Growth in the Use of Mobile Devices - Pew Research

I monitor Pew Research and Harris Interactive resources to keep up with changes in the use of technology.  Pew Research has a site on the use of mobile devices at http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/mobile/device-ownership/

The data is current as of January 2014.  It shows that 90% of adults in America have a cell phone and 58% of those use a smartphone.  The growth in cell phones was higher than desktop or laptop computers.  The number of tablets and ereaders is steadily climbing.  The website has an innovative interactive chart worth reviewing.

Print from Your iPad or iPhone

Thinking back to what computing was like 20 or 30 years ago and compare it with today is mind-boggling!  When I read Rick Broida's MacWorld blog today about printing from the iPhone and iPad at http://www.macworld.com/article/2020470/print-to-dropbox-evernote-or-an-actual-printer-from-your-iphone-or-ipad.html  it reminded me of how printing options have changed since the release of the iPad and the recent iPhones.  Because I can create, edit, and print from the iPhone and iPad, I often do not need to carry a laptop.  There are a couple of printing options:

• ePrint printer that provides printing using WiFi or email
• Print apps

As Broida's blog noted above, a print app that costs $19.95 is much less than replacing a printer with an ePrint printer.  I believe that HP (Hewlett Packard) is still the only printer that provides ePrint services.  When you purchase an ePrint printer you can print using WiFi on a local network system.  You click on the Send To icon on the mobile device, select the available printer, and print.  

ePrint printers allow you to print using email.  Each printer has a unique email address.  Enter the email address, message, and click the send button.  This feature will print most any kind of documents that is attached to the email. 

Broida's blog discussed the FingerPrint app.  One of the commenters for his blog mentioned Printopia.  Both apps cost $19.95.  We can expect new options for printing from mobile devices in the future.  It is an amazing difference from the dot matrix printers of the past.

Zotero Software and the Mobile Devices - Updated

Martha sent me a link from the Chronicle that discussed a way to use Zotero on the iPad.  Good information but the save process in the original article was flawed. Adam's comment for this blog post provided the updated article URL at http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/the-zotero-bookmarklet-for-the-ipad-and-iphone/44490

The corrected process worked!  I dragged the "Save to Zotero" button to Safari bookmarklets. When I clicked the bookmarklet, the webpage was saved to Zotero.  It even picked up the fact that the webpage was a blog!  See the screenshot below:

Note:  Zotero is now a standalone app for Mac and Microsoft Windows computers.

The good news is that the process provided the opportunity to explore citation software and iPad integration. The not so good news is that development is not a one-click solution as of yet.   The resources I found are:

• ZotPad ($9.99) - allows access to Zotero libraries from a mobile device.  It is available from the Apple app store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zotpad/id497260579?mt=8 
• BibUp (free) - has a barcode reader to scan in the name and author(s) of books.  Afterwards, you have to use other steps to get the rest of the citation data. It is available from the Apple app store at https://itunes.apple.com/app/bibup-universite-de-fribourg/id418304170?mt=8  Interesting - that I could not find it using the app store search tool, but had to search on the Internet and follow the cookie trail into the back door of the app store.

For additional information about Zotero and mobile devices, go to http://www.zotero.org/support/mobile

MERLOT Mobile Apps to Search for Online Learning Resources

MERLOT (multimedia educational resources for learning and teaching online) now has mobile apps for the iOS (iPad, iPod Touch, & iPhone) as well as Android devices!!  Download the app from the mobile app store so that you can search for online learning resources.  It is a fantastic app!!  If you want to search from a laptop or desktop computer, go to http://www.merlot.org.  MERLOT is includes a translator so that all of the learning resources are available to the international community.

I am the Health Sciences Editorial Board editor.  If you are interested in learning more about MERLOT or if you are interested in assisting with the peer review process, please contact me at jeanne.sewell@gmail.com.

Informatics and Nursing Textbook Website Updates

Linda updated our website for the Informatics and Nursing textbook this week.  Click on the links below to view the updates.

