#mLearn2019 workshop Urban safety and #smart civic #education

liveblog from mLearn2019, so consisting of bits and pieces and notes written during the workshop.

Part 1 by Wim de Jong (OU Netherlands)
Smart solutions for urban problems (design solutions), governance for safety (prevention of crime, policing....) and systemic challenges (eg.polution...).

Can technology foster the fears it tries to combat? (perception and condition of city safety)
How can we counterbalance the bias in current perceptions of safety? (Question from Daniel Spikol).

sources
Safe cities index (2019) here 
Sherlock app (citizens who can help and assist in crime-solving with police - Dutch)
OTT (where are the fights going on?)

Part2 Leadership in smart cities & Open innovation
New paradigm in industrial engineering. A new way to integrate a community for designing things.
Wicked problems (things are connected and affect each other): social instabilities, traffic accidents, environmental pollution, floods...)
Need for innovative solutions
requiring input and expertise of a wide array of people

the innovative ecosystem
focal entity
combination bottom-up & top-down
value capture and creation = difficult and complex
importance of partner alignment => intrinsic motivation

[While following this talk, I see how the framework shared in pictures below can be relevant when looking at #AIED and citizen jury / citizen action ].

Part 1: creating voice-activated #ID #learning #Alexa #smartclass #elearning

In this first post on the topic, I share how I installed Alexa, using a basic smarthome skill (Philips Hue) and some features that increase or limit Alexa’s search returns (e.g. playing Spanish podcasts via free radio).

Testing the Amazon Echo Dot
The last couple of weeks I have been enthusiastically using the Amazon Echo Dot (which answers to Alexa). I am trying to setup a voice operated learning hub (well, as much as possible in a relatively cheap and simple way). With each step, I will keep you updated and share what works, what did not work, and which unexpected hurdles needed to be solved. In following episodes I want to use some coding options for additional Alexa skills, combine the Echo dot with an Arduino board as well as a Raspberry Pi to see what can be done with relatively cheap computer boards, and of course in relation to IFTTT and for specific voice operated IFTTT.

Why? Because with all the Fab Labs emerging (you can locate your nearest fablab using this map), I wanted to see how much of that could be built at my home (as I will be mostly home based for the next couple of months), so I might as well work on making my home into a fab lab or at least a smart learning hub.  The Echo dot has been used in classrooms using its basic functionality, but also for some special ed purposes for communication skill practice for children withautism.

I bought my Alexa with last year’s frequent flyer miles (made it much cheaper), but you can also buy it from Amazon for 40 $  or Amazon UK for 49 £. This does mean I got the German version of the Alexa, but as I can read and understand German, that was something I could start with. Once it was installed, I could switch to English. I also got two Philips Hue light bulbs, as they would enable me to test out the smart home part of the Alexa. By using this simple Alexa in combination with existing objects (things) that react to an impulse coming either from a mobile, voice or other object, it becomes easier to feel what the Internet of Things (IoT) is really like.
With a new online course in the back of my mind (working title of the course 'instructional and learning design examples, with added academic background information'), I want to explore a more meaningful application of this Amazon Echo Bot learning hub setup.

Installing Alexa
This is super simple, and only requires an internet connection and a mobile. The mobile app (either Android  or iTunes store ) is used to control Alexa and possible other devices, e.g. the Philips Hue, Nest thermostat….

As Alexa is voice-activated, it depends on specific language. In the Amazon Echo dot I bought, it was either English (you can choose American or British English) or German. My German is not that active, so I have installed my Alexa for British English use, also because I want to install specific skills on it. Skills are conversational applications that allow you to ‘ask’ Alexa something specific and then – hopefully – get a meaningful answer in return, so a skill connects to end users via the conversational Amazon Echo platform. Reddit features anice list of skills here once you have decided to add a skill, go to the Alexa app and add it to your skills.

The name Amazon Echo Dot says it: this device is a home device that will want you to buy more from Amazon. It uses Amazon prime to play music (paid service, I don’t use it, so will share other free options soon), and you can buy a list of options from Amazon, which is why I immediately deselect the buying option in the Amazon device, I do not want to order something buy mistake or simply because some of my Flemish sounds like “Alexa, buy a supersonic airplane from Amazon”…. And it does happen that Alexa thinks I am asking her something, as she has returned uninvited answers during regular conversations at the dinner table. There is some commotion on Alexa spying, if interested you can read upon these here.

Basic Alexa features
Alexa can be used for some basic options:

• Ask a question (answer found via Bing browser)
• Ask what the weather is like (still some limitations on regions, but if you add your own town in an English voice it can give you the weather there… my town is called Aalter, it took a while before I could get the weather forecast for that particular very Flemish town.
• Ask a silly question (Alexa sing a song, do the dishes…)
• Play music (mostly paid service, but free, easy option below)
• Make a to do list (“Alexa, add write blogpost to my to do list” afterwards ask “Alexa what is my to do list”)
• Make a shopping list.
• Set a timer (“Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes”).

In case you are not a native English speaker
If you are not a native English speaker, it is good to use Google translate, type in your word or the words you are looking for, then push the speaker button to hear how it is pronounced. After that you can choose either to perfect your English-speaking voice, or you can say 'Alexa', and type in 'search google for X' into google translate and push the audio button again to have the English version of what you are looking for. I confess, it takes a bit of practising to get a fluent mix of both actions (speaking and pushing button on time).
First steps in a smart home/learning hub
First I bought two Philips Hue lights and one Hue bridge  to get the lights to work on voice-command. That works well with the skill of Philips Hue, which you need to install to get Alexa working with it. The Philips Hue lights need to be installed with one ‘Hue Bridge’ per 50 light bulbs. This means you need to have an internet connected bridge to manipulate the Hue lights either through Alexa or through the Hue mobile app. You need to install the lights and turn on the lights first in order to be able to control them from a distance. With the Hue mobile app you can group the lights together per room, making it easier to tell Alexa which lights to turn on or off (btw you can also operate them from any location, so you can trick your partner in turning off the lights unexpectedly…. Well…. If they do not mind that joke…).

The process is simple and indicative of how the Alexa Echo Dot works:

• Address Alexa by saying her name out loud,
• Speak specific command (a command is a coded speech operand that triggers Alexa to do something specific): e.g. “Alexa, turn on lights living room” or “play Singing in the Rain’ by Gene Kelly
• And then wait for Alexa to return an answer, or in this case play that specific song.

Learning podcasts, using radio feature
Alexa is linked to Amazon, so some features simply do not work for free (no free music, as Alexa’s options are Amazon prime or Spotify pro) and the search option is linked to Bing, which does not always return useful answers. But if you like music, you can find it without having to resort to any skill by using the command “Alexa play TuniIn [followed by the name of your preferred TuneIn radio station].

e.g. “Alexa, play TuneIn Learn Spanish - SpanishPod101.com” which triggers the latest podcast of this radio station.

