June 05, 2009
Our Mobile Augmented Reality Demonstrator
I recorded this video today of our mobile AR demonstrator as many people have been asking for it. I am getting a better video capture card to take the feed directly from the phone so the next version should be easier on the eyes and ears!
Current projects under development include brand marketing and cultural heritage. We've explored some interesting projects involving embedding AR images into optics for industrial and military apps but those are still in the idea stages.
Comments and project inquiries welcome!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 16, 2007
World of Learning Conference - Mobile Learning Speech
I was encouraged by the attendance and response at my speech Wednesday 'Learning on the Move' at the World of Learning conference in Birmingham. (You can view the slides here).
I highlighted how a variety of tools and approaches are necessary to support workers at all levels, beyond just 'elearning in your hand'. Many of the web 2.0 approaches and tools were new to the participants so we have a ways to go I think before we see widespread use of RSS, mobile video and mobile communities to keep people informed and connected in the enterprise.
It makes me think it is time to run another 'Mobile Solutions' Workshop!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 16, 2007
Conferences Follow up Resources *updated*
Hi!
I have been speaking at quite a few conferences lately and promised to share some of the links I referenced during various speeches and workshops. So, here they are!
We produced the first conference in Europe dedicated to exploring enterprise and education applications for virtual worlds with the Serious Games Institute (SGI) last month. You can access the video and slide archive directly here or the new Serious Games Institute website. We streamed the event into Second Life with the help of Datmedia, the SGI and David Burden of Daden, Ltd (who has generated lots of interest in doing it again!).
We had just over 150 people at the conference and another 150 online. Not bad for a first!
I really enjoyed Dr. Leroy Heinrichs presentation which you can view here, he shared published results showing virtual worlds working as well as or better than physical training for the emergency response training they ran at Stanford Medical School. (You can email presentations to colleagues but this feature doesn't always work in Firefox yet).
My presentation on the various implementation aspects for enterprise use of virtual worlds can be accessed directly here (and can be sent to your mobile phone too. I am curious to how well this works for our overseas viewers, your comments are welcome!).
A live demonstration of the Forterra Systems OLIVE platform was provided by John Burwell, Forterra VP and can be accessed directly here. John showed the retail training and emergency response examples.
Roo Reynolds of IBM posted a nice collection of pictures and comments from the conference on his blog here.
There are also lots of pictures on the SGI site.
Workshops:
Podcasting resources I referenced in the workshop can be viewed on this blog by using the search box on the lower right side.
The video interview on Podcasting, blogging and wiki use at the BBC I did with Nigel Paine, former Chief Learning Officer for the BBC can now be found here . (there are also several presentations there from our annual Seriously Mobile Summit).
My keynote from the Chicago Learning Executives conference was videotaped, I'll add it to the archive when I get a copy. Feel free to email me for the slides in the interim if interested. Update*** A video clip of me discussing virtual worlds for training is embedded below. The .mp3 and slides are now available, I will try to synch them up in the video archive soon.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 10, 2007
My IITT Training 2007 Evening Speech
You can listen to my evening address 'All Technology Was New at Some Point' at the IITT Conference in Warwick, UK here:
I spoke about my start in IT training and today's interest in mobile, serious games and virtual worlds.
I wrote out what I wanted to say - but left out some of it. You can check it out below if interested.
All Technology Was New at Some Point
Pornography! …is just one of the many uses of the internet….that’s how I introduced the Internet 10 years ago to 500 sales people who were wondering what possible business benefit it might have. Of course, if I were introducing the web now I’d probably have to say something like “role playing as a furry animal is just one of the many things you can do in cyberspace. I’ve been invited to share a few thoughts on technology for the next 15 minutes. I consider myself a journeyman, always learning what’s new and considering what’s next.
