Welcome from the New President
While mobile technologies become more and more a commodity in our everyday life there is still a huge challenge in how to design and implement mobile learning into today's educational systems and practice. The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAMLearn) aims at aggregating excellence in research on mobile learning and to help policy makers, researchers, and practitioners worldwide. The association already co-organizes the 13th scientific conference on mobile and contextual learning (mlearn.org), and there is a repository of documented research experience and a lively community on mobile learning associated with IAMLearn.
I am proud to represent the association and I am enthusiastic about taking over the task of stimulating its development further, to take action to strengthen the community with the executive board and to reflect on new directions for mobile learning with the whole community.
mLearn 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey
We invite you to the 13th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning.
mLearn 2014 will take place from November 3-5, 2014, at Kadir-Has Univeristy in Istanbul, Turkey. This year the conference has the focus topic “Mobile as mainstream – towards
future challenges in mobile learning” and we are expecting a wide range of
contributions representing the diversity of the mobile learning community.
mLearn 2014 will be the place to meet the most prolific researchers and the young talents in the mobile learning community. Get inspired by presentations about research results and practice experiences. Get to know new tools and new educational concepts. All this will take place in Istanbul - a vibrant place at the intersection of different cultures.
mLearn 2014 Call for Proposals
The Call for Papers defines the topics the conference is focusing on in 2014. We welcome contributions showing academic rigor and relevance for educational practice. All papers will undergo a double-blind review with a least two reviews by members of the programme committee. You can find full details on the Call for Proposals and how to submit your proposals on the mLearn 2014 conference website at http://mlearn.org.
The Path to Paris… Thoughts on UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2014
Rob Power
I’ve been interested in and actively integrating educational
technologies into my teaching practice for over a decade now, but I have really
only narrowed in on mobile learning in particular since beginning my doctoral
studies at Athabasca University (Canada). It’s fortunate that, given my passion
for mobile learning, my dissertation supervisor at AU is IAmLearn founding
director Dr. Mohamed Ally! But what has helped me to focus in on my real area
of mLearning specialization has been my experiences at various conferences over
the past number of years.
At mLearn 2012 in Helsinki, Finland, I first met Prof John Traxler.
Through him, I have gained a better appreciation for the cultural nuances that
can affect both technological deployment and pedagogical considerations for
mLearning. I have also gained an appreciation for the importance of
understanding what doesn’t work, and why! My encounters with John, Agnes, and
Jocelyn at mLearn 2012 also led directly to my involvement with bringing mLearn
2013 to Doha, Qatar. I don’t think that I could accurately quantify the impact
of my work on mLearn 2013 on my conceptualization of mobile learning, my
academic studies, or my professional career. That is, except to note that the
range of papers and presentations I saw, and the people I have established
collegial relationships with, have solidified my own passion for figuring out
how to make mobile learning more accessible to everyday teachers.
I presented a workshop at the Technology in Higher Education Conference
in Doha in April 2013 with a focus on simple tips and tricks to build mobile
reusable learning objects using free online tools. I (and I think the
conference organizers) were amazed by the popularity of the session, and I
continue to be amazed by the number of colleagues from Doha who still comment
on it, and tell me that the workshop sparked their interest and made them feel
more comfortable about using mLearning strategies. That workshop led to a
peer-reviewed paper on the Collaborative Situated Active Mobile (CSAM) learning
strategies framework. However, it wasn’t until mLearn 2013 that I decided to
focus in on CSAM for my doctoral dissertation. The feedback I received during
the Doctoral Consortium, and informally throughout the conference, has led to
both research partnerships and a practical focus for my dissertation (examining
how to bridge the gap between new technologies and solid pedagogy to increase
teachers’ sense of self-efficacy with mobile learning).
That brings me to UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2014. Initially, I was
not planning on attending! I was a bit burnt out from organizing mLearn 2013, I
had already flown back to Canada for a week for professional development in
late November (leaving my family in Doha), and I had just started a new job in
the Advanced Learning Technologies Center at College of the North
Atlantic-Qatar. But then I saw the theme for this year’s Mobile Learning Week.
With my interest in, and dissertation focus on teachers and mobile learning
pedagogy, I could not pass on the opportunity to go to such a prominent
conference focused specifically on empowering teachers through mobile learning.
Plus, it was in Paris! Who could pass on a trip to Paris?
Personally, I think that I got the most out of the pre-Symposium
Workshops day on February 17. Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway gave a keynote
address at mLearn 2013… but that one-hour session was all too brief (and my
mind was focused on conference organizational issues). So I attended their
three-hour workshop in Paris. I’m glad that I did, because I got the chance to
dive into hands-on use with their open-access collaborative learning suite of
tools. That session opened my eyes to new possibilities for collaborative
interaction in blended learning scenarios, and reinforced my focus on
collaboration in the CSAM framework. (It also led to another potential
institutional partnership for my dissertation research!). For the afternoon
session, I chose to attend a presentation on the use of geolocation
applications for the creation of interactive “walking tour” lessons and student
projects. I got to meet up with IAmLearn members David Parsons and Laurent
Antonczak, a number of colleagues from other recent conferences, and a large
group of new friends who joined us for a walk around the UNESCO World
Headquarters. The session organizers demonstrated an application that they
described as continuously evolving. However, I think that the greatest takeaway
was the lively discussion it generated both during and after the session about
the potential uses of mapping, geolocation, and augmented reality applications.
Plus, we got to walk around Paris, staring at our mobile phones, and call it
work!
February 18-19 were the open symposium days for MLW14. There were a
number of keynote presentations and panel discussions focused on work being
done in various regions to help prepare teachers to integrate mobile learning
resources, and to reach new audiences of learners. There were also a couple
dozen exhibitions by educational institutions, non-governmental organizations,
and companies involved with developing educational technology and applications.
I got the chance to see the latest array of gadgets about to hit the market,
and to see novel applications that have left my imagination still working in
overdrive thinking of their possible integrations into my own teaching
practice. One of my favorites was a split-screen, Facetime-like application
that allows two people in remote locations to read a book together (called
Caribou). While the app is being marketed to allow “parents or grandparents” to
read bedtime stories to children, I’m still imagining the possibilities for
second language learning and pairing learners with expert tutors!
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Policy (Feb 20) or Research
Track (Feb 21) days for MLW14. It would have been a great chance to continue to
network with colleagues old and new. However, I did continue to watch the
ongoing Twitter feed under the hashtag #MLW2014. Live-Tweeting from a
conference is one of my favorite ways of engaging with colleagues via an online
backchannel, and seeing what’s happening in the different parallel sessions. I
tried to keep up to date on Tweeting my thoughts, and on re-Tweeting others’
comments… so if you want a more in-depth picture of what MLW14 looked like,
just look for me on Twitter (@xPat_Letters) and check out my #MLW2014 feed. If
the ongoing discussions about mobile learning peak your interest, then I highly
recommend attending the forthcoming mLearn 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey. Hopefully
I’ll see you there!