You can find a list of radio stations here: https://tunein.com/

Next post on this topic will be on installing a skill that you customize using Amazon Web Services and Amazon Developer services (but with the help of 'the people who know'). 

Workshops worth attending: #storytelling, #citizenship and #mobile learning

Great workshops and seminars are open for registration, and gladly listing three that caught my attention: two in Europe (Germany and France), one in Maryland, USA.

Beyond Storytelling 2018: Re-Authoring Futures

When: 8 – 9 June 2018

Where: Hamburg, Germany

Cost to attend: 1000 EUR.

Early bird: 790 EUR (28 February)

Information: http://www.beyondstorytelling.com/introduction/

Registration: http://www.beyondstorytelling.com/bst18tickets/

Program: http://www.beyondstorytelling.com/program/ (Keynotes from: Joe Lambert (Chief listener and convener), Chené Swart (Consultant and trainer), Sohail Inayatullah (UNESCO)

Description (from organisation)

Futures are unknown and cannot be known. Yet, individually and collectively, we need an image and an idea how the future will look like to inform and guide our decisions and actions in the here and now.

At the same time, we are tempted, as individuals, organizations and communities to project what we know into the future. All too often, these imagined futures are constrained by what we think is possible or impossible to do.

True change and innovation rests on our ability to re-imagine and re-author the futures we want to live into – to open new perspectives and new ways of thinking and doing.

At BEYOND STORYTELLING 2018 we want to explore the potential of narrative approaches and working with stories to support organizations, individuals and communities in exploring their futures anew.

UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2018

When: 26 – 30 March 2018

Where: UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France.

Cost: registration mandatory. No cost to attend, but travel and stay at your own expense.

Information: https://en.unesco.org/mlw/2018

Registration: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3517120/MLW-2018-Registration-Form-EN-FR

Description:

Mobile Learning Week is UNESCO’s flagship ICT in education conference. Mobile Learning Week 2018 is being organized in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for ICT.

The 2018 event will be organized under the theme “Skills for a connected world”. Participants will exchange knowledge about the ways governments and other stakeholders can define and achieve the skills-related targets specified by Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4).

The conference, consisting of four related sub-events, will facilitate actions to:

Defining and mainstreaming digital skills;

Innovating skills provision for jobs in the digital economy;

Closing inequalities and gender divides; and

Mapping and anticipating changing skill needs

The sub-themes and sub-events of the conference are explained in detail in the concept note. Overall, Mobile Learning Week 2018 will provide a platform to share exemplary practices in mobile learning, with a specific focus on blending ‘non-digital’ education approaches and mobile learning applications in order to reduce inequality, spur innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and bridge formal and non-formal systems.

Programme

Workshops - Monday 26 March

The Workshops will facilitate demonstrations of innovative policies, research, projects, and mobile learning solutions. Workshop presenters will be selected from wide range of international organizations, NGOs, governmental agencies, and academic institutions that are implementing digital skills development programmes. Sixteen workshops will be conducted.

Symposium – Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 March

The Symposium forms the core of Mobile Learning Week and will feature opening and closing remarks from UNESCO, ITU and other partner organizations, keynote speeches, high‐level plenary addresses, and over 60 breakout sessions.

Policy Forum – Thursday 29 March (invitation only)

The Policy Forum will offer a platform to discuss the different pathways that governments are using to support the development of the digital skills required in the digital economy.

► Download the Policy Forum agenda.

Strategy Labs - Friday 30 March 

Strategy Labs will be hosted by UNESCO and ITU partner organizations to help guide the conceptualization and refinement of projects for defining frameworks, assessing digital skills across groups and across time, and anticipating the changing needs for digital skills.

Seminar: Citizenship in the American and Global Polity: An Interdisciplinary Seminar for College and University Faculty

When: 15 – 20 July 2018

Where: Aspen Wye River campus in Queenstown, Maryland, USA

Information: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/seminars/wye-academic-programs/

Registration: 1 March 2018 at the latest

Cost:
Full participant = $2,975

Accompanying spouse/guest = $2,100 (shared room, all meals)

All costs include lodging, meals, group events, and materials. Airfare and transportation to and from the closest airport is not included; early flight booking is strongly recommended.

Description: 
Part of the Wey Academic Programs. The Wye Faculty Seminar is one of the premier faculty development programs. The seminar seeks to address what we believe is a central need of faculty members—to exchange ideas with colleagues from other disciplines and other institutions committed to liberal education, and to probe ideas and values that are foundational to liberal learning in a free society.

Modeled in the tradition of the Aspen Institute Executive Seminars, the Wye Faculty Seminar combines three essential goals:

to gather a diverse group of thoughtful individuals in intellectually rigorous discussions;

to explore great literature stretching from ancient to contemporary time; and

to translate ideas into action suitable to the challenges of our age.

Outcomes and Impact

Past participants have emphasized the following outcomes and impact of their participation in the Wye Faculty Seminar:

Personal and professional refreshment;

Deeper and broader knowledge of interdisciplinary approaches to classroom discussions;

Exposure to diverse academic and personal perspectives.

An example of past curriculum can be found here.

The Wye Faculty Seminar is offered to selected faculty members who have the honor of being nominated by their presidents and deans for their distinctive contributions to the quality of liberal education.

The Wye Faculty Seminar combines vigorous intellectual exchange with time to read, reflect, exercise, and socialize on the beautiful Aspen Wye River campus in Queenstown, Maryland. The seminar is supported jointly by AAC&U and the Aspen Institute.

(picture from http://blog.strategyzer.com/posts/2014/12/02/how-to-design-great-workshops )

#Mobile #assessment based on self-determination theory of motivation #educon17

Talk given at Educon in Athens, Greece by Stavros Nikou, really interesting mobile learning addition in the area of vocational and learning assessment. Mobile devices in assessment: offer and support new learning pedagogies and new ways of assessment: collaborative and personalised assessments.

Motivation of the framework is aiming to address: following the self-determination theory (http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/) : intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation works from insight of the person, and because it is enjoyable. Extrinsic is build upon reward or punishment. What they try to do is get more intrinsic motivation ignited, as it leads to better understanding and better performance.

There are 3 elements in the theory: autonomy, competence, relatedness all of this impacts the self-determination. This study try to use these three elements to increase intrinsic motivation.

Mobile-based assessment motivational framework: the framework is still in a preliminary phase, but of interest. Autonomy: personalised and adaptive guidance, grouping questions into different difficulty levels (adaptive to learner), location specific – context-aware.