We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? It wasn’t that long ago that we were first introducing the internet to our corporate colleagues, and before that it was personal computers themselves with Windows 3.1! Back then our training software ran in DOS. Just the way we liked it! Windows ushered in an age where workers started to think of their desktop tools differently, from mainframe thin client apps to input data to using new tools for word processing, number crunching, visualization and project management. Email went from zero to hero and I remember how funny we thought it was that people were sending emails across the office instead of walking over to talk to people. Now of course, email is so pervasive, it’s spawned a new device, one that delivers the email within 1 meter of your head 24/7. Yes, the crackberry.
Consumer led technologies keep creeping their way into our organisations, don’t they? Think about it. The personal computer – the first ones by IBM , Apple, Commodore, Sinclair, and Acorn. These were used in the 80s by us geeks in droves before the personal computer started to make inroads in to our organisations.
It wasn’t until 1992 that the large company I worked for started to bring in PCs for all workers. They started with the secretaries in the R&D group I worked in and I was in charge of their training. I started learning everything I could about training and software training in particular. I attended conferences, started a masters in training and development and found kindred minds and spirits (yes, in the bar), and through networking developed a few partnerships with training providers. We figured, when introducing new software, why not just show people how to get their jobs done using the new tools vs. showing what was behind each menu in case they might need it. We undertook a light task analysis to try to find what the high performing workers were doing that we could train the others in while looking for opportunities to further automate things. We called it Job Specific Training. I’ve never been very good at catchy names. While the name may not have caught on outside the US, we inspired quite a few people to take a look at how to better train people by sharing what was working at conferences. I think that this approach still holds value today, but jobs have become more complex requiring more tools and more multitasking – I think this is giving rise to something that’s been around for a long time but is finally becoming “hip” – and that is online performance support. This solves the problem of not being able to remember everything whether it’s a process or a few mouse clicks to get something done.
I’ve always dabbled in performance support as I’ve defined my role as enabling and developing performance, rather than delivering training. I started by simply putting sales materials on the new Intranet I lobbied for because I could see that if we could get people using the Intranet to get their day to day business information, it wouldn’t be long before we could use it to support and eventually deliver learning. This of course became known as eLearning. Who knew?
If we jump forward a few years to 2001 when I moved over here to lead eLearning for Unilever globally, one of my first tasks was to advise a group looking to train 28,000 people across Europe on SAP. I was encouraged that they had a well thought out plan that was focused on the change management needed to get people to work differently in new work processes, and that the software was actually just an enabler. They designed performance support into the application so you could always look up where you were in the process and how to compete the transaction. They used shortened classroom time to help people understand the change and to learn how to use the online help. This was an award winning project – DACG won the Gold award in 2002 for it, but to us, it just seemed like the only way to do it and I don’t think any of us went to the award banquet. In hindsight, maybe we should have. Champagne is a good thing. So is sharing what works.
These days, I’m doing what I can to keep up with the rapid technological change that we find ourselves in. I track what’s happening in the consumer worlds where all of us live and play because that’s where we find stuff that people want, that will help our organisations. How do you keep up with developments? I think that once you master the fundamentals of great training, training management and get the infrastructure right, to remain a master Jedi you’ve got to keep an eye on what’s next that will make a difference. Fortunately, nowadays many of the really innovative things don’t cost much.
A great example of this is last year’s hot topic – podcasting. For those of you that just arrived to this planet, Podcasting is simply distributing audio or video clips over the internet to people that choose to subscribe to them so they get constant updates for free. The Christmas gift to have in 2004 was an iPod. It still is because now they come with video. There are millions of these .mp3 players out there and now, not only can you play .mp3 on your phone like this one, but you can actually subscribe and get them on the run over wifi or phone network. So people have the devices and they’re listening to podcasts, some of which could even be educational I suppose, now we have companies saying, hey, the cost of these are less than the round trip taxi to the airport. I could put all of the lectures on them. And companies are starting to do this, with some even supplying thousands of them. I started listening to a few myself, and practiced making a few. I sucked. A few companies asked me to run workshops on how to create & implement them and I started to do public workshops which were fun – I was finally back in the classroom doing what I love – teaching technology. Now I think people are figuring it out on their own which is great. I’m on to the next big thing – or the next few big things.