Chapter 10  - The Internet:  A Road to Evidence-Based Practice

Free (open access) Online Scholarly Information

Chapter 5 -  Professional Networking

Chapter 12 - Mobile Computing: Finding Knowledge in the Palm of your Hand

Chapter 17 -  Nursing Informatics Programs: What to Look For

New mHealth Initiative Provides Guidelines for Textmessaging in Healthcare

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Security Mobile Device Good Practices Project have launched a mHealth Initiative.  According to the Health and Human Services (HHS) website "... HHS’s desire to strategically encourage and/or develop future health text messaging and mobile health programs, HHS formed Text4Health Task Force to provide recommendations to the Secretary. In addition to providing recommendations and guiding principles, the Task Force was charged with identifying both ongoing initiatives and proposals for feasible new projects which would deliver health information and resources to users' fingertips via their mobile phones.

You can read more about the initiative on the HHS mHealth website.  There are recommendations for the use of health text messaging, too.  This perfect timing since Dr. W and the staff at the CC Clinic are exploring the use of text messaging to improve patient compliance for the Intensive Behavior Therapy for Obesity study.

Mobile Technologies and the Innovative Medical Home

Dr. W. suggested that I watch the webinar, Innovation in the Medical Home: How Mobile and Social Technologies Can Accelerate Health Behavior Changes, so I did!  The webinar supplements the information on telehealthcare in the Informatics and Nursing textbook. You can watch the video below.  It covers the topics of patient empowerment using mobile apps to manage diseases like congestive heart failure and diabetes.  It prompted me to explore many of the wonderful apps in the iTunes app store for diabetes! Amazing! Several of the apps should be perfect with clients who have metabolic syndrome.

Innovation in the Medical Home: How Mobile and Social Technologies Can Accelerate Health Behavior Changes from Loren Vandegrift on Vimeo.

Kingsoft Office - Another Free Office Suite Software for the PC

Kingsoft Office 2012 is free office suite software for the PC.  It features word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.  What is a bit surprising is that it also includes clipart and templates.  The download file size for the free version is only 82 MB. It features a standard menu (as opposed to a ribbon menu) with features that are very similar to Microsoft Office (see screenshot below).  A nice feature is that users can save the files as Microsoft Office file extensions by default. 

There is a mobile version of the software for the Android.

Users can upgrade to the standard or professional versions for either $49.95 or $69.95.

CloudOn and iPad Insights

Had an email from a friend asking if there was a Microsoft Office app for the iPad.  I shared the information about CloudOn and SkyDrive.  What I discovered is that if the user is not really familiar with the iPad, those apps don't make much sense to those who are used a desktop or laptop PC - not good.

That goes back to my blog re iBooks Author - start simple. I really suggest that new users of iPads get familiar with the hardware.  Go to Lynda.com or YouTube to see if there are any free videos available to help shorten the learning curve. 

Most of my colleagues in the School of Nursing are seasoned users of Dropbox.  We have shared folders with committee members, friends, and family. Dropbox or any type of similar app is a must today. The start simple suggestion means that new iPad users be familiar with Dropbox before adding new apps like CloudOn. That said, remember that CloudOn is a "cloud" storage space meaning that it is not appropriate for files that have confidential information relating to private information, patients or students.

To make the journey simple - start with getting comfortable with the iPad and then slowly add cloud storage apps like Dropbox. Cloud storage apps mitigate the issue of not having a USB connection on the iPad.

There is an App for That!

I presented at and attended the Sloan/Merlot Emerging Technologies for Online Learning conference in San Jose this past week.  There were so many excellent presentations!  Attended one given by Robbie Melton and her team from the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) on apps and elearning.  The TBR has a phenomenal web site at http://www.tbrelearning.org/.  Robbie brought every mobile app device created (not much of an exaggeration :-).  The website is certainly worth exploring. 

One of the presenters (a nurse) used an iPad to give her presentation.  It was excellent.  I have not had the courage to take only an iPad to give a conference presentation. 

Physician Use of Mobile Devices

An interesting study of over 3 thousand physicians use of mobile devices was recently released and can be viewed at http://www.quantiamd.com/q-qcp/QuantiaMD_Research_TabletsSetToChangeMedicalPractice.pdf

Am behind on blogs...  have been working on our graduate program with other member of the graduate committee. 

