mLearnCon 2012

I was honoured to do a Key Note at mLearnCon 2012 in Silicon Valley, sharing a combined session with Clarke Quinn (@Quinnovator) and /David Metcalf (@dmetcalf)

It was a fun and dynamic session, which seemed to catch the right mix of theory, practise and vision. See my presentation, below:

The session was focussed on some practical lessons from the field (the 3 of us are major m-learning veterans!). My key themes were:

Mobile is NOW, and personal - when your learners are already mobile web users, and smartphones are already mainstream … it is pointless debating whether m-learning is good or not. It is already here. We just need to get better at harnessing it!

One size does not fit all – there isn't only one approach. You need to plan your mobile learning around YOUR learners, YOUR scenario. YOUR domain area.

Learner centred design – It is the learner’s own phone. You need to design your learning around their context, and their needs.

Native app PLUS HTML5 – We are big fans of using HTML5 for all our content, and then blending that with the native app. We use PhoneGap, and build custom plugins, and javascript code to optimise for learning.

Standards decrease risk, and increase resilience – Where ever possible, make sure your content. Your data. The divide between different sections of your platform communicate with open, standard formats.

What do you think? Let’s hear your comment!

Mobile learning in Iceland

Tour bus drivers in Iceland are using our mobile learning to improve their English language skills.
I had the huge privilege of a trip to Reykjavik to meet some of our mobile learners. I loved it. Iceland is awesome. The people we met were great fun (and perfect hosts).
The entire island is dominated by nature in the raw. Waterfalls. Geysers. Volcanoes. Glaciers. Wild seas. Lava fields and piles of ash.
But the most impressive thing of all was one of the learners I met!
He was one of the older drivers, and he took me aside for a chat. 5 weeks before he could speak no English at all, and here he was explaining to me the m-learning programme he was involved in, and discussing which bits he liked best. In English! Wow! Especially since he is exactly the type of learner that some people say "don't get mobile". He doesn't have a smartphone of his own. He must be close to 60. Here are some quotes from some of the others:

Erlendur: “I realized I am better than I thought I was. I am no longer afraid to speak. Now I like speaking English – even to my colleagues“
Gudni: “We had a great time learning together. I liked it a lot. I felt I was not at school. Using the phone was good fun.“
Karl: “I liked the combination of learning in the group and on my own, the phone was a good companion. I felt comfortable.“
Pall: “This course would be good for all our other colleagues as well“
Laugi: “Now I can speak to the tourists - I would do it again!“

The training was organised by BEST training, from Austria. Long time partners of ours. They were using mobile devices and content sent over from our office in the UK, but then blended by them into a 5 week programme delivered in Iceland ... with a mix of a few face to face sessions, and a lot of working alone, in free fragments of time.
We've been using the terms microlearning, and bite-sized learning to describe these short, sharp learning interventions.
I was there as part of the evaluation, and had the chance to work with senior members of the unions, employers, tour guide association and training funds. Very enlightening, and reassuring how good training is good training, wherever in the planet it happens!
Thanks again to the entire Iceland crew. I look forward to the next chapter

Mobile Learning at TEDxLondon

Geoff Stead presents mobile learning as a tool for empowerment at TEDxLondon – a TED event dedicated to shaking up education

Original slides available on slideshare

Presentations by the other (amazing!) co-presenters on the TEDxLondon site

Transcript:

I’d like to introduce you to a word. Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is an African concept that doesn’t translate easily into English. It means “I am me because of us”, “I grow myself by helping others around me to grow”.

It is an awesome word. I try to live my life by it. And it is the philosophy behind the projects I would like to tell you about.

Mobile phones have become part of our lives. There are more phones in the developed world than people. The developing world is catching up fast. Mobile connectivity is transforming how we communicate. And where.  And when. It has fundamentally changed how we look up information. It has generated new kinds of job that didn’t even exist 10 years ago. New types of entertainment.  New forms of art.

So why not new ways to learn?

This is already happening - it is called mobile learning. Bringing mobile devices and phones into the class to enhance learning.

Smartphones are like a swiss army knife, packed with school friendly tools:
They are cameras, writing tools, eBook readers, calculators, diaries, reference books. You have the entire web in your hand

But more importantly they are agents for change - encouraging new ways of teaching

    * Learner centered: Learning is mobile and can happen anywhere. It can happen anytime: in or out of school. It can be collaborative. It can also be intensely private.
    * Teacher is no longer the source of all facts, but rather a collaborator and guide
    * The encourage lots of future skills like those listed on the slide

In the UK I mostly work with learners NOT in school. Kids who have dropped out. Young offenders. The unemployed. Adults in training but struggling to read and write. People for whom traditional school didn’t work out. I build software to support their learning – regularly making use of mobile phones as a stimulus. But a few years ago I happened to meet a fellow South African who shared my passion for education, and wanted to take these same ideas back into South Africa, to mainstream schools

And we did! The projects are collectively called m-ubuntu, and use mobile learning as a stimulus to encourage critical debate between teachers, and improve the quality of teaching.