So what are the next big things? We’re in the midst of a revolution on the web (and on mobiles but we’ll get to that tomorrow). This revolution has a name, Web 2.0, and it is the transition from a read only web where you just access information to a read-write web where we can all contribute whether for personal interests, learning or work. These tools are talked about a lot now, especially in context for how they support informal learning. Tools like blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking, and social bookmarking and news sites. As Technorati, the epicenter of the Blogosphere says, there are 60 million blogs, some of them must be good. Blogging is good for you. It help keep you on your toes for what’s happening and looking to blog it which I think helps clarify your thinking. Commenting on other’s blogs builds community and can help you find people that are smarter than you are. Or at least more knowledgeable.
Social networking sites such as Facebook are hotter than ever right now. It’s as if the UK has taken over Facebook in terms of buzz. I created an account in both Facebook and Myspace – each of these has 25 and 100 million users respectively. A few people I didn’t know in the far east asked to be my friends in Myspace just after I registered. I felt bad for saying no. But seeing that they had hundreds of friends already, I didn’t worry too much. Meanwhile, one business contact and friend after another keeps adding me as a friend in Facebook and I’m finding it kind of fun. I was doing a piece of research on social media for a client and came across a quote from a marketing director about my age, from his daughter who was 15. she says “All of my friends but 2 are on Facebook and I have 100’s of friends. I only use email to communicate with old people, like you.” For those of you that have kids, you probably notice that they are constantly using Instant Message and now social networking sites to communicate with each other. It isn’t just the teens though. I met some friends a few days ago for dinner, one of the three was a passionate Facebook user who says all of her friends but one (and she’s working on that one) are on facebook and that she only uses email for the few people she interacts with not on it. She’s 26. The business colleagues I’m networked with are older. There’s something to this – a new way of communicating that I think we can tap into. I’m just not sure how yet. There is a growing chorus of “what are we going to do when the youth of today who are used to interacting and learning in entirely new ways come into the workplace? Well, they’re here. And they are going to stay where they feel like they can contribute and work at a pace they’re used to.
I think the other frontier is tapping into games, game technologies and virtual worlds as the immersion is incredible and is providing new opportunities. When was the last time you felt an emotion when doing online learning? Ok, maybe anger, frustration, boredom to take a few cheap shots. But what about laughing out loud? Feeling nervous, on the edge, exploring, not knowing what would happen next? Virtual worlds are so immersive you find yourself transported to another place and you’re very focused on your experience vs the distractions around you.
I first heard about 3d virtual worlds in 2002 from Elliott Masie who reported on them from the big consumer electronics show and suggested they might have some learning potential. I tried to sign up for the beta, but they would never give me a password. I really wanted to try it though. I remembered seeing news articles saying they were hoping to attract women online because if they are there in the online community, then men will follow. The reverse is of course not necessarily true. So, I signed up as Ron-da and got an account immediately. As I signed on I had to choose, be a woman avatar or a man. I was worried that if I selected man they might be on to me, but I didn’t think I could be a woman forever either. So, I chose dude, and I’ve had the account every since. My first experience was intense. I was transported to a cartoonish tropical place and somebody that looked very young and fit walked up to me and introduced herself. I didn’t realise I was wearing ‘nube’ gear – white t-shirt and khaki pants. She taught me how to change my clothes and answered my questions about how to get one of those cool hoverboards. She loaned me hers, I thought that was pretty cool. We joked around a bit and added each other as friends to find each other again. In those few minutes I felt nervous, excited, glad, happy, and a sense of accomplishment once I mastered the hoverboard. I’ll talk more about some of the applications of virtual worlds beyond hoverboards tomorrow.
