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Wednesday 22nd April 2009 Venue: Contact: Sylvie Steward via email or calling for further details or to request a place stewars@hope.ac.uk
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IntroductionThis one-day event aims to gather researchers, and other creative practitioners whose work focuses on mobile learning. The aim of the m-posium is for practitioners and guests to share good practice and to learn from the key themes that emerge from individual experiences. The symposium will be structured around all contributors leading a discussion outlining their experiences and sharing their successes. We will also be exploring the difficulties encountered along with issues around the further embedding of good m-learning practice. The event is being supported by the Information and Computer Sciences Subject Centre who will be talking to us on the day about the national picture. Contributions from the day will be documented and collated into a printed brochure to be distributed across the sector informing others about developments in m-learning and issues for consideration in the embedding of m-learning practice. As well as this valuable resource of collective experiences, we will also produce Podcasts and videos from the event to be disseminated via the LearnHigher website. SpeakersAndy Black, Technology Research Manager, Learning and Skills Support Manager Dr David Whyley, Head teacher and e-learning consultant for the City of Wolverhampton Jon Trinder, Dept of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Glasgow John Traxler, Reader in Mobile Technology for e-Learning; Director, Learning Lab, University of Wolverhampton Prof. John Cook, Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning at the Learning Technology Research Institute, London Metropolitan University Dr. Stephen Hagan, HEA Subject Centre in Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) Dr. Mark Stubbs, Head of Learning and Research Technologies, Manchester Metropolitan University VenueDate: Wednesday 22nd April 2009 Manchester Metropolitan University, The LearnHigher Suite, Room 201 (second Floor), Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamund St West, Manchester M15 6LL Conference organisers: Bob Glass, Sylvie Steward, Michelle verity Contact: Sylvie Steward via email or calling for further details or to request a place stewars@hope.ac.uk The event is free to attend and places are limited to 30. These will be subject to a first come first served approach. ParkingThere is no available parking on the All Saints Campus - However there is an NCP (Manchester Aquatics Centre) nearby. http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/carpark/manchester_aquatic_centre/m13/manchester/ The LearnHigher Suite, Room 201 (second Floor), Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamund St West, Manchester M15 6LL. The building is opposite the Manchester Aquatics Centre which is on Oxford Rd, Manchester. Any problems concerning reaching the venue please contact Bob Glass on 0773 483 9729. ProgrammeTea and Coffee will be available throughout the day
AbstractsMobile Learning - learner mobility the story thus far and some ideas of future challenges [Andy Black] Abstract: The UK has in many respects lead the way in trialling large scale roll outs of learner owned devices with certain pioneers. There has been evaluation and this session will report on the emerging findings and the direction in which the research points. It will also draw on some other Becta commissioned work on the roll of web 2.0 in education and learner and teacher response to these approaches. Participants will also be directed to the recently launched Emerging Technologies website www.emergingtechnology.becta.org.uk and think pieces on technologies emerging this area. Making the theory work! - Managing and supporting a large scale mobile learning initiative [Dr. David Whyley] Abstract: Imagine teaching, and at any time and place your learners can: access the internet in the palms of their hands; record videos and still photos; author PowerPoint presentations on the fly; access a digital library; produce dynamic mind maps of their project-based work. Welcome to the world of mobile learning. Using the latest handheld devices, this once dreamed of seamless integration of technology is becoming possible. How can this emerging theory be put into practice for large numbers of learners? It’s not for the faint hearted, as many challenges remain. This presentation describes the progress made within the Wolverhampton Learning2Go initiative. Device management, work flow, key applications and content, links to the learning platform will be explored as well as the key issues of classroom organisation, pedagogy, and staff and learner development. Progress and future developments of this large scale initiative will be explored. Past, Present and Future [Jon Trinder] In this session 4 main themes will be covered:- 1) An overview of mobile learning: Mobile learning now comprises of many different technologies. This section will cover some of these technologies; how we have got where we are today; and look the influence of earlier mobile projects on our current expectations. 2) What we've learned from early attempts: Both technology and students can behave in unexpected ways and this can both help and hinder the introduction of mobile learning. This section includes a discussion of specific obstacles encountered when introducing mobile learning at the University of Glasgow; and the challenges of evaluating mobile learning. 