At the joint Becta and LSIS Conference on Learning Innovation, Embracing Technology I gave a presentation entitled, The future of learning is mobile.
This is an audio recording of the presentation.
I am hoping to put up the slides when I have more bandwidth.
When I was at FOTE 09 a few weeks ago I stayed overnight and went out for a meal at a terrible Italian restaurant; one of the problems I have visiting different parts of London is that I am merely a visitor and unlike the local residents do not know the best places to eat. I remember visiting London a few years ago and my sister-in-law who lived in London at the time (a resident) took me to a wonderful local pub with fantastic food. The more I visit London the more confident I get with getting about (on foot and on the tube) and knowing which places to avoid and when and which places to seek out and try. First time visitors to London know it differently to those that visit more often and likewise people who live in London will know some places better than others. Visitors and residents know London in different ways and the same can be said for those who use digital and online tools and services. I really don’t want to use the term digital world as I don’t think it is a useful term.
Last year we discussed the concept coined by Dave White of Visitors and Residents and how this relates to how people interact and use the online and digital tools and services out there.
Dave has made a video of the presentation he gave at ALT-C 2009 and it makes for interesting viewing.
You can read more on his blog.
Most people should by now realise that the age demarcation of the digital native and digital immigrant is a flawed concept and should not be relied upon. Projects and research have again shown that young learners are not digital natives and often have issues with digital and online technologies.
From the MoLeNET programme for example.
The experiences of several MoLeNET projects suggests that not all young people are the “digital natives”…
“We came to this project with an unspoken belief that young learners would innately understand how these devices worked, we quickly came to understand that, while they can use them well on a superficial level, more demanding tasks stretched their knowledge of the technology”.
The key lessons to remember is that you can’t assume that younger learners will be confident in how to use new technologies, likewise also don’t assume that older learners will not know how to use technologies.
If you are an online resident it can sometimes be difficult to remember that a lot of people are merely visitors and that they may not fully undertstand the local customs, practices or best places to go.
I am honoured and privileged to win the Learning Technologist of the Year award from the Association of Learning Technologies.
This award not only recognises the work I have undertaken at Gloucestershire College in enabling, embedding and promoting the use of learning technologies; it is also an award for all the staff and management at the college who use learning technologies effectively to enhance and enrich the learning experience.
I was presented with the award by Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor Designate of the Open University at the ALT-C 2009 Gala Dinner in Manchester.
What was also nice was that the LSN MoLeNET team (of whom I am part of) was highly commended in the Team award.
Photographs from Photoshy.
As I have mentioned before, on September 9th, Apple are running a music style event called It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.
It’s quite normal for Apple to make an announcement at this time of year. In 2007 Apple for example announced the iPod touch. I said before that:
According to the rumour sites, there are good indications that we will see new iPods with cameras.
Will we see the rumoured Apple Tablet?
I think it is a strong possibility, but there are other rumours which state we won’t see it until the first quarter of 2010. I wonder if Apple will announce it, so that developers can develop Apps for it in the same way that they did for the iPhone.
Reading Ollie Bray’s blog he brings to the rumour table, the social side of iTunes.
Again the rumor mills suggest a number of new features of iTunes 9 of which I think the most likely are the introduction of social networking tools or someone else’s social networking tools (eg: Facebook). This will allow you to share your playlists with your friends. If you think about it this makes a lot of sense – Apple knows that the future of the web is social.
I would agree that this is a strong possibility, think about how iPhoto ’09 now has Flickr and Facebook intergration, how easy it is to upload videos from the iPhone 3GS or iMovie to YouTube. It makes sense to add a social element to iTunes.
Some say that we may see the Beatles, possibly.
Whatever happens it will be interesting and fun to see what happens at the event. The Apple event takes place at 6pm BST on the 9th September, which is the same night as the ALT-C Gala Dinner, I suspect that many with iPhones at that dinner will be closely looking at their iPhones to see what new things are announced.
T-Mobile have announced their third Android device, the T-Mobile Pulse.
It’s the first device from Huawei, with a 3.5″ touch-screen, polished black finish & 6 home screens for personalisation.
Available in October, it will be the first Android device available on pay-as-you-go – costing £179.99.