On the gaming front, how many of you consider yourselves gamers? How many think video games have some potential for corporate training? Well, a lot of people do, too. It’s one thing to read about why people play games and increasingly choose do so over tv, and a lot of other activities including for me, sleep. It’s quite another to actually find a game that you can’t put down and experience it for yourself.
I had heard about Half Life, one of the top selling, most award winning games for some time before finally buying it to try it for myself. Then of course, I had to play Half Life 2, the sequel, which rocked. The game play is that you’re Gordon, there’s been a catastrophic accident that threatens earth and you guessed it, it’s up to you to save everybody. You have to blast your way through tunnels and buildings and you find yourself facing scary zombies in the dark which munch your brain with this horrible crunch crunch sound. It’s awful! I couldn’t put it down. Why?? The theorists will say it’s a concept called flow – when you feel like you’re succeeding just past your capabilities. How do we tap into that, without the zombies??
We have a lot to learn. You’re in the right place. You have some world class speakers here, great sessions and each other to learn from. Of course, the learning doesn’t stop here, and while it doesn’t have to include zombies, I encourage you to try a few new things to find what will add value for you and your organisations.
Thank you for listening.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 31, 2007
New Laws of Knowledge Motion via Twitter
Twitter is a way to send messages across platforms (SMS,IM,Web) to groups of people who can choose to subscribe to follow your musings. I found this interesting post on the iCommons blog (iCommons is an upcoming summit focussed on keeping the internet open and free) where the author uses the Newton's laws of motion as an example of how to reach 3 billion people with 138 characters of educational content and suggests 'new laws of knowledge motion'.
It is a stunning new truth of our time that the laws of motion have changed for knowledge. What is known by humankind can move from person-to-person across the planet at the speed of light. Knowledge can move in showers of messages from a single person to myriad more. And those who receive it can answer back and comment to each other. The new laws of motion will let us spread the exchange of knowledge into a twittering global commons.
I've been playing around with Twitter and was thinking it is a disruptive technology to the for fee messaging services starting to be used in the financial markets and elsewhere for instant k sharing. It's great to find a kindred mind already thinking of education potential.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 23, 2007
Follow Up Resources for Seriously Mobile Summit
The video archive from the event will be added in a week or so once it has been chopped up to be easier to use and to forward to colleagues. I thought it was a thought provoking day, one which I hope serves as a catalyst for action.
I've found two summaries of the day in the blogosphere so far, Jay Cross here and Paul Coyne here. I'll add more as I find them.
The upcoming events I mentioned at the end to learn more include:
Mobile Performance Solutions, May 17 in London produced by Ambient Performance and partners,
Moving Learning, June 13 in London where I'll be delivering a keynote on Serious Virtual Worlds between great sessions by Nick Van Dam, Elliott Masie and Bob Mosher (ask me for a discount code),
Giunit Labs Training in Action June 7,8 in Sesti Levante, Italy
Serious Virtual Worlds will be produced by Ambient Performance and the Serious Games Institue in Coventry and will be held September 13, 14 in Coventry.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 19, 2007
Seriously Mobile Summit 20 April Live Webcast Link
Hi! We will be broadcasting our Seriously Mobile Summit live from Reuters in London on 20 April.
Here are the links for the Webcast and the 3G streaming video for mobile phones link:
Webcast (Real or Windows Media, click on "Live Broadcast in player (not archived content from last year).
Mobile Phone (Real Format only this time (should work with Nokia and many other phones), link will be added tonight)
The agenda is below. You can ask questions and leave comments using Twitter. (send messages to my Twitter account RonEdwards) We'll get to them when we can! Try to add yourself as my friend, your comments should be listed below this agenda.
