mobile learning in a taxi …

BLOOM-ing marvellous! We are in the closing stages of a great project called BLOOM, which is all about using m-learning in the workplace (in this case, for the transport sector).

Have a look at this great little video of our mobile learning solution being used by Taxi drivers while waiting on the rank (errm … no … not while driving!)

A great example of how mobile learning can help you reach the parts other types of learning can’t

 

Hope you like it – and please leave us comments with your thoughts. We are thinking of releasing a couple of other, similar case study videos if there is demand for them

m-learning authoring tool: huge discount available

The latest version of the popular MyLearning Author was released this week, and to help us celebrate, there is a 30% discount for all new licenses bought before the end of the month (March 2009).

 

What's new?

• No longer just "WindowsMobile", your content can play back on many more mobile devices including several smartphones, UMPC, Mac, Linux, Windows ...
• Some great new activities, including a mobile survey builder
• More ways to share your courses (with other authors, as well as with your learners)
• Revamped installers for your courses
• Many usability improvements, as suggested by our (very) active users!

 

• for all the specific details please visit the MyLearning author pages on the m-learning.org site

 

Can I upgrade?

Of course! If you already have a valid license you can upgrade for free. If your license has expired you can renew for even cheaper (50% off).

 

What about courses?

We have over 20 mobile courses available right now, but are also happy to help you customise (and mobilise) any existing resources you may have.

 

You want some?

Over 5000 happy learners can't be wrong ... If you want to start making your own, engaging mobile content with our tried and tested author, dive right into our online shop right now, or chat to any our mobile team at ctadsales.education@tribalgroup.co.uk

 

Happy mobile course creating!

British schools scoop USA mobile learning award!

Mobile Learning is starting - slowly - to build momentum in the states, and today that momentum picked up some speed.

At mobilelearning09, a discrete collection of the main players in US industry, education and government got together in the President's Ballroom in Washington DC to celebrate some embryonic US projects, and help steer them towards something bigger and bolder.

It was an insightful day with a wide range of contributions, but the highlight for the small British contingent was the 1st Annual Mobile Learning Award 

The day ended with the award ceremony - celebrating the most significant contribution to mobile learning in schools ... and with much excitement and cheering was won by ...

Dave Whyley and his team from Learning2Go in Wolverhampton!

 

Go Dave!

If you are still living in the Dark Ages and haven't heard about it, Learning2Go is a bold, very well respected collection of projects run across several Wolverhampton schools (at all ages), using smart phones to transform the way learners are learning, and teaching are supporting them.

Go look it up.

Tribal are proud supporters of Learning2Go, and love the fact that kids as young as 5 are making use of our tools and content. Several Learning2Go schools use our MyLearning Author to make their own mobile learning resources.

 

The UK contingent was pretty small as the event was a very US-centric affair, but our vibrant mobile community was represented by David and Gavin of Learning2Go, as well as Geoff Stead of Tribal (www.m-learning.org) - we did our best to share lessons from our far more mature m-learning market place and left excited by future prospects for m-learning in the USA.

 

Thanks all for a great event, and big congratulations to Learning2Go

m-Learning in the USA

The USA has been punching way below it's weight in m-learning for quite some time, but it feels like the giant is slowly awakening:

1: I am on my way to meet the US Navy, who have invited us to run a mobile learning project with them

the details are not yet public, but we hoping to integrate the best of mobile learning with their high-performance e-learning system

2: Tomorrow I will be at a mobile learning "think tank" in Washington DC

mobilelearning09.org looks small, but hopefully perfectly formed ... with a large number of people I have not heard of in the m-learning arena before. Lets see what's happening in the US!

3: A great looking m-learning content site is being launched tomorrow, at http://cc.mlearnopedia.com

In their infinite wisdom(!) Tony Karrer and Judy Brown have linked their content aggregator to our humble blog ... so if you visit cc.mlearnopedia.com don't be surprised to find out about us all over again!

 

We look forward to finding out more, and reporting back on what's happening in US mobile learning!

(I am doing my first "blogging on a plane" ... so not sure exactly when this will go live!)

m-learning in 2009: predictions

The ever-charming Graham and his crew over at handheldlearning convinced a group of us to attempt a prediction about what would happen in the world of m-learning in 2009.

