Closing remarks - VII International Seminar of the UOC UNESCO Chair in e-Learning: Mobile Technologies for Learning and Development

Closing remarks of the

UOC UNESCO Chair in e-Learning:

VII International Seminar on

Mobile Technologies for Learning and Development

Barcelona, 6-7 October 2010

Closing remarks

• two days, seven keynotes, five demos, one plenary debate

• 80 attendees from 10 countries: US, Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Portugal, Spain, UK, Austria, Norway, South Africa

• more than 500 tweets and retweets in the backchannel

Common trends

• Mobile devices are engaging, specially for young learners...
• ...more specially when mixed with game based learning

• From very low range mobile phones to smartphones, ipads...
• ...but it is the scenario the one determining the mobile

• Typical projects and uses: second language learning, quizzes, polls

• Locals (final users) must be involved in the development of projects...
• ...or we are in the risk of becoming Troyan horses

• Failures are important, as a preliminary stage for success

Dissemination

• UOC UNESCO Chair blog:

http://unescochair-elearning.uoc.edu/blog/

• Twitter backchannel:

http://archivist.visitmix.com/

(check for #eLChair10)

Thanks to Ismael Peña and César Córcoles

Jill Attewell

Mobilising technology for learning:

lessons from MoLeNET

• popular, convinient consumer technologies, ubiquitous handheld devices
• adult unemployed learners need retraining, young ones need training!
• mobile technologies are engaging, they can improve attendance, retention, achievement, flexibility, relevance, ...
• anywhere, anytime, just in time, just what I want
• mobile learning impacts on learning: i.e.
• recipe: capital invesment, shared cost funding, sharing, staff development, mentoring, practitioner led action research, supported project, local champions, ...

Steve Vosloo

mLearning in Africa:

lessons from the mLit project

• mobiles for literacy (7% of South Africa schools have libraries, 90% of young people have a mobile phone)
• literacy and technology paradox: "book-poor", "mobile-rich"
• 1 euro cent per chapter = affordable
• most digital reading and writing takes place on mobile phones
• word of mouth, peer learning, "competitive"
• key issue: content living in many platforms
• lot of engagement, feedback, comments
• mobile is a content monster, instant, always on
• a vry !ntstng stry

Dolors Reig

Open social mobile learning

• there is no digital divide (mobile devices reduce it)
• 50% of mobile devices will be smartphones
• in five years the best education will come from the web
• we are in the age of cognitive, social and creative surpluses
• open licenses are necessary, as well as net neutrality
• all work is derivative, all ideas are free...
• ...so we must opt for open platforms (android)
• microlearning, just in time, informal, DIY, ...
• mobile devices as the new agora for learning and participation

Miguel Nussbaum

Integrating technology and pedagogy in the classroom

• classrooms haven't really changed in the last 100 years, now we have laptops but we are still doing the same
• content, pedagogical models and new media and technologies
• but the teacher is still controlling the {black|white|smart}board
• we need to reach a participative literacy, change the dynamics

Fernando Moreira

A blended mobile learning model context oriented

• what is mobile learning?
• different visions for students and teachers
• there is no a specific pedagogy theory for mobile learning
• contents seem to be ready but, what about the learning context?
• learning place and activity determine content type
• content must be consumed in less of 10 minutes or becomes boring
• learner activities, time and place are logged
• ongoing project, future data will be analyzed

Thomas Putz

The project "mobile game based learning"

• targeted to young people (16-24)
• three different game templates
• different learner epistemologies, devices, ...
• 1) "fastest first!" => quiz component, based on TV contests
• 1) "the crisis!" => taking fast (and correct) decisions
• 2) "mogabal" => adventure game, avatars
• 3) "get real!" => pervasive, team based
• improved technology skills, teamwork, cooperation, social skills (including self confidence)

Mathew Kam

Mobile phones and language literacy in rural developing regions

• language learning games running on mobile phones
• multidisciplinary project
• goal: fluency in English => use cellphones to make education more accessible to public schools in developing regions
• no pre-conceived ideas about needs => exploratory study
• demonstrated significant post-test improvements on spelling skills
• pilot on voluntary use of cellphones for learning English
• local teachers involved in the curriculum design (Hindi => English)
• use of traditional Indian village games instead of Western ones
• problems: electricity supply, battery life / damage
• more content development is needed (not just learning words)
• "one size fits all" approach does not scale!

John B. Stav, Gabrielle Hansen-Nygård

Promoting interaction and engagement in education and training by the use of iPod/iPhone

• student response systems: support response, communication and interaction
• immediate feedback on how students are following a lecture
• it helps to identify wrong answers and provide explanations
• students are encouraged to discuss questions with each other
• do not change the way teachers teach, but complement it

Carolina Jeux

Mobile learning in Telefónica

• almost anything can be called mobile learning nowadays
• need to be more than a simple broadband provider, partnering in projects for transformating education and providing services
• from LMS to PLE through the use of mobile devices for pre and post learning, motivation and engagement
• synergy model that replicates VLEs to third parties, delivering content through mobile devices
• other services: alula365, mobile store for educational content

Claudia Aparicio

Requirements and opportunities for the development of a mobile learning strategy in emergent countries

• three main activities: educared.org, training teachers and promoting critical debate on education and ICTs
• past: SMS + WAP increasing attitude towards ICT, training needed for using mobile devices
• today: SMS, reducing cost of communication vs advanced services, closed communities
• latinamerican position: not that bad, 85% of schools have computers and internet access, 90% of people have mobile phones, 1 computer per 21 students
• future: from consuming to producing content, mobile learning as a useful tool for training teachers when combined with social networks
• three channels: SMS + WAP + web portal
• chat, communities of teachers, experiences and contents

Magí Almirall

Learning technologies in mobile scenarios

• what is distance learning? => learning without distances
• origins: living and learning together, pedagogy goes with you everywhere => mobility
• follow always a user centered approach methodology and design
• six ideas, six projects: myway, annotation, mobile classroom, mobile widgets, foreing language self assessment and campusproject.org
• scenarios determine devices and formats, even content
• in a mobile context you don't need all information at the same time
• learners are able to select alerts, widgets, ...
• mobile scenarios need more interactive contents, not just reading

John Traxler

Mobiles for learning in Africa.... too good to be true?

• no more cherry-picking, failed projects are also interesting
• thinking about the difficult, impossible, unconceivable projects
• is technology-selling a new Troyan horse for Africa? => damaging fragile local educational communities
• technology may have an embedded ideologies and pedagogies
• new, imaginative uses for mobile technologies (i.e. SMS)
• it's no longer top-down, it's actually outside-in
• consider sustainable projects first, then expect them to be good
• success is more about the human factor than the technology
• big state and government, philanthropy and social enterprises
• mobile technologies allow communities to share information and resources

Acknowledgements

we would like to thank:

• Generalitat de Catalunya
• Fundación Telefónica
• Casa Asia

• Antoni Ponce (UOC)
• Jordi Cornet (UOC)

and if you want more information:

http://unescochair-elearning.uoc.edu/blog/

catedraunesco@uoc.edu