HTML 5 as a mobile strategy didn't work for Facebook -- what about Moodle?

Mark Zuckerberg says that betting on HTML 5 as part of Facebook's mobile strategy was a "big mistake." The promise of HTML 5 seems to be the same story that was supposed to happen with Java -- develop once and you end up with a near-native experience on multiple platforms. Except it didn't seem to work that way with Java and apparently has not worked with HTML 5.

I'm not much of a Facebook user, so if the HTML 5 Facebook app for each mobile phone platform is a little bit slower than a native application, it doesn't matter to me. However, I use Moodle every day and since Moodle's mobile strategy is also based on HTML 5, I wonder if that is going to produce a good enough experience for mobile users. It seems to be easier for developers, but given the change of direction by Facebook, maybe Moodle's mobile strategy isn't looking so good right now.

Comments

Learning to Teach Online - new online series from UNSW

I have been watching some of the videos in the Learning to Teach Online series from the University of New South Wales . The series covers various topics related to online teaching and they are divided into episodes which include a short video plus a PDF. I had some trouble getting the PDFs to download, but the videos played fine for me. I think the Managing your Time video is a good one for new online instructors: Overall, this looks like a good resource.

Change the Text Editor in Moodle

This lesson shows how to choose an alternate text editor in Moodle. Edit profile After you login, click Edit profile under My profile settings in the Administration block. If you have moved the Administration block to the dock on the left edge of your browser, you can choose Edit profile from the menu by moving your mouse over the Administration menu on the left edge of the screen. Text editor The currently selected text editor is shown in your profile in the General section. Change the editor Click on the Text editor menu to choose a different option. The TinyMCE HTML editor was the default editor in versions of Moodle prior to 2.7 and it has a few more options than the new default editor, the Atto HTML editor. The Atto editor works with all browsers while the TinyMCE editor does not work completely with Chrome or Internet Explorer. Update Click Update profile at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Podcast features in Blackboard 7.3

The new podcast features in Blackboard 7.3 are actually part of the Podcast Learning Object from LearningObjects.com . This learning object makes it possible to easily add podcasts to your course and syndicate them to your students using an RSS feed. In English, this means your students can subscribe to the podcasts you make available, whether you create them yourself or download them from someone else. This way, students will be automatically updated with the latest podcast in your course and they can listen/watch them on an iPod, Zune(!), or a computer. Here's a 4 page overview of the podcast tools [PDF]. You may also find these resources useful: A tutorial from Dave Taylor on subscribing to podcasts in iTunes. Create your own Podcast (CNET). Kirk's Eight Rules of Effective Podcasting .

Technology & Instruction for UNEX

Search This Blog