Does #mobile learning really make a difference in this world?

Years ago I met Devaji Patil in Bangalore, India and … I related to his spirit and wisdom. Devaji is a philosopher at heart and a medical doctor by profession. In his new job he wants to set up mobile health projects, but at the same time he wants to make sure they will be durable and basically… make sense to the people it is designed to help. So he challenged me with some tough questions comprising ethics, meaningfulness, gender challenges and effectiveness of learning with mobiles. I could get some thoughts in, but I feel many more people are needed to answer his questions in full, so feel free to add ideas or send Devaji additional answers.

1. how are we sure that mobile learning is really empowering

For ages people, both philosophers and lay-people, have been discussing the empowerment of learning or education in general. Looking at the Millennium goals, I can see that most of us still believe in it, but even the most basic primary education is not reached yet. I think this is due to lack of durable, educational vision. Any learning, including mLearning will only be empowering if it is made accessible to all, inspiring, comprehensible, participative as well as collaborative, with guidance for those learners that feel the need to have a guide-on-the-side and most of all durable within a flexible learning environment. Looking at teachers that are real corner stones of education, they know how to appeal to their learners, lift their spirits, inspire them to reach their full potential. That type of teacher is creative, knows how to reach his/her learners and find the strength within the learner. This being said, I feel that every learning is based on inspirational, creative people with vision and trust in the future of their learners. As such I am sure Devaji that if you set up mLearning courses, they will be empowering.  

2. how to actually negotiate the barrier of technology to an 'illiterate' health worker?

The best way to negotiate the barrier is by using what they use, or trying to reimagine new technology with how they use old or known technology. It is not necessary to read if you have a phone, in that case speech can be enough to exchange knowledge/information. So basic cell-phones can be used as help-lines, where patients phone in, and health workers phone back.

If the spoken feedback of the health care workers are than added to a data-base after ‘speech to text’ software, this database can be used for future cases. At the same time radio transmissions offer a great, non-reading, durable way of getting knowledge (continued medical education) distributed to large crowds in a less expensive way, and radio is a mobile device. A case study using radio for this reason (in Philippines for rural farmer women) is linked here (http://www.tistr.or.th/RAP/publication/1999/1999_08_rome.pdf ). What strikes me is that funding is much more difficult to get for this type of proven, mobile learning than small scale smartphone projects (but that is another discussion).

3. with rapidly changing technology ... what is happening to pedagogy? Does pedagogy change too ? As fast as technology ?

Good pedagogy stands apart from technology, but technology can be used to get good pedagogy out to the masses and via distance education (reaching the difficult to reach, in every sense of the word). I feel that pedagogy is very human, and as humans only change slowly, good pedagogy will also only adapt to the pace in which humans can reach their own bigger potential. However with the evolution of technology, the variety of teaching/learning that can be reached via distance education does evolve more rapidly than before: which means that more people can be reached based on the same concepts of good pedagogy (e.g. participation between rural health care workers is now possible by using simple cell-phones).

4. Are we in a position to make 'learning' a central theme of Health systems strengthening if we are then where is it being seen if not why not ?

The knowledge and application of durable and scalable mLearning is still in its early beginnings. In just a couple of years’ time mLearning starts to take off. This means that a lot of projects did not take off due to lack of knowledge about all the factors impacting a project or target population, other projects do take off but are sometimes stopped due to non-durable options… And sadly those projects not attaining what they were meant to obtain are rarely disseminated, although most of us are eager to learn from mistakes to ensure successful future endeavors.

To me learning or training should be at the center of any system, including health systems. The concept of Lifelong Learning did not come out of the blue, but came out of an awareness that constant education will be a must in a world where changes happen increasingly rapid.  

A stable, durable health system will have learning and specifically continued medical education embedded in its core, for without keeping health care workers, health managers… up to date on latest changes, the patients will not be reached with optimal health care. In relation to this, I share this National Health Service (United Kingdom) paper focusing on 29 recommendations for embedding mLearning in their health care system http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.be/2011/04/how-can-health-within-clinics-be.html these recommendations do not always apply to more challenged regions, but some of them can indeed be implemented.