Mobile Computing Assessment Tool

Linda added a link to a tool to assess a mobile computing tool.
http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Chap13MobileComputing/MobileComputingTool.html

Mobile Computing & Digital Libraries

Tracy contibuted the following blog site and a particular blog.  Great additions to supplement the mobile computing and digital library chapters! Thanks Tracy!!

• The Handheld Librarian  - http://handheldlib.blogspot.com/

• PowerPoint Presentations for Point of Care to Your Palm: PDAs Playing in Peoria on Web  -  http://handheldlib.blogspot.com/2002/06/power-point-presentations-for-point-of.html  

More iPad apps

I have experimented with additional iPad apps over the past few days.  Martha continues to send me new ideas.  I now have the New York Times, USA Today, Pandora Internet Radio, Google, Flickr, Walgreens (pharmacy), and Zosh.

The newspapers work perfect on the iPad!  They are very easy to read and navigate.  On Pandora radio, you simply enter an artist, song, or composer.  Pandora works on the iPhone and the iPad.

Google is a Google search app that works with voice recognition software to conduct voice searches (iPhone and iPad).

Flickr is photo sharing, same as on the PC.

Walgreens allows you do all of the online pharmacy functions.  You can auto-renew prescriptions and receive email alerts when they are ready.

Zosh (http://zosh.com/) allows you to print, sign, and fax forms using an iPhone or iPad.

I look forward to hearing your experiences. 

iPad apps

Martha has been sending me iPad apps this week.  A couple of recent ones include eClicker.  Students can download the eClicker free and use their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a clicker device.  The presenter pays $9.99 for the server eclicker.  This app would be perfect for Drexel nursing students who are required to have an iPod Touch.

Just this morning, she sent Phrase Board which allows a person to communicate in present time with their iPad by clicking on phrases, such as "I want pain medicine."

iPad

I was able to use an iPad this weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it!  It was a bit smaller than I imagined from viewing pictures on the Web. It was a big iPod Touch or an iPhone without phone capabilities, but the clarity of the window and size of the icons made it really easy to use.  Because it is a large thin "glass book" the iPad case will be very important.  Read this morning that 1 million iPads have sold. 

I should be receiving my iPad within the next few weeks and now REALLY looking forward to using it.  The faculty who will lead the GCSU Faculty Development Workshops fall and spring semester are receiving an iPad to facilitate participants to learn how to use them.

Looking into the Future of Education

Now that my research team and I have submitted two grant proposals, it is time to get back on track with this blog.  I read the EDUCAUSE Horizon reports each year.  The 2010 report provides us a glimpse at the future of education.  The authors note that within:

• This year we will have a wide-scale adoption of mobile computing and open content
• Within the next 2-3 years we will adopt electronic textbooks and "simple augmented reality"
• Within 4-5 years we will adopt "guesture based computing" and "visual data analysis"

Clearly mobile computing is evident on our campuses.  Students and faculty alike depend upon netbooks, smartphones, like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android to access email, online course content, and electronic resources.  The worldwide economic crisis has sped up the interest in open content.  Open content is a term for online courses that are freely availalble without charge.

Electronic textbooks have increased popularity.  I am currently using 3 electronic textbooks on my laptop.  Electronic textbooks provide the ability to highlight, make notes, and bookmark similar to a paper version.  The perks are the ability to have electronic booksmarks and to have them anytime I need them and have my laptop (everywhere). Simple augmented reality is a feature on many cell phones, for example, the GPS, a digital camera, and the compass on the iPhone. 

Guesture based computing is a term for operating computers using movement of hands, arms, and/or body.  Guesture based computing is used on popular news shows where the news anchor uses their hands and arms to open or close windows on wide screen televisions to show news and weather reports.  The iPhone uses guestures such as a finger swipe, tap and shake.  The Wii has popularize guesture based computing with software for sports and fitness. 

I am really excited about the emergence of visual data analysis, which will allow us to visualize complex data without having to know complex software.  It should prove especially meaningful for healthcare.  I am looking forward to the day that every nurse will have expertise in the analysis of healthcare data to improve the safety, effectiveness, and quality of care provided.