Competence: provide emotional and cognitive feedback that is immediate. Drive students to engage in authentic learning activities, appropriate guidance to support learners.

Preliminary evaluation of the proposed framework: paper based and mobile based assessments used prior and after intervention to test out the framework. Using an experimental design, assessments after each week of formal training, two assessments in total for both groups. ANCOVA data analysis used.

Results: significant difference of autonomy, and competence, and relatedness. The framework will be expanded with additional mobile learning features, and framework will be used with different students. Future research wants to enhance the framework.

The mobile assessment had a social media collaborative element in it, and it also made use of more feedback options due to the technical possibilities that the mLearning option had.

http://conta.uom.gr

Call for papers: MOOC, artificial intelligence, immersive research... disseminate your knowledge!

eMOOCs2017:
conference dates: 22nd to 26th May 2017
Location: Madrid, Spain
Website: http://emoocs.eu/emoocs-2017-conference/

EMOOCs 2017, the 5th European MOOCs Stakeholders Summit, will take place from 22nd to 26th May at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain). In addition and during the same week on 24th and 25th May, Open edX will hold its first European conference in the same location.

Do not miss this great opportunity to learn first-hand about the best examples of MOOCs in the world. Organised by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid with the collaboration of P.A.U. Education, EMOOCs 2017 will bring together leading European actors in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which will range from policy makers to practitioners to researchers.

The event will be organised in five tracks:

• Experience Track, based on new learning and teaching models; • Research Track, to focus on research-based online methodologies;
• Policy Track, a session that will assess the current potential and future challenges of MOOCs in European education institutions; 
• Business Track, that will look in depth at how businesses are taking advantage of new educational technology;
• Spanish Track, a session dedicated to analysing the use of MOOCs in Spain and Latin America.

Are you interested in submitting a paper? Your submissions are most welcome. The closing date for submissions for the Research and Experience Tracks and proposals for Workshops and Working groups is 16th January 2017. Paper submissions for the Spanish Track, Policy Track, Business Track and submissions for Work-in progress short papers must be received by 9 March 2017.

Check submission procedures and important dates at http://emoocs.eu/important-dates/ For any additional information, please contact registration@emoocs.eu 

Dates:

16 Jan 2017: Submissions deadline for Research and Experience Tracks. Proposals for Workshops
24 Feb 2017: Notification of acceptance/rejection (Research and Experience Tracks, Workshops)
20 Mar 2017: Camera-ready versions for Springer LNCS Proceedings (Research and Experience Tracks)

Submissions:  https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=emoocs2017

ECSM 4th European Conference on Social Media 2017
Hosted by Business and Media School of the Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), Vilnius, Lithuania Conference dates: 3-4 July 2017.

Extended deadline: 9th January 2017.
The European Conference on Social Media (ECSM) focuses on academic research and practical applications of Social Media in many areas. This includes topics within Business, Education and the analysis of society such as, Enterprise social network; Technology enhanced learning and social spaces– to mention only a few topics. The conference attracts a varied group of people with different perspectives on e-Learning and brings top research and proven best practices together into one location, for the purposes of finding ways to use Social Media.

For more information and to submit papers, please go to: http://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecsm/ecsm-call-for-papers/

ECSM 2017 will also be hosting the final round of the Social Media in Practice Excellence Awards. We aim to showcase innovative social media applications in business and the public sector. We are keen to see how academe and business have worked together to identify, develop and implement innovative social media applications and to this end we encourage joint submissions with both academic and practitioner contributors. More details about the competition at: http://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecsm/ecsm-excellence-awards/

Papers presented at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings which have an ISSN and an ISBN subject to author registration and payment and will be considered for further development and publication in a number of journals.

AIED 2017 CALL FOR PAPERS
Cebu, The Philippines - 

Conference dates: 26-30 June 2017
website: http://aied2017.ateneo.edu/

The 18th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2017) is the next in a longstanding series of biennial international conferences for high quality research in intelligent systems and cognitive science for educational computing applications.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
- Full papers (10-12 pages) - submission:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aied2017

- Posters (4 pages) - submission:
- Industry Papers (up to 6 pages) - submission:
- Workshop proposals (2-4 pages)
- Tutorial proposals (2-4 pages)
- Doctoral consortium (4 pages)
- Interactive Events (2 pages)

SUBMISSION DATES
- Abstract for Full Papers Jan 17, 2017, 11:59pm HST
- Full Papers & Posters: Jan 24, 2017, 11:59pm HST
- Industry Papers: Jan 24, 2017, 11:59pm HST
- Workshop & Tutorial Proposals: Jan 13, 2017, 11:59pm HST
- Doctoral Consortium papers: Feb 26, 2017, 11:59pm HST
- Interactive Events: April 7, 2017, 11:59pm HST

For more information, visit the conference web page:
http://aied2017.ateneo.edu/

General Chair:
Benedict du Boulay, University of Sussex
Program Committee Chairs:
Ryan Baker, University of Pennsylvania
Elisabeth Andre, Augsburg University
Local Arrangements Chair:
Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Ateneo de Manila University
Jessica O. Sugay, Ateneo de Manila University

iLRN2017 3rd Immersive Learning Research Network Conference
conference dates: 26-29 June 2017
Location: Coimbra, Portugal, European Union

Special Track on Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences

Overview
------------------------
Immersive and engaging experiences are powerful teaching tools and allow innovative forms of entertainment, learning, training, and other experiences. More and more virtual reality platforms, virtual world environments, augmented/alternate reality applications and game -based experiences, and various forms of interactive media are designed to create engaging and immersive experiences in an educational setting. This can be a traditional classroom, a virtual and remote classroom setting or activities that further the educational agenda.
In this track, various forms of interactive media and “entertainment with purpose” are
discussed to create different forms of engagement. In this special track we discuss how
we can design, develop, and analyze educational environments to be both, immersive
and engaging. The track does not only cover research on design, development, and
analysis of such environments, we also invite submission describing non traditional and traditional design practice and development approaches to create different engaging experiences.

Topics
------------------------
The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Learning: learning in immersive environments, augmented realities, virtual realities, virtual worlds, and games
- Design: design techniques, practices, methods
- Analysis: frameworks, exploration studies, user studies
- Technology: platforms, devices, engines, environments, graphics, navigation, interactions, user analysis, data analysis, procedural content generation, artificial intelligence
- Non- traditional, non -classroom and non- curricular learning environments
- Development approaches to create different engaging experiences

Author Info
------------------------
All papers (including papers selected for Springer publication, Online Proceedings and poster submissions) must follow Springer’s style guidelines.
Contributions are welcome as work-in-progress, research results, technical development, and best practices. Research, development, and best practices contributions will be accepted according to their quality and relevance either as full or short papers. Selected papers from the main conference and special tracks will be published in the Springer Proceedings, and the rest of the accepted papers will be published in the online proceedings with a confirmed ISBN number/reference. Work-in-progress will only be accepted as short papers.

