting to a weblog

The base principle of Web 2.0 is the creation of new relationships through electronic connections and social collaboration. Between main concepts that have been created for Web 2.0, we can include:

• Mashups, which allow to use services from different users for creation of completely new service.

• Tagging, keywords represented by non-hierarchic metadata which allow to descript the content and find topic by browsing or searching.

• Folksonomy, very often refers to as social tagging, allows users to tag their content, and enables other users to find and use it.

• Blogging is one of the most characteristic features of Web 2.0, and Tim O’Reilly (2014) defines the basic form of blog as a personal home page in diary format.

• Virtual worlds represent simulated 3D environments, usually gaming environments, which allow users mutual interaction with the environment and between characters known as an avatars.

Web 2.0 technologies offer new methods for learning delivery by providing teachers with new ways to engage students and even allow student participation on a global level. Web 2.0 tools are online and mostly free applications that can be used in innovative ways by teachers or tutors to support their teaching. Teachers have new ways to express their learning material into and share them with the students and other teachers as well as allowing them to collaborate with their own ideas or resources. Audio and video sharing is easier than ever and allows learning sessions to take place online instead of the classroom in ways that can be more motivating and exciting for students. The vast amount of information available online can finally be organized by taking advantage of social bookmarking tools. Students, in a Web 2.0 classroom, are expected to collaborate and to interact with one another and the content of the class. By making the shift to a Web 2.0 classroom, teachers are creating a more open atmosphere where students are expected to stay engaged and participate in class discussions.

4 Mobile Learning (m-Learning)

Mobile learning (m-Learning) referred also as “anytime, anyplace learning” (Caudill 2007; El-Hussein 2010) has evolved with the introduction of mobile and handheld devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, netbooks, and tablet PCs, in teaching and learning, together with broadband and wireless data transmission. This greater connectivity creates opportunities for flexible, collaborative modes of learning while supporting stronger links between learning at work, in the home, at school, or in the community (see Chap. 6, “Framework for Design of Mobile Learning Strategies”).

From this point of view, mobile learning allows truly anywhere and anytime personalized learning, which through nonconventional devices and methods makes traditional lessons or courses more attractive. Using mobile communication – for young people native forms of communication – helps learners and teachers to recognize and build on existing basic literacy skills and can help deliver and support literacy, numeracy, and language learning.

At last but not least, mobile learning helps to combat resistance to the use of ICT by providing a bridge between mobile phone literacy and PC literacy.

In present time, a great variety of mobile computers and devices are available. Laptop computers outnumber desktop computers, while notebook computers, tablets, and cellular “smart” phones are considered to be the most important hardware items used for m-learning activities.

Mobile devices can bring users the following advantages (Learning 2014):

• Spontaneity – learning activities take place when the learner feels ready or can be used to fill “dead time.”

• Immediacy – learning becomes possible at the point of need, regardless of location.

• Increased access – learning resources can be accessed from the workplace and in the field while traveling and during classes or lectures.

• Portability – communication with peers and tutors and the capture, storage, and retrieval of information in multimedia formats are possible from one device at any location.

4.1 Mobile 2.0

Mobile 2.0 is considered to be the combination of the Web 2.0 philosophy with the mobile devices. Firstly, Mobile 2.0 is bringing the Web 2.0 to the user’s mobile device. However, Mobile 2.0 goes further in the adaptation of web content to the user’s mobile device and also the personalization of the content the user’s characteristics. Thus, a key point to Mobile 2.0 is leveraging Web 2.0 to take advantage of the strengths of user’s mobile device. Mobile Web 2.0 applications that are delivered to mobile devices need to be adapted to the characteristics of the mobile devices.

Several years ago, the big question was “Should we do mobile learning?” Today the question is “How should we do mobile learning?” TeachThought (2014) defines 12 principles of mobile learning:

• Access (any time, any place)

• Learning metrics

• Cloud (content and learning delivery via cloud)

• Transparent

• Play (include serious games and gamification)

• Asynchronous learning mode

• Self-actuated (personalized: just in time, just enough, just for me)

• Diverse e-pedagogies

• Curation/learning management

• Blending different learning modes

• Always on

• Authentic

4.2 How to Design m-Learning Using Web2.0 Technologies

Adopting a mobile-friendly content strategy enables many benefits that go far beyond delivering the right learning content to the right device at the right time – including collaboration via social networking platforms, multimedia (audio and video) enhancements, interactivity (quizzes, simulations, and exercises), annotations to content, and much more.

