ESEIG Mobile: An M-Learning Approach in a Superior School

Mobile Content Adaptation

Mobile learning (m-learning) applications extend the electronic learning (e-learning) experience into the mobile context (Chang & Sheu 2002; Chen et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2002). M-learning uses mobile devices to enhance the teaching-learning process. However, it should not be seen as just another e-Learning channel for delivering the same content. In fact quality M-learning can only be delivered with an awareness of the special limitations and benefits of mobile devices (Parsons & Ryu, 2007). Due to those constraints the learning content must be adapted to suit the mobile device characteristics. Adaptation means a process of selection, generation or modification of content (text, images, audio and video) to suit to the user’s computing environment and usage context (Parupalli, 2009). The concept of Content Adaptation is commonly related to mobile devices. Due to the variety of types and technologies supported they require special handling through a series of content transformations, in the deliver process, made by the content provider (server) (Zhang, Kunz & Hansen 2007). Instead of authors having to create specialised pages for each kind of device, content adaptation automatically transforms an author's content to match the device characteristics. Some examples of such features are related with their limited computational power, small screen size, constrained keyboard functionality and media content type supported. The W3C Device Independence Working Group described many of the issues (Lewis, 2003) that authors must face in an environment in which there is an increasingly diverse set of devices used to access Web sites.