Ed Week’s 2010 Technology Counts: It’s All About Mobile!

Education Week just released its annual Technology Counts issue. This year it focuses on mobile learning! Note that there is very little content about laptops (which by many are not considered to be part of mobile learning). Here is the table of contents:

OVERVIEW

Powering Up Change

But lack of research on the educational impact of portable tech tools is a problem.

Editor’s Note

Much like the shifting landscape in K-12 educational technology, this year’s Technology Counts is changing to address the challenges of covering schools in the digital age.
 

Profiles: Laptops

Building on a Decade of 1-to-1 Lessons

Sustaining a laptop program at a middle school in Michigan requires a wireless vision and parent purchasing power.

EXPERT ADVICE: Wireless Issues

Profiles: iPods

Portable Playlists for Class Lessons

Although still banned by many schools, a growing number of others are using iPods and other MP3 players as educational accessories.

 

Profiles: TeacherMates

Targeting Elementary Readers

TeacherMate—a Game Boy-like device—is now being used by 40,000 students in 15 states with the aim to improve the reading skills of K-2 students.

VIDEO: TeacherMates in Action

Profiles: Smartphones

Solving Algebra on Smartphones

A project to use the devices as teaching and learning tools is showing promising results.
 

Features

Adding Up Mobile Costs

Paying for initiatives that use portable tech tools goes far beyond the initial cost of the devices.

Teachers Testing Mobile Methods

Best practices are emerging as more educators use the devices in their classrooms.

Configuring Content

Developing meaningful lessons that fit the constraints of small-screen devices is a challenge.

Full Speed Ahead in Higher Ed.

Mobile learning is gaining momentum at colleges and universities faster than in K-12.

Devices Deliver Learning in Africa

Educators are finding innovative ways to bring education to students in remote areas.

Tracking Trends

Mobilizing the Research

A growing number of studies in the U.S. and abroad is helping to build a better case for using portable digital tools.

Ed-Tech-Stats

This year, the Technology Counts data section shifts its focus from a state to a district lens, offering a host of charts showing how local schools and districts are using standard and emerging technologies to improve education.

DATA: Ed-Tech Stats

Q&A

Three ed-tech researchers discuss important issues surrounding the use of cellphones, laptops, and other computing devices for teaching and learning.

AUDIO Q&A: Expert Perspective

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative 2010 Online Spring Focus Session

It’s turning into a busy year for mobile learning events already! Here is another one:

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative 2010 Online Spring Focus Session

Although mobile learning has different meanings for different communities, we know that learning is deepened and enriched when students have options for their learning for multiple paths through course content. Mobile technology not only enables students to take their learning with them beyond the physical walls of the classroom, but it also makes possible a new array of interactions in the classroom as well. Mobile learning encompasses participating in learning activities anywhere, at any time, and utilizing mobile technologies that are rapidly evolving. Possible applications of mobile technology include enabling authentic learning engagements (such as real-time data collection), spontaneous mash ups (such as populating a map with local data), synchronous interactions with classmates and subject experts, and a rich variety of interactions with course content. Precisely because of its fluidity and independence from physical boundaries, mobile learning offers vast potential to enhance all types of instruction: face-to-face, blended, and online. The goal of this focus session is to re-assess the potential of mobile technologies and identify new ways in which mobility can contribute to the learning experience.

Join us March 3-4 for “Mobile Learning 2.0: The Next Phase of Innovation in Mobility,” the 2010 ELI Online Spring Focus Session. Hosted inside an Adobe Connect learning environment, this virtual event will be much more than just a “usual” online seminar. You’ll exchange ideas and collaborate interactively with the ELI community—all without leaving your campus. You’ll also receive all the resources and guided activities you need to help frame discussion and organize team events locally in your department, college, or institution.

For more information and registration see http://net.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=484&bhcp=1

Mobile Learning Round-Up, Week 40

I’m getting ready to attend Handheld Learning 2009 in London, so time to blog is sparse this week. Besides the usual stuff, I will describe some of the papers to be presented at the conference’s research strand next Wednesday.

Mobile Learning Stuff:

Kindle is yet to woo users at Princeton University: “When the University announced its Kindle e-reader pilot program last May, administrators seemed cautiously optimistic that the e-readers would both be sustainable and serve as a valuable academic tool. But less than two weeks after 50 students received the free Kindle DX e-readers, many of them said they were dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the devices.” The basic gist of the story is that users in the pilot said the devices were clunky, slow, and annotation of texts is difficult and very time-consuming.

