Share your #mlearning idea to win the #IAmL #mobile learning Award (1000 GBP, 1600 $, 1100 €)

Mobile learning is still on the rise and there are still many areas that can be explored. If you have a wonderful idea for a mobile learning (mLearning) application, share it!

The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAMLearn, www.iamlearn.org), in collaboration with Epic (www.epic.co.uk), is proud to announce the Mobile Learning Challenge.

The Mobile Learning Challenge is searching for innovative and visionry solutions for learning using mobile technologies. So if you are a practitioner, a student, a young researcher or a visionary, feel free to contribute your inspiring and visionary concepts. Specific technical skills are not required for participating!
What you need to provide: a structured, clear description of your idea in English.

Full details here:
http://www.iamlearn.org/competition.php

The first prize: money
The winner of the Challenge will receive £1000 (one thousand GBP, or approx. 1600$, or approx. 1100 EUR - monetary rates willing).

The winning solution will be presented to the mLearn 2011 conference audience either by the winner (if present at the conference) or by the President of IAmLearn.
This prize is co-sponsored by IAmLearn and Epic.

The second prize: access to a mobile knowledge network
The runner-up will receive a prize of 5 years’ free membership of IAmLearn.

Deadline for Submissions is Wednesday, 14 September 2011 24:00 GMT.

Objective
Identify a learning challenge and think of an innovative and yet practical mobile solution for this challenge. A winning solution is an answer to the following question:

How does mobile learning support educational needs or create a clear and innovative educational opportunity?

The Mobile Learning Challenge is open to creative solutions for all kinds of learning, be it for schools, universities, in the work place, or in leisure time.

A solution can be related to research, design, educational practice, or evaluation. It must not represent work that has already been done, but should focus on a problem or opportunity that has not yet been successfully addressed by mobile learning so far.

Your task

• Identify a learning or educational challenge that can be solved with mobile technologies.
• Briefly describe your mobile learning challenge in up to 20 words.
• Explain your mobile learning challenge in up to 200 words.
• Provide a solution to how this challenge can be solved.

The solution can be a scenario description, a prototype design (mock-up), an interface walk through, a storyboard, a visionary essay, or a video.

A solution needs to be

• achievable
• concrete
• inspiring
• addressing a real learning need or creating an opportunity for learning

Your solution should be realistic and implementable within 6-18 months. This does not mean that you have to implement it in case of winning.

Target group

The challenge is open to everybody; however, entrants must be members of IAmLearn on the date of submission. Submissions by individuals and small teams are possible although each prize is limited to one person.

Submission

All submissions need to use English descriptions.

Deadline for Submissions is Wednesday, 14 September 2011 24:00 GMT.

The winner will be announced by the end of September.

Rating the solutions - criteria

• The identification of the challenge
• The imaginativeness of the challenge
• Appropriateness for mobile learning
• The creativeness of the solution
• The practicality of the solution
• Overall presentation

Common, get your idea out there! I will.

#mobile toolkit with 15 #mLearning methods to choose from

Sometimes a project appears that is so inspiring you cannot but see the Light. The world is in turmoil, but all around the world small initiatives really make a difference. This time the Italian center in Turin, ITC-ILO comes up with a ready to use mobile toolkit for developing or rural regions. They have created a mobile toolkit written by the formidable Jennifer Parker which allows anyone to step up to the plate and launch their own mobile learning initiative.

The 98 page toolkit manual was also the master thesis of Jennifer. In the manual you can choose out of 15 different methodologies where a mobile device can add value to the learning and training process. Feel free to contact Tom Wambeke in case you are interested to pilot some of these mobile learning methods.

The nice thing about this toolkit is also that it will be used by MyCOOP trainers. The MyCOOP training package “How to set up and run agricultural cooperatives“ will certainly make a positive impact, and to be honest, I am in need of some positive world vibes.

