Category Archives: m-learning

m-learning

The future is mobile

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Mike Short from O2 has given a very good presentation on the state of play of mobile technologies in UK (and across Europe) for his keynote here at mLearn 2008.

He gave some interesting statistics like in the UK population, 121% have a mobile phone. In Italy the figure is 154% whilst in France it’s only 83%.

The future is mobile

I enjoyed the keynote, I may not agree with everything that Mike says in terms of the “future” but he does back up what he says about now with some good data from the GSMA.

Of course Mike is from business and though he talks about education and education possibilities, it was obvious to me that business and leisure are the main drivers when it comes to mobile data and mobile devices.

A question to ask is that if we want to move and embed mobile learning into the world of education, how do we work with major mobile data providers and mobile device manufacturers that we are serious about this. Overall our purchasing power (in the UK) must be huge. Is it because it is not the sector which is buying iPhones, but individuals and institutions, which means we have little influence as a sector on the mobile business.

Can we change that model?

conference, m-learning

Starting mLearn 2008

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So the conference proper has started after the disappointing pickled cauliflower reception.

Alas there is no free wireless, so though I can use my 3G phone, I can’t use my laptop or iPod touch. Though I can enter text on my phone, I am terrible at writing on a 1-9 keypad so I am writing this using a word processor.

So far we have had a (very long) five minutes introduction to the conference and now John Traxler is going through the housekeeping and is now introducing Diane Laurillard.

Diane Laurillard presenting her keynote, “towards a pedagogy-driven account of mobile learning”.

Digital technologies are not typically optimised for learning or teaching… but are optimised for business and leisure.

Now presenting a common framework of representation.

Diane now presenting her conversational framework.

Question, can you describe informal learning?

Diane says her conversational framework challenges the learning design.

What are mobile technologies good for?

Personally I think she misses the point.

A lot of arguments against digital tools can be equally applied to non-digital tools such as books, journals and blackboards.

Tools are tools regardless of whether they are physical or digital.

She seems to be applying traditional learning design to designs which use mobile devices.

She seems to have missed that mobile learning is (or should be) about the mobility of the learner.

I wonder if she has heard of Web 2.0?

Her example misses the fact that learners who are not even at the art gallery can contribute and join in the learning activity.

Digital technologies for not typically optimised for learning. Nor are most physical technologies and environments.

Her model seems to miss the point of the real advantages of mobile learning.

m-learning, mobile, news

UN communications chief predicts four billion mobile phone subs by year’s end

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UN communications chief predicts four billion mobile phone subs by year's end

Engadget reports on the growing increase in mobile phone ownership across the world.

…the United Nations communications chief has boldly predicted that half of planet Earth’s population will be hooked on some sort of mobile phone before 2009 dawns.

Though how many of those subscriptions will include unlimited data I suspect will be very small and I suspect an even smaller number of those phone users will be using them for learning.

altc2008, m-learning, mobile, nokia, psp

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide – done!

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I ran a workshop at ALT-C yesterday afternoon on mobile learning though didn’t have time to blog about it yesterday.

Session seemed to go well though I did have about sixty people in a long narrow room.

The feedback from the session can be found here:

http://altcworkshop.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to add comments to people’s blog posts.

Recorded Gabcast podcasts from my sessions at #altc2008 today. They are online now at http://tinyurl.com/hood2feedback

altc2008, m-learning, mobile

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

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I am running two workshops at ALT-C 2008 next week, one on mobile learning and the other on Web 2.0.

The mobility of learning: using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

Mobile technologies and mobile learning have the potential to change the way in which learners can engage and interact with learning.

Gloucestershire College has been using mobile learning to enhance and enrich the learning process, for a range of learners, across the curriculum. They have developed a range of learning scenarios and activities that are integrated into the learning process and support a diverse range of learners.

Mobile technologies will be used by the participants within the workshop to examine how they can be used for learning and will also be used to feed back the outcomes from the workshop.

In this workshop, small groups of participants will examine the potential of mobile technologies and mobile learning to rethink the digital divide, including addressing the tensions between formal and informal learning, enabling access and removing exclusion, and empowering learners to take responsibility for their own learning.

The workshop introduction will provide an exploration of mobile learning and mobile technologies. Participants will discuss and debate mobile learning scenarios, and cover how they could be utilised within their own institutions, examining the potential conflict between formal learning and informal learning that mobile learning offers. They will also debate the idea and concept that mobile learning is accessible and inclusive for all learners. The small group discussion will also address how mobile learning can empower learners to take responsibility for their own learning. The groups will then feedback through a blog entry, an audio podcast or a video presentation. This feedback will be made available online to allow comment and further discussion beyond the workshop and with other conference delegates.