Here were my thoughts, in a christmas-pudding-inspired pantomime stylee:

Several of the large scale vendors and suppliers of VLEs, laptops, mobile phones will start talking seriously about mobile learning (YAY)

but they will dramatically over-simplify it to suit their own agenda (BOO).

For example saying they support m-learning, when all they mean is that you can do a small subset of their e-learning on a micro browser.

Phone providers will start selling their phones as m-learning tools (YAY), when all they are really interested in is increased data income (BOO).

Content providers will start supporting m-learning too (YAY), but many will merely be squashing big-screen learning on to smaller screens and thinking that they have got it (BOO)

The risk with this swell of well-meaning but slightly misguided support is that some of the real innovation that currently surrounds mobile learning might get swamped by these simplified ideas. (AAAHHH)

But all is not lost, because the number of mainstream tools that empower m-learning will continue to get easier (and cheaper) to use. (YAY) Think podcasting, think GPS devices and maps, think portable media and game players.

As the body of research grows, showing that m-learning really does work, increasing number of teachers will give these tools a go (YAY) and their cost of entry will go down as increasing numbers of learners will come to class carrying their own, rich media, learning enabed device (whether a smart phone, a UMPC or a game device).

Will this have come true by the end of 2009? Without a doubt!

But all is not lost ... if you are one of those vendors / suppliers / publishers, and you really want to get to know m-learning spend a little time cruising the many many successful m-learning projects around the globe and speaking to real teachers and learners. There is good stuff out there. I know I will be!

See if you can prove all my negative (BOO) predictions wrong ... check back this time next year to find out! :-)

Which book changed your life?

Mobile learning works for lots of reasons.

• It might work for you because you can learn where you want.
• It might work for me because my phone is the only connection I have to the internet, and my classmates.
• It works for some of our excluded learners because it reaches them, and (if we are lucky), is part of their "ah-ha!" moment.

I love stories of those "ah-ha!" moments. The sudden thing that turned on a light for a learner who had stopped engaging in their learning. Several years ago we made an adult numeracy product (the numbers disc) that had an entire section dedicated to learner stories. Collecting them was a real inspiration.

Today I found a great one. It was nothing to do with "mobile", but all to do with "learning". I stumbled on it on one of the OU discussion forums asking which book changed your life.

'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' by Gibbon. I was 21, on state benefits, with a baby and a toddler. I kept renewing the library book in the hope that one day I might finish it.

On about the 8th renewal the librarian asked me if I had ever considered studying with the Open University. He gave me a leaflet with the contact details.

I graduated BSc Hons 2.1 nine years later.

I will always be grateful to that kind librarian. 'Decline and Fall' changed my life.

 

Is that inspiring, or what!

Teddies and telephones in space

It is a "proud dad" moment.

My daughter has been working on a science project to send 4 teddy bears into space.

They launched successfully a few days ago, and this morning almost every newspaper in the UK today is reporting on it (with all the predictable puns):

• Teddies Boldly Go Where No Bear Has Gone Before
• A giant leap for bear-kind (sun)
• Space bears are teddy for lift-off (metro)
• Giant step for teddies as Britain rejoins space race (times)
• British teddy bears are out of this world
• Ground control to major Ted (guardian)

She and her friends are justifiably glowing with pride - her bear, called MAT, is pictured on the left

The teddies went up with a helium balloon, got to an altitude of over 30 km, (temperature below -50 C) and landed safely on the coast after 2 hours of flight.

They travelled in style, connected to Nova 9 (the "mothership") built by CUSpaceflight - a group of Cambridge University students inspired by low-budget space flight.

On board was a few cameras, a super lightweight computer and GPS chip to track it, a radio to report back to the team on the ground ... and ... in case of emergencies ... a mobile phone!

Any teenager could tell you that in case of emergencies, you need to be able to send a text message to someone to pick you up. Nova 9 was no different.

The project was part of an outreach by CUSPaceflight, and the kids - science clubs from two local schools - were experimenting with different insulation and protective layers and clothing for their bears, to keep them from freezing solid.

Find out more by Googling Teddies in space or pick a couple of these links:

Local TV news

Press releases

Photos and more