The Mobile Internet: Working in Real Time
20 April 2007, 9.30-16.30, Hosted by Reuters @ Canary Wharf, London
Format:
Supporting Mobile Workforce Capability
The Seriously Mobile Summit offers presentations and discussions with thought leaders from an eminent range of commercial, academic and independent organizations. Which business and cultural drivers are requiring new approaches?
Why is traditional event-driven training no longer meeting needs?
How are readily available new technologies including Networked 3D Simulation Environments, Mobile Learning & Performance Support on platforms such as BlackBerrys, PDAs, iPods and Smart Phones making a real difference as part of the blend of informal and formal learning approaches?
Creativity is no longer about which companies have the most visionary executives, but which have the most compelling architecture of participation. That is, which companies make it easy, interesting and rewarding for a wide range of contributors to offer ideas, solve problems and improve products - Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly MediaAgenda 9:30-10:00 Tom Glocer, CEO, Reuters Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning, Reuters 'Mobile Learning, Getting Serious About the Potential' Nigel Paine, Conference Chair Opening Remarks
10:00-10:45 Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO, Giunti Labs. 'Towards Personalized Ambient Learning'
10:45-11:10 Break
11:10-11:40 Kristina Nyzell, Director, Working Play Playing Work 'From Playing Work to Working Play… New Work(ing) Models in a Seriously Mobile World'
11:40-12:30 Jay Cross, Founder and Chief Scientist, Internet Time Group 'Free Range
Learners in the Ubiquitous Chicken Yard'
12:30-1:30 LUNCH (view Nigel Paine talking about Podcasting, Wikis and Blogs at the BBC here while you wait)
1:30-2:00 Case Study: Paul Landers, Strategic Product Manager, Ericsson Learning Consultancy Services 'Taking Learning Mobile'
2:00-2:30 Case Study: Hanif Sazen, CEO, Saffron Interactive 'Learning on the Move'
2:30-3:00 Technology Showcases: Datmedia Mobile IPTV & Me2B Next Generation Mobile Hardware
3:00-3:15 TEA
3:15-3:35 Case Study: Lizbeth Goodman, Director, SMARTlab Digital Media Institute and Magic Gamelab at UEL 'Lost & Found > A system to track missing and exploited children (and adults) using mobile technology'
3:35-4:00 Case Study: Claus Nehmzow, Partner, PA Consulting 'Virtual World Applications'
4:00-4:20 New Technology Implementation Panel with Leading Experts including Mark Oehlert, Booz Allen Hamilton, Brent Shlenker, Hospice of the Valley and David Metcalf, PhD, University of Central Florida
4:20-4:30 Closing Remarks: Ron Edwards & Nigel Paine
Posted by Ron Edwards at 03:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 17, 2007
Seriously Mobile Summit Agenda for 20 April
Wow! It's really coming together. I've just added SMARTlab colleagues to the agenda but not sure where I'm going to fit in. Here's the latest agenda. Still a few seats left for those of you on the fence or forgot!
The URL for the live webcast will be ready tomorrow.
Seriously Mobile Summit 20 April, 2007
The Mobile Internet: Working in Real Time
9:30-10 Tom Glocer, CEO, Reuters
Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning, Reuters,
Nigel Paine, Conference Chair Opening Remarks
10-10:45- Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO, Giunti Labs, Towards Personalized Ambient Learning
10:45-11:10: Coffee/Tea Break
11:10-11:40 Kristina Nyzell, 'Supporting & Engaging Flexible Workers'
11:40-12:30 Jay Cross, 'Free Range Learners in the Ubiquitous Chicken Yard'
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:00 Case Study: Paul Landers, Strategic Product Manager, Ericsson Learning Consultancy Services
2:00-2:30 Case Study: Hanif Sazen, CEO, Saffron Interactive 'iPod, BlackBerry and PDA Learning'
2:30-3:00 Technology Showcases: Datmedia Mobile IPTV & Me2B Next Generation Mobile Hardware
3:00-3:15 Break
3:15-3:35 SMARTlab Technology Showcase
3:35-4:00 Case Study: Claus Nehmzow, Partner, PA Consulting 'Virtual World Applications'
4:00-4:20 Experts Implementation Panel including Mark Oehlert, Brent Shlenker, David Metcalf virtually
4:20-4:30 Closing Remarks Ron Edwards, Nigel Paine
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2007
Expanding the Mobile Learning Conversation to Include Collaboration
Mark Oehlert recently posted a bunch of resources worth taking a look at that really got me thinking (as usual!). I read the article by Ellen Wagner on mobile learning in CLO Magazine he referred to and while I agree that it helps move the conversation beyond devices to start to talk about experiences , it is a very learning content centric view and misses what I think is an important component - mobile enabled collaboration.