They take refurbished smartphones, with some educational software and tools installed onto them, and use them to improve teaching and learning. The results have been inspiring. Local teachers even won a grant from the US to go to Washington and share what they had learned with American teachers!

But the successes are not down to putting smartphones into poor schools – they are about using them as an agent for change.

The real wins happen when teachers work with other teachers to discuss how best to use these new tools.

<< stepping through a range of photos from the project >>

Of course these happy photos only tell a fragment of the story. There are some challenging new skills to learn for both students and teachers. What happens if they are stolen? Or if students give away personal data? What about internet safety? Or plagiarism. By working on these challenges together, the real value kicks in . Students get engaged and build real life skills

Mobile learning is certainly here to stay. It may be initially disruptive – but isn’t that exactly the stimulus we need to help focus education towards the future?

If you want to try this for yourself, here are my 3 top tips:

1. Firstly – don’t be constrained by pre-packaged learning resources. Think of the smartphone as a tool to do stuff. Record music. Film a movie. Build an app. This is what they are made for, and makes for the best learning.
2. Secondly – It won’t be right first time, but if you try again it will get better. And the time after than even better. It is OK to make mistakes – so plan in flexibility
3. Thirdly – Share the learning with your students. Discuss mobile learning with them. Let the kids learn the details about the phones, and become your technical support. By building autonomy and problem solving skills they will be learning some real future skills

mLearnCon presentation

I have just finished a very enjoyable discussion-filled presentation at mLearnCon – a mobile learning conference in Silicon Valley arranged by the eLearningGuild.

My session was all about helping the mostly US audience look a little wider at international m-learning projects, to see what lessons could be learned for the many current m-learning projects that are starting up right now

See below for the presentation we gave – comments (as always) welcomed

m-learning across the world

View more presentations from TribalSlides

mobile phones: the e-readers of choice in South Africa

Our m-Ubuntu project in South Africa hits the news in USA!

I have blogged about m-uBuntu before – a growing family of schools in South Africa who are using “cell phones” to transform how they teach.

We have been out there a few times, and were very excited to hear it being reported on by “The Word”, a US radio channel who spent a while in Cape Town visiting two great mobile literacy projects there:

• M4Lit – Mobile Phones for Literacy. Young people writing mobile stories. Championed by the excellent Steve, Ana & Marion at the University of Cape Town
• m-Ubuntu – Helping transform teaching in impoverished classrooms, and empower resource-poor teachers.

You can here the recording here: 

Well done the the m-uBuntu team! It is the perfect example of collaboration, empowerment, and shared learning.

- based in South Africa
- dreamt up and managed from Washington
- funding from Sweden, UK, USA
- feet firmly planted on South African soil
- championed by Learning Worldwide (Theo), Duke University (Lucy), Tribal (Geoff & Jess), diGameworks (Jeff) and many other friends

Even the learning itself follows the principle of “u-Buntu”, helping one another to help ourselves. This is not an initiative trying to push unwelcome solutions – rather they are helping the South African Education system rise to the challenge of supporting more students with less money.

m-learning in South Africa

We are back in South Africa again this week, this time working with Spectrum Primary school, and Lucy Haagen (of Duke University) to continue the very successful m-Ubuntu project

Spectrum have been part of the m-Ubuntu project, and working with mobiles for a year already, though this is Tribal’s first visit – what a great group of kids! For a blow-by-blow account of the visit, as well as some great ideas for how you can use mobile devices in your own classroom, please visit Jess’s blog.

mLearning in the House of Lords

I am just back from a very enjoyable hour spent in the House of Lords with Lord Lucas, discussing new technologies for learning and looking at some of our mobile learning works.

A very interesting man. Like other IT-savvy Lords, he uses his blog and to be open and honest with his views – and has a special interest in home-access and support for parents.

He was very enthusiastic about many of our learning technology initiatives, especially any that encourage providers to have less dependence on short term funding initiatives, and more on successful learning.

In particular, he liked:

• m-learning (of course), both in the UK and the 3rd World. We was particularly interested in some of the big UK successes, like Wolverhampton’s Learning2Go, which for some reason hadn’t yet crossed the House Of Lords radar. 
  
• NCETM – the National Centre of Excellence in Teaching Maths that we run to support CPD in all maths teachers across the UK
  
• The online learning portals we run for Sainsbury’s, McDonalds, Wetherspoons, KFC and other employers (using our AdvanceLearningZone platform and an army of amazing home-based tutors & mentors)
  
• The learning Score – A lesson planning tool that is still in Beta, and just creeping out of our labs which we are lucky enough to have endorsed by many of the great and good in UK learning technology

Wow – heady stuff!