3)The Interlife project at the University of Glasgow: Mobile devices will soon be powerful enough to act as clients for 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim. Until then there is a potential for providing interaction between devices or applications used within SL and devices in the physical world. In the Interlife project we aim to utilise various mobile technologies to span these worlds. 4)The Future Used to be Better: Technology continues to evolve, some of the future is already here, other technologies are just around the corner but what might impede our progress? Learner Devices - Mobile Learning Out of Control [John Traxler] Abstract: We have a growing dichotomy and a growing problem. On the one hand, schools, colleges and universities prescribe, procure, provide and control institutional technology and hence in many respects, constrain and define the nature of education and the interpretation of learning. On the other hand, the majority of learners and the majority of people choose, use, own and understand a vast but diverse range of powerful personal technologies that allow them to create, store and transmit information, images, resources and knowledge, and to connect to communities and each other and hence, in very different senses, to engage in learning. Central to these personal technologies are mobile devices and central to this learning is 'mobile learning' (Traxler, 2008; Traxler, 2007; Winters, 2006). This presentation explores the nature and implications of this dichotomy. It is characterised as a problem since firstly at a strategic level it represents a potential and growing chasm between society at large and the institutions of formal learning and secondly at a practical level it accounts in part for the difficulty consolidating, sustaining and embedding mobile learning Urban Planning Education in Context with Mobile Phones. Phases of mobile learning inside and outside the formal educational contexts [Professor John Cook] Abstract: An urban area close to London Metropolitan University, from 1850 to the present day, is being used to explore how schools are signifiers of both urban change and continuity of educational policy and practice. The aim of this project is to provide a contextualised, social and historical account of urban education, focusing on systems and beliefs that contribute to the construction of the surrounding discourses. Another aim of this project is to scaffold the trainee teachers’ understanding of what is possible with mobile learning in terms of filed trips. The project used a combination of smart phones: HTC Advantage and HTC Diamond (running the Mediascape authoring environment http://www.mscapers.com/ on the Windows Mobile operating system) and Nokia phones for students to record their reflections about the various tasks. Users equipped with a mobile device running the Mscape player can move through the physical world and trigger digital media with GPS via an invisible interactive map, in response to their physical location. The map is then divided into areas or zones which are called when the GPS location matches the coordinates. Contextual information was provided in the form of audio commentaries that guided the tour and outlined the tasks, along with supplementary multimedia resources, such as photographs, maps, videos and QuickTime VR reconstructions of the inside of buildings. Key outcomes for the students were that the context-sensitive and location-aware GPS system made the tour easier because the information was sent to them on their devices. As two students said, “a lot of past events/information was brought to my knowledge without much struggle to access them through other means”; “it made it easier than trying to find the information every time you got somewhere”. One student said, “It gave a wider perspective for learning, it wasn't just standing looking at buildings, it gave you more information from the past with narration and images”, and another when asked about the mix of media used said, “it contextualised the area very well”. Several students commented that they were less passive than they would be on a tutor-led tour, and that the mobile tour encouraged active learning. Future work in this area will revolve around these questions. Will learners follow a ‘learning pathway’ across multiple contexts for learning? During their activity, what will the learning trail left behind by learners tell us as they move from one learning context to the next? Will it be possible to produce intervention guidelines that can be used (perhaps in modified forms) across many contexts? Barriers to the adoption of mobile technologies [Dr. Stephen Hagan] Abstract: Dr Hagan will report on the results of a survey undertaken by the Subject Centre over the first quarter of 2009 to obtain a snapshot on the adoption and deployment of mobile technologies in the support of Teaching and Learning within the ICS community. The survey specifically sought information on the barriers to the adoption of the technology, how these were overcome and tutor views on the student experience. Session Leaders’ BiographiesDr. Stephen Hagan is the Manager of the HEA Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences, based within the School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster. Dr. David Whyley has over 30 years experience as a teacher and educationalist in the City of Wolverhampton. He is an Ex- Primary Headteacher, who now, as part of the e-Services team, has the role of Headteacher Consultant - Learning Technologies for the City. The e-Services team has recently been awarded the 2008 ICT excellence award for school support. David’s expertise in learning with technology has been used by most of the major UK National educational agencies, such as the Primary National Strategy, National College for School Leadership and BECTA. He is an ICT Mark Lead assessor and an accredited NCSL