Envisioning the Next Generation Cellular Client

The cellular revolution has been accompanied by a gradual evolution in functionality. The Motorola handie-talkie introduced in the early 1940‟s was a five pound behemoth that barely worked. Contemporary phones have become ubiquitous devices that are outfitted with camera, video, GPS, internet and e-mail. Fourth generation phones are expected to provide high speed internet access for data as well as multi-media through protocols that subsume existing standards. Beyond this, the capabilities of 4G phones have not been spelled out in detail. In this paper we outline our vision of a feature rich next generation phone that is backed up by an infrastructure of service offerings

Using mobile devices to support online collaborative learning

Mobile collaborative learning is considered the next step of on-line collaborative learning by incorporating mobility as a key and breakthrough requirement. Indeed, the current wide spread of mobile devices and wireless technologies brings an enormous potential to e-learning, in terms of ubiquity, pervasiveness, personalization, flexibility, and so on. For this reason, Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning has recently grown from a minor research field to significant research projects covering a fairly variety of formal and specially informal learning settings, from schools and universities to workplaces, museums, cities and rural areas. Much of this research has shown how mobile technology can offer new opportunities for groups of learners to collaborate inside and beyond the traditional instructor-oriented educational paradigm. However, mobile technologies, when specifically applied to collaborative learning activities, are still in its infancy and many challenges arise. In addition, current research in this domain points to highly specialized study cases, uses, and experiences in specific educational settings and thus the issues addressed in the literature are found dispersed and disconnected from each other. To this end, this paper attempts to bridge relevant aspects of mobile technologies in support for collaborative learning and provides a tighter view by means of a multidimensional approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Forschungsbericht Universität Mannheim 2008 / 2009

Die Universität Mannheim hat seit ihrer Entstehung ein spezifisches Forschungsprofil, welches sich in ihrer Entwicklung und derz eitigen Struktur deutlich widerspiegelt. Es ist geprägt von national und international sehr anerkannten Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften und deren Vernetzung mit leistungsstarken Geisteswissenschaften, Rechtswissenschaft sowie Mathematik und Informatik. Die Universität Mannheim wird auch in Zukunft einerseits die Forschungsschwerpunkte in den Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften fördern und andererseits eine interdisziplinäre Kultur im Zusammenspiel aller Fächer der Universität anstreben

Architecture for the Development of Context-Sensitive Mobile Applications

Recent advances in the development of mobile terminals and the appropriate communication infrastructures have the consequence that new kinds of applications arise. This trend leads to more and more complex mobile client applications as well. In this paper, we present a generic architecture, which can be used for the development of context-sensitive mobile applications