5 Why is human interface still important. ?

For trust, real understanding, and for reaching those that need some time to voice the problems they are facing, and to reach those that feel insecure or unable to share text.

6. How to / Why / Where/ When to place technology enhanced learning in health systems that are not just weak ... but actually in a disintegrated state?

That is something else, if a system is in a disintegrated state it needs to be rebuild from the ground up I guess. In that case technology might be used to start communicating about most urgent issues but … if a basis is unstable, you can be sure that any rapidly designed technological addition will only amount to even more disruption.

7. Is technology gender sensitive ? Technology is definitely gender sensitive. It has the old stigma (male’s are better at it), the new social-economic realities (women have less access to technology) and the gender digital divide. There are exceptions, but it is an uphill battle to get women on an equal opportunity base regarding technology or its related solutions. To that topic I refer to GSMA’s woman mobile initiative: http://www.mwomen.org   

These types of subjects will be covered and discussed during MobiMOOC in week 2 by John Traxler and week 3 by Michael Sean Gallagher, so feel free to join the discussions. Looking at the participants I am sure they will be able to add much more solutions and ideas than I can. 

Win 500 $ with your mobile project overview for #mLearning

The free online course on mobile learning MobiMOOC will launch on 8 September 2012 and guide you through different mobile learning (mLearning) fields for three weeks. At the end of the three week course the MobiMOOC Award will be offered to the winning mLearning project, as voted by the MobiMOOC participants. The winning mLearning project will be that project which is considered by all as having the most impact for people living in difficult or challenged situations. Want to learn more about the course, than look at the course wiki here.

In order to enter the contest and to win the MobiMOOC Award, you must participate in MobiMOOC (it is a free course, open to all). If you have not registered for the course yet, you can enroll for free by becoming a member of the MobiMOOC Google group which can be found here.

The contest will be based on mLearning project overviews, that will be made based on a 10 step template that can be found here. If you already have an idea for a mobile project or you feel an idea will come soon, get a head start and take a look at the template to start brainstorming.

Which are the topics covered by MobiMOOC (all facilitated by mLearning experts):


First week: 8 – 15 September 2012
mLearning intro and planning (facilitated by Ignatia Inge de Waard - Belgium - @ignatia )

Second week: 16 – 22 September 2012
Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework (facilitated by Adele Botha - South Africa - @adele_b )
Global issues mLearning (facilitated by John Traxler - United Kingdom and the globe - @johntraxler )
mLearning tools (a collaborative experience by all of us MobiMOOC participants, each one of us will share their top tools, benefits of these tools and experiences)

Third week: 23 – 29 September 2012
Mobile Games (facilitated by David Parsons, New Zealand)
Augmented Reality mLearning (facilitated by Victor Alvarez, Spain)
Pedagogical theory, status of mLearning research (facilitated by Geoff Stead, Cambridge, UK)
ICT4D (facilitated by Michael Sean Gallagher - Korea / United Kingdom - @mseangallagher )
Train the trainer (facilitated by Jacqueline Batchelor, South Africa)
Corporate mLearning (facilitated by Amit Garg, India)
Mobile devices for activism (facilitated by Sean Abajian, California, US)
Mobile health or mHealth (facilitated by Malcolm Lewis, Australia)

30 September 2012: Award notification! The winner of the MobiMOOC award will be revealed.
Every MobiMOOC participant willing to enter the MobiMOOC award contest will be asked to send their overview by 25 September. From 28 September 2012 the vote will be open and on 30 September the winner will be revealed.

A recorded conversation with Michael Wesch @mwesch #teaching

Nellie Deutsch, an incredibly strong promoter of open education, has been gathering a few very interesting educational thinkers. One of these great educational minds, viewing the world from an anthropologist point of view is Michael Mike Wesch. These conversations offer any participant who logs into the open virtual session, a chance to pose questions to the speaker, exchange ideas or simply listen to what they have to say.