Learning through Unions is an interesting post about mobile learning not in a formal educational setting. Definitely worth a look…

According to the Creative Commons blog, the First Mobile Novel Launches in South Africa. I’m not sure what they mean by first, but nevertheless, this is an important development in a country whose adults send 250 million text messages per day. The novel is part of the the m4Lit project, which “has launched the first mobile novel of its kind, or m-novel, in South Africa. Kontax, which follows the adventures of a group of teenage graffiti artists, is made specifically for mobile phones, and is available in both English and isiXhosa. It is being released chapter by chapter on a daily basis,” and includes end of chapter polls, which are quite interesting. As of this post, three chapters have been released, and poll results can be viewed for each chapter as well.

And in a somewhat related story, the New York Times reported this week about curling up with hybrid books, videos included: “in the age of the iPhone, Kindle and YouTube, the notion of the book is becoming increasingly elastic as publishers mash together text, video and Web features in a scramble to keep readers interested in an archaic form of entertainment.” Opinions about this form of reading are still very much mixed, which is to be expected. One thing is for sure, reading a hybrid book is a very different experience than reading a text-only version.

New Brunswick Man Develops Mobile Learning Initiative for Area College. Not exactly the type of mobile learning stuff I expected to see at first, but an interesting story nonetheless.

The courses he developed, known as FlashTrack courses, made their debut in spring 2009 and are delivered to students on a single two gigabyte (2 GB) flash drive. The 15 new flash-based courses are designed for independent learners and prepare students to take a pass or fail examination.

The big advantage here is that you don’t need an Internet connection to do the courses. The downside is that you still need a laptop or some other type of not-very-mobile device to plug in your usb stick!!

Another development by Matt Cooper are “Mobile Option e-Pack courses, which are also designed for independent learners and enable students to use smartphones to download and complete diagnostic quizzes that form part of the regular course work and prepare students to take a final exam.” The main advantage and disadvantage are reversed in this case.

Matt’s courses are right in line with one of the great quotes of the week, by Geoff Stead, who posted that “The real benefit of Learning with Technology is all about reach. Getting to learners where they are, when they need it, on their own terms. if you can’t do that with your e-learning you are missing the best bits of the experience!”

In either case, I think Matt hits on something very important with regards to mobile learning, and that is that the “biggest challenge in designing the mobile learning courses is to preserve a way to engage students without staying in contact with them during the course. “It is relatively simple to create a list of assignments, papers, tests and textbook readings for a student, but it can be very difficult to create a stimulating learning experience, especially when the student is working in isolation” he said. “FlashTrack lays the framework for a meaningful educational experience for our students in atypical situations.”

Mobile Learning Research:

The Mobile Campus is about Abilene Christian University’s iPod/iPhone project, and a related research report that was recently issued. Findings so far are cautiously optimistic. According to one of the comments on the article, “Bill Rankin, Director of Educational Innovation at Abilene Christian University spoke about their implementation of the iPhone project during a WCET webcast: Education to Go: Mobile Learning Today.”

Via Mobile Libraries comes this article:

Vogel, D., Kennedy, D. & Kwok, R. (2009). Does Using Mobile Device Applications Lead to Learning? Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 20 (4), pp. 469-485. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Abstract > THIS PAPER WAS AWARDED A BEST PAPER AWARD AT EDMEDIA. Assessing the impact on learning of the use of mobile devices and associated applications is a complex challenge. This article reports on progress to date in a longitudinal study using a design research approach with three cohorts of 800 students each. Results are encouraging in terms of learning enhancement through select mobile application by a cadre of students but discouraging in terms of sustained use by the majority of students. Issues raised include student appreciation of deep learning and time management as well as aspects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Results demonstrate the need for integrated, pedagogically driven instructor and institutional efforts. Next steps are presented.

Should make for some interesting reading, especially because mobile learning research studies on this scale are few and far between.

