Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

In contrast to the HHL awards ... Wolverhampton e-Services Team have been awarded the BECTA ICT Excellence Award 2008........ In the "Support for Schools" category.

More details at....http://awards.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=38674

Great vindication of our mobile learning work and the breadth of the other work we do in supporting our learning establishments to meet the e-Strategy agenda.

Great to see Durham there too... Maybe there is something to this Mobile learning stuff after all.

Regards

DaveW.

Hi all,

Just a note to say looking forward to meeting up with old friends and new ones at HHL...

No formal L2Go stand this year but we are all there....

Catch us at the Weds O2 workshop .....

And Andy Black's Pre conf wkshop

And at the awards :-}

RGDS

Dave

This is fantastic news... Well done Mike...

Well deserved.....

Thanks for all the support and encouragement you have given us in Wolverhampton.

 

Absolutely.

See our latest case studies...

Sums on line is a must for anyone considering Mobile learning
 

Hi Graham,

Glad that you have had your devices re imaged and that synchroneyes is working fine.

One thing that we have not had a problem with using the EDA's is poor battery life.

We have been running nearly 1000 devices for over a year and this has not been an issue.

Are your learners closing down running applications. try using magic button.

Regards

Dave

Hi there,

There are many places for free e books especially in the .lit format. Check out the section on the Learning2go Website.

However we helped to launch the first commercial educational ebook service which is run by Rising Stars

Check out http://www.i-stars.co.uk/

Try that for starters...

Thanks for this Graham, really useful...

One of the pieces of work that we have completed in Wolverhampton (Actually the main part of the day job!)... but are less well known about on this forum.. is our e-confident learner framewoek, which informed the BECTa debate on e-maturity...

In that framework, which helps to educate and prepate youngsters for their "e-Life" ........we included themes of "My digital presence" and being "e-safe" amongst others....

This is a very important area of work...

The Byron review will further inform this....

Hmmm....... The point of including the Quote about the EEEPC.... was not to pass comment on the actual device... it is a really nice device... BUT to reflect on what the person quoted... stated that it was being used for......

Although at an early stage in the trial... his views (as expressed) match what has been found in the States, regarding device useage, with most of the mass rollouts of Laptops. (Word Processing and Surfing the 'Net)

I hope to see more transformational examples of what these cheap devices will be used for...

On reflection.. I think that these Mini laptops appeal to what is regarded as a "Proper" computer by Network managers and Establishments who are looking for Traditional technologies...

Maybe that is why it has sold so well.... The price helps too.... 

I still think that there is something special about the truly handheld computer, and what creative teachers and learners can do with it.

Now back to Ben Hur! 

For those of you that missed my Soapbox piece on Mobile Learning in the Guardian Link Magazine this week ( 18th March)....

Here is the Hyperlink. http://education.guardian.co.uk/link/story/0,,2266335,00.html

Let me know what you think?

Also on the opposite page was an article by George Cole on the ASUS MiniBook... interesting insight from a few perspectives....

One being that the learners were not, in the main, expecting to take the devices home.

Secondly that this was the first real trial of the devices and they have been out since October 2007.

Lastly was my favourite quote, which I think sums up the potential use of the device.

"Glen Larkin, Westland's ICT technical support manager, says "the teachers were a bit apprehensive at first, because they thought they were getting toy computers, but they now appreciate the benefits. The English teachers, for example, used to come down to the ICT suite to do word-processing, but now they do it in their own classrooms."

Maybe an old Brother electric typewriter should be classed as a mobile device these days!!!!! 

Hi Graham,

Yes this was confirmed by Gary Fowle from FS in his keynote at HHL 2008

As GBM states it was clearly indicated by FS during last year.

Hi Graham,

Most mobile devices are built to save power, and many of the default settings do just that.... but for running Synchroneyes that is exactly what you do not want.

So there are settings on the device that you will need to alter to make it run effectively.

Also we have has best results with the teacher laptop (Obvioulsy connected to the IWB) plugged into the network by wire.

