Just a quick report on the WMTE 2005 conference in Tokushima, and the meeting of G1:1 (
www.g1to1.org) before it.
The G1:1 meeting was the latest in the travelling roadshow for mLearning research leaders. The main focus of this meeting was on setting up a component exchange - so that labs can swap software and methods, or submit software that other centres could test and report on. But the issue of the $100 laptop shceme was also raised. Inspired in part by Graham's posting to the Forum (which I showed to the meeting) on the importance of considering not just the hardware, but the learning and educational context, followed by some passionate debate, we agreed to produce an 'open letter' for release to the press. We've now produced the letter, with 25 signatories from some 12 different countries. I've attached a copy to this posting, and it should be sent out to the media tomorrow.
The WMTE conference went well. It was superbly organised by Hiroaki Ogata and colleagues, with much banqueting and dancing. Around 150 people attended, with the UK the best represented country after Japan, and it was a valuable meeting of Asian, European and US perspectives. The best presentation was by Sanaz Fallahkhair from University of Brighton on her work with Lyn Pemberton and Richard Griffiths on Interactive TV and mobile phones for language learning. The best paper was from Chen-Chung Liu and Lin-Chuan Kao an evaluation of the use of large displays to support small group interaction with handhelds (so that the group could view and compare their handheld activities on the large screen). Other highlights included two special sessions on language learning ( a major theme of the conference), and a presentation from John Brecht of SRI on scenarions for the future of mobile learning that had been developed at a previous G1:1 workshop in Taiwan.
Mike
FORUM
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