But what is the most efficient way to produce and deliver learning content optimized for the unique dimensions and firmware of every mobile device? How do the mobile learning designers enable the interactive features that make the content more than just a “page-turning application”? These are just some of the questions that a mobile content strategy needs to addresses.

The instructional design is a systematic process for creating effective instructional solutions. This requires designers to analyze the desired outcomes and content and apply the appropriate design model to achieve the learning outcomes. The instructional design of m-learning solutions must first consider the fact that learner is not in a traditional classroom setting with a motivational and/or supervisorial instructor facilitating the learning process. Learner motivations, attention to learning content, understanding of the relevance of the subject matter, and ability to have social interaction with peers are not as easy to facilitate. The mobile learners can acquire learning content from the centralized shared resources and engage in anytime-anywhere context-aware learning via portable devices in wireless communication environment.

E-learning design can only be generically applied to m-learning. Many of the current elements of m-learning are built upon a solid foundation of learner needs, learning outcomes, cognitive processes, and instructional strategies. Each of these foundational elements is critical for the creation of effective m-learning and involves a strong collaboration between instructional designers, educational technologists, graphic designers, web/software developers, educators, and students/users. However, m-learning instructional design as an emerging subject requires a more dynamic approach than traditional instructional design. Therefore, the need for more dynamics in instruction combined with the high demand for more m-learning solutions requires an evolution in m-learning design and a higher level of productivity. More use of current user-centered and evolutionary design methodologies like that of agile design (Agilemodeling 2014), rapid prototyping, and successive approximation instead of the antiquated and less iterative methodologies such as ADDIE model (ADDIE 2014) will allow m-learning designers to create more robust m-learning solutions rather than the typical unidimensional solutions currently being developed. In addition, in order to meet the need for increased productivity in m-learning, it is clear that there should more use of rapid development applications. The reality is that creating m-learning solutions is more time consuming than traditional learning solutions; therefore, using software applications that do not keep up with the high demand for productivity does not allow the actual design to make it into production on regular basis.

At present, it can be concluded that m-learning will continue to use some of the same software applications and more iterative instructional design methodologies in order to keep up with increased demand in the coming years.

5 Case Study: Mobile Web 2.0 e-Training for Vocational Education Trainers – Project MobiVET 2.0

From 2012, seven organizations from Malta, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania, and Spain focused their joined efforts in implementing the project called “Mobile Web 2.0 e-Training for Vocational Education Trainers – MobiVET 2.0.” This project aims to fill the online training gap between the self-directed learners and VET trainers by developing mobile e-learning 2.0 knowledge and skills of the trainers, thus turning them from in-class trainers to skilled online tutors (e-tutors). In this way the project offers a strong support for current and further development of innovative Web 2.0-based mobile learning methodologies, pedagogy approaches, and practices, thus improving vocational and lifelong learning in the European Union.

MobiVET 2.0 project developed innovative learning methods, m-learning methodology MobiVET (2014b), and m-learning materials as effective tools to improve the e-skills and competencies of European VET practitioners (teachers, trainers, and tutors) MobiVET (2014a) and helps develop adequate online training practices for effective distance tutoring of lifelong self-learning or vocational education activities at the workplace and while being mobile, without time and distance barriers.

5.1 Mobile Learning Course Preparation Methodology

During the preparation of educational materials for m-learning, it is necessary to consider the following MobiVET (2014c):

• Composes a mobile learning course

• Tools to produce m-learning course

• Form of learning – self-paced or instructor-led learning

Each m-learning course combines several main components – learning resources, trainer’s involvement like e-tutoring, e-coaching, e-mentoring, peer’s involvement, collaborative learning, and the environment where all are housed, a virtual classroom. As a base of m-learning, courses can be considered simple learning resources, such as noninteractive text documents, PowerPoint presentations, video, and/or audio files. The learners can read or watch content without being able to interact. The augmented part represents interactive content, which is created by a sequence of screens and can include text, graphics, audio, video, and interactive elements such as questions and feedback. The m-learning lessons can also recommend further reading, additional information, and links to online resources.

Mobile course can offer activities like simulations and games. Its aim is to offer real-world situations, ideally immersing the user in a simulated environment that responds and provides feedback in real time. They can emphasize on the informal aspects of the learning and provide educational element to a course.