Full papers accepted for Springer publication must not exceed of 14 pages.
Long papers accepted for publication at Online Proceedings must not exceed of 10-12
pages.
Short papers accepted for publication at Online Proceedings must not exceed of 6 – 8 pages.
Submitted papers must follow the same guidelines as the main conference submissions. Please visit https://immersivelrn.org/ilrn2017/author_info/ for guidelines and templates.
For submitting a paper to this special track, please use the submission system
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ilrn2017 , log in with an account or register, and select the track “Special Track 5: Immersive and Engaging Educational Experiences” to add your submission

Special Track Chairs
------------------------
- Johanna Pirker, Graz University of Technology, Austria
- Foaad Khosmood, California Polytechnic State University, USA

Program Committee (to be confirmed and extended)
------------------------
Allan Fowler, Kennesaw State University
Brian Mcdonald, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
Dominic Kao, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Kai Erenli, UAS bfi Vienna, Austria
Ryan Locke, Abertay University, UK
Volker Settgast, Fraunhofer Austria, Austria
Kai Erenli, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, Austria
Zoë J. Wood, California Polytechnic State University, USA
Britte H. Cheng, SRI International, USA
Helen Wauck, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
Guenter Wallner, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria

Contact
------------------------
For more information, please contact Johanna Pirker (jpirker@iicm.edu).

Free mobile learning papers from mLearn2016 conference in Sydney #mLearning #mobile

This is a great set of mobile learning papers (proceedings available here) written for the 15th mLearn conference that was organised in Sydney, Australia on 24-26 October 2016. The theme chosen for the conference was Mobile Learning Futures – Sustaining Quality Research and Practice in Mobile Learning.
Sustainability and quality are the keys to mobile learning. Future mobile learning research needs to look beyond technological intervention per se. Instead, it must consider a more ecological approach, in which the conditions under which mobile technology contributes to learning are closely examined. The preconditions for sustainability in mobile learning may be broadly categorized as:

• Economic (financial considerations)
• Political (leadership, equity and policy)
• Social (community engagement)
• Technical (infrastructure, security, devices, applications) and
• Pedagogical (teaching and learning).

This sustainable and broadly societal focus, provides mLearning proceedings that cover a wide variety of impactful mLeanring insights. Issues to consider include teachers‘ technological and pedagogic expertise when evaluating the effects of mobile technology on learning and the achievement of the goals of instruction. The subject matter is an important factor, as are also students‘ attributes, background and age, and their mobile digital literacy. Authentic assessments that provide evidence of learning are needed. Other factors include institutional and expert leadership, the physical environment, resources, professional development, collegiality, and a commitment to mobile learning implementation and policy.

The papers range from the indigenous use of mobile learning, wearable technologies, eyetracking for gaming, teaching digital citizenship, simulation games, augmented realities, micro-credentials and mobile assisted language learning.

Table of Contents
Section I: PAPERS
Faculty Attitudes towards the Use of Mobile Devices in EFL Teaching in a Saudi Arabian Setting
Radhi Alshammari, Vicente Chua Reyes Jr and Mitchell Parkes

The Use of Wearable Technologies in Australian Universities: Examples from Environmental Science, Cognitive and Brain Sciences and Teacher Training
Victor Alvarez, Matt Bower, Sara de Freitas, Sue Gregory and Bianca de Wit

Ariane: A Web-Based and Mobile Tool to Guide the Design of Augmented Reality Learning Activities
Victor Alvarez, Juan Ramón Pérez-Pérez, MPuerto Paule and Sara de Freitas

Survive with the VUVU on the Vaal: Eyetracking Findings of a User Interface Evaluation of a Mobile Serious Game for Statistics Education
A. Seugnet Blignaut, Gordon Matthew and Lizanne Fitchat

Perceived Utility and Feasibility of Wearable Technologies in Higher Education
Matt Bower, Daniel Sturman, Victor Alvarez

Nurturing Collaborative Networks of Practice
Thomas Cochrane and Vickel Narayan

Location-Based Mobile Learning Games: Motivation for and Engagement with the Learning Process
Roger Edmonds and Simon Smith

Investigating Children‘s E-Reading Behaviour and Engagement using iPads in First and Second Grade
Seyedeh Ghazal Ghalebandi and Noorhidawati Abdullah

Negotiating Cultural Spaces in an International Mobile and Blended Learning Project
Charlotte N. Gunawardena, Agnieszka Palalas, Nicole Berezin, Caitlin Legere, Gretchen Kramer and Godwin Amo-Kwao

Landscape and Literacy on Aboriginal Country
Olivia Guntarik and Aramiha Harwood

Using Web 2.0 Tools to Support Student Writing
Susan Gwee and Shalini Damodaran

Teaching Digital Citizenship in Higher Education
Boris Handal, Sandra Lynch, Kevin Watson, Marguerite Maher and Grace Hellyer

Flipped Learning Approach for a University EFL Course: Utilizing an Online Communication System
Yasushige Ishikawa, Yasushi Tsubota, Craig Smith, Masayuki Murakami, Mutsumi Kondo, Ayako Suto, Koichi Nishiyama, and Motoki Tsuda

A Mobile Learning Framework for Developing Educational Games and Its Pilot Study for Secondary Mathematics Education
Yanguo Jing and Alastair Craig

Designing an Engaging Healthcare Simulation Game
Tuulikki Keskitalo and Hanna Vuojärvi

A Mobile Reader for Language Learners
Jemma König, Ian Witten and Shaoqun Wu

Mobile Learning as a Tool for Indigenous Language Revitalization and Sustainability in Canada: Who Will the Pipe Holders Be?
Marguerite Koole and Kevin wâsakâyâsiw Lewis

Mobile Learning in Practical-based Subjects: A Developing Country Perspective
Suzaan Le Roux

Learning beyond Classroom Walls: A Case Study on Engaging Learners with Mobile Devices in Dance and Drama
Zihao Li

Reboot Your Course – From Beta to Better
Zoe Lynch and Michael Sankey

A Theory-ology of Mobile Learning: Operationalizing Learning Theories with Mobile Activities
Kathryn MacCallum and David Parsons

Responsive Web Design: Experience at the National Distance University of Costa Rica
Seidy Maroto-Alfaro and Yeudrin Durán-Gutiérrez

