Steve, and others,

I don't know that anyone in adult ed programs in the U.S.  is using M- 
learning. There are programs in the U.K. Australia, South Africa and  
elsewhere that are. Perhaps U.S. students have found some of these  
applications  on their own, for example:

1. ACT (college) entrance test preparation ($20)
http://www.handmark.com/products/detail.php?id=402

2. News by phone, for example ABE News http://abcnews.go.com/ 
Technology/Wireless/ ,  or CNN toGO http://www.cnn.com/togo/

Mobile learning (M-learning) is also called HDUL (handheld devices  
for ubiquitous learning, pronounced "huddle" I guess).  You can read  
some research on it at: http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/

You'll find a pretty good bibliography of (mostly online) resources  
on m-learning at  http://www3.telus.net/~kdeanna/mlearning/related% 
20links.htm

Here's an example of a project for low-literate ESOL students that  
someone could try:

Using a cell phone camera, an ESOL student project might be to build  
a picture dictionary of their own. Students photograph objects they  
want to know the English word for (the cell phone is a handy way to  
do that just when they discover they don't know the word)  and then  
send the photo to a Web page.  Later they -- or other students --  
look up the English word for the picture and add it beneath the  
picture, possibly with a short audio file in which the word is  
pronounced.  Perhaps a creative teacher on this list has already done  
such a project and you could send us the URL.


U.S. practitioner colleagues, are you ready to dip your toes in M- 
learning?  Who's already swimming in M-learning? Colleagues from  
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and elsewhere, are you using  
M-learning with your students?  tell us about it.  Anyone using web- 
accessible PDAs ?


David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net





On Nov 13, 2006, at 8:43 PM, Steve Quann wrote:


> Hi Marian,

> This makes me think of asking if you or anyone on the list know if

> anyone is doing anything with handhelds, cellphones games or not. I  

> know

> David Rosen posted a site from England that was. Any signs of it in  

> the

> adult literacy field?

> Steve Quann

> World Education

>

>>>> "Marian Thacher" <mthacher at otan.us> 11/13/06 11:52 AM >>>

> I wanted to share this exchange from the California adult ed tech  

> mentor

> list, as I'm wondering if others are using or thinking about using  

> video

> games and web sites like Second Life in instruction.

>

> Marian Thacher

> Outreach and Technical Assistance Network

> P.O. Box 269003

> Sacramento, CA 95826-9003

> (916) 228-2597

> www.otan.us

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> In response to "merging games with learning", there is a website ([

> http://www.brainmeld.org ]www.brainmeld.org) in which one of my

> professors

> from National University runs. It contains teacher guides to using

> certain

> games in the classroom. These guides contain state standards, goals  

> and

> objectives to using the games. My professor has published the  

> teachers'

> guide that I wrote for high school Economics. It's called "Create the

> Empire of your Dreams". There are teacher guides for younger  

> students as

> well.

> I thought some of you would enjoy looking through this website.

>

> Ronda Rafidi

>

> Marian Thacher <mthacher at otan.us> wrote:

>

>

> Has anyone played around with Second Life [[ http://secondlife.com/

> ]http://secondlife.com/]? It's a virtual world, totally constructed by

> the

> "residents." Talk about social networking sites! I haven't really used

> it,

> and I don't have time to figure out how to build a bunch of 3D stuff,

> but

> it sounds like great fun if you have time, and I've been watching for

> educational applications, so if you're interested in such things, here

> is

> an article about a couple of education organizations that are actually

> doing things like holding a virtual summer camp on a private island in

> Second Life!

>

> The School of Second Life

> By Wagner James Au

>

> For those who grew up on computer and video games over the past thirty

> years, it's no surprise that games have become a full-fledged

> educational

> tool, merging play with learning in a way that speaks to the digital

> generation's technical literacy. Adding heft to this development, the

> Federation of American Scientists recently published the results of a

> year-long study suggesting that games have the power to teach  

> analytical

> skills, team building, and problem solving on the fly.

>

> Among the most powerful platforms for game-based teaching is Second

> Life,

> a virtual world superficially similar to online role-playing games  

> such

> as

> World of Warcraft or Sims Online but embedded with numerous features

> that

> can make it an ideal pedagogical resource.

>

> Read the article at [ http://www.edutopia.org/1709

> ]http://www.edutopia.org/1709

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

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David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net