When starting to design any e-learning course, a needs analysis should be conducted to answer the following questions:

• Is the training required to fill a gap in professional knowledge and skills?

• Is the e-learning the best solution to deliver the training?

The next step is to identify learner-related factors that will influence the course design:

• Type of organization or institution in which learners work or study and their professional role(s)

• Learners’ previous knowledge and expertise on the subject

• Learners’ computer skills and previous experience with e-learning

• The time that can be allocated to e-learning

• The physical location where e-learning lessons will take place – at home, at work, or in a learning center

• Connection speed and computer and software capabilities

Content analysis is a critical step in the instructional design process. The course designer should include accurate and relevant content. Without this, even the best instructional methods and media will fail to transfer useful information to learners. Content identification and analysis can use the following methods:

• Task analysis identifies the job tasks that learners should learn or improve and the knowledge and skills that need to be developed or reinforced. This is mainly useful when preparing courses for specific job-related or interpersonal skills.

• Topic analysis identifies and classifies the course content. This is mainly suitable for broader educational objectives.

• Definition of learning objectives. Whereas the aim of any learning objective is acquisition of competences or capabilities by the learners, objectives should be specified for the course as well as for the individual learning resources/activities. Learning objectives combine two main elements – the expected level of performance and the learning content (the type of knowledge and/or skills that should be learned).

Usually the course content is provided by experts in the training topic. Even existing materials can be adapted to a specific course. However, if the existing materials were designed for face-to-face training or paper, they should be transferred and adapted for m-learning. Lessons and presentations designed for face-to-face courses should be reworked to include all explanations that were delivered verbally. Longer texts should be cut into separate short “chunks” that will allow them to be easily mixed with visual, audio-video, and interactive content. Wherever a longer text is published, it has to be available in downloadable form – this will allow students to read it offline at the most convenient time.

The way how content is presented depends on the topic, content, target group, and – not last – creativity of the instructional designer. Due to all these variables, many different approaches exist:

• Scenario-based content presentation – the content delivery follows a predefined scenario; often, the learners are facing situations requiring answering questions and making choices.

• Storytelling content presentation – puts the information in certain environment and uses a narrative to gradually present the learning topics. There might be real or fictitious character(s) taking the role of a narrator and leading the students through the lesson.

• Demonstration and practice content presentation – very suitable for practical tasks. The lesson demonstrates selected simple or more complex procedures and steps, and then the learners are asked to repeat the lesson learned using the available interactive tools.

• Toolkit content presentation – as the name suggests, the learners are presented with content divided into specific chunks forming a set of resources that can be studied independently of each other and without following a predefined path.

5.2 MobiVET Mobile Learning Courses

With the aim to evaluate developed methodology, how to create and use mobile courses from both the teachers’ and the students’ perspectives were developed in seven m-learning courses. These mobile courses are available at MobiVET 2.0 platform http://mobivet2.eu/courses. Four of them were developed with the aim to introduce a sample of m-courses for teachers:

• Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

• Green Office

• Intercultural Skills

• Leadership Skills

The last three courses are targeted primarily to improving the skills of teachers/trainers in the field of m-learning and developing of m-courses:

• E-Learning Practices in VET

• Applying Social Media in VET

• Web 2.0-Based Mobile Technology in VET

The courses’ main objectives are to help teachers to understand Web 2.0 and support them to use in teaching/virtual classroom, the online and mobile training technologies, and tools.

During the pilot testing phase of the project, we collected the feedback from the VET students and their teachers. Results are presented in the following paragraphs.

The primary descriptive analysis indicates that the field of studies in which the MobiVET 2.0 students participated in the training course is mainly represented by theoretical studies in sciences as engineering, electronics, and telecommunications but also by theoretical studies in humanities (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

MobiVET 2.0 course(s) participation

The students could attend to more than one course offered by MobiVET 2.0 training. Consequently, the majority – almost 90 % of the population that has studied the courses – headed toward the Green Office course, followed by Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace (3 %), Leadership Skills (3 %), and Intercultural Skills (3 %).

The availability of the courses was extended to different devices such as laptops (43 %), desktop PCs (41 %), and smartphones (16 %) with Android (70 %) (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3

Devices used by students

With a majority of 71 %, students declared that future courses should continue being structured and contented in the same way the ones that they have studied did; meanwhile, the other 29 % suggested the extension of the courses with further information and additional materials, and none of the respondents indicated that the courses should reduce their size or change the form.

