In my recent Auricle article A filling station model of e-learning? I suggested that integrated mobile multimedia players and communication devices could be the 'googly' which catches advocates of centralized e-learning solutions unawares. So are the major proprietary interests responding to this? Apparently not. But … At least one vendor has now pitched in to this space. If you really can't bear to be away from your Blackboard calendar, announcements, and course content, and you've got a mainstream PDA, then ArcStream Solutions' BlackboardToGo apparently wants to be your 'filling station'.
Of course this is going to come at a price; apparently a considerable one. There's some interesting discussion on the University of Iowa's PDA discussion group about this product.
The question is would we want any of the mainstream vendors to fulfill this 'filling station' role? They already want to be your portal vendor, your learning object repository vendor, your learning management system vendor. Podcasting and other syndication solutions suggest there is another way, so it would be a pity if the usual suspects end up to be the 'filling stations' I alluded to in my earlier article.
Of course, the siren call of “synchronization” and “digital rights management” will be trumpeted by an increasing number of vendors who will move into this space; but those apparent marketing affordances may yet end up being the major impediments to widespread adoption of such mobile devices. Ok, we know about the success of the iPod and it's DRM system. But it's now becoming a more crowded marketplace with disparate DRM systems in such devices and that's going to frustrate potential 'buy in' beyond the early adopters.
Finally, what's a googly? Nothing to do with Google I'm afraid; I just borrowed a cricket term. The BBC's Sports Academy defines it thus:
“A googly, or a “wrong'un”, is a delivery which looks like a normal leg spinner but actually turns towards the batsmen, like an off break, rather than away from the bat.”
Or, to put it another way … sometimes unexpected things happen that changes everything:)
