I was unable to attend HighEdWeb 2011 in Austin, TX this past week. Like a lot of higher ed professionals I'm limited in how many conferences I can go to. The good news, though, is that the conference organizers did a great job providing coverage of the conference via LINK for those of us on the outside looking in. Since I'm sure a few of my readers might not have been unable to attend either I figured I'd list out the mobile-focused talks so you could see what you might have missed, what coverage there might have been and a couple of slidedecks.
What Students Want in Their Mobile Application (APS3)
LINK write-up | Recorded Version (not from HighEdWeb) | Presenters: Glenn Donaldson, James Burgoon and Stephen Fischer of The Ohio State University.
"Technology staff at The Ohio State University has formed an unprecedented partnership with students to deliver a mobile application that meets students' needs. Three technology workers from different department with very different roles will discuss their process of surveying students to understand their needs, working with them to test the application, and using them for development work. The most important new feature on the recent OSU Mobile launch was the ability for students to look up grades and schedules in real time. We'll discuss the usage and popularity of these and other features, and plans for future phases. We'll share the technologies used, some of the challenges on a large campus, and how involving students can make things run more smoothly than one might expect."
Mobile on a Shoestring (TPR3)
No LINK write-up | Presenters: Quinn Madson of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Joel Herron of the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh
"The need to support the ever-growing population of mobile users is critical, yet institutions interested in entering the mobile arena face a multitude of challenges. In the current economic climate, funding for new initiatives is scarce. With IT staff asked to do more with less, many have little time to learn new programming languages and design patterns to support the multiple mobile platforms that exist. Join developers from two University of Wisconsin campuses while they demonstrate a free and open source toolkit used to create cross-platform, native mobile applications. The tool uses familiar web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to generate Java and Objective C source for Android and iOS devices. Using the JavaScript API, developers are able to quickly build applications, as well as take advantage of platform specific features, resulting in best of breed native mobile applications."
A Mobile Web Framework for the University of California System (APS6)
No LINK write-up | Slidedeck | Presenter: Brett Pollak of UC San Diego
"Most higher ed. institutions don't just have one IT department. Creating a cohesive mobile presence in this decentralized environment poses a challenge. The University of California system developed and adopted the Mobile Web Framework. This framework allows each UC campus to build and deploy mobile applications that look and feel the same regardless of the technology used to develop them (Java, .NET, PHP, etc.). This has allowed for broad adoption of the framework and an explosion of mobile web applications in the last year across the UC campuses. This session will focus on how the framework is unique from others out there, how the UC campuses are collaborating on its development, and how other institutions can benefit."
I assume this talk at least partially covered the UCLA Mobile Web Framework. It's definitely worth checking out anyway.
Feeding the Beast: Fostering an API Culture (TPR6)
LINK write-up | Slidedeck | Presenters: Erik Runyon and Jeremy Friesen of University of Notre Dame
Higher-Ed sites should no longer survive as information silos. To prevent duplication headaches and to ease in data reuse, Notre Dame developers are writing API's into each application we produce. You need the next 40 days of Student Life events in JSON or XML? We got that. Map data for the Golden Dome in XML, KML or JSON? Not a problem. You can even get your departments page content, news and databases in multiple formats. During this track, we'll discuss the who, why and how this is done, and give several examples of how these API's are being used to feed content to a variety of sites and devices at Notre Dame.
On your mark, get set, mobile (TNT8)
LINK write-up | Slidedeck | Presenters: Tiffany Broadbent of William & Mary College and Doug Gapinski of mStoner
There is a lot of buzz about mobile technology and "everything going to mobile." The mobile market is growing steadily every day; the College of William & Mary's website saw a 300% increase in mobile traffic over the past year alone. Despite this radical growth, less than 10% of colleges and universities have a mobile website according to a survey conducted by Dave Olsen at WVU. Building on the success of a webinar we co-hosted with mStoner, we'll use this session to help you take those first steps into the mobile world with confidence. We'll give you an inside look at how William & Mary's mobile site was created, how we're measuring results, and how it has evolved since launch in August 2010. We'll also cover: – the types of information you should offer in mobile format – the decision to create a mobile app or a mobile website – the choice of purchasing an off-the-shelf product or going open-source – trends and guidelines for styling and coding – examples of mobile content from other colleges and universities
Going Mobile! The How and Why of UVU's mobile web initiative (TNT9)
LINK write-up | Older Version of the Talk (I think) | Presenter: Nathan Gerber of Utah Valley University
Change is in the air – literally! Usage of the web traditionally has been on desktop computers, but mobile device usage is growing exponentially. Some studies predict it will pass traditional web traffic by 2015. Higher education is also seeing rapid growth and the new generation of students arriving at institutions are digitally literate, connected, social, and immediate. Utah Valley University has seen this change occurring and moved forward with a mobile web initiative to better serve students. Come see how they did it, why they did it, the tools used, the questions asked, and decisions made to meet the needs of their mobile users. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM OR ISSUE: Usage of the web traditionally has been in the area of desktop computing devices, browsing for information, services, and functionality. However, recently, more and more of the usage of websites and services is being generated by mobile devices, including handheld devices, cell phones, and mobile computing platforms like the iPad. The mobile device web usage (traffic) is now growing at an exponential rate and many predict it will pass traditional web traffic by as early as 2015. One report states that U.S. mobile web usage grew 110% last year alone. Higher education is also seeing this rapid growth of mobile web traffic. In 2009, 31% of students in grades 9-12 in the United States had smart phones with internet access, and at least 85% of all individuals 15 to 18 years of age had cell phones either with or without Internet access (up from 56% in 2004). The new generation of students arriving at our institutions is digitally literate, connected, social, and immediate. This requires educational institutions and others to become more prolific communicators in these new digital worlds.
A Utility Belt Approach to Mobilized Content (TNT10)
No LINK write-up | Slidedeck | Presenters: Roger Wolf and Doug Beck of the University of Central Florida
Before you embark on your great mobile mission, put the technology aside for a moment and let's talk about the content. What goes into a strong mobile strategy? We'll show you how to inventory your available resources and optimize them for mobile delivery. Let's leverage the best data and content sources and suit up for mobile web, apps and more.
The following is a corporate talk that was presented at HighEdWeb 2011 that relate to mobile:
Geo-Social Nonsense: The Future of Location-Based Services and their Role in Mobile
LINK write-up | Slidedeck | Presenters: Jeff Kirckick of SCVNGR and Krisna Poznik of LaRoche College
*Geo-social applications like Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, and others have received a lot of attention over the past year, and higher ed institutions are beginning to adopt them in interesting ways. But are they worth the hype? This session will discuss the sustainability of geo-location apps as they exist today, how they will likely evolve, and why these nascent forms of location-based social media will become the back-bone of what mobile looks like in the future.
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If you feel your talk was mobile-related and I didn't list it feel free to drop a line in the comments. More importantly,** if you've posted your mobile slidedecks let me know!**