Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

The membership of the Taskforce set-up by Jim Knight in early 2007, charged with considering and advising on ways in which home access to technology can be delivered to school-aged children in England, is as follows:

• Jim Knight MP    Minister of State for Schools and 14–19 Learners
• Graham Badman    Managing Director for Children, Families and Education, Kent County Council
• Mary Barker    General Secretary – NAACE
• David Butler    Chief Executive – National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations
• Iain Campbell    Director and GM Public Sector – Dell UK
• John Carr    Secretary, Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety
• Stephen Crowne    Chief Executive – British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
• Sue Davies    Deputy Headteacher – Balsall Common Primary School
• Gordon Frazer    Managing Director – Microsoft UK
• Jim Gamble    Chief Executive – Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)
• Karine George    Headteacher – Westfields Junior School, Yateley, Hampshire
• Sir Mark Grundy    Headteacher – Shireland Collegiate Academy, Sandwell
• Professor Sonia Livingstone   Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics
• Andy Macleod    Business Development Manager UK Public Sector – Cisco

• Jean McEntire    National Governors’ Associations (NGA)
• Lord Mitchell    Chair – e-Learning Foundation
• Mark Palmer    Client Director, UK Central Government – IBM
• Tim Pearson    Chief Executive – RM
• John Petter    Chief Operating Officer – BT Retai
• Elizabeth Reid    Chief Executive Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)
• Jerry Roest    Managing Director – DSG International
• Dominic Savage    Director General – British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA)
• Mike Short    Vice President Research and Development – O2 UK Ltd
• Ben Stimson    Director of Corporate Responsibility – BSkyB
• Ralph Tabberer    Director General for Schools Directorate – DCSF
• Tristan Wilkinson    Director Public Sector – Intel
• Derek Wise    Headteacher – Cramlington Community High School, Northumberland

No offence intended to anyone on this list but it's like the consumer electronics and mobile handset industry doesn't exist.

Hi James

Understood and with the utmost respect to Mike, he does not represent the handset manufacturers merely those companies that provide connectivity.

 

I firmly believe that education is not a mechanism but a social process that has at its heart a power relationship that, although well-intentioned, is unable or maybe is not prepared to really look inside itself in order to make the necessary changes that are required to maximise the potential of our children. What on earth does this have to do with this thread you may ask? Well, what I read in relation to the £300 million spend suggests more of the same in relation to the technologies that we are putting in to the hands of our children. Is there clear evidence to say that this will be money well spent in terns of bang for buck?

Our work in Scotland is heavily influenced by the need to reflect on the cultural value of resources and the experiences and expertise that children can bring to school as a result of what they do outside school. We have been using commercially available games devices in Scottish schools for over two years now and we are continually met with teachers and pupils who cannot stop talking about the learning that has been happening in classrooms and the transformational (yes I do mean to use this word) attitudes to self and to learning by very many children involved with our projects. This for me has a real message for social justice for our children. Too many of our children fail in schools and don't achieve because the general model doesn't fit them. These children are able, they want to learn, they want to feel valued but sometimes what they get in school doesn't do this for them... Some of the work that we do attempts to merge the domain of school and all its hidden messages of status, power and place with the domain of the learner. A heavy influence has been on the domain of the computer game and we have attempted to merge these domains so that we could meet all learners on their own territory. As I said, we have had great success with this and are getting disaffected kids  engaging with learning willingly as a result of some our work.

I am not saying for one minute that every child should be given a DS or PSP, or that every school should have Wiis, Xboxes and PS3s (not yet anyway ;-)) but surely this group must be looking at what schools are doing with these dynamic and sometimes brilliant resources and what that means for any strategy designed to have REAL impact on engaging the 21st Century learner. Are we prepared to get out of our comfort zone? Can we move out of an adult mind-set or do we have the confidence to embrace non-traditional ICTs and put them in the heart of learning and the hands of our brilliant youngsters?

I hope that this group can at least get their hands on some of the commercially available games that have been in use, reflect on the theoretical perspective for their use in class and even find out how schools are using them and what the impact on learning is.