Learning Design for mobile and contextual learning Anna Mavroudi Open University of Cyprus 13-15 Digeni Akrita Str., Lefkosia, Cyprus anna.mavroudi@st.ouc.ac.cy Thanasis Hadzilacos Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus) & Computer Technology Institute (Greece) 13-15 Digeni Akrita Str., Lefkosia, Cyprus thh@ouc.ac.cy Dimitris Kalles Hellenic Open University 18, Parodos Aristotelous St., Patra, Greece kalles@eap.gr Abstract The aim of this paper is to apply the pedagogically neutral language of Learning Design – LD (a defacto standard specification for online learning ) in the process of modeling contextual information into mobile learning. This will allow mobile and contextual learning to benefit from the numerous available LD-compliant runtime environments and editors. Specifically, this paper proposes: (1) a conceptual extension of the IMS LD Information Model suitable for mobile and contextual learning, (2) the extended Information Model, (3) the resulting context aware model and (4) the ontology derived from this model. Keywords Learning design, mobile learning, context-awareness 1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND According to (Berri et al, 2006), one of the major research challenges in the mobile learning field is “the development of methodologies that make use of the learning expertise already adopted in desktop-based learning and adapt it to suit mobile environments”. Moreover, Dey (2000) indentified the need for suitable context model, which describes the relationships among context types (such as location, device, and activity) and facilitates inference and context abstraction when building context-aware applications. Additionally, the idea of a Context-aware mobile Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is adopted in several research efforts related with mobile learning, like (Chang et al, 2008). As written in (Wilson, 2005) “a service oriented approach does not preclude also using portals or any data warehouses and is in fact agnostic about how the rest of the enterprise is configured, which is why it makes it a good approach for integration in heterogeneous environments”. On the other hand, the use of the Learning Design approach along with SOA has already been used in e-learning (Mc Andrew, 2006), where: “a service -oriented approach to services and tools is especially relevant to a Learning Design perspective and the two can be seen as interlinked. Environments configured as services have the potential to accommodate calls on specific instances of services”. Finally, the idea of using Learning Design for mobile and personalized learning is not new, since it has been used in (Siadaty el al, 2008). The Learning Design approach serves here as the basis of the design of the context-aware model, because (IMS GLC 2003): (1) it allows various kinds of learning strategies to be expressed and (2) its language itself remains pedagogically neutral. The remainder of this paper is about the application of IMS LD for learner mobility and context awareness and the integration of this specific Learning Design-based context-aware model in a Service Oriented Architecture. 2. RATIONALE & MOTIVATION In our approach, the key points befit with the following research goals: - to facilitate the numerous already existing LD- compliant editors and players in the field of mobile and contextual learning (RELOAD editor, CopperCore editor, CompediumLD, etc). This introduction of LD in mobile and contextual learning could be of interest to the research field (e-learning and m-learning), the instructional designers, the standardization bodies (IMS, CETIS, JISC,..) and the industry. It could be seen as a focal point in order to avoid the spread of technical standards for m-learning and promote interoperability. - to sustain re-usability, avoiding the need to redesign from scratch when moving from e-learning to m-learning; this implies that m-learning in this approach is being considered as a wider concept of e-learning. This also implies our view towards the relationship between context and generalization. Here, m-learning is viewed as the generalization of the educational situation (and e-learning, in particular), namely that we cannot assume anything about the position and movement of the learners (or the tutor) and their equipment. This (lack of) assumption forms the basis of our architecture. This rationale also implies that the authors are aligned with the interesting definition of m- learning as “learning across contexts” (Walker, 2006). Technically speaking, since there is a plethora of LD- compliant runtime environments, editors and players already available in the market (most of them open source software) designed for desktop e-learning, this paper examines how to extend/augment these tools in order to include the case of mobile and contextual learning, as well. - to sustain interoperability in the m-learning field by promoting the use of an open technical specification. While m-learning is still in its infancy, avoiding the spread of technical standards for it is vital. - to design a suitable context- aware Service Oriented Architecture that will focus on the pedagogic necessity (a term defined here by: the learner‟s characteristics, the learning objectives and the prerequisite knowledge) and will also include a layer of „educational Quality of Service‟ (its functionality is being described in more detail in the remainder of the paper) .