m-learning Forum - Newsletter
Issue 2 (3 April 2002)
1. m-learning Forum fully established
Hello all. We have
now fully established the m-learning Forum and you can now apply for full
membership (see below). We have decided just to call the Forum the
“m-learning Forum” rather than include “European”. We want to make it
easier for individuals or organisations outside Europe to join as we have been
receiving considerable interest from outside Europe. In addition we have found
that people are tending to call it the “m-learning Forum”. For the next
year, at least, the Forum will remain under the umbrella of pjb Associates who
will continue to administer the activities of the Forum.
2. Administrator appointed
I am pleased to
announce that Zoe Ashton will act as the m-learning Forum administrator. You
will mainly have contact with her via email: zoe@pjb.co.uk
. This is the best method to contact her. However, a telephone message can be
left for her at +44 1353 667973.
3. Next event Friday 26 April
2002 in Helsinki, Finland
Attached are details
of our next event “Finland as a laboratory of mobile technologies”. We are
very pleased that the event is being hosted by TietoEnator
(www.tietoenator.com)
(who are located about 30 minutes from Helsinki Airport) and the local
organisers the Pori unit, Tampere University of Technology, Finland.
We aim to have an
online registration and payment system established in the next week but until
this is set-up please send an email to Zoe zoe@pjb.co.uk
stating that you wish to register. Cost for Forum members is 65 Euro
+ VAT at 17.5%
and for
non-members is 150 Euro
+ VAT at
17.5%.
Details of hotels will be sent to you when you
register.
You will see from
the draft programme that we have some very interesting keynote speakers. In
addition, in line with the key purpose the Forum – human networking – we
will be having a “Knowledge Market” where participates will have the
opportunity to show any products/services to others. The exact format will be
decided once we have a clearer idea of the facilities that will be available
to us. Please let Zoe zoe@pjb.co.uk know if
you want to “offer” something to the knowledge market.
4. “Mobile Europe 2002” -
Bremen, Germany
For those who were
unable to attend this event, documentation made available during the event can
be found at http://www.umts-bremen.org/
Many speakers mentioned the need to develop solutions for what users want.
Unfortunately only one person made any mention of m-learning.
5.
Liikanen’s Challenge
The
keynote speaker at the “Mobile Europe 2002” event was Mr Erkki Liikanen,
the European Commissioner with responsibility for Information Society
Technologies. As he did not mention “m-learning” during his
presentation I sent him an email expressing my disappointment. He sent the
following reply: -
“Thank
you for your criticism. I give you a challenge: Show me such a compelling
m-learning case that I never forget to mention in the future.”
I
responded with the following comment: -
“We
will take up your challenge and compile some case studies for you with the
help of members of the Forum. We accept it is still early days, but the Forum
is all about bringing people/organisations together to develop creative and
innovative solutions which can result in new appropriate and sustainable ways
of bringing learning opportunities to people independent of location.”
So
here is the Liikanen Challenge. Please send me your case-studies and I will
compile them in a format to send to Mr Liikanen. As well as written
case-studies I’m thinking of a number of video clips plus so I will bring my
digital video camera to all Forum events – but better still I want to show
real people doing m-learning.
6.
CEBIT 2002 new tablet devices on show
At
the world’s largest technology trade show in Hanover in mid March at least
three or four new mobile tablet devices were on display. At
least one of which had an integrated Wireless LAN, GPRS, and two-way
video-conferencing facility -based on Windows XP. None of them made in Europe
- but the challenge is to use them in creative ways that will enhance and
create new learning opportunities and ensure that appropriate learning content
is available. We are in touch with the manufacturers and hope to
receive samples from them in a few months time to test out their potential for
m-learning.
7. “European Workshop on
Mobile And Contextual Learning”, Birmingham, UK 20-21 June 2002
This
is being organised by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the
m-learning Forum. Further details are available at:
www.eee.bham.ac.uk/mlearn
8. Membership fees for the Forum
In order to cover
the cost of administration of the Forum we have decided the following
membership fees for the first year. Membership can be individuals,
organisations or a unit or a department within an organisation.
Normal membership
will be 475 Euro per year
+ VAT at
17.5%
Non-profit making
organisations 290 Euro per year
+ VAT at
17.5%
You will be able to
pay in Euro, Pounds Sterling or US Dollars with the exchange rate based on the
Euro. VAT will be charged where appropriate (This will be mainly for UK
organisations but the situation may change).
Once we have set-up
online registration and payment by credit/debit card we will charge another 20
Euro
+ VAT at
17.5%,
if you require an invoice to be sent to you.
Membership will be
for one contact address with one main contact person.
Membership will last
for one year till the end of the month in which you join.
9. Benefits of membership to the
Forum
Each member will get
a discount on Forum events for up to two people per event. In addition members
will also get discounts on events organised in collaboration with other
organisations.
Members will also
receive a regular newsletter and a news-clips service.
Additional benefits
will also be arranged in the near future.
If you require
further information contact Zoe at: - zoe@pjb.co.uk
.
10.
Mobile learning - Flexibility in moving - publication
I have been informed
that the Educational
Centre for ICT, University of Helsinki, Finland have produced a publication
called "Mobile learning - Flexibility in moving" Unfortunately it is
only in Finnish at present. For more information contact Pauliina Seppälä
email: pauliina.o.seppala@helsinki.fi
Peter J. Bates
m-learning Forum Co-ordinator
Senior Partner
pjb Associates