Analysing Student-Generated Digital Explanations
Wendy Nielsen, Helen Georgiou, Annette Turney and Pauline Jones

Changing Use of Social Media Tools by Preservice Primary Teachers to Learn Science
Wendy Nielsen, Amir Rezaaee and Rachel Moll

Encouraging Faculty Development through Micro-Credentialing
Lisa O‘Neill

A Mobile Sensor Activity for Ad-Hoc Groups
David Parsons, Herbert Thomas, Milla Inkila

Conserv-AR: A Virtual and Augmented Reality Mobile Game to Enhance Students‘ Awareness of Wildlife Conservation in Western Australia
Luke Phipps, Victor Alvarez, Sara de Freitas, Kevin Wong, Michael Baker and Justin Pettit

Bring-Your-Own-Device or Prescribed Mobile Technology? Investigating Student Device Preferences for Mobile Learning
David Reid and Ekaterina Pechenkina

How a Blended, M-Learning Approach to Student Evaluations Increases Participation Rates
Chris Tisdell and Alex Usachev

Using Cloud Drive for Collaborative Learning in Adult Training
Hwee Leng Toh-Heng

A Theory of Enhancement of Professional Learning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pre-service Teachers in Very Remote Communities through Mobile Learning
Philip Townsend

Enhancing Workplace Learning through Mobile Technology: Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Mobile Devices on Placement in the Healthcare and Education Fields
Franziska Trede, Peter Goodyear, Susie Macfarlane, Lina Markauskaite, Celina McEwen and Freny Tayebjee

Does the Mobility of Mobile Learners across Locations Affect Memory?
Chrysanthi Tseloudi and Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez

Let‘s Learn Business Japanese with Learning Log System and E-book
Noriko Uosaki, Mahiro Kiyota, Kousuke Mouri, Hiroaki Ogata and Chengjiu Yin

Introducing Mobile Videos for Academic Support
Mari van Wyk and Linda van Ryneveld

Learning Official Crisis Communication through Decentralized Simulations enabled by Mobile ICTs
Hanna Vuojärvi and Tuulikki Keskitalo

Location-Based Vocabulary Learning App
Shaoqun Wu, Karun Pammi and Alex Yu

Learning Collocations with FLAX Apps
Alex Yu, Shaoqun Wu, Ian Witten and Jemma König

Factors in Designing an Augmented Reality M-Learning Trail with Place-based Pedagogy in Residential Education
Kevin K. Yue, Lisa Y. Law, Hiu Ling Chan, Jade B. Chan, Elaine Y. Wong, Theresa F. Kwong and Eva Y. Wong
Section II: PRACTITIONERS‟ PRESENTATIONS

Designing Physics Courses to Increase Student Engagement for Online and Mobile Environments
Elizabeth Angstmann, John Reddin and Matthew Burley

Building a Campus-Wide Mobile Platform that Focuses on Enhancing Student Effectiveness and Learning
Matthew Burley, Alexander Roche and John Reddin

Designing for Mobile Learning
Lucila Carvalho and Pippa Yeoman

Lighting a FUSE Program for Student Engagement and Differentiated Learning with Mobile Technologies
Scott Diamond and Andrew Brown

Pedagogy GO: Enhancing Educational Experiences with Location-Based Mobile Learning Games
Roger Edmonds and Simon Smith

Mobile Learning: An Innovative Approach that Puts the Control of the Internet of Things into the Hands of Primary School Students
Deborah Evans and Alix Spillane

Teaching Arabic Alphabet using EBook Widgets
Hany Fazza

Integrating iPads into Science Teaching and Learning
Heidi Hammond and Linda Clutterbuck

Google Classroom in My Classroom
Nicole Holgersson

Sustaining Mobile Learning Pedagogies with High Possibility Classrooms: A Vision for Teacher Education in Australian Universities
Jane Hunter and Ariane Skapetis

Why Gamified Learning and Using Games to Teach are not the Same Thing
Michael Kasumovic

Using Mobile Serious Games Technology to Enhance Student Engagement and Learning in a Postgraduate Ethics Classroom: A Case Study
Gillian McGregor and Emma Bartle Our ‗Have a go, Share and eValuate‘

iPad Learning Journey: From Implementation to Acceptance
Damien McGuire

Mobile Phone Potential in Secondary School Classrooms
Gus McLean

A Global Classroom: The ACO Music & Art Program
Vicki Norton and Zoe Arthur

Accepting the Challenge of Adapting Traditional Faculty Development to Online and Mobile Environments
Lisa O‘Neill

How Does a Mobile App Incorporate Facebook-Style Social Connectivity within a Learning Platform?
Alexander Roche, Josephine Chan, Anthony Chung and Matthew Burley

How Does a Mobile Platform Address TEQSA and Other Regulatory Compliance for Online Courses?
Alexander Roche, Josephine Chan, Anthony Chung and Matthew Burley

Online Tutorials and GeoGebra as Mobile Learning Tools
Norman J. Wildberger and Joshua Capel

Learning amidst globalisation, solidarity, collaboration, & violence #brussels

Yesterday Belgian got his share of violence, and as it unraveled it struck me how much of the actions that are undertaken by all citizens, are similar to informal learning actions (but then I am a learning geek). And of course I do realize that being in an attack is by no means to be compared to learning... but still there is something that triggered my pro-learning mind. I lived and worked in Brussels, I am Belgian, and I hope peace can be achieved at some point. So this is my completely laymen view on some of the actions undertaken by people after the attacks on Brussels airport and one subway carriage. For it is clear that all violence is futile, and there is hope to see how people seek ways to help each other.

Over the recent years the European continent has had its number of violent attacks on civilians, no matter what age, background or religion. These terrorist attacks are carried out as a result of globalised violence, just like any other element of globalisation which reaches all of us. It would be strange that only 'good' facts came out of globalisation. At this point in time there is too much of a divide between regions to talk about effective, positive globalisation. Even primary education for all, a simple goal uttered for decades is still not realized, even though there is enough money in the world to put it into place.

Coming back to the Brussels attacks, the actions taken by people after the attacks struck me. It might be that I am too deep into my learning research mind at the moment, but it seemed as if people's actions paralleled learning actions: solidarity, using their network, collaborate... And maybe that is what is going on during those events. In order to get to grips with a new devastating fact, each one of us relates to what they know, and move forward based on their experience of what is perceived as efficient. People help people out, the government is only part of the solution, or to put it into learning terms: peer learning is in many cases more efficient, while the central curated content is delivered by recognised institutions.

