LMA User's Group Meeting

I had the pleasure of attending a Conference yesterday where a group of individuals spoke of what LMA, LMS, LMC and Hot Lava had affored them the opportunties to do.

I learned about ‘Chunking content into appropriate Nuggest for m-Learning.’ I found out there is a Mobile Content Developer Certification program in the works out of Singapore, that was very much interesting.

AJ Ripin of Mem-Cards Corporation was there speaking on that product and how it was using LMA and Mobile Learning to get their product out to people. You can visit www.mem-cards.com and click on ’suggested uses for Mem-cards’ under ‘corporate programs’ to see what is available. We were given a sample of a set of cards they did for Club Med, using CM’s color scheme. What a great personal coaching tool these little cards are.

Tristan Evans of Perago Consulting spoke about ‘Using LMA in solutions on higher education & capturing feedback.’ Speaking in relation to the University level and how these students were using their Razor phones, or even Ipods to help with their continued education.

Mike Gillies of Naois spoke about IMELS (Integrated Education and Learning System) enabling the disabled access, via mobile technology, the educational content they might need to become more independent. Did you know that 6.4M students are in some way utilizing some form of Assistive technology? These individuals have physical, cognitive, and speech disabilities.

60% of disabled students never use a computer, verses 25% of non-disabled students. 9:1 student have computers in urban areas. Less than 10% of disabled students have internet access (38%).

Also, the potential for this technology to be used in the Restaurant world to train new employees, or retrain old employees. It’s not just the Restaurant world, what of the Service area, HVAC service Techs, or even Auto mechanics. Tracking of inventory, performance evaluations, etc.

This is some pretty amazing stuff.

m-Learning, is it a Buzz word?

Mobile Learning Technologies challenges and opportunities ...First there was correspondence learning. Then came distance learning. Now we talk about e-learning. Is mobile or m-learning next? Are these terms meaningful? Or are they just buzz words? One could ask the question whether we will ever get back to plain old learning.

Mobile learning (learning using devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants or combinations of these technologies) has the capability to revolutionise the way we think and learn about education and development. If distance learning is about providing access to education then no technology has greater potential to bring education to the people (as opposed to bringing people to education) than mobile learning.

Using these technologies people can learn when and where it is convenient for them. We have reached learning on demand. In fact this article is being written in a public park.

The text messaging capabilities of mobile devices seems to be particularly powerful with respect to m-learning. Using text transmissions to transmit information from teacher to learner concerning assignments and content vastly speeds up previous communications. Perhaps more importantly text messaging allows learners to communicate with each other thus creating a learning community that extends far beyond the life and confines of traditional learning environments.

More practically m-learning devices allow users to literally lighten the load. PDAs and cell phones are small enough to carry around easily and are easier to maintain than desktop or even laptop computers. It is no longer necessary to cart kilograms of equipment in order to pursue learning and the equipment itself is far less expensive than traditional computers.

But what about the infamous digital divide? In this case the digital divide may not be as gaping as we think. According to a recent survey in The Economist, mobile phone subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa rose by more than 150% last year.

This growth is outpacing that in many developed nations and is, in fact, “leapfrogging” more standard technologies like fixed wire telecoms and the Internet. Perhaps in this case, for the developing world at least, m-learning will be more than just a buzz word used by the north, but, will be a meaningful concept and technology with the capacity to provide learning for all.

Mobile Content Software

Mobile Content Software
Interesting blog about Mobile Content, mainly music downloads. Thought it was worth posting here.

Corporate Training & e-Learning Blog

I found this blog to be most interesting reading. Not only does she give a list of upcoming 2006 e-Learing events, she's open minded enough to explore the possibilities of m-learing.

I've posted a comment to her entry of "E-Learning is Good for the Environment", with her permission of course.

It's always nice to see folks willing to get away from the instructor lead classes taht are e-learning and consider total mobile learning using mobile devices.

Learning Mobile Content. I've created a Yahoo Grps discussion forum where I've invited the public to come and learn or even to educate. I'm always up for learning something new within this arena.

Would love for you to drop by and join my 'Pubic' discussion board and add your input. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HLS_LMC/

Also known as M-Learning. Wikipedia has this to say, "M-learning is the term given to the delivery of training by means of mobile devices such as Mobile Phones, PDAs and digital audio players, as well as digital cameras and voice recorders, pen scanners etc. M-learners are seeking lessons in small, manageable formats that they can undertake when it suits them." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-learning)

Hot Lava Software, Inc. (www.hotlavasoftware.com) is doing just that, offering for FREE, a downloadable module on 'What is Mobile Learning.' This module can be downloaded from this link: www.ircremote.com and used via your Palm, Pocket PC, Celluar phone, laptop, or Desktop.

Hot Lava Software (HLS) is the leading provider of mobile authoring, publishing, delivery and tracking solutions. HLS anticipated the need for portable mobile content in the form of learning, reference, testing and job aides to support growing remote and field workforce.

Using HLS's prove mobile content development and publishing system integrated with the Hot Lava mobile delievery and tracking system your organization will have the tools and knowledge needed to launch and track mobile initiatives faster and more cost effectively than you would have ever imagined.

HLS has developed a product line for the Palm as weel as the Pocket PC to help parents and students do some home preparation for the new Standardized Test Prep, STP being given in the schools today. The series is called 'The Kids Mobile Learning' series. These modules are for Elementary, Middle, and High School's using the STP in determinging where their students stand knowledge wise.

If you would like a demo, stop by for a FREE module on 3rd Grade Math 2006 here: http://hotlavasoftware.com/product_info.php?products_id=138 There are a number of other FREE modules available as well.

Please stop in and check out what Hot Lava Software, Inc. has to offer. Interested in any other demos on M-Learing, Mobile Learning, Mobile Content, Distance Learning, or Mobile Education; please feel free to contact me directly. kerrib@hotlavasoftware.com