MP4 video
You can take advantage of the video player in the iPhone by converting your content to the MPEG-4 (mp4) video format. There are many tools that allow you to create screen recordings or convert animated PowerPoint content to mp4. You can use these tools to create the equivalent of a self-running Adobe Presenter or Articulate Presenter module on the iPhone. Since the iPhone does not support Flash, you can leverage mp4 videos to create some very engaging self-paced learning modules. There are a couple of simple ways to create video from your learning content: using a Web screen-recording tool or converting a PowerPoint file directly to mp4.
Screen recording tools
There are many tools that record screen activity and convert it to mp4 format. One of my favorites, TechSmith’s Camtasia, makes it really simple for you and provides an output template for iPhone mp4 videos. Whatever you record on the screen, you can publish to iPhone format. Camtasia has a nice “Zoom-n-Pan” facility that lets you zoom in to see detail; this is even more important with a small screen like the iPhone. (You can create desktop software demonstrations on the small iPhone screen with the zoom and pan feature; I’ve created quick reference SAAS tool demonstrations using this approach, and these have been very successful.)
Articulate’s Sceenr and TechSmith’s Jing are two of the many Web tools that let you record anything from your screen and immediately post it to a server in Flash or mp4 format. The Screenr mp4 output is free; with Jing you need a Pro account ($14.95/yr). These two tools are designed to create a screen recording and instantly share the content online in Flash format. Automatically converting the content to mp4 and providing a Web link is a huge asset when you want to quickly create mLearning video content for the iPhone.
Here are the steps to create a short mp4 video of animated, narrated PowerPoint content with Screenr. (The approach for Jing and other tools will be very similar.)
- Develop your content in PowerPoint, with an iPhone template as described previously.
- Add your custom animations.
- Use “Set up Show” in PowerPoint and change the show type from “full screen” to “window”
- Run the slideshow and adjust the window so that it is the right aspect ratio. (I suggest 6”x4.”)
- Run the recording tool and resize the frame to just cover the PowerPoint content.
- Start Screenr, run the slideshow and record your narration as you invoke the slides and animations.
When you have finished recording, Screenr will publish to Flash and create an mp4 version of the content. To access the mp4 video content, you either link to a (very short) url from the iPhone or download the mp4 and distribute it as you wish (email, a file manager app, a Web application, install it from iTunes, etc.).
Screenr has a limit of 5 minutes of recording, but for mobile use this should be adequate for most projects. If you need something longer, use a fully loaded screen recording tool like Camtasia that can publish to mp4.
Another method that I like to use is to screen record narrated, animated Flash content from another tool. For example, screen recording a learning module from Articulate Presenter or Adobe Presenter. This way you will be able to sync the audio with the narration in the tool before you screen record. This approach can also be useful if you want to quickly transfer some existing Flash learning content to the iPhone. (Whenever possible you should design content for the mobile device rather than re-purposing existing e-Learning. See the section, “Porting content.”)
PowerPoint to mp4 tools
If you want straight conversion of PowerPoint (with animations and narration) to an mp4 format, there are a lot of tools available that do this. Google the phrase “PowerPoint to mp4” and you’ll see many tools such as Moyea PPT to Video Converter, Wondershare PPT2Video Pro, and AuthorStream. With these tools, you create your content in PowerPoint, add animations, synch narration and convert directly to mp4 video format. Camtasia Studio also allows you to directly record your PowerPoint content and publish it to mp4 by choosing the built in iPhone production preset.
Porting content
One of the biggest mistakes mLearning content developers make is porting content directly from e-Learning modules or instructor presentations. Training or e-Learning content that was designed for a desktop screen is not suitable for mLearning. Placing content of this nature on a mobile device doesn’t make it mLearning any more than a PowerPoint deck converted to Flash makes it e-Learning. If you have existing content that you want to convert to mobile format, deconstruct the content first and reconsider the instructional design.
Not only is the mLearning context completely different, but the content density is greatly reduced. (Content density is defined as the amount of readable text, graphics, or media that can reside on a single screen.) The information conveyed on one screen for an e-Learning module may need the equivalent of three or four screens on the mobile device. Viewing content that was designed for a larger screen on the iPhone display will necessitate zooming in and panning, which is highly undesirable for the design of mLearning.
If you have to or want to port content from a pre-existing project, either rethink the whole instructional design for mobile or, if you want the exact same content per “screen”, consider presenting the content in multiple scrollable pages. If you choose the former, which is preferable, take into account the context and characteristics of mLearning – keep the content short, clear and engaging. Learners will probably not be sitting still for 20 minutes paging through screens of content as they may in your e-Learning modules.
If you choose the latter, where you want to use exactly the same text and graphics as in an existing e-Learning module, convert it to a few scrolling iPhone pages to display the same amount of text.
Porting content from other delivery modes can impose a form and context that doesn’t fit the mobile medium. The best use of mobile content for your particular context might simply be a quick reference guide, a podcast, a short video or quiz. Don’t drop other learning content directly into a mobile device and hope it will suffice as effective mLearning. Rethink and re-design. The best mLearning design comes not from adapting existing content for the small screen but from looking at the characteristics of the mobile device and determining how these characteristics can best support your learning objectives.