Mobile Learning Events:

Of course, I could not complete this blog posts without mentioning Tony Vincent’s Podcast Picks (presented on September 30, 2009), which is archived in two parts at ustream.tv: Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

More importantly, Handheld Learning 2009 is only a few days away, and promises to be the best one yet, with over 1,000 registered delegates. Just a few of the projects that will be reported on during the research strand include:

• ACU’s Mobile Campus
• CloudBank
• the Ensemble Project
• e-scape scotland
• Mobilising the Open University
• MO-LeaP
• the MoULe System
  

There will be a total of 23 papers, most of which will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of RCETJ.

Mobile Learning Round-Up, Week 38

This week’s (well mostly) highlights from the World of Mobile Learning:

Mobile Learning Stuff:

Did You Know 4.0 has been online for about 10 days now. Another interesting iteration of the Did You Know videos, with Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod providing background information on their blogs. The mobile revolution is here!

Learning Is an SMS Away: Mobile Phones in Education is an interesting article about how mobile phones are being used in Africa to connect educators.

What happens when you give a class of 8 year old children an iPod touch each? which is a question they asked at a Junior School in England. Hop on over to see the video that gives you the answer.

Mobile Learning Programs/Projects:

“Campus-In-A-Pocket”:  Mobile Learning Program Provides Anytime, Anywhere Access
to Online Education Resources.

Mobile for Museums: “This site addresses those needs by proving a brief overview of what is being done in the mobile museum world and offers suggestions based on this research on how to economically provide mobile users with a positive experience with your museum.” Interesting site and I hope to see more content there soon. Mobiles and museums are a natural fit, whether the exhibits are indoors or outdoors.

And right at the buzzer I got this one from Shawn Gross, about his Project K-Nect: Students Praise Use of Social Media in Math Class. Students in Project K-Nect have been using mobile phones for math for a while now, and very succesfully. Read the news story to find out what’s in store for them next…

Mobile Events:

Here is a list of events for the month of October as listed by Mobile Active. Interestingly enough, mobile learning conferences are not mentioned…

And of course don’t forget about the upcoming Handheld Learning 2009 Conference in London on Oct. 5-7. I’ll be there to coordinate the research strand, which promises to be excellent and includes speakers from four continents!

Mobile Reports:

Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future is a new report published by Mobile Future. According to the announcement, the implications for education are that “Parents are able to keep in close contact with their children’s teachers regarding assignments, behavior and academic progress while on the go thanks to texting, email and mobile connectivity.” While important, I think we need to think beyond the adults having the phones. What about implications for student learning?

Mobile Technology

Here is an interesting post on Gizmodo on Microsoft’s tablet project. The pictures and video look promising, but then, this is Microsoft, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Mobile Learning Round-Up, Week 37

This week’s highlights from the world of mobile learning.

Mobile Learning Stuff:

More and more schools are dumping paper textbooks for their electronic counterparts. According to ABC, “For generations, school meant books — lots of books. But not anymore. Around the country, from high school to grad school, textbooks are getting harder to find. Technology has made the library something that can fit into the palm of your hand.” Interesting discussion as always in the comments section. The article provides some examples of schools who are ditching textbooks, but the story isn’t really that new.

Image Credit: Gizmodo

A report related to this (via Andy Black), is the DLC’s A Kindle in Every Backpack.

The most important benefit of eTextbooks is their ability to improve educational attainment. For less money than is spent on conventional textbooks, eTextbooks, over time, could deliver a regularly updated, interactive, and 21st-century education to our children. There are multiple reasons the technology offers an improved educational experience.

The report goes on to say that advantages include the ease of updating content quickly and universally (and cheaply, I might add); flexibility in choice of content by teachers without having to worry about cost; they aid integration of classroom learning; and provision of critical resources to struggling schools.

Image Credit: BBC News

From the BBC: Mobile app sees science go global

A mobile phone application will help professional and “citizen” scientists collect and analyse data from “in the field”, anywhere in the world. The EpiCollect software collates data from certain mobiles – on topics such as disease spread or the occurrence of rare species – in a web-based database. The data is statistically analysed and plotted on maps that are instantly available to those same phones.

This story is a great example of mobile learning at its best, with user access to collected data (almost) in real time.

And here is another one, via the M-learning Is Good blog: The Fidelity of Mobile Technology Continues to Deepen, which discusses NVIDIA’s ARhrrr technology.