I shall be “presenting” a poster on Glossy at ALT-C 2009.
Here’s a sneak preview…
Abstract
The Glossy project undertook a large-scale development and implementation of mobile learning across Gloucestershire College utilising the mobile devices that learners already own.The project put in place an infrastructure at Gloucestershire College that allows learners using devices that they already own and college devices to access learning activities and content. The project created a student wireless network that can be accessed by learners’ own devices to access a range of content and learning activities through the college VLE.The aim of the project was to enable learners to access learning at a time and place to suit them in order to improve retention and achievement. The project provided mobile devices to learners in selected groups; including excluded learners and learners with learning difficulties and disabilities.
The project allowed the college to provide suitable hardware and software based in the college libraries that allows both staff and learners to develop, create and convert content for use on a range of mobile devices.The poster will show the key issues, challenges and opportunities that mobile learning offers institutions. It will show the key stages that are required to allow institutions to utilise the mobile devices that learners already own. The difficulties of working with diverse learner devices will be outlined on the poster because understanding them is vital to any discussion of sustainability.
The poster, through a range of examples, will show how important it is to address the differing attitudes of staff, IT support needs and staff development.
The Glossy Project did much more than start Gloucestershire College down the road of mobile learning, it had an impact on the whole culture of the organisation in the use of not just mobile technologies, but also other learning technologies, audio, video, podcasting, wireless and use of the VLE to enhance and enrich the learning experience.
The project had an impact on 14,000 learners during the lifetime of the project, ran from November 2007 to July 2008. It continues to have a benefit even though the project has finished, as the infrastructure enables mobile learning to continue.
On September 9th, Apple are running a music style event called It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.
It’s quite normal for Apple to make an announcement at this time of year. In 2007 Apple for example announced the iPod touch.
So what will be announced?
According to the rumour sites, there are good indications that we will see new iPods with cameras.
Will we see the rumoured Apple Tablet?
I think it is a strong possibility, but there are other rumours which state we won’t see it until the first quarter of 2010. I wonder if Apple will announce it, so that developers can develop Apps for it in the same way that they did for the iPhone.
Personally I think the proposed Mac Tablet has a lot of potential for learners and learning, especially if it has a battery which lasts all day.
The Apple event takes place at 6pm BST on the 9th September, which is the same night as the ALT-C Gala Dinner, I suspect that many with iPhones at that dinner will be closely looking at their iPhones to see what new things are announced.
This looks very nice. The Nokia Booklet 3G.
Wonder how much it will be? Probably tied into a contract of some kind.
After more than 25 years as a pioneer and leader in the mobile industry, Nokia will bring its rich mobility heritage and knowledge to the PC world with the new, Windows based, Nokia Booklet 3G.
Powered by the efficient Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G delivers impressive performance with up to 12 hours of battery life, enabling people to leave their power cable behind and still be connected and productive. Delivering the rich experience of a full-function PC inside an ultra-portable aluminum chassis, the new mini-laptop weighs 1.25 kilograms, measures slightly more than two centimeters thin, and has the features one would expect from the world’s leading mobile device manufacturer. A broad range of connectivity options – including 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi – gives consumers high speed access to the Internet, including Nokia’s broad suite of Ovi services, and allows them to make the most of every moment and every opportunity.
So have you got a 3G dongle?
Do you know your limit?
Do you know how much you will be charged if you go over that limit?
If you’re on O2 and go over by just 1GB you would be facing a £100 bill!
The BBC reports on the issue of 3G bandwidth caps on mobile broadband services.
Mobile broadband users face stiff penalties for exceeding their download limits even though most aren’t aware of what those limits are.
I use a Vodafone 3G dongle and though the Windows software (on a single computer) does measure how much data use the Mac connection software (in other words what I normally use) doesn’t. Generally I guess that my usage is fine as I don’t use the dongle everyday and rely on my home and work internet connections and not just the mobile broadband connection.
However I know some people and some learners have a 3G dongle for their internet and that’s it! Using a 3G dongle everyday would be getting close to their limits if they were downloading podcasts and watching online video.
Do you have a 3G dongle? Do you know your limit?