Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

After feedback I've tried to simplify my N97 blog post in a Simon Cowell way! 

http://blog.luziaresearch.com/off-topic/n97-conclusions-simon-cowell-style

Just posted my thoughts on the N97 and what it might mean for education - the iPhone is still in lead in my books - but this narrows things a lot:

http://blog.luziaresearch.com/mlearning/the-nokia-n97-and-education

Nokia are making fantastic devices for creating media - they just need to get better ones for consuming media and that means an app store!

Saku - are you aware of our service? http://uHavePassed.com ? We are now offering this to educational institutions if you are interested - you can find out more here: http://luziaresearch.com

Al

OK Mark before you answer - I have just noticed your daily commute - so perhaps before you answer - I should point out that maybe you are not the average user!

Thanks Mark - great responses and will need a bit more time to think through most of them - one thing I'd like to question is the point you made about the daily commute.

Data and feedback from our users says that they mostly use our driving theory test software on the sofa and in bed (along with on the loo). I am keen to really test the notion that putting educational content on mobile devices is about revising on buses and trains.

I have a post called Handy Education not Mobile Learning (http://blog.luziaresearch.com/mlearning/handy-education-not-mobile-learning) which says that putting educational content on mobile phones is more about convenience than it is about being mobile.

As you state that you use your iDevices daily, can you give some personal experience feedback about where you use them the most? Is it the commute or is it more mundane places - your desk, sofa and bed?

I am researching for a blog post on the iPod Touch and iPhone and looking for any opinion on what it would be great to do on the devices.

These ideas need have no limits - but here are some questions that might help inspire.

How could a particular subject become more engaging?

How could the trickiest part of a subject become more engaging?

How could students be better supported outside of the classroom?

If you had the chance to put some interactive exercises or tuition in front of students when they were sat on the sofa or in another social situation - what would it be?

Hope this inspires some ideas!

Just as a quick note  - you mention people don't post on the forum (or at least those that posters are technically focused) - one reason for this might be that the site seems to have a few problems on the mac.

I have no idea why but in firefox on the mac I can not login - the site progress indicator just goes round and round. I have to jump over to safari just to post.

I have found other links on the site also seem to go dead in firefox - the contact us one is a good example.

Here ends a technically focused response to thread on education and business - sorry it is off topic - but I can't face finding out how to start a new thread after the steps I have had to go through just to write this! :-D

Sorry only just seen the post here - thanks for noticing the article Graham and providing comments and feedback there and posting it here.

@Wolf - thanks for a sterling (if a little grumpy) defense of the spirit of my article.

@epokh - ummh - not sure what I have done to upset you - perhaps you never expected me to read your comments - personally I don't think it is nice to encourage vandalism

As Wolf pointed out I set up two years ago to bring some innovation with mobile phones to the education marketplace. We have been working hard and I think taken the technology further than I have seen on any research project or large company driven enterprise. Our aim is to use the mobile phones that students have currently to help and support them outside of the classroom. We have worked with the Open University on a number of projects, and have two of our own products that we sell directly to students. We are still working hard in helping students and have some exciting projects that we are taking forward at the moment and are looking for funding for.

My article was written to question why the startup community (innovators and entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists) largely ignore education. Getting entrepreneurs thinking about the problems in education and bringing their creativity, innovation and funding for that creativity will make a difference. I wanted to highlight how startups are altering education and showcased some good ones - in the school scene, in student support and in informal learning (connecting teachers and pupils and languages).

My labeling of the two conferences was to show that there are two forces looking at moving technology and innovation forward in the UK - one of them comes from a research point of view and the other comes from a "what existing technology can do" point of view. I should highlight that these are just labels for the conferences - and were not intended to suggest that the conferences were not worthwhile. I am proud that the UK has these two conferences this year - and more should be done, entrepreneurs should be attending and understanding what is going on.

I realize that Handheld is no longer schools focused and accept it has changed as a conference - but when I wrote the article I was not focused on a critic of handheld - but a critic of the UK startup scene with respect to education.

The two key questions posed were:

1. Why are there not many startups in the UK that focus on education?

2. Why do so many of those startups focus on languages?

The answers to both of these questions seem to be complex - but a summary answer for the first would seem to be:

There is a confusion about how the education purchasing system works and how much effort a company has to put in to break into the schools market - this is seen as a barrier to both entrepreneurs and those who provide investment. Investors also see little potential return on education investments which has a huge impact on those looking to innovate.

This seems to link to the second question because it means that those startups that do exist focus on informal education and from that choose languages as the largest market in informal education.

I personally meet so many entrepreneurs and innovators that I think it is a crying shame that that flair isn't turned toward education.

If I might mention David McCall at SUMS online - he is a great example of what can be achieved. He created a set of tools to help with Maths and luckily had the depth of character, personal funding and energy to stick with those tools for a long time before he got them in-front of as many children as now use them. I would like to see encouragement for more people like David who have great ideas but lack their own funding.