In the U.S., Universities Plan Course to Navigate the Mobile Learning Curve, as increasing numbers of students have smartphones. Examples cited are from Stanford, Illinois State, and Dayton. According to the article:

Developing a mobile strategy should not be the sole responsibility of the college IT department. Mobile communications plans can be driven by the admissions, student life associations, athletics, marketing and alumni departments as well, and they can all work in harmony to provide integrated and effective programs that help your school stand out among the rest.

However, when it comes to the use of mobile phones for learning, Cell-phone college classes face hurdles, as eCampus News reported the week before. Standardization of mobile phone technology is still a big issue,

Until things get a little more standardized, it’s a real big pain,” said Matt Cooper, instructional technology specialist at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N.J., where he developed the Mobile Learning Initiative, which lets students in 20 classes complete course work on mobile devices, even without an internet connection. “There’s too much to plan for. … [Creating online courses that fit every cell-phone interface] is a pretty high standard to strive for.”

We experienced that for ourselves during the SIGML forum in Washington DC this year, as we had to create three different versions of a set of QR codes (bottom of page) so that they would work on Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Blackberry devices.

Mobile Learning Projects:

Mobile camps in Africa are helping budding developers gain the skills and understanding they need to create useful mobile applications.

Mobile camps may be building the next generation of mobile programmers by helping to develop a new field of study in African higher education. Recent camps have produced tools for social development and provided educators with new skills.

A mobile camp or bootcamp is “a crash-course session”, usually spanning 2-3 days, during which “participants gain an insight on mobile computing technologies as well as acquire practical skills in the use of current platforms, frameworks and tools used for the development of mobile applications” notes Strathmore University. Recent camps have included competitions to spur development of mobile tools.

And as the Senegalese bootcamp website states: The bootcamp is over … but this is just a beginning…

Mobile Events:

This week’s mobile events (and announcements) include:

MobileHCI 2009, Bonn, Germany, September 15-18, 2009 (http://www.mobilehci09.org/), the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services.

Mobile Innovation Week, Toronto, Canada, September 12-16, 2009   (http://www.mobileinnovationweek.com/). MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK in Toronto will showcase global mobile thought leaders, developers, innovators, institutions and industry professionals coming together for an exciting and engaging series of events all focused on exploring new mobile Internet frontiers, applications and business ideas.

Another upcoming event is The Mobile Application Stores, Strategy and Deployment conference, in San Diego, CA, October 8, 2009 (http://www.mobileappevent.com/). Mobile Application Stores is a partner seminar of International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. and Entertainment. Mobile Application Stores is the only conference to focus exclusively on the business of mobile applications and will focus on the tremendous opportunities in the mobile apps stores ecosystem. The event is designed to give a complete understanding of how to capitalize on this dynamic market. Featured speakers for the event include:
•       Dr. Jin-Sung Choi Ph.D, Senior Vice President, Head MC Global Product Planning Team, LG Electronics Korea
•       George Linardos Vice President, Product Management, Media, Nokia
•       Ilja Laurs Founder & CEO, GetJar.
•       Tim Haysom, Chief Marketing Officer,OMTP
•       Mike Merril, CEO-Smart Phone Technologies
•       Ajit Jaokar, President-futuretext
•       Chetan Sharma, CEO, Chetan Sharma Consulting
•       Jouko Ahvenainen, Founder, Grow VC International
•       William Volk, CEO, PlayScreen
•       Sena Gbeckor-Kove, Chief Technology Officer, imKon

Mobile Technology News:

On Sept. 15, Microsoft started shipping its Zune HD, but only in the U.S. No need for Apple to be worried, methinks….

According to the ReadWrite Web blog, one of the top 5 web trends of 2009 is the mobile web and augmented reality: “What’s perhaps most encouraging however, is the entirely new class of mobile apps we’re seeing. Augmented Reality is the most obvious example.” Great post that summarizes the trends well and therefore  worth a read. And of course, the potential for the use of these tools in education is endless…

Another Mobile Round Up of Sorts

News about mobile tools in education abound lately. Here is an overview of some of the most recent articles on the web:

Mobile Tools in K-16

The University of Missouri’s School of Journalism has made an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch a requirement for incoming freshman, but school officials said the rule won’t be enforced. Read the article to find out why.

The University of Virginia is wondering ”When every student has a laptop, why run computer labs?” In 2007, only 4 of 3,117 freshmen showed up without one. So are the savings of not running labs worth it?