Listing some actions:

• Connecting to your personal network: after each attack, I take a look at those I know live/work in that city, just to see if they are alright. The same happened now, people tried to get in contact with those they know, and of course those they love. Social media got set up, e.g. Facebook Safety Check. It is simple and useful, if you are in an area struck by a disaster of any kind (and if the network is still working), you can 'check-in' to let others know you are alright. 
• Press communications from government: the first official press releases took some time to get aired. A bit like lectures, it takes more time, and it is more of a general update on what has happened, less on what is happening at that particular time for specific people. 
• Citizens helping all victims: on each occasion there are people who jump in and help others. For some it is part of their background to be able to help, for others it is simply helping people, acting upon a drive to get everyone to safety. The same with learners, some simply jump in during discussions, as they feel that what they have to share will help others. Even if that is simply being supportive in some way. 
• Governmental structures get rolled out: there are known options that can be taken to relief the chaos after any attack or disaster. Which is part of the governments readiness to roll-out help. In this case all hospitals and medical personnel got sent out, together with the security people. These roll-outs are based on evaluations of prior disasters, otherwise they would not have been in place. 
• Reacting to real-time needs: while people were being evacuated, thousands got stranded across Brussels. Once Brussels was in lockdown, trains, metro's, public transport were shut down, and all the people without a car were stuck in and around Brussels. The government let people know where the evacuation points were, but also informed everyone NOT to come to Brussels, as it was already completely chaotic. However, grassroots solidarity started to happen: people who were in Brussels by car, got word out through twitter that they had X places in their car heading to city Z. People who did not know each other helped each other out. Others simply picked up people with destinations written on cardboard on the side of the road. 
• Get news out in real time: again twitter was mainly used to get the latest updates out to the public. A bit like a back-channel in education. It was not the government, but the twitter operators of the institutes struck by the attacks (e.g. brussels airlines), and most of the time people learning from each other, and sharing it asap. 
• Personalisation, collaboration and solidarity: people organised themselves and others, those left to their own devices in Brussels, got word out to people in their communities to pick-up children after school. Those who were safe took action after hearing how they could help, even in a small way: e.g. giving blood as the blood reserves were rapidly depleting. 
• Mobiles as primary communication: all along mobile devices were used, as these allow the quickest response time to actual events. Of course the amount of content shared is smaller: real time actions are shared through twitter, instagram, ... while news articles are read to get an idea of the overall situation. 
• Societal action to safeguard children: one of the first strategies shared on the news was related to children. As a society, it seems that we care about the effects of atrocities on our children. Strategies on how to talk to your children about these attacks were sent out around midday, only 3 hours after the initial attacks.  
• Societal solidarity: just like in any other city struck lately (e.g. Ankara, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Paris) actions depicting solidarity and non-violence through joining hands emerged. People gathering at central locations in the city to share their fear, and build on the solidarity which they want to show. Similar people join hands, those who believe a new world is possible. The same happens in online learning, similar people come together, feeling at ease by connecting to those who they can relate to, with (mostly) similar views. 

Learning is of course a very soft version of surviving. But whether we like it or not, it involves others, even those we do not know. The learning goal might be different from the goal for survival, but nevertheless goals are set, and the motivation is central to any action taken.

Learning is difficult to capture in frameworks, but it can be captured in its human capacity, as part of most of us, in a natural setting which always pushes us forward. I do not quite understand why I needed to fit the attacks of yesterday in something that I could understand, or at least from where I could start to see new hope... but then again, that might just be the reason itself.  But I do belief hope, and solidarity needs to be kept alive at all times, for we - as humans - can. 

liveblog from @EcTEL2015 a framework to design educational #mobile based games across multiple spaces

I choose to sit in on this session as the combination of integrating multiple contexts into mobile learning design is quite a challenge. And just one of the contexts that matter to the whole set of learning contexts. So, I do think there might be a generic framework in this, or a basis to add this design framework and add other contexts to it.

Carmen Fernandez-Panadero (UC3M - Spain) takes the stage and immediately dives in with enthusiasm. Content cration and technical deployment are the two keypoints she will focus on. But first the abstract:.

Abstract: The adoption of mobile devices and context-aware technologies offers the opportunity of designing educational mobile-based games across multiple spaces that enrich the learners’ experience. But producing these games is challenging from both the authoring and technical points of view. This paper proposes a framework to facilitate the design of these games. The framework consists of two elements: (1) a narrative structure, and (2) a platform for its deployment. Both elements defined as a set of templates to be completed for facilitating both the authoring of the narrative and the design of the platform. In order to show a usage example, the framework has been used to develop a mobile-based game for a museum. The game designed has been piloted with 10 students between 6 and 12 years old. The results of the pilot show that it is technically feasible to use this framework to design a mobile-base game across three spaces: a museum, home and a classroom. The students found the activity a good and engaging learning experience.

Questions
How to extend the museum experience to other spaces (home, school)?
How can we reinvent permanent exhibition and provide different experiences with the same modules.

Learning experiences: 3 phases: before/during/after

Before: record video illustrating the main experiment (science experiment). The teams are 5 - 6 students. Each tema prepares and uploads a self-contained video.
During the visit: presenting an adventure delivered to mobiles
1st act: adventure.
5 missions, with 5 teams.
All the teams need to find out who was kidnapped.
In order to solve the adventure tthere is an 'agent kit': tablet, map and decoder.
2nd act: conflict rising: each team member has a role to solve part of the mission.
3rd act: denoument
After the visit: in-class activities, personalized reports (e.g. a comic illustrating the full process of the adventure and solving it).

This led to Content creation and Deployment
The Hero Journey is a book that was build once the author realised that adventures are always solved in similar narrative patterns.

the technology used: [m]Gauge: mobile games for augmented education
Ruby on rails, php for server technology and mobile gap for tablets

#Quiz tool with variable grading for profiling

 Shaf Cangil, an educational consultant (and Open University alumni: hooray!), who has a strong experience in SCRUM mailed me last week with a challenge: find a quiz (preferably for free) that allows multiple grading, so you can use those grades to visualize or distill a profile. Shaf wanted to set up a survey that will immediately provide feedback to the user of that feedback and tell him or her which type of scrum-person they are.
She mailed me based on a previous blog in which I describe the use of google forms and flubaroo to set up mobile quizzes. So I returned to that option, but couldn't get the forms+flubaroo to provide different grades to different answers for the same question (admittedly I went through it quickly, so maybe there is an answer - if you know it, feel free to share).

In a second attempt I looked around for other options, and this got me to the OnlineQuizCreator which has an option to build profiles based on the answer one gets from MCQ.
Small remark: you can try out the test options for free and without registering, but as soon as you have filled in the questions and built a test the software does ask you to register in order to get access to the full quiz you have built (I went for the free option: quizzes up to 15 questions).

