European m-learning Forum - Newsletter
Issue 5 (10
July 2002)
1. “European Workshop on Mobile And Contextual Learning”, Birmingham, UK 20-21 June 2002
This next event organised by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the m-learning Forum successfully took place towards the end of June. It attracted 73 delegates and covered a wide range of research activities ranging from evaluation of SMS to support undergraduate students to mobile devices to support Breast Care patients. There were also presentations on using PDAs as learning and workplace tools to the development of mobile location-sensitive visitor, information and navigation services. For those that were unable to attend the full programme can be found at:
http://www.eee.bham.ac.uk/mlearn/program.htm.
There are links to ten of the presentations. It is hoped that some of the research papers will eventually be made available at this site.
Many thanks to Prof. Mike Sharples and his team for all their efforts in organising such a successful event.
2. "IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education" (WMTE 2002) Teleborg Campus, Växjö University, Sweden - 29-30 August 2002
****340 US dollars inc. VAT for m-learning Forum members****
**If booked before the 1 August 2002 directly through the m-learning Forum **
Just another reminder that this is the next event supported by the m-learning Forum. We have negotiated a significant discount for m-learning Forum members who would like to attend this workshop. This fee will include proceedings, 2 lunches, 2 morning and afternoon tea/coffee, and a conference dinner. The registration fee after 1 August will be 470 US dollars.
See:- http://www.pjb.co.uk/m-learning/WMTE_join.htm
The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Jeremy Roschelle, Senior Scientist, Stanford Research Institute, USA; other speakers include Professor Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan, USA and Professor Cathleen A. Norris, University of North Texas, USA. The basic program is now available at http://lttf.ieee.org/wmte2002/program.html.
3. Cambridge 3G
I am please to announce that the m-learning Forum has established a relationship with another networking organisation called Cambridge 3G based in Cambridge, UK. See: -
Cambridge 3G has the objective to establish Cambridge as the leading centre in Europe for 3G services and expertise. It will provide a forum in which members and associate member organisations involved in the 3rd generation mobile market can air their opinions and co-ordinate support for a future in which the users primary computing device will be mobile, and promote Cambridge's position in the 3G industry.'
It is understood that a 3G test bed is likely to soon be established in the Cambridge area. In the future it might be possible for m-learning Forum members to test out their applications in a 3G environment. Let me know if you are interested in such possibilities and I will discuss it with Cambridge 3G at my next meeting with them.
They will be organising an event on the 17 July 2002 with the title 'Applications need Networks need Applications' Further details
4. Join the m-learning Forum – Vote with your feet!! Or better your money!!
Many of you are currently receiving this newsletter and the newsclips service for free. A number of m-learning Forum members have taken advantage of attending our networking face-to-face meetings and the discounts that have been on offer to m-learning Forum members at other events. Increasingly, we are being contacted for advice and information about m-learning developments. We have probably already become the focal point for m-learning developments world-wide and have an email list of over 500 consisting of companies, research organisations and those in the learning business.
However, the m-learning Forum does not receive any grants or funding from the public sector. In order that we are able to become self-sustainable we rely upon membership subscriptions. If you are not already a member of the m-learning Forum and want to become part of a global networking community please do join the Forum. Details are at http://www.pjb.co.uk/m-learning/join.htm
As more organisations join we will increasingly be able to offer more services and networking opportunities. We already have plans for increasing the geographical locations of our face-to-face networking during 2003. Existing members will also be able to put their profiles on our web site with details of their m-learning activities.
We are also interested in companies who are willing to become Platinum Members – which will give you a high profile on our web site and at events.5. MOBIlearn project
We are pleased to announce that the MOBIlearn project started on the 1 July 2003. Further details are available at http://www.mobilearn.org/ We have a small role in the project for liaison between the project and the m-learning Forum. So we will keep you informed on developments.
6."The Social Science of Mobile Learning”
Papers are still being invited for this one-day conference in Budapest, on 29 November, 2002. They should be submitted in draft form (1400 to 2000 words) to Kristóf Nyíri nyiri@phil-inst.hu by August 15, 2002.
Conference topics include M-learning and educational theory, the cognitive psychology of m-learning, the construction of meaning in mobile discourse, Ubiquitous computing and integrated learning environment, and Pilot m-learning projects.
This event is organized by the Institute for Philosophical Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and WESTEL Mobile Telecommunications (Hungary) and the registration fee for this conference is $ 50. More information can be found at http://21st.century.phil-inst.hu/m-learning_conference/
7. Future events
After the Swedish workshop (see above) The next event is planned in conjunction with Access Conferences http://www.accessconferences.com on 15 October, in London. Details of invited keynote speakers are still being organised but m-learning members will able to be able to get a discount off the normal fee. Further details will be sent to you as soon as they are available.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to organise an m-learning event with the organisers of Online Educa in Berlin at the end of November. However, it is understood that there will be a session on m-learning but no details are available at present. See http://www.online-educa.com/online_educa_berlin/
We are considering a specific m-learning Networking Event in December 2002 or January/February 2003 ideally outside the UK. If there is any organisation interested in hosting such an event, please contact me.
8. Research Posts at the University of Birmingham: Educational Technology Research Group
Research Posts: MOBIlearn project
The University of Birmingham is a partner in a major consortium of the EC, Information Society Technologies programme, to develop new technologies and educational approaches for mobile and contextual learning.
Research Fellow (1)
Pedagogy of Mobile Learning
The role of the researcher will be to focus on creation of pedagogical paradigms to support learning in a mobile environment (such as collaborative learning, organisational learning, dynamic knowledge creation in a group). The successful candidate should have a deep understanding of the theory and practice of technology-mediated learning, and research experience in the design or evaluation of learning technologies.
Research Fellow (2)
Context-dependent Content Delivery
The role of the researcher is to develop a system to adapt to changes in 'context' and to use these changes to modify the delivery of content to mobile devices. The successful candidate will have a background in a computing related discipline and will have a working knowledge of theories and methods of human-computer interaction.
The contract for each post is up to 30 months and remuneration will be up to
£23,373 per annum.
Further particulars are available from
Staffing
Services
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
Tel: +44 121 414 3699
For an informal discussion about these posts, contact Professor Mike Sharples, Tel. +44 121 414 3966, email, m.sharples@ bham.ac.uk