Why I found this video interesting? Most of all for the reasons Mike lists on what makes a good teacher, or a good person for that. He focuses on really getting to know your learners, respect them and recognize the gifts, expertise of the people around you, so engaging with those who are willing to engage with you. I like that idea, it is very human.

For those not familiar with Michael/Mike, I gladly add the information Nellie provided: Michael has been called "the explainer" by Wired magazine and he is a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. After two years of studying the implications of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society. He has made some seminal contributions in the field of digital ethnography, and burst in to the realm of public consciousness with his 2007 video -"The Machine is US/ing US". Since then, his videos on culture, technology, education, and information have been viewed over 20 million times, translated in over 15 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide.

Wesch has won several major awards and accolades for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was recently named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. He is considered an active developer of innovative teaching skills, for which he has won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities.

Enough formality, here is the conversation which starts with his famous video 5 minutes in the YouTube video.

New, free #report on innovating #pedagogy by Open University UK

The Open University of the UK has just published a free report (38 pages, open layout) on the emerging innovative online pedagogies of today. The report gives a great, brief overview of what is currently happening and especially the pedagogical viewpoint adds some insights.

The report is linked to a blog so everyone can add comments per topic. 

Short synopsis of the report (from the report itself):
This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. The first report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University proposed a long list of new educational
terms, theories, and practices.
We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in postschool education. We have not deliberately excluded school education, but that is not our area of expertise.

Topics covered:
New pedagogy for e-booksInnovative ways of teaching and learning with next-generation e-books
Publisher-led short coursesPublishers producing commercial short courses for leisure and professional development
Assessment for learningAssessment that supports the learning process through diagnostic feedback
Badges to accredit learningOpen framework for gaining recognition of skills and achievements
MOOCs
Massive open online courses
Rebirth of academic publishing
New forms of open scholarly publishing
Seamless learning
Connecting learning across settings, technologies and activities
Learning analytics
Data-driven analysis of learning activities and environments
Personal inquiry learning
Learning through collaborative inquiry and active investigation
Rhizomatic learning
Knowledge constructed by self-aware communities adapting to environmental conditions

Scalable, durable #mLearning intro drill down

Tom Wambeke and Robin Poppe from the Delta unit of ILO/ITC in Turin, Italy asked a couple of mobile learning people to come over and have a brainstorm on mobile learning options,

The dialogue that appeared was interesting as it enabled all of us present to bring together similar priorities, add personal mLearning experiences and building options for people wanting to start, roll-out mobile learning.

The slides here reflect the generic ideas or topics that were shared as pointers to start with mLearning or embedding mobile learning into existing (online) learning environments.

Durable and scalable mlearning drilldown from Inge Ignatia de Waard

Interested in #ICT4D with #mLearning? Join #MobiMOOC for free

Michael Sean Gallagher will be the facilitator for the ICT4D specialized week (http://mobimooc.wikispaces.com/Mobiles+and+Development) that is one of the concurrent sessions in MobiMOOC (free, open, online course on mLearning). The ICT4D topic will run from 23 - 29 September 2012. During that week everyone is invited to discuss her/his experiences on ICT4D or share future plans. That way we all can learn from our past failures and successes with setting up ICT4D projects.  For those wanting to draw up a mLearning project, there will be the possibility of winning an award (contest open to all MobiMOOC’rs, more on that later).

Michael will be joined by experts speakers from Cambodia and Mali, which makes the experience even more thrilling (or at least that is how I feel).

Although any MobiMOOC participant is free to engage, lurk, participate… in any way they seem fit (learning can have different forms), Michael did draw up potential learning activities for those who want to. You can have a look at the preliminary actions and topics related to ICT4D on the (work in progress) ICT4Dpage which is part of MobiMOOC’s course wiki.

Michael is a globetrotter who has worked and lived in 4 different continents  (N-America, Europe, Asia and Africa) and all the time with heart and a warm soul.  You can view more about him at his website (http://michaelseangallagher.org/ ).

If you are interested in the subject, feel free to register for the free course. You can do this by becoming a member of the Google group here.

