iPhones in education? A US university is taking the initiative
I came across an initiative last week from from Freed-Hardeman University which is planning to give their students a uniform collection of technology including a macbook and either an iPod Touch or iPhone.
I think this is an interesting approach, because most other approaches focus on either a laptop or a PDA when looking to give equipement to students. When the focus is on just handheld computers then a lot of work must go into helping students create content using handhelds with creative tools. The small screen may be OK for creating small pieces of work - but is not suitable for essay writing or creating presentations (I know it is possible and is used for this - but my argument is that it is not really suitable).
As mentioned before we think the Mobile Phone or Handlheld is suitable for delivery of some content, revision, planning and a group of things we call Handy Education.
So to provide students with both devices seems to me to make a lot of sense - I am keen to find out the results of this initiative. One thing that concerns me is the lack of useful tools for the iPhone - iPod Touch platform - especially that synchronise data with a laptop (be it PC or mac).
Tags: handy education, iphone, mLearning, mobile-learning
20.Aug.08 
devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning, mobile phones, off-topic, tools 
Comment (1)
Where are the other educational startups?
I’ve just written an article for TechCrunch UK about the lack of educational startups in the UK - you can find more details here : http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/08/20/please-sir-where-are-the-education-start-ups.
From the article:
“The market for Education in the UK is massive - there are 26,562 different schools in the UK, and 157 universities and classroom based learning is only part of the picture. There is also adult education, distance learning, workplace training and many qualifications that could be thought of as niche, but have high enrolments each year. On top of formal education there is informal education that is best represented by language learning and the “Dummies guide to” range of books……”
Please follow the link and join the discussion.
20.Aug.08 education, off-topic Comments (2)