Below you will find the SCRIBD version of the toolkit (small screen, but you can open it to full screen button), and you can also download a version here.

Mobile Learning Toolkit A5

Are you a #knowledge management expert? Become our #CoP advisor

ITM's department of Public Health, more specifically the Unit of Health Policy and Financing Unit is looking for a knowledge management adviser with expertise in social media. Feel free to send your resume to the people mentioned below. Good luck!

This unit is involved in a number of projects that involve an important part of social networking using notably social media and the internet. The specificity of those projects is that it involves professional health experts and researchers primarily based in low income countries. Hence their access to the internet often goes through intermittent low bandwidth connections. We believe tablets and smartphones, particularly android based, will keep growing in these specific niches.

The communication in these communities happens mainly in English but some channels are bilingual, French and English. The Unit is looking for an adviser to help define the strategies, tools and methods that are advisable for their audience and objectives. The work will unfold in two phases. The first one should last one month. The second might take longer but should probably not exceed 5 month. (see deliverables).

So what would be the assignment?
Through interaction with the team, you are responsible for the designing and implementing of a dissemination strategy of the results from a consortium research project with 6 academic partners in Europe and Southern Africa.

• You perform an assessment and propose a strategy for the dissemination of our work and for the communication among our networks.
• You setup the networking tools required.
• You provide the required guidelines for the team to implement the strategy.

Deliverables:
A strategy for development of our networking platforms and the dissemination of our work in general an
d in particular regarding the European research project. Once this one has been approved by the Unit you set them up.
A final report describing the tools set up, including Standard Operating Procedure for dummies to use the tool and technical guidance note for IT maintenance and update for each tool that is being used.

Interested?
For more information about the assignment contact Bruno Meessen. Applications with budget, timeline, CV and motivation letter should be received by e-mail to bmeessen@itg.be,with copy to dhercot@itg.be.

Should #iPad be used as a major #mobile device in high schools? David Parson makes them compulsory for a pilot

A lot of us talk about the iPads and how to use them. David Parsons from the Massey University of Auckland, New Zealand has lined up the advantages and possible pitfalls for using iPad in higher education.

Why is this a defining college initiative? Because the Massey uni suggests that ALL students buy an iPad2 would be made compulsory. As such David Parsons will have a pilot project looking at the iPad as an educational tool in high schools.

He shared his views during a 18 minute interview, for those interested: feel free to listen to the mp3 here, or go to the link, if you consider using an iPad, this interview will immediately put you in the right direction (and give you solid arguments).



Some of the issues mentioned in the interview:

• Mobile devices are taking over all of our lives, we need to acknowledge that these devices change everything, so important for digital skills;
• Portable and user friendly;
• All factors need to be researched and the research will need to be longitudinal to get meaningful results: learning outcomes (UK has introduced iPod touches, and the grades improved, in Birmingham another pilot is running with primary school students: http://www.belf.org.uk/2011/07/12/643/ ),
• We need to transform the ways technologies are used in education;
• Teachers must learn how they can use these new technologies;
• The main issue is to get students to learn together which will increase their performance;
• Currently there is a gap between parents and children using technology, this sometimes results in misinterpretation of technological potential by parents/teachers;
• ICT should be better integrated in education;

Why use a tablet rather than a laptop?
David answers:

• battery life is shorter with laptops;
• the laptops create barriers (screen up), a tablet is more 'shareable' for collaboration;
• lifetime should be longer;

(To me it is the ubiquitous possibilities of tablets that make a difference).

Examples in classroom:
David answers:

• Tools to be used across subjects in classroom: tablet as a musical instrument, mobile chemistry tool, ... there are many apps that can be used and fit the school curriculum.
• There are also a wide range of resources that can be accessed across school boundaries (youtube, itunes...).