Delivering the content
Once you have your content developed in PDF, PowerPoint, Word, or mp4 format, you determine how you want to distribute it to your users. There are three main ways of delivering or accessing the content:
- Via email
- Loading onto the iPhone
- Via the Web
A quick and easy way of sending learning content to a mobile user is to email it as an attachment. Short mLearning content distributed in PowerPoint, Word or PDF is going to be small enough not to strain your email server. Tapping on an attachment in the iPhone email client invokes the corresponding viewer and the learner has immediate access to the content.
Once you have viewed the content, it will reside locally on the iPhone so that even when you have no wireless or 3G access, you’ll still be able to view the content if you go back to the original email. If you do distribute content this way you should encourage recipients to set up some “content” folder and have them move the email with attachments from their Inbox to this folder. This way they can build a repository of all their mLearning content. (There are also some iPhone apps, such as ReaddleDocs and Files that let you download and save attachments directly from emails.)
One of the drawbacks of viewing content from emails is that the top of the screen has a menu title bar that obscures some of the content. Another drawback is that hyperlinks in PDF content do not function. To overcome these limitations you can load content directly onto the iPhone and view it in a third-party viewer.
Loading onto the iPhone
The best way to access mobile content is to load it directly onto the iPhone. There are many free apps that let you do this. Search for “file manager” in the Apple App Store. One of my favorites is Files which has a free Files Lite version. It accepts all the standard file formats you would need and displays everything with a full-page view (no persistent status bars or menus). You can upload content into the Files app via a browser by using the same wireless connection your iPhone is using.
If your learners install a free copy of Files Lite, they can upload the mLearning content you send them. In the full “Files” version you can add a bookmark, navigate to specific pages as well as directly email any saved content. I use Files constantly to test any mLearning content I’ve created in Word, PowerPoint or PDF – it’s a great app. (ReaddleDocs is another great app for uploading and reading files on the iPhone.)
Via the Web
The most convenient way of accessing mobile content is via a Web link. As with email attachments, a link to any standard format will invoke the built-in document viewers and video/audio players. One of the advantages of Web access is that the user pulls the content when they need it rather than you pushing it to them.
When you create a Web page for mLearning content, make sure that you create an iPhone-formatted Website. Don’t require your learners to access content by zooming in to standard Web pages. There is simple code that you can add to your existing Web pages that detects iPhone access and redirects the browser to a mobile version of the site. Google the phrase, “How do I detect an iPhone user coming to my site” for details of how to set this up. If you have a WordPress site it’s even easier; you simply load an add-in that automatically switches the view to iPhone format. You can also use WordPress for the iPhone which is designed specifically for the iPhone. (See Figure 10.)
Figure 10: iPhone WordPress site
Downloading content from a Web page
The default Safari browser in the iPhone has no facility to download content from the Web. You can view any of the supported formats but cannot save the content onto the device. This is not a problem when you have constant 3G or wireless access but when you are without connectivity - an iPod Touch with no wireless connection for example - this can be a problem if you want to view the Website content.
One way around this is to use a special browser app that lets you download content. Two apps I recommend are DownLoad Manager Pro and ReaddleDocs, both of which you can download from the App Store. These apps have browsers that can download content from any Website. The file is saved in a folder and you can then access your content at any time you want.
Mobile evaluations, surveys, polls and quizzes
There are some free tools available that you can use to conduct evaluations, surveys, polls and quizzes on the iPhone.
SurveyMonkey (Figure 11) offers a free account which allows up to 15 questions and 100 responses for surveys or evaluations. (If you need hundreds of responses and unlimited questions, you can upgrade for $20.) At the beginning or end of your mobile content you can survey your learners with a simple link. SurveyMonkey detects that an iPhone browser is accessing it and formats the survey accordingly. Afterwards you simply log in and collect the responses.
Figure 11: SurveyMonkey on the iPhone
Another useful tool is Polleverywhere.com. (Figure 12) This lets you quickly create a polling question and have your audience respond via SMS, Twitter, or a mobile browser. It’s free for up to 30 responses per poll. Within moments you can view and email a graph of all your responses.
Figure 12: Voting with Poll Everywhere
Other polling, survey and quizzing apps to check out are Show of Hands, iVote, SurveyGizmo, and mobiQuiz.
Summary
The purpose of this article is to enable you to start developing and distributing some basic mobile content quickly and simply. Start with some static content and then experiment with mp4 videos and HTML. Once you’ve got your feet wet, you’ll begin to appreciate the possibilities, challenges, and unique design considerations inherent in developing content for the small screen. You’ll then be in a good position to start visualizing and designing more sophisticated mLearning content. By the time you are ready to invest in custom-designed mLearning tools and technologies, you’ll know what works, what doesn’t work, and what you’ll need to start developing world class mLearning.
