I’ve been at the Handheld Learning 2006 event at the QEII conference centre today and will be here tomorrow, when Alistair and I present our gig. I would normally blog this directly onto the Internet, but being a true born Yorkshireman, I won’t pay £9 for just one hour’s access (£6 for 30 minutes). So, this will be posted from the hotel this evening (where I did find free access – yeah!)
The conference started with Graham Brown-Martin – giving a welcome introduction. “Possibly, we have moved from niche to mainstream”. Showed a picture of his daughter who was born during the organisation of last year’s even. Graham said that she leaves school in 2027 – and asked “What does that mean?”- to us.
Doug Brown was next. (Started with a lot of talk of bygone days – 1981, 1990, 1995 etc. 380Z computer = ‘mobile’ – called it a “thigh top”). He moved on to modern stuff eventually. All the power sent out to schools in 1981, put together, does still not add up to the power in one single mobile device!
This is the “World’s largest event of this nature”. He spoke about a conference some time ago (back to olden days) and of Seymour Papert saying –“why do we have conferences about tools? – We don’t have conferences about pencils”. Which is fair comment – I often wonder why we have to have so many enquiries about the effectiveness of ILT (e-Learning) when we don’t have the same research into the effectiveness of not using technology. It’s all very well to say that we have to justify the cost of the technology, but in the main the technology would have been bought anyway – just to teach I.T. The real crime is its lack of or misuse [my own comments in brown]
Cultural change - This started with an anecdote about a teacher getting his first computer and when told that he could allow the learners to use it for this or that he said – “Children do not move in my classroom” – A further anecdote was the kid found using his (prohibited) mobile phone in class. When asked what he though he was doing using a phone in class he said: “I can’t keep up, so I’m recording it – mobile phone.”
The question raised here was - WOULD A PODCAST have been a better preparation for that session as it would address the student’s fear of not understanding and the lack of time for this. It would also address the institutional fear of phone use in school.
Steve Heppell (www.heppell.net). Old radio clip regarding use of video games (1991) – and a discussion of problem solving. He suggested that the Silent rail carriage was always full of old people!! He gave us a Quote = “In the next 30 years more children will leave school worldwide than in history” – I wonder what this means. Answers on a postcard! WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Apparently he’s on The Learning Curve – BBC broadcast next Monday (check it out). He used the term “Cyber Athlete” – to describe kids!
School in
A lot of talk of games. Teachers TV (Podcasts – how to teach maths) Barry Sheerman on this. Blue Iris –
Tony Richardson – passion for helping children learn (Becta). Another look back at history! Salutary story about technology becoming outdated while books remain? Story about BBC needing a Phillip’s laser disk player to watch 1986’s doomsday work. Says “it is now proven that this stuff works!!!!” Which is interesting coming from someone at Becta.
Exchange – enrich – enhance – extend – empower (find grid on Becta!)
Exchange ohp for data projector
Enrich with whiteboards
Enhance – mobile learning resources used to assist geography field trip. Helped link between abstract concepts with reality.
Extend – significantly alter the way you teach by different combination (blended learning?).
Empower – more learner control.
HOW DOES all this fit in with MySpace, peer to peer learning etc. NOW BECOMING more mature. Let’s get serious about this!
Valerie Thompson CEO e-Learning Foundation. Worked for them since 2001. Crossing the Digital Divide. 1 in 5 schools actively attempt to provide home access for learners. “They have loaded up the wrong presentation”
All words on screen – totally turned me off.
16% (1.4m) no pc at home
30% (2.5m) no internet
Single parent account for 48% of digi-divide group.
2.1m computers in schools (25% don’t work) (1/2m are portable), only 3% of schools are being used to address the digi-divide.
Very brief. Very passionate about subject.
Then we broke for coffee and I was picked up by Anne Thunhurst {see pic], manager of the RSC-SE. It was really good to see her and a shame that things got so busy that we had to separate. The TechDis stand was very busy, so I didn’t get to the next section of the conference. I also met John Traxler and we discussed the Innovations work. I later met Agnes Kukulska Hulme and talked to her about the same series of workshops.
Lunch was basic – sandwiches, fried tortilla, fried pastry and small portions of veggie noodles or sausage and mash! But over soon enough. Lunchtime on the stand was very busy.
LOOK WHAT I CAN DO FOR FREE! Tony Vincent.
Handed out SD cards to install Palm software onto Pocket PC. Junior teacher. Palm user… does consultancy on handhelds. 2001 His students didn’t take the devices home. www.learninginhand.com
Stuff on line.
Numerus = roman numeral calculator.
Use contact software to develop vocabulary skills!
Use word processor to write poetry/prose and have partner comment upon for development of language
Suggests we get a product called StyleTap – the palm emulator.
Left halfway because it wasn’t telling me anything new – interesting, but …
Alistair then had a TechDis gig to which just one person turned up. Sue and I were there, but it really is disappointing that the exhibitors strands couldn't have been better thought out.
End of day one
Day Two
Martin Ripley
21st Century Learning. ‘First News’ once a week @ £1 – young audience target. Story about Emily (8). His conclusion was that young learners think ‘learning’ is situational’. Showed Innovation Curve from Innovation >> Early adopters >> C*** adopters >> C** adopters >> Late adopters
Mori Poll May 2006 66% oppose removing course work; yet QCA banned it last week. Therefore he is not happy with the interest of too many policy makers. Quoted from letter to Daily Telegraph 12th September 2006 – letter from a group of teachers.
Systematic innovation
Paper based Technology enabled
Isolated innovation
(A bit like Alistair’s shaded box)
Some talk about 200,000 ‘gifted’ learners.
Dave Whyley
Wolverhampton
Looks like they have invested a great deal in bespoke software as well as using the devices as tools (camera etc.).
Project now being mainstreamed, whilst they continue to innovate in other areas. Like other ILT ‘stuff’ “the devices will not make a bad teacher good –but will make a good teacher better”. Have 1,000 devices and there’s another 1,000 coming from fujitsu soon. Costs are being transferred to parents (approx £2 p.w.). ISSUES: where do you store the ‘stuff’? what is “digital competence?”.
Gerry Gray
Girl I spoke to last night.
Richard , John Patefield, Alan (
CLC. Another mention of ‘stealth teaching’ Scheme being running almost a year – Nov. 2005. KS4 – 2 schools. Needs whole school approach, even if only used in one class. The three eventually became interesting and began to sound enthusiastic –but for me the beginning spoiled the substance.
Then it was break time and I sat on the stand while Sue and John went to other workshops.
Afternoon.
Gill Clough – after me and Alistair.
Informal learning: learning where both goals and processes of learning are defined by the learner. And where the learning is situated, rather than pre-determined. (G. Vavoula, 2004) << also Typology of informal learning
forums
Over 200 responses of which over 100 described some form of mobile learning.
Write notes 70%;
browse web 45%;
Read e-books 42%;
photo (store, etc.) 41%;
Patten et al 2006 – Functional framework for mobile learning
Di Dawson
www.niace.didawson.co.uk/mobiletechnology/
ACL background. Niace invited 6 LEAs to get involved in a m-Learn scheme for adult learners. Questions asked of learners for preference etc. 2 products. One website and a book. Practitioner focussed. Di’s will be published in January 2007.
