Mobile learning attracts Blue Chip companies
5 July 2004 - 6 July 2004
Italy
Interest in mobile learning is growing amongst major blue chip companies like IBM, Intel, and Toshiba. All three companies will have representatives speaking at MLEARN 2004. In addition, Nokia and Italian mobile telco Wind are sponsoring the event.
Following on from two successful international conferences held in Birmingham, UK in 2002 and London, UK in 2003, MLEARN 2004 aims to seal the growing relationships between, industry, the research community and the learning business, in order to demonstrate and then develop new ways of offering learning anytime and everywhere through various devices suitable for mobile and ambient learning.
The conference, organised by two research and development projects MOBilearn and M-Learning with the support of the European Commission is likely to attract more than 250 people and 50 speakers from all over the world. Representatives from industry will be speaking, as well as representatives from major research labs including MIT the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; the Italian National Research Council and CRMPA, Italy; and the National Institute of Education, Singapore.
Keynote speakers include Christopher von Koschembahr, a mobile learning executive from IBM, USA. He considers that: ,With an increasingly mobile workforce, m-learning is the next evolution of e-learning. By making online learning truly on demand and more accessible, mobile workers can remain more engaged, even while on the move, and therefore the learning has a higher chance of being successful. As mobile devices converge and new connectivities become more prevalent, profound new possibilities are now made practical and economical. There are also significant business benefits by providing learning in a way that it can fill downtime often experienced by road warriors.
His presentation will explain and demonstrate the pragmatic and performance-based approach that IBM has taken to address the needs of mobile workers both for IBMers, as well as for their customers.
Lim Cher Ping, Assistant Professor from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, will talk about Engagement in M-Learning and will relate this to the development of learning objects and the research he has done in the area of GPRS-enabled handheld computing and the development of learning communities in teacher education.
Whereas, Dr Tom Brown from the University of Pretoria, South Africa will be Exploring future learning paradigms in the context of his work in developing a m-learning model for Africa. He considers that:
Because of the lack of infrastructure for ICT (cabling for Internet and telecom) in certain areas in Africa, the growth of wireless infrastructure is enormous - even more rapid than in many first world countries.
The fourth keynote speaker will be Prof. Dr Robert Meersman: Director of STARlab, VU Brussels, Belgium. He will talk about the semantic linking of courseware, competences, career, and culture for the mobile citizen. Robert founded the Semantics Technology and Applications Research Laboratory (STAR Lab) at the Free University of Brussels in 1995.
Prof Mike Sharples from the University of Birmingham, UK a major partner in the MOBilearn Project considers that:
"The MLEARN 2004 Conference is a great opportunity to extend the relationships between industry and the research community in order to develop exciting new tools for mobile and ambient learning."
Mike hopes the conference will lead onto a regular m-learning forum after the research projects have finished. He says:
I hope that it will encourage new business opportunities and stimulate mobile learning products and services as well as create new opportunities for widening access to learning in order to reduce social exclusion.,MOBIlearn and m-Learning, the two mobile learning projects supported by the European Commission, are collaborating to organise MLEARN 2004 in Rome, Italy. MLEARN is part of a series of international conferences on Mobile and Ambient Learning. The conferences build upon the findings and knowledge shared in MLEARN 2002, held at the University of Birmingham, and MLEARN 2003, held at INMARSAT in London. A similar event will be held in 2005.
Full Conference details available at: http://www.mobilearn.org/mlearn2004(opens in new window)
MOBIlearn Project,The project will finish in December 2004. Full details from http://www.mobilearn.org(opens in new window)
m-learning Project,The project runs from October 2001 to September 2004. Full details from http://www.m-learning.org(opens in new window)
Following on from two successful international conferences held in Birmingham, UK in 2002 and London, UK in 2003, MLEARN 2004 aims to seal the growing relationships between, industry, the research community and the learning business, in order to demonstrate and then develop new ways of offering learning anytime and everywhere through various devices suitable for mobile and ambient learning.
The conference, organised by two research and development projects MOBilearn and M-Learning with the support of the European Commission is likely to attract more than 250 people and 50 speakers from all over the world. Representatives from industry will be speaking, as well as representatives from major research labs including MIT the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; the Italian National Research Council and CRMPA, Italy; and the National Institute of Education, Singapore.
Keynote speakers include Christopher von Koschembahr, a mobile learning executive from IBM, USA. He considers that: ,With an increasingly mobile workforce, m-learning is the next evolution of e-learning. By making online learning truly on demand and more accessible, mobile workers can remain more engaged, even while on the move, and therefore the learning has a higher chance of being successful. As mobile devices converge and new connectivities become more prevalent, profound new possibilities are now made practical and economical. There are also significant business benefits by providing learning in a way that it can fill downtime often experienced by road warriors.
His presentation will explain and demonstrate the pragmatic and performance-based approach that IBM has taken to address the needs of mobile workers both for IBMers, as well as for their customers.
Lim Cher Ping, Assistant Professor from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, will talk about Engagement in M-Learning and will relate this to the development of learning objects and the research he has done in the area of GPRS-enabled handheld computing and the development of learning communities in teacher education.
Whereas, Dr Tom Brown from the University of Pretoria, South Africa will be Exploring future learning paradigms in the context of his work in developing a m-learning model for Africa. He considers that:
Because of the lack of infrastructure for ICT (cabling for Internet and telecom) in certain areas in Africa, the growth of wireless infrastructure is enormous - even more rapid than in many first world countries.
The fourth keynote speaker will be Prof. Dr Robert Meersman: Director of STARlab, VU Brussels, Belgium. He will talk about the semantic linking of courseware, competences, career, and culture for the mobile citizen. Robert founded the Semantics Technology and Applications Research Laboratory (STAR Lab) at the Free University of Brussels in 1995.
Prof Mike Sharples from the University of Birmingham, UK a major partner in the MOBilearn Project considers that:
"The MLEARN 2004 Conference is a great opportunity to extend the relationships between industry and the research community in order to develop exciting new tools for mobile and ambient learning."
Mike hopes the conference will lead onto a regular m-learning forum after the research projects have finished. He says:
I hope that it will encourage new business opportunities and stimulate mobile learning products and services as well as create new opportunities for widening access to learning in order to reduce social exclusion.,MOBIlearn and m-Learning, the two mobile learning projects supported by the European Commission, are collaborating to organise MLEARN 2004 in Rome, Italy. MLEARN is part of a series of international conferences on Mobile and Ambient Learning. The conferences build upon the findings and knowledge shared in MLEARN 2002, held at the University of Birmingham, and MLEARN 2003, held at INMARSAT in London. A similar event will be held in 2005.
Full Conference details available at: http://www.mobilearn.org/mlearn2004(opens in new window)
MOBIlearn Project,The project will finish in December 2004. Full details from http://www.mobilearn.org(opens in new window)
m-learning Project,The project runs from October 2001 to September 2004. Full details from http://www.m-learning.org(opens in new window)