More than 90 % of the students indicated the fact that they didn’t need or needed only partial guidance from their teachers; contrariwise, the small proportion of students – 4 % – needed full guidance (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

To take the course, student needs

Regarding the need of guidance, considering the expectations of the students to the eventual study of the courses, there can be observed an extension of the figures, therefore, indicating again the fact that self-learning is considered to be useful and efficient by the students.

The second evaluation form created had the purpose to evaluate teachers’ overview about the utility of didactical aspects of the MobiVET 2.0 m-learning courses.

The primary descriptive analysis indicated that the respondents are almost equally distributed by gender with ratios of 60 % male and 40 % female. Regarding the respondents’ age, it can be observed that 80 % of teachers are over 40 years old.

As seen in the pie chart, 60 % of the teachers are teaching on the secondary grammar school and 40 % are teaching in upper secondary education – technology profile high schools (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5

Distribution of the educational levels in which the respondents are teaching

In the didactic evaluation process of MobiVET 2.0 m-learning courses, teachers used most of the prepared guides and manuals (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6

Training resources used by teachers in order to evaluate the courses

The availability of the courses was extended to different devices such as desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In the evaluation and testing of the courses, the most used devices were laptops, followed by tablets and smartphones with Android and iOS operating systems in the same portion (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7

Devices used by teachers

Regarding the form of the courses, the teachers indicated that the length and form of the courses is the exact one in order to complete the didactic requirements and for the future courses should be the same.

The perception of the teachers regarding the form of the courses is very important for the general feedback, revealing the following aspects: 80 % of the teachers evaluated that the content of the courses was clear enough to be understood; meanwhile, 20 % considered that the courses were very clear and easy to understand, and none of the teachers found the courses difficult to understand.

In order to complete the information about teachers’ evaluation over the MobiVET 2.0 courses that they have studied, the respondents were asked to give additional feedback and further suggestions in order to improve future m-learning courses. With a majority of 60 %, teachers declared that future courses should be extended with further information or materials; meanwhile, the other 40 % suggested to leave the courses exactly the way as they are, and none of the respondents indicated that the courses should reduce their size (Figs. 8 and 9).

Fig. 8

The information within the e-Handbook: Guide to Using Web 2.0 Technologies in Training

Fig. 9

Participants’ suggestions

The overall opinion after evaluating and implementing the utility of the courses indicates the fact that in proportion of 100 %, the teachers found the MobiVET 2.0 training courses being valuable for their professional career and that they feel able to teach students using new methods and technologies (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10

Teacher’s overall impression of the m-learning course(s)

6 Future Directions

Today over six billion people have access to a connected mobile device, and for every one person who accesses the Internet from a computer do so from a mobile device as well. Mobile technology is changing the way we live, and it is beginning to change the way we learn (UNESCO 2014).

In the context of the MobiVET 2.0 project is presented a way how to fill the online training gap between self-directed learners and VET trainers by developing mobile learning 2.0 knowledge and skills of the trainers, thus turning them from in-class trainers to skilled e-tutors. The results developed in the frame of this project help the tutors get familiar with various m-learning technologies and platforms and learn how they can be utilized in the learning processes.

The presented study collects feedback from the students and teachers from different countries of Europe about the mobile learning and developed m-learning courses.

Mobile technologies and concepts can supplement existing formal learning methods. Mobile learning is growing by leaps and bounds, and mobile learning devices are no longer restricted to the classroom. Most students, including young students, own or have access to cell phones, iPods, tablets, or other handheld devices, and educational administrators are quickly realizing that students can use those devices not only to access school websites but used them for classroom assignments and other educational resources from both school and home.

But to be successful in designing and conducting mobile learning, the online educators have to learn some new techniques such as how to:

• Create online classes with customizable and reusable content.

• Connect students with audio and video while implementing interactive simulations to address a variety of learning modalities and styles.

• Incorporate video and applicable animation to simplify complicated topics.

• Save content as reusable templates and layouts for personal or system-wide use.

• Give quizzes and record and archive the results.

7 Cross-References

• Characteristics of Mobile Teaching and Learning

• Framework for Design of Mobile Learning Strategies