How to choose a #mobile device for #mLearning purposes

Choosing the best (smart)phone or tablet for mobile learning can be quite a challenge. It also depends on what you want to do with it and how easy you can get used to technology. The amount of features you want to use will also allow you to purchase a low or high cost smartphone or mobile device.

Let's say you want to explore mobile learning, these are some of your options.

Smartphones
First of all if you are a tech savvy person you could go for a less expensive device which has all the options of the iPhone and more, for the iPhone costs a lot, yet is similar to many other mobile phones that are cheaper. The iPhone is above all an incredibly easy phone to use (very intuitive in its user interface), so for those not that comfortable with technology, the iPhone is the way to go (although it is expensive). If you do not want to pay the cost of an iPhone, you can also go for an iPod Touch, which is much cheaper and offers all the iPhone options (you can access the internet via a Wi-Fi connection), except phone possibilities (but the phone possibilities are not essential for mobile learning).

Tablets
The same is true for tablets (there is an increasing array of tablets out there, running on Apple (iPad) or Android (Samsung Galaxy tab) or .... Tablets have the advantage of having a bigger screen. As such they offer more visual options than the smartphones mentioned above.

Other
You can also simply use a MP3 player, as these will enable you to share audio material (e.g. language learning or gather all the songs of birds in the wood and determine which bird it is...) or an eBook reader for those more interested in reading materials.

What can you opt for in a high-end phone, tablet or mobile device?
When deciding on a phone, it is good to know what features are most important to you and what type of mLearning you are envisioning, e.g. if you want to use location data to tag your pictures for field trips or similar, GPS will be necessary.

Depending on these features you can make a selection of phones and then compare them in one of the review sites (or a couple of review sites, sometimes those sites already have a 'best off' list: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-cell-phones/ , or a funny geeky one: http://www.testfreaks.co.uk/mobile-phones/ ). In any case it is good to look at which devices are on your local market and then look at (and compare) the specifications of your short list of mobile devices you want to choose from. Go for sites that offer both expert reviews AND peer reviews, because it is the user that is important, not the geek.

Personal criteria that might influence your mobile device or tablet purchase (basically what you do is check what you feel is important to you, the more possibilities, the more your device will cost - most of the time):Camera quality: how many mega pixels does the camera have (the more mega pixels the better the quality of the pictures taken with it)? this was critical too me, as I like to record high quality movies and pictures for later recall (visual person). TV-connection option: if you want to use your mobile device to train a team, you might want to search for a mobile device that can be fitted onto a beamer or television set. That way your mobile device can be used as a media broadcast device (I like such a feature a lot, also enables me to share pictures and movies when visiting family). 
Memory extension: if you use a lot of big files (movies, audio, podcasts...) it is a good thing to look at phones that have a memory slot (most of the time it is for mini SDcards), this offers you the chance to have access to more files.
WiFi possibility: if in doubt, I would certainly go for wifi enabled phones: wifi enables you to connect to free internet, which will save you a bundle especially when being abroad.
Bluetooth: this might be interesting if you want to connect to other devices without using a USB connectivity cable. It is also handy for health check-ups, they use bluetooth for instance for wireless interaction between a blood pressure meter and the software to analyse diabetes.
Phone capabilities and specifically quad band connectivity: only important if you travel internationally, because if you only have access to - say 2 - phone frequencies, you will likely not be able to access in some continents.
Mail access: is there a possibility to exchange between your mailbox and the mobile? Or is it of interest to you? If yes, look for that specification.
In addition to that one: synchronisation with outlook: only necessary if you work with outlook, this enables you to exchange mail and your contacts between your desktop and mobile phone.
Office possibilities: this enables you to look at office documents (depends again on your need).
Social media widgets: does the device offer easy to install social media widgets (e.g. facebook, flickr, twitter...). Having this function will enable you to quickly personalize your phone to your own social network.
GPS: that is increasingly important for geo-located learning as well, in those cases the GPS will know where you are at and offer you nearby information (shopping malls, geek stores, museums... linked to your location). But of course also easy to find your way around unknown territory.
Gyro-sensor: this is an advance characteristic, but it does add to the human-machine integrated feeling of a smartphone. Basically a gyro-sensor tells you how your movement relates to the outside world (going up, moving, running...). Such a feature can be of interest if you are looking to follow physical training courses.  Look here for those interested in the applications of gyro-sensors.
Applications - can you add software that is build for your mobile phone, to your mobile phone? To me, being able to add extra applications to a phone is very important, as applications offer a wide variety of possibilities not necessarily integrated in the basic features of a phone (e.g. speech to txt, keeping track of your walks, comparing prices of products across various supermarkets and looking for the cheapest product in range, recognizing buildings...)
Touch screen or not: again this is very personal, some like touch screens, others do not (with touch screen you cannot write a quick sms blindly or from the pocket of your pants for instance, but on the other hand it offers immediate contact with what you see). Touch screens are becoming more common though.
Screen reflection: if you want to use your phone outside regularly, it is a good thing to check readability of the screen when you are outside, standing in the sun.
Battery life (thanks to Nick Short!): this is pretty important if working away from a power source for example on a field trip.

