THE WORLD IN 2009: ICT FACTS AND FIGURES:A decade of ICT growth driven by mobile technologies

Report from international telecoms union if you had any doubts that the world is mobile read this report http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/Telecom09_flyer.pdf

lots of detailsbut high level stuff along with mobile subscriptions still growing at 15%

-Mobile cellular has been the most rapidly adopted technology in history.Today it is the most popular and widespread personal technology on the
planet, with an estimated 4.6 billion subscriptions globally by the end of 2009
-Mobile broadband subscriptions overtook fixed broadband subscribers in
2008, highlighting the huge potential for the mobile Internet
-In 2009, more than a quarter of the world’s population are using the Internet

worth a read a look at the tables .

Over the Air 2009

The date for over the air 2009 appears to be emerging likely date is 25/26th September.

Its not on there blog yet http://overtheair.org/blog/ what is over the air simply its a

"Bringing together developers, designers, hackers and entrepreneurs to explore the exciting future of wireless and mobile devices/applications."

M-posium

Great synopsis of last weeks Learner Higher CETL M-posium at Manchester Metropolitain University  article by Bob Harrison on Merlin John Online . Great contributors if you ignore my efforts.

http://www.agent4change.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319:mobile-learning-warning-for-schools-m-posium&catid=65:conferences&Itemid=194

following COSN conference in Austin Texas via twitter

Well I know Vanessa Pittard presented our web 2.00 work commissioned in UK schools by Becta at the Consortium fro School Networking Schools conference in the USA but other presentations are there as well .

http://www.k12schoolnetworking.org/2009/index.cfm they are also running a twitter feed http://twitter.com/CoSN

Worth following you can find conference programme here
Full conference programme can be downloaded here

some UK flavoured ones


Stephen Lucey of Becta presented on
TH501: UK Leadership: Home Connection and
Innovation Strategies


Another UK prsentation by
W306: Integrating SMS for education – the
European experience
MR412
Steve Sidaway, Sales & Marketing Director, txttools.co.uk,
Leeds, UK
Mobile phones are now universally available and accepted.
They are transforming how students interact and with each
other, with organizations and with ideas, and this is only the
beginning. The technology is there but each university, college
and school must explore and experiment with what it can do
for them and their students. This presentation will draw case
examples from one of the largest education message
communities in Europe.

Long way away but whats distance with technology anyhow.

Learning Lab free TXT in education event

other technologies products are available ;-) Now I myself am on jury service but a chance to see Mike Short of O2 do a keynotes got to be worth a shot and its free.

Learning Lab and Edutxt are pleased to announce its one day conference at Priorslee Hall, Telford at the Shropshire Campus of the University of Wolverhampton.

Every student and 98% of parents have a mobile phone capable of sending and receiving SMS text messages. It is undeniably socially and digitally inclusive. Desktop SMS is now being used in hundreds of Universities, Colleges and Schools. This is your opportunity to find out from peers why.

This one day FREE* event is designed to give you an insight into how colleges and universities are utilising this simple technology to dramatically improve the way they communicate with their students and peers.

Learn from people who have been using this technology every day for years Experience practical case examples delivered by users
Understand how you will improve your service to students

Keynote by Mike Short, Vice President of Research and Development O2 register for your FREE* place now at:

Web: http://www.learninglab.org.uk

alternatve link and details here

Students appropriation of technology and new media

Had the pleasure of attending Professor John Cooks inaugural lecture a week or so ago the slides are on slideshare worth a look .

The digitally literate learner and the appropriation of new technologies and media for education

View more presentations from John Cook. (tags: personalised mobile)

http://www.slideshare.net/johnnigelcook/the-digitally-literate-learner-and-the-appropriation-of-new-technologies-and-media-for-education

100 facebook friends

Well Ewan Micintosh was my 50th facebook friend and interestingly he has a link to my 100th Carole Fetcher of intutitive media . Carole Ewan and Marc Prensky and Stphen Heppel and Keri Facer of MMU were on a panel at handheld Learning 2008 . I asked a question of them about the elephant in the room holding up progressing the education system via the Txttools sms system used very effectivelly at the conference . I will post there responese later . Whats really scary I looked up Carole earler on facebook today and nearly did a friends request but was halted by dodgy connectivity so Carole you got there first .


All in all top event handheld learning top event and meal out last night was great !!

The mobile fest has started !!

Molenet
Went to the Molenet dissemination conference on the 18th September get a very bland report here Iam assurred video and more etailed reports will follow. Keypoint apart from great stuff done by colleges is that more money is up for grabs next year details here

Mlearn2008 starts next week well worth a look details here some really interesting slots a distinctly international flavour .

Then week after next at the brewery in London Handheld Learning 2008 including a great FREE day on the Monday . Nicely titled a Handheld Learning Festival day

Its going to be great but exhausting !!!

