Handheld Learning 2007 conference in London continued Thursday and Friday. Over 800 attended this year's gathering. Here are just a few nuggets from the conference:

• Just before entering Central Hall, I was handed a flyer with "Voice of Sanity" written across the top. The flyer opens with, "Dear Delegate, learning occurs when brain cells are able to freely communicate with each other. Science now shows that Wi-fi signals disrupt inter-cellular communication† and impedes learning." Really? Just because they cite a source doesn't make that statement true. Read more from the Mast Sanity organization. Seems that some in the U.K. are fearful as Wi-Fi's presence is dramatically increasing.
• Two projects in Bristol have show three key benefits: high motivation and engagement, student ownership of learning; and bridge between teacher-directed and autonomous learning.
• RM released their Asus miniBook for £169 ($344). It has a 7 inch screen, Wi-Fi, keyboard, USB ports, microphone and headphone ports, VGA video out, and more. It may not be available outside of the U.K., but it's nice to know that inexpensive laptops (called sub-notebooks) are real. It's unclear to me if the miniBook runs Windows XP or Linux.
• Francesc Pedro from OECD spoke about today's learners. Most students have more access to more technology at home than they do at school.
• "Students aren't little us's anymore" -Marc Prensky. We can't teach them the same way we were taught.
• A theme of many sessions is that mobile in mobile learning refers to the student, not the technology.
• Online safety is just as important with mobile phones and devices as it is with desktop and laptop computers. 75% of British kids have their own mobile phone. 33% of them pay for the use themselves. 61% have their own PC.
• Robert Hart wants a RAPID: Really Affordable Personal Internet Device. This won't replace a powerful desktop, but it will let students get online and do 90% of the work they would do on the Web.
• Check out the Learning Everywhere project.
• Fellow American Mark van 't Hooft has written much more than I have about Handheld Learning 2007 in his blog, Ubiquitous Thoughts. Additionally, you can do a blog search for "Handheld Learning 2007" and "Handheld Learning" conference for more posts by various bloggers.
• Over two dozen delegates to the conference posted short Twitter updates throughout the conference. You can read the updates at twitter.com/hhl/with_friends.

Labels: events, hhl07

Learning while Gaming on Handhelds is the first session I attended at Handheld Learning 2007 in London. It was lead by Marc Prensky. Marc's specialty is analyzing today's students. He is author of Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Marc says that educational computer games are really "mini" games. Only a few things are learned in the 5 minutes to 2 hours spent playing a mini game. Complex games can be played for 8 to 100 hours and involve much more learning.

Complex games have the goal of "being a hero." Many times in school the goal is to master the material or score well on a test. Isn't being a hero a much more appealing ambition? Games also engage students because they involve frequent decision making, create an emotional connection, balance cooperation and competition, and are personalized.

Marc shared the numbers of kinds of computers sold. He admits that finding numbers was hard. I'm not sure about the first number either. But, we know that are definitely many more mobile phones out there than PCs.

• PCs 200 million
• PlayStations 100 million
• GameBoys 150 million
• DS 50 million
• Mobile phones 1.5 billion

Marc says that "we just don't have the imagination" to use all those mobile phones in learning. He is a fan of an "open phone test." Teachers who do this say they can ask better questions. Makes me think an open handheld test would be a great alternative. Fill your iPod, Palm, Pocket PC, etc. with the information you need. That's exactly what I did to prepare for my trip to London--it's a real-world skill!

One obstacle is getting games on mobile devices. For instance, getting software on a mobile phone is complicated and you often have to go through your cell phone carrier. Also, there are not yet many complex games for handhelds. When better games and software are available for handhelds and mobile phones, maybe we'll imvite them to be used in and out of school for learning.

Labels: events, hhl07, mobile phone