In order to build multiple choice questions, and build a profile based on multiple profiles (categories):

• select the 'assessment' option,
• select the 'multiple categories' option
• create the categories (in this case your profiles: I used 3 categories: learner, facilitator, course organiser - crude categories, but simple for the sake of testing the tool). You must fill in titles (only example titles are given, but they do not count as 'real', so you have to change them in order to build your trial test. Also add a description to each category. You can choose to add a category URL (for instance if you want to provide some background information on that category). But you can also leave it blank.
• After you have created the categories, you need to create questions.
• Create questions: at least 3
• Then fill in the answers (and here it becomes exciting): you can link the answers to a category (profile) AND you can even add a grading scale to it, for instance if you are a participant in a course you are linked to the profile of the learner. But if you are a facilitator, and you consider yourself a learner: you can add full grades or profiling to you as a facilitator, but you can also add a small grade for you as a learner. Nice in case the profiles overlap at times!
• once you filled in all the questions, save your test.
• If you have not registered by now, you must do so in this step, as this will allow you to really see your test in action.

You do have an assessment dashboard, where you can change settings, colors, shuffle questions, etcetera.
And the results are shown to the testee immediately (by default, you can change it). I choose the simple option, as that allows mobile use as well. Nice tool with options, and really easy to use.

There is also an option to embed your test:

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Supporting Outstanding Young Persons by voting #jcinews

It is difficult to turn life around. We all know this in some form or another, either through big challenges that we need to overcome, or small changes that seem huge. 

Some of us come from humble beginnings, some of us face hardship in all sorts of ways but learn to overcome them, others pave their way towards a self-set dream with such energy that it inspires others.  And depending on the region you grew up in, or the supporting (or not) family background you got, opportunities are either vast or limited and opportunities to turn one’s life around are multiple or rare.

My friend Ronda Zelezny-Green took her fate in her own hands and turned it into something bigger (thanks to the support of just a few people, including inspirational teachers). Now, she – among twenty other inspirational young people – just got nominated for the International TenOutstanding Young People Awards, an award organised by the United StatesJunior Chamber (JCs or more commonly Jaycees) nominating people between the ages of 18 and 40 in areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections.

Every nation has its heroes. Inspirational men and women directing their own lives towards new horizons, helping themselves AND others while they are at it. So, vote for those people whose work you find inspirational, and give them an additional boost through your online vote.

Ronda Zelezny-Green is my favorite and I voted for her by clicking on the like button on her page (facebook membership is needed). But I admit to voting for some others too, as support is good energy to share. So please take a look at all of these 20 wonderfully inspirational people that are nominated here.

Ronda inspires me, simply because I know the work she does (combining educational technology and gender) and above all because of the person she is. She is one of those persons who take people as they are, no matter what age, schooling, background, connections … if you talk to her a dialogue develops that fills you up with energy and motivation. She inspires, listens and supports. She grew up in a tough region of Tampa, Florida and is now traveling the world improving education for all.

As a young professional she was a teacher guiding kids who faced rough conditions, now she researches and propagates educational opportunities to young girls (she started in Kenya) who’s educational journey faces regular interruptions and challenges.  She uses mobile learning options to create durable educational support among young female peers. To achieve this, she does not push those solutions onto anyone, no, she looks at how people develop their own solutions and then Ronda investigates whether these solutions can be used in other contexts, to help more youngsters… and it works.

She also created the Gender and Mobiles newsletter, which combines the latest international news on using mobile devices in gender contexts. Each issue provides me with new information that is useful, critical … in short food for thought. It is easy to subscribe via email here.

Looking for a full-time #PhD option in UK, act now for the Wild card!

If you are in that phase in your life, where you think "I want something else... I would love to engage in a satisfying, cognitive experience where at the end I might get an Internationally acclaimed PhD ... then get cracking now!". If you have an interest in Open Educational Resources (OER), Learning Analytics and/or Technology Enhanced Learning (MOOC, mobile learning, online education), this is you potential golden card, as it is now officially a Wild card, as the last of the Leverhulme Doctoral Full-time scholarships is now up for grabs. And the key action is: get your idea out there, and defend it to one of the World leading learning analytics scholars out there: Bart Rienties. I know the man (enlightened visionair), I know The Open University (a truly wonderful and nurturing research environment situated in Milton Keynes), and I know some of the opportunities (enhanced OER thinking, learning analytics... the basis of new departments across the globe)... it will be worth your while!

The wild card? In fact the scholarships would have been taken by now, luckily, Bart Rienties felt that there is one more to be added, a specific, unique idea that would really make a difference in education, or show creative ideas, that would provide new educational evidence-based insights. So, although the formal deadline has been exceeded (see the formal description and information on the full-time scholarship here), there is one full-time scholarship remaining. Go for it immediately, the first one to make an impression will get it!

Any candidates that are considering to pursue a PhD in TEL/Open World Learning can directly contact Bart Rienties personally at bart.rienties@open.ac.uk to arrange an informal skype to discuss the feasibility of their ideas. More information on the scholarship can be found here:
http://www.open.ac.uk/creet/main/news/leverhulme-doctoral-scholarships

The Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET), at the Open University has an international reputation for the quality of its research. Providing research students with a supportive environment and excellent research facilities ensures a future supply of first class researchers. CREET offers you a unique opportunity to study for a PhD in Technology Enhanced Learning, Learning Analytics, Open Educational Research, Education Language and Literacy Studies, with guidance from world-class experts in the field.

New ADL #mLearning Design Reference model: adjust to your needs

Peter Berking who is the lead of the MOTIF project just released the core slide deck for the newly adapted mLearning Design Reference model, and is now inviting us all to have a look at the reference model, and adapt it to our own needs. If we do have adaptations, Peter would love to hear about it, in order to add an extra layer of understanding to the model, coming from all of us practitioners.

The slide deck is protected under a Creative Commons "Attribution-nonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license"
Purpose: "From MoTIF project research, the learning community identified a need for instructional design processes optimized for the mobile platform that could most effectively inform, situate, and invite consideration of the new mobile learning approaches, device capabilities and usage patterns. This reference model is intended to address the need to inform, situate, and invite consideration of effective and innovative mobile learning approaches through following a mobile-optimized learning design process. As a reference model, it is an integration of existing theoretical and practical models rather than an original model. It has been developed through an open process via a community-based working group."

The MOTIF project has been running for a few years now, and the reports of each stage can be downloaded from the MOTIF site (you do need to create an account, with a nice guarantee that while logging in, your data - including contacts - will not be copied or used in anyway).