In Japan, Tokyo-based university Aoyama Gakuin gives a free iPhone to students in the School of Social Informatics. However, they use it as a tracking device. Find out here how (via CrunchGear).

As school leaders ponder the implications of new technologies for their classrooms, one dedicated New Jersey educator has turned theory into practice, using the iPod to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

This new paper describes how Australian teachers are using the iPhone and iPod Touch to A. assist them as Educators, and B. to enhance learning. As such, it presents a vital survey of apps and ideas to be shared with other teachers also beginning to use this platform. (via mlearning world).

QR Codes

We’ve been preparing for our mobile learning Forum at NECC, where we’ll make use of QR codes for learning as part of our GeoHistorian Project. Here is an interesting post about QR codes in Japan, that shows how popular they have become there.

Some examples of QR code use in education and then some more come from Mr. Robbo from Australia, with a link to Andy Ramsden’s paper about QR code use in education as well.

Another useful application of QR codes could be in libraries…

Want to know more about the various uses of QR codes? Check out CodeZQR’s blog!

Despite their potential, Trendplanner asks if QR codes will ever take off outside of Japan. According to the post, the UK isn’t quite ready yet, I wonder if the same is the case for the USA.

Mobile Learning Events

In Heerlen, the Netherlands, my home country, the Surf Academy recently hosted a spring school on mobile learning. Wilfred Rubens posted some notes from one of the keynotes. The post is in Dutch, but in a nutshell, the keynote speaker, Matthijs Leendertse of TNO argues that mobile learning can aid educators in reaching four goals of education: interactivity, collaboration, anywhere anytime access, and creating opportunities for informal learning.

North Rowan High School is sponsoring an Open House on Thursday, May 21, 2009 to showcase the new iPod touch Digital Learning Environment program that began this current school year at North Rowan High for all ninth-graders.  

eLearning Africa, the 4th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training will be held on May 27 – 29, 2009 in  . The conference always has a focus on mobile learning, given the number of mobile devices available and the lack of reliable terrestrial Internet access in Africa.

 

And finally, here is a way to modify your standard WIFI antenna into one just like the $30 range extender antennas for about 5 cents, using a screw, a piece of wire, and a straw. Not sure how well it works, but it seems easy enough to try.

Image Credit: “Fluid Forms QR Buckle Close” from Fluid Forms’ photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluidforms/3525672926/

It’s a Busy Time for Mobile Learning, but a Good Time…

It’s been a very busy year for mobile learning, and I haven’t really had the time to write much about it. So, long overdue, here is a sampling of some of the many recent activities:

Following the Mobile Learning o9 Conference in Washington DC, I virtually participated in the 3rd WLE Mobile Learning Symposium at the end of March (some references to the symposium are here; the book of abstracts can be found here (our papers on the GeoHistorian project and mobile math are on pp. 63-68).

About two weeks later I did meet some of the Symposium’s organizers, as I served as the discussant on their forum session at AERA in San Diego, entitled “Symposium proposal entitled “Outside in and inside out: interdisciplinarity and mobile learning research”. Presentations included:

• Norbert Pachler: A socio-cultural ecology of mobile learning: an overview (Symposium overview)
• Ben Bachmair: Pedagogical issues and mobile learning I 
• John Cook: Appropriation of mobile phones for learning
• Elisabetta Adami and Gunther Kress: A social semiotic account of (mobile) learning
• Norbert Pachler: Pedagogical issues and mobile learning II

The presentations were followed by some lively discussion, as evidenced by the fact that most attendees in the audience stayed for an extra 30 minutes. For me, the forum was one of the highlights of this year’s AERA.

Today, I just finished participating in Tony Vincent’s uStream.tv session (archive video is here), sponsored by ISTE’s SIGHC. The hourlong session, attended by roughly 65 participants from all over the US and Canada, went virtually without a glitch, and attendees were very pleased with the content and the level of participation that uStream.tv allows, with live video broadcasting, chat, a twitter stream, and the possibility for members of the audience to discuss and ask questions “on the air”. I think we’ll see more of these sessions in the near future. Of course, Tony did a stellar job on his presentation! He blogs at http://learninginhand.com/blog/ and there are quite a few recent posts on the iPod Touch.