After the workshop, participants will have a greater understanding of the role of mobile learning in addressing the digital divide. Mobile technologies will have been used within the workshop by the participants to understand the learning scenarios, and the participants will have presented the workshop outcomes through a variety of learning technologies.

using mobile learning to rethink the digital divide

m-learning, mobile, news

Using more comms stuff

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Ofcom have published a report, according to a BBC article, on the use of communication in the UK.

Britons are spending more time using communications services but paying less for them, says an Ofcom report.

Every day in 2007, the average consumer spent 7 hours and 9 minutes watching TV, on the phone, using the internet or using other services, it says.

Since 2002, mobile use has doubled and PC and laptop use has grown fourfold, says the watchdog’s annual review.

Though with falling costs of internet and mobile phones, though the UK is using more comms stuff, it is in fact spending less…

But the average UK household spend on communications in 2007 was £93.63 a month – a fall of £1.53 on 2006.

This certainly reiterates that our learners are well versed in the use of digital communication tools and therefore would probably be quite at home using them for learning.

Using more comms stuff

Photo source.

m-learning, video

e-Learning on your TV

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So do you need an internet connected computer to “do” e-learning?

Well of course you don’t.

Back in 2006 I mentioned at an online conference about showing digital images on your TV. So there I was looking in the Guardian today when this advert caught my attention.

e-Learning on your TV

If you look closer at the features you see.

e-Learning on your TV

What this means is that if learning content is saved as a series of images onto an SD card then the learner will be able to view that content on their new HD TV as well as watch Freesat!

If they have a DVD player, say a £17 one from Tesco (or a console that can play DVDs) they could convert learning content, video, audio or presentation into a DVD format that can be burnt to DVD.

In fact the Mobile Learning on a VLE presentation I linked to above was also available (at the time) in various video formats for mobile devices, I also created a DVD version as well which worked really well on my TV.

A question for you: Can your learners easily convert learning content from whatever format you have it in and stored on the network (or on the VLE) into a format which will play on their TV or DVD player?

In a previous blog post I mentioned various digital video tools which allow learners to do just that.

Now a question you may have for me regarding interactivity; well watching content on a TV or through a DVD player may not be interactive at all, but this doesn’t mean that the learning activity as a whole needs to be non-interactive. A book is generally non-interactive, but that doesn’t stop it being used as part of a learning activity or scenario. The same can be done with content on a TV (and often is with a video shown in a classroom or on YouTube).

So is this mobile learning, well it’s not using a mobile device, but certainly is learning out of the college and the classroom and therefore the learner is learning whilst mobile in a “sitting on the sofa” kind of way. It is about the learner deciding to choose where they access their learning, whether that be in college, on a mobile device such as a phone, or at home sitting on the sofa in front of their 41″ HD television.

Finally who will be buying TVs like the one advertised, I think you will be surprised by who does.

conference, m-learning

MoLeNET Dissemination Conference – 18th September

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If you check my tag cloud on the right you will see the tag MoLeNET and you may have wondered what that was about.

Well MoLeNET (which is short for Mobile Learning NETwork) is, to quote the LSN:

A unique collaborative approach to the implementation of mobile learning via supported shared cost mobile learning projects within a wider community of practitioners and experts.

Gloucestershire College has had a MoLeNET Project, the Glossy Project which has been looking at mobile learning.

MoLeNET Dissemination Conference - 18th September

Well on the 18th September there is a MoLeNET Dissemination Conference in London (see attached PDF).

The aims of the conference are:

  • To disseminate nationally the good practice, lessons learned, research and evaluation findings, tips, tools and advice arising out of the MoLeNET programme in 2007/08
  • To demonstrate technologies, systems, learning materials and techniques
  • To provide a platform for practitioners to share and an opportunity for networking and building of future partnerships

I do expect to be there in one form or another, so if you are coming do come and say hello.

MoLeNET Dissemination Conference (PDF)

m-learning, mobile

Flash on mobiles opens up

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The BBC reports that

Adobe has announced a plan to try to get its Flash player installed on more mobile devices and set-top boxes.

Dubbed Open Screen the initiative lifts restrictions on how its multimedia handling software can be used.
Adobe will stop charging licencing fees for mobile versions of Flash and plans to publish information about the inner workings of the code.

In taking this step Adobe hopes to repeat on mobiles the success its Flash technology has enjoyed on the web.

This is excellent news for mobile learning as so much e-learning content out there is in a flash format including a lot of video and audio.