Mark also highlighted this study 'According to recent Ambient Insight market research, the 2006 U.S. market for real-time collaboration-based learning products and services is now over $2.6 billion and growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.5 percent.' This study suggests that the tools are getting easier to use and implement and this is leading to adoption beyond just large corporations.
The value of collaborative learning has been talked about for some time but I don't hear it mentioned much when people are discussing how to better support mobile workers. I think the 'learning' bit in the topic of 'mobile learning' should be expanded to 'performance' anyway. Learning is valuable, and there is certainly a role for it on mobiles but what people often really need is to be able to easily interact with colleagues to support decision making in real time, ask for input to solve problems and address opportunities, and to share intelligence on developments. Peer to peer networking products using Instant Messaging, SMS, and RSS seem to be growing and generating buzz. The financial industry is increasingly using Parlano's MindAlign which requires integration with enterrpise messaging and SwarmTeams which works without having to add software or integration.. Robin Good has a good overview of 'swarming' applications here.
Twitter is really hot right now 'its microblogging at lighting speed via SMS, IM and the web' for a variety of reasons including the ability to use the new API to get instant content in addition to being connected live to colleagues using SMS, IM and the web.
Connecting people is what mobiles are for besides the rich location and multimedia goodness they now offer. I will add mobile social networking and collaboration as a key topic at our Seriously Mobile Summit on 20 April. This week I've asked thought leaders Ajit Jaokar, Euan Semple, Ewan McIntosh and Robin Good to join us to share what they know and predict but they aren't able to make it ;-(
I think between Jay Cross and myself we'll be able to articulate why and how but it would be great to have more voices in the chorus.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 26, 2007
Free WiFi on a Bus and other Mobile Goodness
Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find WiFi freely available on the shuttle bus I took to a business park near Reading. I just had to try it so I whipped out my trusty PSP and voila! I was on the Internet in a just a few minutes. I was able to read a few blogs on the way to the Partners Meeting for Virtual Earth at Microsoft. I checked my email via browser as well but had to give up replying to an email as the bumpy ride and tedious text entry were too much to contend with. I opted to call instead to solve the missing presentation caper (spam blocker got my presentation I sent to a conference organiser from YouSendIt which I use for sending large files). I should remember that a call can be faster!
You may be saying, why bother with the web on the PSP, why not use a mobile phone? I am waiting for my dream phone - the Nokia N95 due next month in UK shops sporting WiFi, 3.5G, GPS, a great camera and advanced browser among other goodies. While this is going to be one bad phone, it will be smoked by the prototype one our partners is going to have on hand at our Summit. We showed it to the Microsoft Virtual Earth crew and Dr. Neil who founded the Via Virtual Earth Community with our mobile 3D demos which sparked some enthusiastic ideas for mobile 3D visualisation.
The next release of Virtual Earth due April 2 will be impressive! Stay tuned!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 12, 2007
PSP Good News, Bad News
First a piece of good news for PSP users, a recent firmware upgrade lets you schedule RSS video feeds to be downloaded automatically over WiFi. This is great because even short videos take several minutes to download so now you do not have to wait - it will wake itself up and do it in the middle of the night so no more waiting. Thanks to the Learning in Hand blog for the news.