And speaking of blogs, Elliot Soloway and Cathie Norris recently launched a blog called Tech Disruptions, hosted by District Administration. They “address topical issues that arise as technology continues in its inexorable way to engender changes in K12. Here is your opportunity to express opinions about the changes that technology has wrought.” More about Elliot and Cathie’s work in the area of mobile learning can be seen in this video by the Mobile Learning Institute.

Two new publications of note are a 320-page book entitled “Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training” edited by Mohamed Ally and published by Athabasca University is available for sale or as a free PDF download. (Click on eBook for the PDF download.); the second one is a new issue (Vol. 3, No. 2 (2009)) of the International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), providing us with a broad range of papers that are prefaced by John Traxler’s “Mobile Learning – A Snapshot of 2008″, in which he states that “Mobile learning has gained greater clarity about the significant issues and a more sharply defined research agenda” (p. 4).

Finally, I’m gearing up for NECC, where SIGHC will be renamed SIGML (Mobile Learning) and host a forum at the World War II Memorial in Washington DC (the forum is sold out already). Handheld Learning 2009  (keep an eye open for the research strand) in London and mlearn 2009 in Florida are not too far off either.

 

Never a dull moment …

Image Credit: “analogue-clock” from Mark Birkbeck’s photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-birbeck/230975082/

Pew Report: Future of the Internet III

 

Earlier this week, Pew/Internet and American Life Project published its Future of the Internet III report, which is a list of technology predictions. Key findings:

• The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
• The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
• Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
• Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
• The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
• Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

Nothing really too earth-shattering based on what we know and discuss today. More predictions about the evolution of mobile communications can be found here, and also make sure to take a look at predications related to developments in the Internet user interface. Unfortunately, most predictions seem to be very conservative.

With regards to education, Judy Breck refers to a related Wired report that says that by  “By 2020, Access to Internet Will Be in Everyone’s Pocket.” This is indeed a “FABULOUS opportunity to reconfigure education.” However, in order for that to happen we need more educators to start thinking about the use of student-owned digital tools (see my earlier post here) in schools (and outside of them as well).

 Image Credit: “Gypsy_fortune_teller” from Silverisdead’s photostream:
http://flickr.com/photos/56624456@N00/3118400365/

Handheld Learning 2008 Proceedings and Events for 2009

One more from the folks at Handheld Learning:

Online Proceedings now ready!

Dear Colleague

This years Handheld Learning Conference was the biggest and most successful yet with more than 1,700 attendees, 1,000 conference delegates and 600 attendees at the Handheld Learning Awards.

We sincerely hope that you’ll consider participating next year when we reconvene for Handheld Learning 2009 and return to The Brewery, London from Oct 5th – 7th.

This years event sold out very quickly and we already have many surprises in store for Handheld Learning 2009 so please guarantee your place by pre-registering here. Pre-registration is free and you will be the first to know when we open registration and call for papers.

 

 

 

For those delegates who have a deeper interest in the game based learning themes presented at this years Handheld Learning we have a special one day international symposium on March 20th, 2009 called Game Based Learning 2009 that will also be held at The Brewery. Our keynote speakers and call for papers will be made shortly but spaces will be limited so please register your interest here.

Thank you once again and we look forward to seeing you soon!

All the best,

The Handheld Learning Team (meet us)
The Advisory Group (meet us)

We have reworked the conference website as a free to access online resource of digital proceedings. Here you will now find video recordings of the main room sessions and keynotes, a huge gallery of photographs, presentation slides, papers along with links to delegate discussions and reflections about the event that are ongoing. You will find everything under the Conference menu. To visit click here.

Naturally we welcome your continued participation in the event and if you’re not already a member of the Handheld Learning Community we invite you to register here and share your thoughts and reflections with the rest of the membership.

 

Handheld Learning, Day 1 (Next Generation Learning Session)

I’m currently at Handheld Learning 2008 in the Brewery in London. So far it’s been good, waiting for the first session to start here shortly); I’ve already talked to a lot of people, some I know well and some I hadn’t (this just goes to show that there is more to a conference than sessions alone. The networking is very important as well).

Presented by Andy Black from Becta and Next Generation Learning, this session is a collection of presentations about “how to use technology well to make learning a more exciting, rewarding, and successful experience for people of all ages and abilities. I’m live blogging this session, so apologies in advance for any typos etc….

Andy: Seven presentations to make you think about learning. It’s not about mobile learning, it’s about the learning that’s mobile.