I learned a new term - “target chasing” – both providers, and suppliers focussing on current government targets and losing sight of the real goals of education that underpin that (and was secretly relieved that he felt our initiatives / tools / approaches didn’t fit that category!) 

I hope that he left the meeting as enthused as we did … I assumed so (but maybe that is just British politeness!)

mobile learning in africa …

Much excitement in our Cambridge office as we pack our bags for … Grabouw (“where”, you ask?). Come on … Grabouw! Major fruit growing region a few hours out of Cape Town, South Africa!
For almost a year we have been sponsoring a few South African schools with online coaching, and access to all our software via the US based charity learningacademyworldwide, but thus far it was all virtual.

Together with Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter and Lucy Haagen (Duke University) we are working on m-uBuntu (m-ubuntu.org) – trying to use mobile learning to deliver more project-based, reflexive learning into hard to reach schools.
Well – as luck would have it, the US team were unable to do one of their trips, and have asked us to help out!
Hooray!
We are travelling out there tomorrow to De Rust Futura Academy, with a oversize bag stuffed with mobile devices, cables, cameras and assorted bits & pieces in what Theo enthusiastically calls a mobile classroom, and will be spending much of the next two weeks working with the students and getting a crash-course in the South African school curriculum.

All the usual flurry of device-rollout has been going on:
- badging them all up / cataloguing so we can tell them apart
- upgrading all the e-book readers / media players / browsers
- download of our top software picks for learning
- e-books and audio files versions of the poems and stories they are studying
- custom built content (using our MyLearning Author)
And they are now all safely tucked away, and ready to travel

Jess hopes to post snapshots of her visit on her very first blog - http://m-learningtravels.blogspot.com so please stop by and drop her a comment or two.
wish us luck!

elearningdebate – but what are we learning?

I spent several very fun hours at the Oxford Union last night, enjoying a (non)debate on the whether e-learning is up for the challenge of preparing learners for tomorrow.

The good and the great of e-learning were there. Entertaining arguments were put forth both for and against. It was very enjoyable, and a great brand-positioning event for the sponsors.

But the frustrating thing is that there WAS no REAL debate! Both sides seemed in total agreement that:

• right now, there is some great e-learning, and some rubbish e-learning
• we should all strive to make it better / more inclusive / richer / more collaborative
• the term “e-learning” is sometimes shackled unfairly to the driest-end of the page-turning (“paper behind glass”) spectrum, when really we all know that it should embrace all digital modes and media
• e-learning is never the sole solution for all students. But it is a growing part of the solution for many students (including some who would never have studied without it!)

 

So – ermmm – not too much of a debate then!

 

Maybe I missed something. The twitter universe seems more positive. it just felt to me that much of the argument ended up around semantics and word definitions. Both sides effectively willing us to vote for them if we wanted e-learning to get better. In the end the NOs got more votes than the AYEs, but only by all asking us all to vote on the same thing!

That said – the speakers were fantastic fun, with some great quotes, we all enjoyed it.

 

The saddest bit for me was that there was hardly ANY mention of mobile learning, and mobile connectivity. It seems that for most of the speakers “e-learning” is still stuck on a big-screen multimedia PC connected to the web with a high speed cable.

Doh! get with it guys!

 

The real benefit of Learning with Technology is all about reach. Getting to learners where they are, when they need it, on their own terms. if you can’t do that with your e-learning you are missing the best bits of the experience!

 

thanks again to all involved

m-learning in Australia

It has been a funny week – I was invited, at very short notice, to present our mobile learning work to the Department of Education, in Australia!

(New South Wales, to be specific)

It was a real honour to be sent there. We spent 4 days working with schools and colleges, talking about our mobile learning authoring tools, as well as showcasing some of our more recent project work, like Bloom (mobile learning in the transport sector).

 

Wow – what a place – I like Sydney!

 

I didn’t have enough to time be a tourist (that will have to wait for next time) but I was there long enough to be reminded what thought leaders Australians are when it comes to distance learning. Very inspiring. Some serious logistical challenges to get support remote learners, and great opportunities for mobile technology to leapfrog current provision.

 

I hope to get back there soon - a mad flurry of visa organisation and flight booking meant that I didn’t even get a chance to catch up with the great Australian connections I have managed to make while in the UK – sorry about that, and thanks to the DET NSW for the hospitality.

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 in Denmark – the FLUID way

FLUID is an association of “flexible learning providers” in Denmark. We are not talking acrobats, here, but rather practitioners specialising on breaking out of the constraints of traditional learning provision. Many working with teenagers, or adult learners.

