The mobile phone is emerging as something more than what students use to text friends. And with the expansion of mobile phone services, this portable device is a logical solution to equipping students with generation-appropriate learning tools.
Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop remarks, “Kids today are spending almost as much time with media as [they are] attending school, so there is an opportunity to create more engaging educational products than ever before.”1 The 2008 Horizon Report goes on to extend this logic by maintaining that within these educational products, one of the key emerging technologies that will likely enter mainstream use in education is mobile broadband. The study notes “each year more than a billion new mobile devices are manufactured – or a new phone for every six people on the planet…mobile phones are quickly becoming the most affordable portable platform for staying networked on the go.”2
Following the implementation of Project K-Nect, an innovative research project examining the viability of using mobile phones to increase academic achievement, The Wireless Foundation,3 Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach™ initiative and Digital Millennial Consulting will be hosting the first annual International Mobile Learning Conference. The primary goal of the conference will be to establish connections between executives from the wireless and education technology industries, representatives from primary, secondary and postsecondary education institutions and policy makers. By bringing various stakeholders together at the conference, the following objectives will be achieved:
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Promote the development of mobile learning |
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Foster new innovative practices in mobile learning |
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Address key concerns of policy makers and educators regarding mobile technologies |
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Stimulate a critical debate on theories, approaches, principles and applications of mobile learning |
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Share local and international developments, experiences and lessons learned |
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Promote collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors in mobile learning |
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Encourage the study and implementation of mobile applications in teaching and learning |
Notes:
1 “D is for Digital…” T.H.E. Journal February 2008. http://thejournal.com/articles/22011
2 Educause Learning Initiave and the New Media Consortium. 2008 Horizon Report. http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2008-Horizon-Report.pdf
3 The Wireless Foundation is the philanthropic organization formed by the member companies of CTIA
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