New scheme will teach students via their iPhones

University of London Computer Centre and Manchester Met launch scheme

Students will be able to access and interact with university resources using smartphones

A new scheme that will allow students to learn and interact with university resources using their smartphones is to be launched next year.

University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) and mobile solutions provider oMbiel have announced a partnership that will see core elements of the open source virtual learning environment, Moodle, integrated into campusM, oMbiel's mobile application for universities.

The partnership will enable oMbiel to build custom smartphone applications for universities. The technology will initially be available for the iPhone, with BlackBerry and Android versions set to follow.

Manchester Metropolitan University will be the first institution to trial the technology.

“At first, the mobile technology will be used for simple things such as timetables, course materials and submitting work – it's just about pulling information out of existing systems,” said Frank Steiner, spokesman for ULCC.

“But the aim is to make it really interactive, which is why we have partnered with oMbiel and Manchester Metropolitan – they’re both keen on moving it forward.”

He added that while students have not explicitly expressed a request to use smartphones for educational purposes, it is only a matter of time before this will be expected.

Almost every UK university student has a mobile phone, and according to Steiner, half of them already have smartphones.

“Smartphones are becoming more mainstream, so it’s not a question of if but a question of when they want to use them in their education,” he said.

He explained that the cost for a large educational institution to trial this technology is between £5,000 and £10,000. Students do not have to pay extra to use the service and Steiner hopes that economies of scale will mean that, over time, these apps will offer more functions without having to increase the price.