Why do we buy into the idea of ONE product of a certain company? Why not through open source?
David agrees that this is a very important debate. But, schools should not be telling which tablet to buy, but they should be the best. Which apps are available, which resources are accessible... depending on the school different tools or mobile devices can be suggested.
David points towards the ease with which you can move across different resources, making it easier for teachers/users to get to the resources they want to. As such the iPad is much more user friendly than the other tablets out there.

What do students need to be fully skilled in looking at mobile devices?
Skills evolve constantly, in this case it is not about IT skills, but on getting to the best resources.
Current tools are better than the tools that were available ten years ago. Schools need to show students to connect to the best tools.

David says that we need to see that students will need to be creative, pro-active, critical... so schools have the duty to give its students these skills.

BUT! what with the digital divide that can occur when students or their family need to buy their own mobile devices that have a turn-around that is massive? The government does not have the funds to provide nation wide devices. David does question who needs to pay.

Free #eLearning magazines to follow with interest

This week the Learning Solutions magazine published an article I wrote on MOOCs as a new eLearning frontier. As I was writing the article, I suddenly noticed I had not mentioned my two favorite free and inspiring accessible, online eLearning magazines:

Learning Solutions magazine,
eLearn magazine.

If you have not put them in your RSS feed or if you have not connected to their e-mail newsletter, take a minute to get to know these magazines. They will keep you up to speed on various eLearning topics.

Learning Solutions magazine
This magazine is published by the knowledgeable Bill Brandon. The magazine is linked to the eLearning Guild. The eLearning Guild manages to bring together academics, the corporate world, and all of us interested in eLearning solutions. The magazine is published on a weekly basis and features a wide variety of topics, always keeping the articles brief yet filled with relevant and useful information. Since 2002 the learning solutions magazine published 430 articles.

The eLearn magazine
The eLearn magazine is published by ACM. They feature a variety of topics, including best practice and tips for online learning and research and case studies on eLearning. Their advisory board consists of eLearning experts (Jane Bozarth, Roger Schank, Lisa Gualtieri, Janet Clarey, Clark Quinn... all wonderful people that you can easily exchange ideas with as well) making their articles a good read.

Help us #save new born babies lives by using #mobile devices for #ultrasound

"Why not save the lives of new borns by making use of mobile devices that can be used for ultra-sound?" with this simple idea my wonderful and inspiring colleagues Vincent De Brouwere and Fabienne Richard started a quest to get a new mobile project up and running.

The project is now before a jury and it would be wonderful if as many people as possible could vote in favor of this proposal, as it will really save lives of new born babies and their mothers.

If we get enough votes, the project will be funded by the Belinda and Bill Gates foundation. Please feel free to support us by voting on the project (here is the link to the voting option), Remark: you must register here first (for free) to be able to vote, it only takes a moment and I think they do it to make sure the voters are 'real' people. You vote by first registering for an account, than signing in and clicking on the 'star' next to the project of your choice. Thanks in advance!

This is what the project is all about:

Title of the project: UltraSound4Africa
Organization:Institute of Tropical Medicine - Antwerp

Organization Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Optimal care during childbirth in rural areas of most low and middle income countries is hampered by 2 major problems: the limited equipment and capacity of health workers for diagnosis, and the quasi-absence of back-up from the hospital, which impacts on their motivation and competence. In order to improve the technical quality of care and the motivation of primary care maternity staff working in rural areas of low-income countries, the Ultrasound4Africa project proposes to develop a two-pronged integrated intervention:

• the provision of low cost smartphone-based ultrasound imaging systems (MobiUS device) that connect rural maternities with specialists. This telemedicine intervention aims at early diagnosis of life threatening obstetric complications, appropriate case management and rapid referral of critical cases to the hospital.
• The development of a network of primary care maternities with their referral hospitals, aiming at providing technical and moral support to health workers working in remote areas.

