Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

Hi Beano,

Great to hear from a real learner on this forum, perhaps you could encourage some of your other friends to post how they are getting on as well.  We've really enjoyed working with your school.

Steve

Congratulations Dr.

No doubt your conference rates will have to increase!

Dear All,

If anyone requires EEE PC's, WildKey currently has access to about 1500 devices @ £199+VAT Each.

For more details drop me a line gowild@wildkey.co.uk

We've got lots of exciting announcements coming up about the next phase of WildKey, so watch this space for our announcements.

In the mean time, you will be able to see as at the following events over the next few months:

Next week Bradford CLC technology Event & The Outdoor Learning Festival nr Leeds with over 4000 children attending.

We have also confirmed our attendance at the SSAT Annual Conference, The Scottish learning Festival, M-Learn2008 and of course Handheld Learning 2008.

We're hoping some of our customers are going to enter the X-Factor competition, and maybe we can persuade a few teachers to go for Dragons Den, and for anyone not booked yet, we've got a code that will get you a discount, so get in touch, and get your Nintendo DS!

Steve

Couldn't agree with you more Chris, it was an incredible evening, very emotional, and exceptionally eye opening to the issues that these young people deal with on a daily basis.

This project is a testament to the funding that Molenet has made available, and i was blown away with the quality of the work that the students and all the stakeholders have produced.

Also interesting comment from Vodafone on the consumer tarriff for free internet at 500MB.

My wife is on a Voda contract and having spoken to them last night, i now have e-mail confirmation from Vodafone that they have to state a cap of 500MB as nothing is truly unlimited, but the rate per MB after you reach 500MB is £0.00 per MB or part thereafter, so i think Voda perhaps has got the edge for anyone on a £25 per month tariff.

Certainly the device and package that we have been offering our customers recently appears to have hit the mark.

Using the Tytn II from HTC via Vodafone, we have a truly unlimited data tariff, no limits or additional bills, in fact there is just a one off payment for the 2 years rather than monthly billing, will all data being routed via a whitelist that is going through BECTA approval as we speak.  If you look online the device itself is usually in the £400+ price mark, and for £479+VAT The SIMM provided will not allow phone calls so schools can be safe in the knowledge they won't be hit by unexpected charges as has been the case in several situations in the past.

Now this solution may not be suitable for all, but going back to a previous post of Graham's where the Home Access device spec are soon to be announced, how can an offering like this NOT be a serious consideration?

http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,58/topic,1258.msg0/boardseen,boardseen#new

"A fairly timely announcement as laptop suppliers gird their loins and catalogues for the announcement of specifications from the "Home Access Task Force", expected in September, intended to provide Internet and digital access to learning for the many young learners and families who are considered to be without. It is understood that the device spec for this initiative has been largely developed in consultation with RM and that non-laptop or desktop PC devices such as smart phones or gaming consoles were not regarded as relevant access devices."

W

Its not free, but per device is very good value, I can thoroughly recommend Sumsonline - http://www.sums.co.uk/

Have a chat with David.

Steve

"If they are discussing in groups or pairs, then checking that they are on task is more difficult, but still perfectly feasible. However, give the children small handheld mobile devices then the situation changes. How do you know what they are doing? Are they writing or searching the internet or are they playing a game on their handheld? There is no way of telling unless you can see what they have on their screen. First implication then, the room layout has to change. The teacher needs to be at the centre of things, to be able to move easily between the different groups and talk partners to see, hear and know what learning is happening in their room. "

Dear Phil,

Have you considered SynchronEyes from SMART for your devices, you can download a free 30 dy trial from them.  You can manage all of the devices from your laptop \ PC, pull up indiividual screens onto your whiteboard, take control of a device, or lock all devices with a message such as Eys To the Front.  You just need a very reliable wireless network to make it work.

Following on the success of the EEE PC from Asus, Elonex are launching a £99 laptop at the Ed Show.  Details are still fairly sketchy, but it got coverage in The Times at the weekend.