And now the bad news, the updates are still not fixing a fundamental problem of using the PSP for web based applications - the browser cache is so small that many sites with graphics won't even load, my web based email will not load unless rebooting to clear the cache, and of course, running Flash is problematic if the file sizes are anything but small or in a higher version.
So, an open letter to Sony... FIX IT! How hard can it be?
While you are at it, please enable streaming video and reading content in the browser from the memory card.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 03:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 07, 2007
Seriously Mobile Summit Case Studies Added
Seriously Mobile Series Update:
Case Studies Added
Paul Landers is a Strategic Product Manager responsible for Ericsson’s Learning Consultancy Services based in Stockholm and will be presenting 'Taking Learning Mobile' at the Seriously Mobile Summit to be held 20 April in London.
Hanif Sazin, CEO of Saffron Interactive will also be presenting a case study on mobile learning. You may have noticed the examples of BlackBerry, PDA and iPod based mobile learning examples he was sporting at Learning Technologies. We'll pick the best example for the Summit.
We have two more case studies planned and will announce soon so stay tuned!
Keynote Update
Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO of Giunti Labs will be delivering a keynote 'Towards Personalised Ambient Learning' which I'm really looking foward to as he will discuss trends, EU R&D and share new examples of mobile approaches.
Fabrizio was recently interviewed by Elliott Masie on European trends and the value of personalisation and contextualisation of learning (learning based on your interests, needs and mobile location). You can listen to it here.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Podcasting & Blogging Workshop Update
I've posted the full agenda for the upcoming Podcasting and Blogging in the Enterprise Workshop to be held 20 March In London here: Download file .
I'm looking forward to facilitating this workshop as it will be the first time to teach these interrelated topics together. There will be a lot of moving parts from hands on creating and subscribing to discussing implementation but I love the challenge!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 02, 2007
Jay Cross in London April 20 for Seriously Mobile Summit
reat news! Jay Cross will be at our Seriously Mobile Summit April 20, hosted by Reuters in Canary Wharf.
He will be delivering a keynote speech and discussion on Informal Learning and web 2.0 and mobile 2.0 approaches to support it. Jay joins Charles Jennings, Nigel Paine, Fabrizio Cardinali and myself for the morning presentations focused on key trends across business, society and technology domains to be followed by case studies and an expert panel on implementation. Send an email to seriouslymobile (at) ambientperformance.com for booking information. The agenda, topics and speaker bios will be posted shortly here.
Jay has recently produced a video explaining Informal Learning in 10 Minutes on You Tube - it already has 1000 views!!
You can check it out yourself below.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 06:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 01, 2007
Podcasting & Blogging in the Enterprise, Mobile Solutions Workshop Dates Scheduled
Our Podcasting & Blogging in the Enterprise workshop will be held on 20 March and the Mobile Performance Solutions workshop will be held on 17 May. Both workshops will be held at 7 City Learning, 4 Chiswell Street, London.
Send an email to seriouslymobile at ambientperformance.com if you would like to attend. The course descriptions will be posted shortly. --UPDATE-- the podcasting and blogging workshop agenda is here: Download file
It was great to see so much interest in these workshops yesterday at the Learning Technologies conference. Thank you Hanif for letting me announce them after your talk on mobile approaches - at least 10 people asked to be added to our mailing list instantly!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 29, 2007
Seriously Mobile Summit Scheduled for April 20!
Seriously Mobile Series Update:
We are in the midst of designing our annual Seriously Mobile Summit and Workshop Series and are happy to announce that we will again be at Reuters in their fabulous high tech conference suite and have selected a date: April 20. Last year we had over 70 people attend to hear from luminaries including Charles Jennings, Gordon Bull, Fabrizio Cardinali, Donald Clark, Wolfram Spoenlien, Jonathan Levy, Gilly Salmon, Stephen Clee, William Ward, and Dick Davies. Archive is still here.
