European m-learning Forum - Newsletter
Issue 1 (7
March 2002)
1. Welcome
Hello all. It's been nearly six months since we had our first inaugural meeting of the European m-learning Forum. Thank you all of you who attended.
With around 60 people from about 40
organisations it was a very successful first meeting. Thank you all who
attended. From the feedback questionnaire
most of you thought there was a need for such a Forum and you want
face-to-face events as well as virtual activities and information.
Also, welcome all of you who could not attend the first meeting or have
expressed an interest since we had our first meeting. I'm sorry we have not
been able to have a meeting since September 2001. I have been trying to
organise our next meeting and on three occasions I thought I had successful
managed to get an organisation to host our event outside London but for
various reasons my attempts failed. However, it looks as if we will be more
successful for the rest of the year.
2. Events planned
Here are some of
our plans for 2002: -
"Mobile
Europe 2002" - Bremen, Germany 18-19 March 2002
See http://www.umts-bremen.org/
Contact the organisers directly if you want to attend. We are planning an
informal meeting around this event. Let me know if you are planning to attend.
European m-Learning Forum Meeting, Helsinki, Finland
Possible meeting perhaps in April or maybe September but dates still need to be confirmed. Hopefully a Helsinki company will host the event, but discussions are still taking place.
"World Education Market" Lisbon, Portugal 21-24 May 2002
We are possibly planning a meeting around this event but are looking for a Lisbon based company to host it.
"European Workshop on Mobile And Contextual Learning", Birmingham, UK 20-21 June 2002
This event is confirmed and is being organised by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the European m-learning Forum. Further details are being sent to you via email separately.
Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education" Växjö, Sweden 29-30 August 2002
This IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education" (WMTE 2002) will be held on the Teleborg Campus of Växjö University. It is being supported by the European m-learning Forum. Let me know if you are interested in attending.
"Interactive TV and Mobile Learning" 2nd Annual event October, London UK
Access Conferences in collaboration with the European m-learning Forum have plans to hold this event probably on the 14-15 October. It is a follow-up to the event organised in Paris last year at the end of October. Further details will follow later in the year.
European
m-Learning Forum-Workshop Berlin, Germany, November 2002
It is likely that we will have a Forum workshop possibly on 26 or 27 November just before Online Educa but this still needs to be confirmed.
We are always on the look out for organisations willing to host a Forum event. Please let me know if you wish to do so.
3. Membership of the Forum
The message we had from most of you who
completed the questionnaire at the first meeting was - you wanted some sort of
formal membership of the Forum but without formal committees. Membership costs
should be relatively low - with the option to "buy in" to additional
services if required. We have moved rather slowly on this as we are keen to
ensure that you get value for money and we only provide what you are
demanding. We don't want the Forum to be "supply led". It must be
"demand driven".
However, we are now in the process of
putting together a membership package which we hope will meet you needs and
hope to have this ready by the end of April.
4. Digital Broadcasting could serve mobile users needs.
As I write this newsletter I'm sitting in a Dublin Hotel having just spent two days attending the DVB World 2002 Conference. This conference has been about developments in digital video broadcasting. Various DVB standards are now used across Europe and many other parts of the world for digital TV and datacasting. It was interesting that the DVB world is turning its attention to the various mobile solutions that are emerging and looking at how DVB could be used to deliver video-rich multimedia content to mobile devices.
In addition some interesting solutions for
personalisation of digital content are also emerging which could also apply
across platforms including mobile devices.