Here's the press release:

Elonex ONE Product Launch
“Introducing the Elonex ‘ONE’ laptop, the UK’s first sub £100 laptop. Aimed at the Education Sector, the ONE is an ultra-portable laptop that gives wireless access to internet, eMail, word processing and spreadsheets. These functions are the fundamental building blocks which form the foundation of a child’s computing skills which can then be developed throughout their education. The ONE is designed to engage and motivate children and will open up a wide range of new and innovative teaching methods.”
Sam Goult, Marketing Manager at Elonex, comments “This pioneering technology has been developed to help nurture our children’s education, to integrate them into the modern digital world that we all now belong to. The ONE removes the cost barrier that has prevented the one-laptop-per-person, large-scale uptake of computers in the education system that has for so long been just a pipe-dream. Investment in digital technology is paramount to help the next generation achieve their full potential.” The ONE will help to achieve a balance and equality in the education of the classes. Figures published by The Conservatives in Dec 2007 show that the gap in the educational performance between pupils in the 10 per cent richest and poorest areas of the UK was 20 percentage points, and widening. The obstacle inhibiting low-income households from access to modern computing has now been eliminated, which will help to restore this unfair disadvantage. Elonex has made the ONE a possibility through extensive R&D and the specific modification of electronics technology to achieve the sub £100 laptop. The price is also achieved with a request to the government to make the product VAT exempt & support from corporate sponsors whom are currently going through the selection process. Sam Goult continues “The ONE has been designed to be an Education based resource, but the variety of uses are almost limitless. We also expect the sub £100 laptop to be a huge success with adult learners, business users, people who are constantly mobile, elderly people and first time internet users. We anticipate the ONE will prove to be a success throughout the UK and we expect to bring low cost computing to Europe and beyond.” The ONE wll be launched at The Education Show at the NEC. The exhibition, which showcases emerging educational resources and practices, is held at the NEC Birmingham from 28th Feb to 1st Mar. Elonex will launch the ONE laptop in Hall 11 at Stand U5. For more information please visit www.elonex.com or www.education-show.com

Steve

WildKey (Stand SW141)
Visit us in the software zone upstairs on stand, and find out more about our exciting plans for the WildKey product range for 2008.


Steljes (Stand B50)
WildKey will be running at least 4 different workshops, showcasing our key products in use in different educational situations. There will be one workshop each day between 11.30 and 12.00.  Spaces will be limited so arrive early!

Sciencescope (Stand N59)
Sciencescope will be demonstrating how you can integrate their data logging equipment directly into our WildData software.  Visitors to Sciencescope & WildKey's stands can have their pulse rates checked to find out just how stressful BETT can be.

Samsung Electronics (Stand E96)
WildKey are developing a range of titles for use on the Q1 Ultra, find out more at BETT.

Re Download of Exhibition Map.  Sorry to those of you who experienced a problem with the download this morning.  Everything is back to normal and the interactive Map of the HHL Exhibition can now be downloaded again!

www.wildkey.co.uk/hhl2007/hhl2007.htm 

Steve

Which links into Stephen Heppels article in the Guardian yesterday nicely:

I've said before how exciting it is to see a generation hooked on the mind-stretching challenges of Nintendo's Big Brain Academy, but Robertson thought he would trial a daily first-thing-in-the-morning workout for the children's brains using just that.

It will be no surprise to readers that performances got better in some key areas of the curriculum, but new orders of merit also emerged as unexpected performances showed new and unrecognised potential.

Being Brainy became cool, too, and it has been quite a while since schools students regarded anything related to school technology as cool.

Full article


http://education.guardian.co.uk/link/story/0,,2170991,00.html

Good to see a whole paper dedicated to mobile learning, rather than just the odd article - and of course a few plugs for us at WildKey in it too.

I've just noticed details on RedHalo of a free 1GB account for 250,00 users.  Does anyone know what this is about?