The pilot test will be implemented in rural maternities of 2 districts in Burkina Faso and Mali where access to Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) remains low despite a national policy of abolition of user fees for EmOC. This intervention is expected to improve utilization of antenatal care and skilled birth attendance by increasing women’s trust in primary care services and to contribute to reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity. Ultrasound4Africa will be implemented by national teams at district level and supported by a multidisciplinary team (clinicians, public health specialists and IT specialists) with an extensive experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

New open journal #iJim issue is out on #mLearning topics

International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) has just published its latest issue at --> http://www.i-jim.org. We invite you to have a look at the Table of Contents here and then visit our web site to read articles and items of interest.

International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM)* Volume 5, Issue 3 (2011)

*Table of Contents*

*Guest Editorial*

***From the Interdisciplinary Conference of AHLiST 2010 Conference IS/IT Program Chair (Hyo-Joo Han) -- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1666

*Special Focus Papers*

***Global Telecommunications Security: Effects of Geomagnetic Disturbances (D.J. McManus, H.H. Carr, B.M. Adams) --- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1667

***A Software Tool to Visualize Verbal Protocols to Enhance Strategic and Metacognitive Abilities in Basic Programming (Carlos A. Arévalo, Estela L. Muñoz, Juan M. Gómez)--- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1668

***Collaborative Rural Healthcare Network: A Conceptual Model (U. Raja, D.J. McManus, J.M. Hardin, B.C. Haynes) --- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1669

***Interdisciplinary Approaches at Institutions of Higher Education:

Teaching Information Systems Concepts to Students of Non-Computer Science Programs (Roland Schwald) --- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1670

***Advances in Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring Systems (Debopam Acharya, Hyo-Joo Han) -- http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1671

*Regular Papers*

***A Short Review on the Trend of Mobile Marketing Studies (Mohammad Ismail, Razli Che Razak) http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1581

***Learning Mobile App Design from User Review Analysis (Elisabeth Platzer, Otto Petrovic) http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1673

*Calls*

***14th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning -

ICL2011

(Call For Participation) --> http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1693

***Special Issue iJIM "Social Mobile Computing and Services"

(Call For Papers) --> http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1694

***Special Issue iJIM "VANETS"

(Call For Papers) --> http://online-journals.org/i-jim/article/view/1697

Looking for #online course tutor/developer in Belgium: send your resume and join the #eLearning team

At ITM we are looking for an online course tutor and developer to tutor a course called eSCART and collaboratively built future online courses as well. Feel free to forward this link to anyone you think might be interested or send your resumé and join our team!

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerpen, Belgium is looking for an online course tutor/developer to start working at the department of Clinical Sciences, in the Unit Infectious Diseases. Th e Department of Clinical Sciences concentrates on patient-based research, training and services, with emphasis on tropical and infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis in developing countries. Thee Unit Infectious Diseases is organizing di fferent courses some of which are developed as e-learning courses. The latter are organized with experts from the North and the South, including former students from ITM. A position has opened for a course organizer to manage the interactions between all stakeholders.

What will be your assignment? You will...
• be responsible for the guidance of the students during the online courses.
• be responsible for the coordination of the educational tasks of the experts.
• develop Standard Operating Procedure's (SOPs) for the online courses for the purpose of quality assurance.
• actively contribute to the content of the courses.
• design short online modules for continuing medical education.
• organize blended learning with institutions in the South.
• participate in the Community of Practice of the alumni of the ITM.

The profile we are looking for (please rest assured that even if you have some of these qualities, we will consider your resumé in detail)
• You are a medical doctor or you have a master’s degree in a medical field.
• You have high level computer skills and experience with web-based and mobile communication techniques.
• You have excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• You speak and write fluently English and French; knowledge of Dutch is an asset.
• You have experience with training and you are familiar with e-learning tools.
• You have working experience in low resource settings.
• You are willing to live in Belgium.

What do we offer?
• An intellectually stimulating, international and socially committed environment, in which personal initiative can be developed.
• A full-time position for 2 years (renewable), starting date as soon as possible.
• A salary set according to the pay scales of the ITM and the Flemish universities, depending on relevant experience and level of education.
• Reimbursement of public transport costs, bicycle allowance, private pension scheme (after two years) and luncheon vouchers.