Now with all these above mentioned features, it is clear that they are only interesting if you really want to explore them, otherwise it is better to buy a simple 'intermediate' smartphone which offers access to internet, phone capabilities and basic note taking (and the price is much lower than high-end phones). With these 'simple' phones you can already exchange pictures, movies, and discuss what these audiovisual materials you gathered with peers. From a learning point of view, even the simplest phone can add to a learning process, because it is the content provider who must be creative.

What mobile operating system to choose?
Let's say you go for the more high-end ones, at that moment the operating system of the phone becomes very important (apple mobile operating system, Android OS, windows mobile operating system, RIM/Blackberry...). Of all the Operating systems, the blackberry is the most restricted one as it needs to be connected to a central Blackberry server (rectification thanks to mLearning-world.com (who work a lot with blackberry comment - see below: the Blackberry's do have third party software that allows synchronisation with e-mail without having to go through a BB server).
There is also the operating system to consider when buying a new phone. Btw: always buy a phone that is not the first generation (these have many childhood diseases), always go for a second or third generation of a phone (e.g. do not buy the first android phone, but buy the second version they put out).

Mobile applications or apps
Both iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android offer 'application market place', some of these applications or apps are free, some of them cost a bit of money.  Smartphone marketplaces:
Blackberry: http://us.blackberry.com/apps/app-world.html
Apple iPhone: http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/
Google Play (for Android phones): https://play.google.com/store
Windows mobile: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/marketplace

If you plan some mLearning, you might also want to take a look at which applications might enhance learning for your target learner audience.

Great free #book with 7 #mLearning scenario’s for adult education

Today I found an interesting read (56 pages): a book on mobile learning covering some theoretical and practical considerations, but most interestingly: 7 mLearning scenario’s for adult education.

The book can be downloaded here

http://www.mymobile-project.eu/IMG/pdf/Handbook_print.pdf

The book was written for the European supported Lifelong Learning strand. It was rolled out during the final conference in London (22 June 2012) where the results of the MyMobile project were shared (http://www.mymobile-project.eu/ )

Titles of some of the mLearning examples: Developing adults’ self-promotion skills for job search through digital storytelling and the use of mobile phones, or: Connecting older people in rural areas | Mobile learning scenario from a cross-generational house in Germany, or: Advertising and media literacy | Use of mobile devices.

Join the facilitators of the free course on #mLearning MobiMOOC

MobiMOOC is a free, open, online course on mobile learning (mLearning) which will be running between 8 and 30 September 2012. The course wiki (http://mobimooc.wikispaces.com ) is gradually taking shape. 

Covered mLearning topics: augmented learning, mobile gaming, corporate mLearning, train-the-trainer, building a mLearning curriculum, global mLearning issues, mobile health (mHealth), ICT for development, mlearning strategies/pedagogies and we will start with a look at the basics of mLearning including how to set up a mobile learning project.

Interested? Join the free course by becoming a member of the MobiMOOC google group(registration point of the course).

