HTML5 & mLearning - The Rapid Interactivity Approach
0 likes304 views
The document discusses the significance of HTML5 in e-learning and m-learning, highlighting its advantages over Flash, especially for mobile devices that do not support Flash. It emphasizes how HTML5 can facilitate interactive learning experiences and improve deployment across various platforms, as well as the evolution of mobile learning. Additionally, the document showcases Raptivity as a tool to create engaging learning interactions compatible with both HTML5 and Flash.
HTML5 & mLearning - The Rapid Interactivity Approach
- 2. Contents HTML5 & its Role in eLearning ..................................................... 4 The Case for HTML5 in mLearning ............................................... 5 Importance of Rapid Interactivity in HTML5 and m-Learning ...... 6 Using Raptivity® in mLearning ..................................................... 7 Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 2
- 3. “New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too)” - Steve Jobs “We see HTML5 as a critical component of the future web, and a great technology for delivering interactive learning content.” - Vikas Joshi, chairman and managing director of Harbinger Group "You can't teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it." - Seymour Papert Figure 1: Evolution of Learning Channels Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 3
- 4. HTML5 & its Role in eLearning1 HTML5 is technically the latest version of the HTML specification, but it's commonly used to refer to the combination of three technologies together: HTML5, CSS3 (the latest version of Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. While the larger issue is how HTML5 impacts the future of the Web, there are many discussions about how HTML5 impacts the future of Flash. The very prospect of better interactive support in browsers is a positive sign for the future of the Web. Interactive applications will be easier to build and deploy - and users will find the Web content more engaging. The technology sure has a lot going for it, given that Google, Microsoft and Apple agree to the direction it is taking. A short tour of the key features of HTML5 should be enough to convince ourselves that support for greater interactivity is getting entrenched within the browser. All the browsers, including IE9, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari now support HTML5, even if it is to varying degrees. HTML5 is making it to mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Android and others very quickly. As older browser versions are replaced with these newer ones, HTML5 will truly become mainstream. Within e-Learning, it can be used for On-the-field training (Mobile learning), Edumercials, and to support SCORM using JavaScript. 1 This is an abstract from the Raptivity presentation, “HTML5 and its role in eLearning”: http://www.raptivity.com/resources/insights/presentations-and-recorded-webinars Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 4
- 5. The Case for HTML5 in mLearning The advantages of using HTML5 get more important once you include mLearning in the context. mLearning designers and developers – and mLearning itself – have suffered for years because developing mLearning is like trying to hit a moving target; once you have a product out, the devices it was designed for are obsolete, due to the very short lifespan of most mobile device product cycles. If those developers were developing desktop-based e-Learning instead, they would have a pretty good solution to this compatibility problem: Flash. But Flash Player’s ubiquity on desktops and laptops doesn’t extend to mobile devices. Importantly, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, do not support Flash. Apple CEO Steve Jobs says Adobe’s Flash platform, like floppy disks and serial ports before it, is a technology that has outlived its usefulness. But according to Adobe, Flash has some legs yet. Anup Murarka, director of technical marketing for mobile and devices at Adobe (ADBE), claims 53 percent of all smartphones shipping in 2012 will support Flash. “You’re going to see Flash not only on *Google's+ Android. Consumers will see devices from Palm (PALM), Research in Motion Ltd’s (RIMM) Blackberry, Nokia’s (NOK) Symbian and Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Phone 7 support the full Flash Player,” Murarka said. “Maybe we don’t get to the iPhone or iPad. If anything, we’re seeing continued growth in the install base and the usage of Flash and we see that continuing to grow.”2 Mobile platforms do have the benefit of starting afresh with support for HTML5 on their browsers. It is also an obvious choice for mobile devices because rendering HTML5 code is generally not very processor-intensive compared to alternatives, and mobile device manufacturers are always pushing the envelope to accommodate user demand for increased speed and multitasking. To top it off, with HTML5, mobile devices' short product cycles become a boon instead of a liability because new devices generally mean new and more updated browsers. 2 Source: http://allthingsd.com/20100610/adobe-flash-on-53-percent-of-all-smartphones-shipped-in- 2012/ Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 5
- 6. Importance of Rapid Interactivity in HTML5 and m-Learning Rapid interactivity building has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective way of creating interactive learning courses in desktop platforms. HTML5, being a combination of HTML, JavaScript and CSS, is more complex than the plain markup that HTML is. In many respects, it is as powerful as Flash, and by the same token, is difficult to program compared to plain HTML. Clearly, rapid interactivity has a role to play in building HTML5 interactions. Mobile devices themselves and their capabilities are highly fragmented not only due to the different available platforms, but also because devices from even a single platform span the gamut. The ongoing tablet revolution exacerbates this fragmentation even further. Mobile learning content should be engaging, light on text and graphically rich. All this fits very well with the rapid interactivity metaphor, rather than traditional navigation and page-turning. All this puts a premium on efficient and cost-effective development, and indeed makes rapid interactivity a critical factor. Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 6
- 7. Using Raptivity® in mLearning Mobile learning can benefit from a large variety of interactions that Raptivity users routinely build as part of e-learning. The Essential Pack and HTML5 Pack from Raptivity come with the capability of publishing interactions on mobile devices and Apple’s iOS devices respectively. Raptivity Essential Pack includes the Raptivity software and a set of 35 interaction templates that can be published on mobile devices that support Flash technology. The interactions thus published will work on devices such as Android and BlackBerry. The Raptivity HTML5 Pack includes 6 important and meaningful interactions for engaging presentations. Interactivities from this pack can be published in HTML5 as well as Flash. The HTML5 Pack interaction models are as customizable as the Flash ones. The course creator can develop interactivity once, and Raptivity takes care of building these two versions, enabling Android, Blackberry, iPhone and other smart phone devices to play Raptivity content seamlessly. Learn More… Rapid Interactivity, the Raptivity Way Raptivity allows you to quickly and easily create learning interactions such as games, simulations, brainteasers, interactive diagrams, virtual worlds and more. Fast and Easy: Configure each interaction model extensively, plug in your content, and have a Flash-based interaction within minutes. Maintainable: Driven by templates, and easy to update and maintain. Based on Instructional Models: Supports Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gagne’s Nine Events, Keller’s ARCS model and Experiential Learning. Copyright © 2011, Harbinger Knowledge Products Page 7