The slide deck is quite big (238 slides), but it is a 'work deck', which is filled with flow charts, performance support, design elements, conducting an instructional analysis, analysing learners and contexts, develop assessment instruments ... and it all starts out from the needs and goals that you want to achieve with your mLearning project. It is a really useful slide deck. I only went through it at this point, but I am going to try it out on a project soon, trying to figure out what I would adjust to make the reference model fit my own context and need/s. The slides are also set up to enable you to immediately click to extra information on the subject of that specific slide... nice.

The referred to frameworks are also of interest (Koole, with the FRAME framework, and - one I really like at this point in time: the champions framework). 

A free book on changing #education in challenging settings #ICT4D

This lively report - well it is a free book consisting of 318 pages - on Designing and Implementing an ICT for Development initiative in a resource constraint environment is one of the most amazing mobile learning and technology projects I have read. This is a book that can be used in any challenging setting, as it combines participatory design, teachers professional development, open badges as milestones in the learning process, earn-as-you-learn incentives, strategies from the known reality to a wishful future, and scaling up from one school to 26 schools! ... and all evidence-based in approach. The report is edited by Marlien Herselman and Adele Botha.

It is simply amazing how this talented and inspired group of people turned a really challenging situation in deep rural South Africa (Eastern Cape province) into a fruitful, inspiring educational surplus in only 3 years time! It combines mobile learning, literacy,

From the forword: "The book aims to provide an overview of the design and implementation of an Information and Communication Technology for rural education development initiative in a resource constrained environment. Various frameworks, models, guidelines and tools were developed by adopting Design Science Research as the chosen methodology. Certain specific case study phases were applied within the Design Science Research process and lessons were learnt in each phase which was documented as the initiative moved from one phase to the other. Certain steps were followed during each phase. The book provides an overview of how each of the components, within the ICT4RED Implementation Framework (Section 2), were managed and how they were operationalised to provide specific deliverables or to reach certain aims.
What became evident from this initiative was that it was NOT about the technology, but about the PEOPLE who are empowered to use the technology in order to improve their lives and that of their learners!This book will guide readers through the journey of this initiative and it is hoped that it will inspire all new prospective students, teachers and academia to realise that the value of using technology does not lie in that it can ever replace the teacher, but that it can enhance teaching and learning and transform traditional teaching methods in a classroom. This transformation can only be successfully done where technology is earned and not just given away or provided free of charge."

Using Somebody app at #eMOOCs2015 conference? Art & communication

Would you be willing to use the Somebody app at an academic learning conference? Being able to connect with people you know, through strangers? Getting more conversations going? I would, so I wonder whether the Somebody app could be used regularly during the eMOOCs2015 conference in Mons, Belgium (18 - 20 May 2015).

Like everyone, I have my own chosen key artists. They inspire me, something in me aligns with the art they produce, and I turn to their work/ideas when I feel in need for energy or difference. One of these artists is Miranda July. To me she is a core artist, a living artist enabled to turn everyday life into art in a natural, flowing way.

This morning I got an e-mail update from Miranda's mailing list, telling me the Somebody app was back to be tested (iPhone and Android enabled). The somebody app brings people together in an unexpected way. By using the app, you can share ideas or bring messages across from you to another person, but via a third person - the Somebody. This turns any conversation into open data, open communication, open resources... I find that a wonderful idea.

In many conferences I attend I have a mixed feeling of closeness and emptiness. Sometimes I know a lot of people, and that makes me feel welcomed, at other times I feel the odd one out, and I can have trouble mixing in with the other academics and practitioners. It depends on my day, the jet lag, my self-esteem at that moment, the conference atmosphere... context is always multi-layered.

The reason I like this Somebody app is because it stimulates conversation = exchanging ideas, it brings people together = networking, and it uses technology in a human way. It has a lot of parallel with online learning in this contemporary world. So... would you want to use it?
The app has another similarity to online learning, and particularly MOOC: the numbers threshold. In order for it to work with bewildering wonder, enough people must be using it in the same community, and gps enabled smartphones must be available and used.

Nevertheless, I want to try it. Here is a video on how the Somebody app works, wrapped in a short movie directed and written by Miranda July... I love it.

  

Free eBook on #mobile learning in context

The eLearning Guild keeps distributing relevant and updated eLearning information with an amazingly high frequency. They keep providing me with information that helps me keep an eye on corporate training based regularly on academic evidence-based findings and I love it.

The wonderful freely available eBook "Mobile in context" combines contemporary mobile learning insights from experts around the world, engaged in formal, informal, academic and corporate mobile learning. The contributing editor Janet Clarey assembled a 23 page booklet with 7 chapters all dedicated to mLearning:

• mobile learning: getting started (Brenda Enders)
• mobile learning: creating a shift in what we teach (Helen Crompton)
• mobile learning in a European context (John Traxler) - with a focus on rural communities and overcoming technological challenges
• using augmented reality for contextual mobile learning (Jason Haag)
• motivating learners to complete training (Phil Cowcill &Krista Hildner)
• mMOOC design: providing ubiquitous learning (Inge de Waard)
• micro-video for mobile learning (Sean Bengry)

The eBook is available in pdf, epub and mobi, making it an easy read no matter which device you have available. You do not to provide your contact details to get to the download page of the eBook.

The book is an introduction to the upcoming mLearnCon 2015 which will be held in Austin Texas, and Oh-my! How I wished I could be there! But writing on my thesis ... hoping to get more travel miles under my belt once the PhD is written. 

free mMOOC design paper and upcoming #mLearncon

The upcoming mobile learning conference organised by the eLearning Guild: mLearnCon (10 - 13 June 2015 in Austin, Texas) will bring mobile learning enthusiasts together and offer great networking opportunities. If you have a speaking proposal in mind, you can submit it here.

In running up to the conference, I remembered that I did not share a mobile design paper from 2013, which was published in the Mobile Handbook, an award winning book edited by Zane Berge and Lyn Muilenburg. Because the design emerged from two early online courses on mobile learning (MobiMOOC), I thought it would be good to share the paper, as it links to both practical and theoretical mobile learning tools and dynamics. Since publishing the paper I have been using the mMOOC design to see what works, and what has changed, and I will get that down in a short article later.

The paper entitled 'mMOOC Design: Ubiquitous, Open Learning in the Cloud' can be read in draft version in Academia.

Abstract of the paper: In the mMOOC design chapter an overview is given of what a MOOC is and how it can be optimized for mobile device delivery and interaction. The chapter starts with an overview of contemporary, educational challenges in this Knowledge Age, after which the mMOOC design is described. The mMOOC design combines characteristics and strengths of both m-learning and the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) format. By using emerging technologies (selecting mobile social media, enabled mobile multimedia) and stimulating content dialogue and self-regulated learning, the course design allows learning to take place in the cloud and being directed by the learners.