Interested?
For further information on this vacancy please contact Dr. Maria Zolfo, (+32.3.247.63.64 or mzolfo@itg.be).
Send your CV together with your motivation letter to vacatures@itg.be and mention 'coming from Inge de Waard' in your letter.
Apply before August 15th, 2011.

Want to have a quick look at eSCART? Take a peek at this presentation which gives an overview on some course components, including the eSCART:

What to take into account when developing courses for low resource areas or developing countries

View more presentations from Inge Ignatia de Waard

Free #MOOC guide and #MobiMOOC on #mLearning resources

After getting requests on a summary of what came out of the recent MobiMOOC course, I gladly share this post with you all. This post is all about mLearning resources and what was/is learned during the MobiMOOC that ran from 2nd April - 14 May 2011.

Free MOOC guide for setting up your own MOOC course
In addition to the MobiMOOC resources, I gladly share the third Beta-version of a MOOC guide on how to set up your own MOOC. The guide is written as a wiki, to enable all MOOC'rs to add to it. You can edit the MOOC guide, by requesting to join the wiki. After you have joined the wiki, you will have editing rights and be able to add your ideas.

MobiMOOC resources
MobiMOOC was a course designed following the natural pathways of a MOOC (or Massive Open Online Course).

Ideally I will be embedding all these content and resources into a WikiVersity page soon.

The mobimooc wiki gives an overview of all the topics of each of the six weeks of the course. The topics included an introduction to mLearning (facilitated by me - Inge de Waard), planning mLearning projects (facilited by Judy Brown), mLearning in development regions (facilitated by Niall Winters), leading edge mLearning (facilitated by David Metcalf), global context of mLearning (facilitated by John Traxler) and mLearning in k12 (facilitated by Andy Black).

To enable discussions between the MobiMOOC participants, we used MobiMOOC Google groups. This works like a list server, enabling all of us to stay in touch of all the discussions, simply by looking at Google Groups, or e-mails.

MobiMOOC bookmarks on a wide variety of mLearning topics can be found here. There are over 300 links, and it is advisable to enter additional keywords to filter the MobiMOOC bookmarks :-)

There were many initiatives taken by the MobiMOOC participants, but one in particular might be of interest to all of you as it uses a wonderful (mobile enabled) crowdsourcing software: the MobiMOOC crowdsourcing map built by Sean Abajian (this is where the picture in the post comes from).

If you want to stay in contact with some of us MobiMOOC'rs, a linkedIn group was started as well.

Reformatting virtual classroom recordings to publish them in #mobile formats

During the last MobiMOOC we had some synchronous sessions where mLearning experts gave their insights in mLearning. Here you see an example of a session given by David Metcalf:

How to publish a virtual classroom recording into a mobile accessible format?

What I usely do to reformat synchronous virtual classroom sessions into mobile accessible files is record the screen + audio of the sessions via Camtasia (there is a 30 day free trail version: http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/ )

With Camtasia you can record the screen and audio of the virtual classroom session. You can then edit the recording (maybe shorten some points, or skip immediately to where the session starts without the intro). After the editing you can produce the movie into a format of your preference (mp4, mp3 are most common and cross-device mobile standards).

You do have to take into account getting used to Camtasia, but it is an intermediately easy software (btw I am only an eLearning developer, not a Camtasia person :-D

There is a useful tutorial here on how to use Camtasia (14 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMwAxdMZOnM

After I have produced my virtual classroom session into mobile formats (e.g. mp4 or mp3 for audio podcast), I cut them up into videos no larger than 15 minutes and load them up to youtube (youtube does not allow videos larger than 15 minutes at first). This allows people with a variety of devices to look at the reformatted virtual classroom movies, as YouTube will now offer those recordings in the mobile YouTube format.