Thomas Cochrane views on Mlearn

Not the same as mine but still valid he like the SMS stuff well done Steve !!!!

http://thomcochrane.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/mlearn-2008/

Mlearn2008 Exceeds wildest expectations and rfid first

Excuse the lack of long post but just got say Mlearn2008 was the best conference I've attended in a while . why well here's my feedback

1) Quality of papers without doubt high quality throughout
2) Keynotes not on duff one amongst them and interesting mix of commercial, policy focused and awesomely academic.
3) Exhibitors only a few but quality people
4) Social activity two great evening socials
5) Attendees really great mix those awesome South Africans, New Zealanders (Selena Chan and Thomas Cochrane blew my head off !!) those Awesome Aussie and a real great mix of other people from around the world.
6) Dr Chris Dennett and his working like devils with rfid and bluetooth stuff. The first education conference in the world to use rfid to inform its audience throughout . example of one clip sent to my phone
I will blog it loads but just to tired now


well done organising committee anyone fancy Florida next year !!!

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 !!!

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.

The Changing Faces of Learning: a 1-day conference on current and emergent learning technologies.

This event at the Learning Lab on 6th February might be worth a look ignore the fact yours truly is speaking.

http://www.learninglab.org.uk/asp/conference.home.asp?ses=&typechk=2

The learning lab site is worth a look especially now John Traxler is heading it up.

Its part of the build up to Mlearn 2008 in October http://www.mlearn2008.org/

More detail on Mlearn below

mLearn was the first conference on Mobile Learning and is widely recognised as one of the most prestigious international conferences in the field. mLearn 2008, hosted by the University of Wolverhampton, School of Computing and IT, will take place on the edge of historic and rural Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Important dates for your Diary:

Conference Dates
Tues 7th (pre-conf. Workshops)
Wed 8th to Fri 10th October (mid-afternoon finish)

Submission Dates
Full papers - final date for submission for review is 14 April 2008 midnight GMT
Short papers - final date for submission for review is 28 April 2008 midnight GMT
Posters - final date for submission for review is 28 April 2008 midnight GMT

Two reflections on Mobile Learning from different parts of the world

Two articles looking back at how far mobile learning has progressed since the first MLearn conference in Birmingham in 2002 to Mlearn2007 in Melbourne .

The first by Bob Harrison from the United Kingdom well known and well published Mlearning evangelists his article reflecting on Handheld Learning 2007 held in London and linking to Mlearn2007 in Melbourne the article widely published in this case can be read on futurelab blog flux link here

The second article by Caryl Oliver from Australia who was chair of Mlearn2007 the article can be found at the is link

Knowing both of them interesting to note they have a real passion for Vocational Education and interest in emerging pedagogy around Mobile Learners.

Interestingly in my interpretation both pieces talk of the growth of mobile learning and how its focus is changing but both highlight either outright or in the tone the role of pedagogy. The role that technology with the right pedagogy can enhance the learning experience.

Also don't forget Mlearn2008 http://www.mlearn2008.org Titled the Bridge from text to Context

Mlearn2008 get the date in your diary

Hi Just back after a week off in the lakes and what a lovely post to set me off blogging again.

"2007 was the year mobile wentr mainstream with Handheld learning and Mlearn2008 both in the uK this is the year its goes "MASSIVE"!!

Please see note from John Traxler about Mlearn2008 .

Johns message reads

I'm extremely pleased that I can now announce publicly that mLearn, the world's flagship mobile learning conference, will take place in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ironbridge in Shropshire, England, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in October 2008. The conference started in Birmingham and has since taken place in London, Rome, Cape Town, Banff and Melbourne.

The aims of the conference are to bring together the world's leading mobile learning researchers, developers and activists in a environment that will stimulate dramatically increased deployment of mobile learning and catalyse dramatically enhanced innovation. The key notes will include Prof Yrjö Engerstrom and Prof Diana Laurillard

The themes are

• mobile learning, mobile knowledge, mobile societies: covering discourse, identity, knowledge and learning with pervasive, ubiquitous, mobile technologies; social, individual and cultural aspects of mobile learning
• devices, systems, technology and standards: convergence, diversity, frontiers, trends
• mobile learning landscape: work-based, informal, subject-specific, context-aware, social
• mobile learning for all: inclusion, assistivity, scalability, embedding, participation, evaluation, evidence, assessment

and for the full paper submissions, we're assembling a world-class panel including Dr Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Dr Marcelo Milrad, Växjö University, Sweden; Dr Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Open University; Professor Roy Pea, Stanford University, USA; Professor Chee-Kit Looi, National Institute of Education, Singapore; Professor Tak-Wai Chan, National Central University of Taiwan; Professor Earl Woodruff, University of Toronto, Canada and Professor Angela McFarlane, University of Bristol, UK for double blind-reviewing. We anticipate linking with a respected journal for a special edition

The dates are: Tues 7th October for pre-conference workshops, then Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th October for the main conference. We're collaborating with Handheld Learning, Barbican Brewery, London - Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th October, giving the intervening weekend to choose London or Shropshire for sight-seeing!

As part of our registration pack, delegates will be given an ‘active’ ID badge and asked to choose one or both of the broadcast technologies available in order to allow automatic detection of the delegates throughout the conference. A benefit of this will be to record the sessions that they have attended and to automatically generate a blog as well as transmit relevant information to delegate devices. The blog can then be accessed post conference to review the individual experiences of the delegate. This technology will be carried over to the evening sessions, with the full cooperation of all venues involved.

We'll be offering the opportunity for everyone chance attend the conferences back-to-back. This has been designed by the conference committees from the outset, and a single ticket for both events will be available. The technology will allow the 'handover' of all delegates' blogs and will use similar technology at both conferences.

The conference will be endorsed and attended by all the major national e-learning bodies. The Call For Papers will go out shortly. Please get in touch if you need any extra information

Web-sites are www.mlearn2008.org and www.mlearn2008.mobi

Think about attending and presenting. Look forward to seeing everyone

Regards

John Traxler

Reader in Mobile Technology for e-Learning
Director, Learning Lab
Conference Chair, mLearn2008
School of Computing and IT
University of Wolverhampton