Handheld Learning 2008

When doing a bit of site maintenance I noticed I had the link for Handheld Learning 2007 in my links in the side bar . Well I have updated it worth keeping an eye on it regularly because I know its being updated very regularly . http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/

plus of course its in the sidebar !!

vodafone unlimited data package for free

Not my words review the small print and remember other operators are available . Is this another step towards the tipping point for mobile you decide ???

Vodafone has just announced that all new and currentcustomers on monthly plans will now have an Unlimited Data Packagethrown in for free. Until now Vodafone had charged £7.50 to add theirUnlimited Data package to a monthly plan.

Of course in the Mobile Industry "Unlimited" is always finite and limited bya fair-use policy. In the past Vodafone have set this limited at a thrifty120MB but the announcement indicates that the limit has been raised toa more useful 500MB.

Learning in emerging markets - the impact of mobile technologies session at London Knowledge lab

Sadly I cant make but hope you can its in the afternoon Thursday 24

http://www.lkl.ac.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&Itemid=27&agid=155&year=2008&month=04&day=24

The description is very tempting

ICT for education is still an issue in emerging countries due to lack
of connectivity, access and digital divide regarding teacher training
and content production adequate for the means being used. In recent
years, the mobile has grown tremendously. Brazil's population of 192
million people now owns 130 million mobile phones. Consequently, this
media is assuming roles in learning and social networking, offering a
reliable user-base never seen before.
We will discuss somescenarios and see some different usages of mobile technologies that areaffecting formal ICT inside and outside classrooms.

HP Mini-Note 2133 UMPC or not UMPC

Now the fact its qwerty keyboard is only 8% smaller than usual laptop keyboards (whats usual anymore) is this a UMPC or low format laptop you decide two posts from our friends at engadget

this one has spec

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/08/hp-mini-note-2133-officially-official/

this one has cost range

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/08/hp-2133-mini-note-pc-on-sale-now/

is it a good box or a good buy as usual you decide . Is it handheld ? So many choices oh what fun !!

Looking forward to MLearn2008

I know its months away but book early !!!
I was lucky enough to visit one of the venues while presenting at the "The Learning Lab" as part of there seminar program . They've got

• web 2.0
  
• text messaging in education
• iPod technologies for learning innovation
• ePortfolios- Profiles for Employability

see the full list here

The website for Mlearn2008 in October is here

I also visited a location of part of the event at Ironbridge often cited as the birth place of the industrial revolution .

see the slidr show below of the few shots I took.
Created with flickrSLiDR.

Molenet projects read all about it !!!

If you've been following my blog for a while you might know of my enthusiasm for mobile learning. I am lucky enough to be on the expert group for the Molenet project managed by the Learning and Skills Network and funded by the Learning and Skills Council . The team who are really busy have finally produced this document summarising the projects who have successfully won funding you can down load the PDF or order hard copies at the following link

This publication provides an overview of the MoLeNET initiative, the UK's largest and most diverse implementation of mobile learning. The Learning and Skills Council and consortia led by Further Education colleges are together investing well over £7 million in MoLeNET with 32 projects, supported by a Support and Evaluation Programme led by LSN, in This publication provides an overview of the MoLeNET initiative, the UK's largest and most diverse implementation of mobile learning. The Learning and Skills Council and consortia led by Further Education colleges are together investing well over £7 million in MoLeNET with 32 projects, supported by a Support and Evaluation Programme led by LSN.

Forget the term EDA or PDA its a MID

Well according to the stuff coming out of the consumer electronics show (CES) in the states.

Interstingly the producer eeepc ASUS has three different offerings in the mobile device market and interestingly a four if you count there internet radio.
Mobile Internet Device

1. eepc the linux based entry level low format device
2. R50A UMPC a so called rich media device with connectivity and GPS functinality built in.
3. P527 Cell (mobile )Phone.

other manufactures are follwing this degree of vertical integration so forget WMD and lookout for MID. Theyve won three awards at CES.

Winning Product	Description	Category
Eee PC	Mobile Internet Device that Makes it Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, and Easy to Play	Computer Hardware
R50A UMPC	Revolutionary UMPC that Redefines “Mobile” with Full PC and GPS functionality	Computer Hardware
P527 Cell Phone	Elegant GPS Cell Phone	Telephones
ASUS Internet Radio	Listen to Worldwide Broadcasts with ASUS Internet Radio	Personal Electronics

Andy in print in publication education business

The article I wrote on "Mobile Learners ,not Mobile Learning" on behalf of Becta has been publshed Ok its not a thesis but it has come out ok especially pleased to get sms refrences and environmental angle in there.
Nice to see a publcation that publishes whole articles on the web. Read article at http://www.educationbusinessuk.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336&Itemid=10