Andrew Davis from Clunbury CE (Aided) School Shropshire

Started off by showing a brief video made by students about learning with technology. It’s a rural school, so ICT is very important to connect to the rest to the world. Discussed the use of Nintendo DS’s in school and how he asked the kids how they could the DS’s:

• to develop math skills
• cooking skills
• communication
• memory skills
• link the DS’s together

Or, in Davis’s words: engagement, fun, collaborative learning, competition, instant feedback, assessment. This was followed by some examples of use in math, used when appropriate.

Blogging to communicate with the outside world, literacy practice and feedback for writing (other students, parents; three stars and a wish).

Nicholas Hughes: Robots in KS2 (Nightingale Primary School)

Talked about the use of robots in education, and programming them. Started by experimenting and recording what they found out. Students worked together to talk and question (overcame language barriers for one student). After three weeks students started using GoRobo to control the robot and make it do things (“can you make him wave? Can you make him dance”). Showed a video to sum up the overall project.

Engagement and getting students to think and to question what they do and how they did it. Kids learned about control technology and had fun while doing it.

Gavin Hawkins (Wolverhampton LA): SynchronEyes at Stow Heath Junior School)

PDAs in schools since 2002. Involved in Learning2Go. Project grew to 200+, with 24/7 access to kids. The latter is important, and an underlying philosophy of the project. Providing content and applications, connectivity. Showed video of a day in the life of learners using mobiles in Wolverhampton (saw this video at NECC as well), with a range of examples, esp. for visual learning, including mindmapping, drawing concepts. Showed examples inside and outside of the classroom, including homework.

It’s the seamless use of the technology that really stands out here, as well as the integration into an existing school-tech infrastructure. Hooking up the handhelds to a whiteboard used as an example (using Dotpocket and My Mobiler). Then worked with Smart to develop software to show multiple handhelds, enable communication between device, laptop, and desktop, collaboration, distribute and collect files, and assessment: SynchronEyes. Number of handhelds you can use at once depends on the strength of your wifi.

Willington CE Primary School Co. Durham (Alison Richardson and Victoria Suddes)

Use of ICT and electronic assessment.

• Electronic flying start assessment with linked evidence (children’s work, informal observations, formal observations, and photographs.
• electronic portfolio
• missed the third step here

Use of permanent laptops for student work, sent to network, assessed, sent back to child. Child then improves work based on comments. Works better electronically than on paper. Then showed examples of doing this, e.g. track changes in Word, Publisher, PowerPoint…

Use of stranded sheets for science, ICT, and narrative writing (they basically look like rubrics, linked to evidence, “literally just a click away”), i.e. combined into an electronic portfolio. Showed example of a claymation on the foodchain, used as evidence of learning. Are now working on making the assessment system avaible outside of school.

Matt Buxton, Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham

Plan for ICT in a “fit for purpose” curriculum with innovative ICT embedded into the planning. (anytime, anywhere, ubiquitous, independent, personalized (buzzwords, anyone?). Curriculum model is underpinned by embedded and innovative ICT. Design tasks that lend themselves to real world learning, based on a model from Queensland, New Basics: recognition of difference, supportive classroom environment, connectedness, and intellectual quality.

Connectedness: students engaging with real, practical, or hypothetical problems which connect to the world beyond the classroom (i.e. mobility too!!): learning gateway, computers for students (tablets, Q1s), wireless (wifi and wimax).

Examples of learning: oral histories, British national identity documentaries, International trade montages, etc.

Bristol – Hand e Learning  (Henbury Secondary School)

1:1 handhelds, 24/7 (both hw and www access), using Q1

Parents involved through e-Learning Foundation grants

Teacher training before students receive tech.

Video example of student interview: student talked about interactivity with teacher using the handheld, as well as using it when appropriate.

What did we do?

• Connectivity (wireless, monitoring and filtering of connections)
• Leadership
• Pedagogical support
• Parent financial contributions

Trying to minimize the things that can go wrong for a teacher, i.e. go simple.

Showed examples of activities: contextualizing literature – guided research; Image Blast, understanding poetry before reading; Video stars – building confidence and skills; Talk Wall – asynchronous tool to ask questions and get student answers that can be organized and turned into a text file.

 

Andy finished up by discussing how powerful all of the different tools presented can be. However, all of it should be supported by good teaching.

Image Credit: My camera