If you send me an email via the Learning2Go inbox on our website ... I will put you intouch with the Synchroneyes speciallist at Steljes.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Graham,

There are some known issues with screen alignment on the EDA. May I suggest that you contact FS direclty on this as it is not something that you can solve.

We advise our learners not to use a password as when they forget it.... it takes a great deal of work to unlock the device.

As for the EDA running sluggishly... Do you have the processor speed set to turbo mode?

Do you get the learners to close unwanted programmes? this is standard practice with any PDA / Mobile project. Any open porgrammes will also alter charging times.

As far as charging is concerned... we in Learning2Go have always taken the people route to solving the problem by setting up a Mobile learning awards scheme to change the habits of learners and reward them for having the device in school and charged.... In my opinion this is getting the learners ready for their e-life!

If you must charge the devices for them then try a device called power monkey.

As many members will know, each year the Learning2Go Mobile Learning initiative in Wolverhampton, publishes a full report on the work of the initiative.

Phase 3 is no exception and I am really pleased to add this report to the ones already published.

Please download either the short version or full version from www.learning2go.org

Direct Link http://www.learning2go.org/pages/download-area.php

On behalf of the Learning2Go team, I am really pleased to publish these latest reports on our Mobile Learning work. Since embarking on the Learning2Go project with Phase 1 in 2003, we have, each year, reflected on our work and made public our findings. David Perry has acted as “Critical Friend” to our work and has been essential in the development of each phase. These annual reports have been crucial to this development as we learn from what works and consider what has been less successful.

These latest reports differs from previous reports, as they attempt to give us a view of the wide diversity of the uses of ‘Mobile Technology’ within Learning2Go. The last report was heavily laden with statistics, and the impact of that work is still valid. These reports comprise of a number of case studies in which practitioners, parents and learners reflect on their work. I hope that this will reinforce the view held by the team since the project was initiated, that our work is NOT about any particular device, but about a new approach to learning in the 21st Century. It also reflects on our desire to move away from ‘Project’ status to a fully embedded initiative at the heart of e-learning within our city, particularly as we look forward to BSF – Building Schools of the Future.

Finally, may I take the opportunity to thank headteachers, staff, learners and parents within Learning2Go for being so open in allowing us to have this window on their work.

I hope that these reports will be of use to you in your work and studies.

I think that I've probably made my points.

There has been a move recently on this forum to speculate on what will happen when learners bring in their own devices..... This will not be as easy as some seem to believe. Paricularly for school aged learners.

I am not saying that it will not happen. BUT we do need to be realistic about this. The approach that most seem to be taking at the moment is to procure the devices on behalf of parent and learners to make the classroom adoption easier with this new technology, this has been very successful, and has given us the body of research knowledge that we have at the moment.

The base functionality of many of the devices constantly offered as options on this forum, only (In my opinion) offer limited learner engagement. Can the web based apps that you talk about, be accessed and used meaningfully on the average windows smartphone Graham?

Most musical equipment is procured/ loaned from school and is covered by school procured agreements.

Much of the research currently available on mobile learning points towards how difficult it is for schools to cope with multiple devices of the same type. This is challenging enough.... I await with interest, the results of any projects which use multiple devices, which are bought in from home. I hope that the results of these projects will be as freely published as our work from Learning2Go.

As Andy Black asked, are there any schools out there doing this at the moment, which is beyond pushing content to devices?

Hi,
Don't want to prolong this discussion toooo much, but the point is that even if Insurance companies were persuaded to insure a device for day to day use in school. (and I am not convinced that they would on a mass scale - given our experience with "Speciallist" insurers on the Learning2Go initiative) If the school had asked learners to bring the devices in then it would surely take the responsibility for this.

Not to mention the logistical nightmare of trying to teach in a situation where some learners had devices and others didn't... some were insured others weren't... I just feel that someone needs to think through the practical issues here.

I am sure that in the near future, that when the basic funtionality of higher end phones enables authoring of work not just passive consumption of content, then I can see schools encouraging the purchase of school devices from a recommended menu. Probably with a bulk negotiated insurance...

This is probably the halfway house situatiuon that might appeal to schools... but we ain't there yet!



Regards

D