facilitator. David has specialised in developing new ways of learning and teaching, exploiting both broadband and mobile technologies. David has a learner centric vision for education with personal "Any time Anywhere" access to technology at its core. As a lead member of the award winning innovative Wolverhampton “Learning2Go!” mobile learning initiative, he has presented the main findings nationally and internationally. As part of the Learning2Go team David was awarded the BECTA 2006 ICT in Practice award for Collaboration, the inaugural Management Today Award for Mobile Working, the 2009 inaugural Mobile Learning Impact Award (USA) and more recently his work in this field was recognized by the award of an honorary doctorate of technology from Wolverhampton University. WEBSITE www.learning2go.org John Traxler is Reader in Mobile Technology for e-Learning and Director of the Learning Lab at the University of Wolverhampton and of the UK Co-Lab of the American ADL network. He works with the University’s nationally-funded Centre of Excellence in Learning and Teaching looking at innovative technologies to support diverse communities of students and with the University’s Centre for International Development and Training exploring ways of using appropriate innovative technologies to deliver education in developing countries especially sub Saharan Africa. He is a Director of the International Association for Mobile Learning, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning and was Conference Chair of mLearn2008, the world’s biggest and oldest mobile learning research conference. John has co-written a guide to mobile learning in developing countries and is co-editor of the definitive book on mobile learning: Kukulska-Hulme, A. and Traxler, J. (2005) Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers, Routledge. He was invited by the British Council to present at the South African national science festival, SciFest, at Rhodes University, and invited by Microsoft to the Mobile Learning Summit in Seattle and by the Canadian government to the ICTD conference in Bangalore. In 2009 he spent a two-month spell as visiting scientist at the Meraka Institute in Pretoria supporting socially useful mobile technology projects. He advises the Swiss BioVision Foundation on appropriate technologies to support Kenya farmers and continues to work with the Kenyan government implementing national support for teachers’ in-service training using mobile phones and video. He has links Avallain AG, one of Europe’s leading e-learning system developers. He was the Evaluator for the EU FP6 m-learning project. He was previously a university lecturer in computer science and software engineering interested in programming paradigms and an adult literacy tutor, organiser and writer in a voluntary community centre. He has degrees in computer science, astronomy and engineering and a research degree in numerical methods. Jon Trinder is a part-time PhD student in the Robert Clark Centre for Technological Education at the University of Glasgow. His work has been investigating the use of mobile devices for Computer Aided Assessment and the analysis of device usage logs. Jon's background in is electronics and software engineering and network technology. His first involvement with education and PDAs was providing software for the Cornell University Mobile Mann Library project in 2000. Jon has a specific interest in user interface design and authors custom and shareware applications for www.ninelocks.com. He also works in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Glasgow University. Jon founded the pda-edu@jiscmail.ac.uk mailing list in 2002 to provide a meeting place for anyone interested in using PDA's in education to exchange information and advice. Andy Black has worked in the Education sector for more than 20 years, primarily in the land based college sector... His major interests are the use of ICT to overcome barriers to learning in disengaged and disadvantaged learners. He has worked with rural communities in this and changing staff attitudes to e learning. He has written extensively on these subjects and role of emerging technologies He has developed a sideline in demonstrating gadgets and gizmo’s along the lines of 40 gadgets in 40 minutes. He lives on line via his personal blog http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com Professor John Cook (PhD MSc BSc CEng MBCS CITP FHEA) is Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) at the Learning Technology Research Institute, London Metropolitan University. He has a cross-university role of E-Learning Project Leader and sits on the University’s small core planning group for Teaching, assessment, learning and TEL. John has over 14 years previous experience as a full-time lecturer at various HEIs and in 2007 was made a University Teaching Fellow. He has over 8 years project management experience, which includes AHRB, BECTA, HEFCE (CETL Manager 2005-2008) and EC work. Furthermore, John has been part of research and development grant proposals that have attracted £4 million in competitive external funding. In addition, he has published/presented around 200 refereed articles and invited talks in the area of TEL, having a specific interest in four related areas: informal learning, mobile learning, appropriation and ICT Leadership & Innovation. He was Chair/President of the Association for Learning Technology (2004-06); he is the Vice-Chair of ALT’s Research Committee and is a member of the Joint Information Systems Committee ‘Learning and Teaching Practice Experts Group’. John sits on various journal editorial boards and conducts Assessor and review work for the ESRC, EPSRC, EU, DfES and Science Foundation of Ireland. For more information: |
