Tocmag is a new Web 2.0 tool that allows users to develop short (6 page) multimedia “magazines” for mobile phones. Each magazine can incorporate text, images, audio and video, and can be downloaded to mobile phones and stored as a “Java Game” – allowing a learner to access the mag later without re-downloading or re-connecting. By incorporating a range of media into small content modules like this, teachers could quite easily use this platform to develop digital mobile “Learning Objects” for delivery to mobile phones and PDAs.
Because each mag can be created and downloaded for free to an unlimited number of mobile phones, this makes Tocmag a potentially useful new tool for educators interested in delivering rich media content to learners (or, indeed, for getting learners to assemble their own Tocmags for themselves and each other).
The mags utilise the Java 2 Mobile Edition (J2ME) platform – found in the vast majority of mobile phones and smartphones – so most learners should have no trouble accessing the content.