Mobile app education: who are the pioneers?
Appolicious recently published a great article on mobile app education and TED’s role in this field.
TED – which stands for Technology Entertainment Design – holds lectures known as TED talks and bills itself as committed to “ideas worth spreading”. It all started with an annual conference and things have really taken off since, with the latest addition being an app which allows you to access the thousands of TED talks in the conference’s archives.
The TED app already gives users access to over 1,400 talks as streaming video, and more are being added every day. The latest development is the addition of subtitles in around 90 languages, plus other improvements. TED has also recently launched TED Books, which are short original electronic books produced every two weeks by TED Conferences. In TED’s own words: like the best TED talks, they’re personal and provocative, and designed to spread great ideas.
Both the TED app and TED books make learning more fun and accessible for users, and highlight the rise of mobile learning. Mobile learning allows learners to access information anytime, anywhere, and means that we can learn when we wouldn’t normally otherwise – on the bus, while waiting for friends, in the gaps between other activities.
The iTunes App Store now includes a wide array of apps designed to help people learn – whatever the subject. A quick survey around the office showed that most people have at least one educational app – mostly to help in language learning or everyday tasks such as cooking or keeping up-to-date with the latest news. Wikipedia even has its own app – Wikiweb – which makes it much easier to navigate between different Wikipedia articles. After all – what better way to learn than to browse Wikipedia’s vast collection of information?
TED’s app is just one of many leading the way in mobile app education – a great way for everyone to learn on the move. We recently put together a blog post on the advantages and disadvantages of mobile learning – check it out here >
