Over the last decade, proportion of online enrolments in degree granting institutions in the U.S. has gradually improved to 32 percent of total enrolments in 2011. It is no surprise that almost 70 percent of U.S. higher education institutions see online course offerings as critical to their long-term strategy. Though, over this same time period, there has been little change in the administrator-reported percentage of faculty who see online education as legitimate and important, with that percentage hovering around 30 percent.
Because of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme in various educational institutions, the study habits of college students have radically evolved over the past few years. Based on 2013 Ed Tech Magazine's data 94 percent of college students (18-24 years old) in traditional American colleges own and utilize mobile devices for academic pursuits. They almost use it for eLearning by conducting online searches, visiting virtual libraries, streaming media contents, and purchasing ebooks. Other than mobile technology (m-tech) can also be maximized for information dissemination via cloud storages. They can still utilize it for authoring documents and creative presentations. For this entry, we will give you many ways on how students of higher education can make the most of the power of mobile technology.
In Book "Hunting" Venture
In Accordance to a Verizon's "Going Back to School as an Adult," students maximize the use of mobile internet to 'hunt' for alternative learning resources, moment their professor's give out the necessary reading list. Before they head out to campus bookshops to purchase a newly printed paperback, students would first check online resources to find out ebook and digital counterparts that are accessible on tablets, laptops and smart phones. With mobile technology, they can fast make comparisons from various shops and find cheaper solutions. They can also scan textbook barcodes with their phones to find the best accessible online deals.
Cloud Storages
With the beginning of cloud storages, students are given an avenue to keep and to share digital learning resources over the web. They can store articles and web clippings, images, ebooks, documents, and another learning resource over cloud services like SkyDrive and Dropbox. Printing out the hard copy for archiving and collection is no longer needed. Should they wish to read and to access them afterwards, all they require is to sign-in with their respective accounts on their smart phones and tablets. Since these gadgets are with them for all time, they can access these files anytime all day provided that they are equipped with mobile internet. With the help of cloud technology, it's like carrying with them their multiple learning resources wherever they go.
Attending MOOCs
It stands for Massively Open Online Courses; MOOCs are free college classes available for everyone with an internet. Mainly, it's an uploaded recording of lectures and discussions from the experts in various fields of expertise. College students can attend to MOOCs throughout free periods using their mobile devices. They can even reply to these classes by posting a comment as well interacting with live fellow viewers. It is essentially an added learning opportunity for them, despite of the traditional classes they are attending to.
Email and VoIP
With the mobile internet, students are also given the power to exchange a few words with their professors in a formal way. They can maximize this medium of searching for consultations, reading recommendations, and expert's recommendation. Study groups can switch insights and critique each other's work prior to submission without the requirement for them to meet all the time. Along with, with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services like Skype and Google Hangouts, it is possible to make this venture more personal despite being completely virtual.