 

They have just hosted ON THE GO, an event specifically to raise awareness in Denmark for mobile learning. Or as it says on their website:

ON THE GO - MOBIL TEKNOLOGI TIL LÆRINGSBRUG

Den 28. – 29. maj 2009 satte FLUID fokus på m-læring: I spændende oplæg blev der diskuteret tilgængelighed, teknologier og set spændende eksempler. Flere af præsentationerne ligger klar til download, og resten vil blive lagt ind over de nærmeste dage.

which sums it up so much better than I could!

I was the only UK contributor, but other international delegates joined from Iceland and Norway and Sweden to inspire and enthuse. M-learning is still at a fairly early stage in Denmark, but already there are several exciting projects and initiatives happening.

 

If you want a preview of my presentation (without being able to enjoy the pleasures of Copenhagen at the same time) it is up on slideshare:

Mlearning In the UK - 2009

View more presentations from TribalSlides.

Thanks Astrid, and the Fluid crew for a great event!

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!)

Pecha Kucha on mobile learning

I did my first Pecha Kucha this week, at Handheld Learning 2008

"your what?"

Pecha Kucha - the elevator pitch of the powerpoint world. think poetry slam, think unconferences, think on your feet!

The idea started with informal gatherings of architects showing off their works, but has been taken up by enthusiasts all over the world trying to balance "too much information" with "too many people wanting to say something" with "got to keep it fun and light".

In this case the enthusiast was Dan Sutch of futurelab, who went old-skool and laid down the original Pecha Kucha ground rules:

• 20 slides
• 20 seconds each
• timed transitions (so they move on, even if the presenter doesn't)
• lottery on who presents

I got one of the early slots, and had great fun with a romp through what we have been up to recently in our mobile learning work, as well as trying out a few theories about why some mobile learning succeeds, and others fail. (it was the perfect place for it, with at least half the UK's m-learning thinkers right there in the audience, as well as a solid international contingent!)

thanks to Dan, as well as the many enthusiasts who made it a great first experience for me (James, Markus, Andy, Jill, Jo, the SA crew ... you know who you all are!)

One day course in mobile learning - a bargain!

Anybody going to MLearn2008? It is happening in the UK this year, and promises to provide a great collection of speakers.

BUT - did you know about the workshops the day before?

Whether you are attending the main conference or not, you are still able to go to the workshops.

We are hosting Generation M, an all-day introduction to mobile learning for only £50 (which includes a licence to the MyLearning authoring tool)

If you looking for a gentle overview of all the current issues, as well as a chance to make some of your own m-learning content give us a go! ... as it says on the brochure:

Prepare yourself for MLearn2008 with a relaxed day of informal presentations and practical sessions. This exciting workshop day will provide hands-on opportunities to try m-learning authoring tools as well as hear from our fascinating guest speakers, Jocelyn Wishart, Karl Royle and Richard Everett – see www.m-learning.org and www.mlearn2008.org for full details of the programme.

It promises to be a great introduction to mobile learning. If you are interested, Sign up here (we are the second one on the list, "Generation M")

mobile learning across the commonwealth

The m-learning team were very excited to present our mobile learning work at the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning

This is held every two years, and has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on learning and global development - bringing together ministers of education, and practitioners from across the commonwealth.

 

We are asked to present - in 20 minutes - on how our mobile learning  might be used across the 3rd world countries represented. it was all recorded, and streamed on Teachers.TV so as soon as we get a video we will upload and share it.

 

The event brought together an amazing number of real innovators from across the world. Some of my top items were:

• Community radio stations, broadcasting learning to kids who couldn't get to school
• Learning = saving lives (HIV/Aids awareness campaigns)
• using drama and dance to teach all sorts of other subjects
• strong drive for more "open and shared" resources

Needless to say, being able to showcase all our mobile learning resources running on the $100 laptop (OLPC) was a huge hit!

 

If you want to see our presentation, see our Slideshare

m-learning in South Africa

Tribal's m-learning team were invited to Cape Town to talk about innovations in learning technologies in the UK. We were part of a delegation sponsored by the DTI / TVET to build bridges between the UK, and South African education businesses

The event: CCC (a collection of FE colleges specialising in vocational training)

Our message: in innovations in learning went down very well - though with some incredulity as the the budgets spent on individual students in the UK. The local minister of  education was in attendance and spent some time discussing how we might be able to help them.

Some of the slides are on our Slideshare

The mood: bizarre! There has been a swathe of investment in South African Education, though it seems to have passed the FE sector by, so they really struggle to attract and maintain talented staff. Because of this, all sorts of seemingly innocent comments by the UK delegation triggered passionate responses - with many lecturers standing up and asking the speakers for jobs!

The backdrop: South Africa is in a very difficult time at the moment, with foreigners and refugees being beaten, and hounded out of all the poorer areas. I was lucky enough to be invited to several refugee centres, and to spend some time with the fascinating, but seriously concerned Zimbabweans, Malawians, Nigerians and Somalis. We wish them all well, and hope the South Africa remembers it is the Rainbow Nation!