Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

My newsfeed gatherer picked up this article from a site called trainingzone.co.uk entitled "Whatever happened to the mlearning craze?"

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=187317


It's an interesting article as much for what it misses as what it discusses (some of which I do agree with).

I say misses because it seems to draw its evidence for the prosecution from a a visit to BETT 2008 which apparently reflected a "feverish interest in mobile learning technologies" which the author compares to some off the cuff comments by e-learning veteran (and old friend of mine from the CDi days), Donald Clark, who was being provocative in his blog.

Perhaps because the article is focussed on the corporate sector it misses the fact that mobile phone technology is the most inclusive of all technologies ever, i.e. more people on the planet have one than don't.

It misses the fact that there has been some astonishing progress in the use of mobile and ubiquitous technologies in learning and teaching practice over the past 12 months not least of which the projects funded via MoLeNET, the ALPS project in Yorkshire, the game based learning activities in Scotland and so on.

The article also misses, and this must surely be the worse case of simply not even bothering to do a quick Google as a spot of research, the fact that two of the biggest events in the mobile learning calendar are coming up this October in the UK, namely mLearn and Handheld Learning 2008!

Last but by no means least, it also missed that Donald Clark who is a main reference for the article is chairing the "Three of the Best" session at this years HHL conference.


 

It's sad to see just how myopic some people are about mobile learning. What's powerful is its support for the mobility of the learner. As humans we are continually learning, but the technology we currently use fragments that learning into incompatible chunks. Mobile learning is about connecting that learning, across time, location and communities - not just about delivering instructional content to small devices

Hi David

First, I should say that I am no more a Nintendo fan than I have an appreciation for a variety of technologies with an interest in how they can be used beyond their intended purpose, i.e. for new learning. In chez Brown-Martin we have iPhones, iPods, PSPs, PS1, 2 and 3 (don't forget that HHL's Chairman is ex boss of Sony Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) and iMac, Mac Mini, iBook, a couple of Powerbooks, a couple of EEE PC's and a Windows PC plus probably the largest collection of PDAs, Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices outside of a museum. I also have an original Newton Messagepad and a real Star Trek Classic Tricorder prop 

More importantly we have a very good alarm system wired to the Police and a big dog 

So I'm a geek and an agnostic one at that 

Several manufacturers were offered the opportunity to provide delegates at this years conference with a device. Originally we wanted to give people a choice of three. But in the end only one device came through at a price that made sense.

And it's this point that I was making in my response. The $100 laptop designed by academia became the $180 laptop when, at the time, you ordered a million of them. At the same time you could walk into a toy shop or go on Amazon and buy a single Nintendo DS for $129. Add another $20 and you get Brain Training, the single most successful e-learning title ever that made mental arithmetic cool and spanned generations.

This is not about me being a fan of any particular technology but recognising that the technology that many learners already have is far more powerful than what many think they should have at school. We also have to recognise the economies of scale that means we (and more importantly government agencies) can no longer ignore the consumer electronic industry. This extends not just to hardware but also to software.

My further point is that technology will not solve learning challenges but good teachers will and that by understanding the world in which learners inhabit these teachers can draw out rich and deep learning experiences.

This is not a new thing. Teaching music can be done the hard way by learning notation before playing a single note or perhaps more easily by motivating a student by encouraging them to play their favourite tune first then building around that experience.

What are "tens of thousands of WinMob devices", very few of which are used in schools or by young learners, against over 70 million Nintendo DS and 40 Million PSPs or for that matter 3.3 billion mobile phones?

The first keyboard a child will ever use will be that of a gaming console, TV remote or phone. Why do some people get all nostalgic over the QWERTY keyboard and treat a cut-down laptop that short changes our children as if it was the second coming?

Are we talking about learning here or ICT?

We've spent billions on ICT over the years, how much impact has this had on learning?