SMILE for Mobile Learning
September 2012 – In a recent meeting with Dr. Paul Kim at CTO for the School of Education at Stanford, we saw the latest results on their SMILE system. SMILE stands for the Stanford Mobile Inqury Based Learning Environment and is a USAID program that is sponsored by Marvell Semiconductor. The premise of the course is content accessibility is more available, current and comfortable for students using mobile phones and devices vs traditional textbooks.
Using these devices as core, they have devices an inquiry based system where the students create questions for one another in the class based on media content that is displayed on the mobile device. This content can be still or video images, as well as audio content. The system leads to advanced knowledge development by the structure of trying to create questions that will be challenging to the other members of the class, in a multiple choice format. As a result, it requires to student to self advance the learning method to understand not only the objects being discussed, but the current and extensible context of the object in new applications.
The system uses a cloud computer design that was created by Marvell. The design is about the size of a pico-projector/large cell phone and is powered by an Armada 370 SoC and an Avastar 88W8764 WiFi controller. This creates a local micro-cloud for the class room which eliminates reliability issues for the internet access and also security issues. The device also features a LAN connection for interface to local in-school networks and USB connections for DAS storage with classroom specific content. The system can additionally address a NAS conifiguration. The device can be operated from either line power or an external battery system for use in locations without power accessibility. The microcloud can manage up to 60 students per classroom. The cloud computer is designed using a Linux OS for the ARM core. The device is targeting a sub $30 BOM cost.
The system works by supplementing some of the classroom topics with the SMILE based device system – these are typically STEM applications. The media content is given to the devices on a common group basis for all the devices. They students will then generate ad-hoc queries on the topic. After generating the inquiry, the next step is to create a multi-media rich inquiry for peers in the classroom. These inquiries are shared with the class. The students then solve the multiple choice based peer-generated inquiries. The peers now rate the quality and challenge level of the inquiries. The class then reviews and discusses the results. In this loop, a large amount of information that is relatable to the reference point of the students is brought to light, and this more quickly reinforces the knowledge retention. A secondary benefit is that the student become familiarized with the methods for content creation and more importantly, how to create relevant and viewable content.
The system is designed to increase student participation and is in testing in 22 countries (approx 3 schools/country) including the US. The platform is currently a base system, and custom code development by partners is encouraged. Additional information and the development kits are available at www.smileconsortium.org
