Handheld Learning 2009

Tuesday 6th Oct, 14:30 – 17:30

Social networks, media sharing platforms, instant messaging, massive multiplayer games and virtual worlds are embedded in many learners everyday lives. Here they are adept at creating their own online identity, making their own web pages, producing and distributing media, communicating and collaborating with an unprecedented number of people across geographical borders and time zones.

This session looks at home the techniques that are part of the everyday for many learners are being embraced effectively within learning and teaching.

Confirmed speakers:

- Henry Warren, Founder, Rafi.ki

- Ollie Bray, National Adviser for Learning and Technology Futures, Learning and Teaching Scotland - "Leading the change: social media in schools"

Social media is rapidly changing the way that we communicate, shop, live, do business and learn - but many schools still haven’t really harnessed the power of social media to improved their learning environments.

This seminar will examine examples of how social media have been used in classrooms and by school leaders to make their institutes become more productive, open and engaging for their learners? It will suggest tools that can be used by education professionals to help publicise their schools, increase audience for student achievement, contribute to staff professional development and make significant efficiency savings.

In addition the presentation will attempt to define exactly what we mean by social media. After all, until we understand exactly what social media in education is how will we ever promote wide scale, sustainable adoption supported by appropriate strategy?

Like all of Ollie’s spotlights and keynotes this isn’t just about vision it’s about practical advice that you can use straight away in your own classrooms, schools or education authorities.

- Mark Hardwick, CEO of Ymogen, create.tv

- Michael Acton Smith, CEO, MindCandy, Moshi Monsters for Learners

- Ronah Harris, Independent educational consultant, Teachers College, Columbia University, United States - “Mobile Creativity: How Low-Income Youth Use”

Mobile Creativity: How Low-Income Youth Use Mobile Technology for Digital Content Creation The use of mobile technologies has been proposed for increasing access and designing innovative educational activities. Unfortunately, there is limited data on the current uses of cellular phones amongst low-income urban youth. In particular, there is little known about how this population may create and share digital content via mobile technology. In this exploratory study, I surveyed 103 youth, ages 13 – 21, and asked about their ownership of cellular phones and their patterns of use with media, the Internet, as well as whether they create digital content. The findings indicate that although these young people use many forms of technology and media, they are more prone to creating content such as photographs and share their writing through cellular phones than through the Internet.

- James Clay, ILT & Learning Resources Manager, Gloucestershire College, United Kingdom - “It’s all about the coffee - the value of Twitter”

Do you Twitter? Some people have “complained” about Twitter as shallow and lightweight, they have missed the point. Is Twitter just about following people and reading informative links or is it about conversation and community? I use Twitter in various ways, saying when I am drinking a coffee,to inform about what I am doing, blog articles and as a backchannel at events and conferences. However telling people is only half the story, the real value of Twitter is the conversation. Of course really Twitter is all about the coffee. It’s the coffee you drink with colleagues during a break, where you discuss work, but also your commute, TV, films, the weather. It’s the coffee you drink whilst browsing the web and posting links of interesting web site to your blog or in an e-mail. It’s the coffee you drink in a coffee shop, reading the paper or a book. It’s the coffee you drink with fellow delegates during a break or at lunch at a conference. Where you discuss the keynotes, the presentations, the workshops, where you are going next, your hotel, the food, the coffee, what you do, where you’re going, what gadgets you have in your bag. Twitter is about these moments, but without the physical and geographical limitations. Twitter allows people from different institutions, sectors, different, departments to share these moments. This presentation will look at how Twitter can be used to improve and enhance teaching and learning through the use of Twitter a community of practice.

...read full programme