With the start of the course still two months away, our grand group of facilitators was completed last week and here are the guides-on-the-side for all the upcoming mobile learning topics (in completely random order). All of us cover 4 continents and 9 different mobile learning topics:

Mobile learning theory/pedagogy: Geoff (Stead) is a mobile massive brain from Cambridge, UK, with an enormous amount of zest and creativity. Who better to provide an overview of mobile learning theories and pedagogies then his creative mind?

Corporate learning: Amit (Garg) from India has inspired companies to go mobile based on strong business plans, goal oriented design and intuitive learning. He shares what he knows with all that want to hear. Amit is a true enlightened entrepreneur who embraces the ancient old wisdom that sharing will lift all of us to a higher plain within our human capacities.

Train-the-trainer: Jacqueline (Batchelor) from South Africa uses all of her blond haired charm to get every teacher trained simply by using mobile devices and … a lot of educational insight. She is a silent, calm, yet a very thorough expert that explores new frontiers of teacher engagement and paves the way for all of us.

Mobile activism/learning: Sean (Abajian) from sunny California is a mobile activist believer. He lifts crowds to march for better adult education, he is an activist pur-sang and with a heart of gold and understands the benefits of educational technologies. He knows that long-term activism coincides with quick learning.

Mobile gaming: David (Parsons) from Australia is an old school new school mobile programmer, now completely emerged in mobile gaming. He will guide us in our first contemplations to create serous mobile games.

Augmented learning: Víctor Alvarez pours his Spanish passion into innovative augmented learning applications. He sees beyond our everyday world and adds extra layers of interest that enhances the moments, locations, and understandings we currently live in.   

Setting up a Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework: Adele (Botha): straight from South Africa, she knows how to own any room she enters and grab the attention with her mobile knowledge and persona. She will push us forward with any mobile learning curriculum we want to create.

ICT for development: Michael (Sean Gallagher - UK/Korea) combines a literary pen with a mission to provide a mobile solution to anyone living in a challenged environment no matter where you are in the world. He will share solutions that will get you up and ready to tackle low resource settings with a great set of tools.

mHealth: Malcolm (Lewis - Australia) has a diverse background across a range of social movements and social services. In the mid-1980s, he was involved in the early days of the internet working to bring the wonders of email to the NGO sector in Australia. For the past 14 years, he has been working in the field of health promotion and technology.

Global mLearning issues: John (Traxler): He has got more air-miles than George Clooney in Up in the Air, John gives new meaning to the word mobile and researches it in all its meanings. Amateur ornithologist, mountain climber, and professor in mobile learning!

And me from Belgium, well….. me focusing on an introduction to mLearning and planning a project!

On(X) setting up my #Android for my #personal needs & #mLearning frontiers

Israeli Microsoft developers just came up with On(X) a WONDERFUL way to get some automation to your personal - my personal - android driven phone (well, not all Android, so check if it matches your phone before getting excited). I got the news from Yishai Mor, a great educational researcher (Thanks Yishai).

Basically, its most promoted feature is the fact that On(X) keeps on eye on your mobility. For instance if you walk out of the office (location based gps needs to be on) after a days work, your phone messages your partner automatically with whatever message you want.
Short side note: do not forget to shut this option off if you decide to visit another person first... might create some confusion :-D

Another nice application is that the phone automatically starts playing your favorite runner playlist once you start .... running (location/paced based). Short side note: running to get through a traffic light might start audio as well, but ... it is fun anyway.

But do you see the potential for future education?!!! Let's start from a simple generic example: if you tag your fridge items (the smart refrigerator, you have similar fridges in the more expensive hotels), connected to the stock of those items and you walk passed a store... your cellphone tells you what you can get and for what price.
Well okay, but now: you are working an some research, and you go on holiday, as you pass by a building that gives shelter (oh well) to researcher with similar interests that you are connected to with your twitter account. Your phone gives you a notification, you can tweet them 'are you in and available' and you simply have an informal meet-up exchanging ideas.... Or am I the only one thinking this is cool as a holiday relaxation?

All this can be done by using the non-difficult rules (recipe's) set in On(X). For developers they provided javascript API's making programming life a bit easier. 

Here is the short video