This year we can expect another great keynote from Charles, thought provoking conversations led by Nigel Paine, a few less presentations than last year to give people a better chance to network and ideas to blossom, a few mobile technology solutions showcased, and the worlds second virtual world mixed reality panel where I will invite key thought leaders from around the world to join us online (I ran the first at Techlearn in NYC in 2004!)
We are also scheduling our first two hands-on workshops this year for March and May (dates will be selected later this week).
How to Podcast & Blogging in the Enterprise - combining our most popular Podcasting and Blogging half day workshops for a full day focussed on the basics of finding, subscribing, creating, distributing, and implementating. Participants will create their own podcast and embed it into their new blogs to better understand the process and just how easy it can be.
Mobile Performance Solutions - a mix of easy to implement mobile technologies showcased and positioned for which type of learning and performance need they address combined with experienced advice on how to get started with projects which will have impact.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
The Year of Mobile Learning?
I gave an overview of the European mobile learning outlook to Ellliott Masies Extreme Learning workshop last week in which I highlighted the role of mobile phone based performance support through RSS feeds, access to corporate/job reference content, and the use of SMS/email messaging to quickly assess team knowledge and help reinforce key information. I also described the value and use of learning content on mobiles for those moments of when one finds a few minutes to explore and learn what they want and/or need, where ever they are. This has been described for years as a key benefit for mobile learning but I think we will actually see it happen more broadly to solve specific needs now that tools to create mobile content have become more powerful, easy to use and prevalent while the phones and networks have become more robust.
It turns out I'm not alone in my predictions, Elliott summarized my comments by saying he thinks this is the year of Mobile Learning on phones, and now I see that Jay Cross has predicted that he thinks it is the year of Mobile and Virtual Worlds in a press release by Learning Light (you will be able to read Quick Guides on mobile learning, RSS, Podcasting and more I wrote for Learning Light on their Members area as well as resources from Jay).
Meanwhile, we have the Learning Technologies conference next week in which I'll be speaking on Mobile, Web 2.0 Enterprise Applicatoins and Virtual Worlds. There are several more suppliers positioning mobile tools this year, from friends at Saffron Interactive discussing voice based solutions to partners Datmedia showcasing streaming mobile video and Giunti Labs with Interactive SCORM trackable content production and management. There are also three articles in Learning Technologies magazine alone on Mobile Learning, a first!
Of course, we will continue to strive for and deliver thought leadership on the applications, value and best in class tools for mobile performance solutions through research, consulting, writing and our Seriously Mobile series of Summits and workshops (2007 schedule will be announced shortly).
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2006
A First: Business Book Launched on Mobile & Print Simultaneously
The book 12: The Elements of Great Managing was launched yesterday on mobiles (Palm and Win 5 Smartphones) and represents a step forward in content publishing capability for mobiles. Unfortunately, this version is text only and while having it on hand to read in bits in moments of otherwise 'down time', it doesn't yet take advantage of the media capabilities of devices to create a more engaging experience as the underlying technology of Mobifusion promises. We'll have to wait for that.
I'm both encouraged and surprised at the amount of mobile phone based reference ware (encyclopedias, guides) that have been developed by Mobifusion. I'm waiting for media rich versions. It would be great if they also connected to mobile/online communities, too.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 29, 2006
Leadership Development & Technology Talk
I've uploaded audio of my speech from yesterday Leadership Development and Technology where I discussed mobile, web 2.0, mobile 2.0 and Virtual World based approaches. I'll upload the slides tonight when I have a chance.
Click here to get your own player.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 07, 2006
Be Where the Eyeballs Are...
I have been saying Be Where the Eyeballs Are for a few years now when describing the need to embrace mobile and game technologies to better support education and performance solutions. I'm in good company, as the head of Internet Times, one of Indias largest media groups recently said nearly the same thing:
Dinesh Wadhawan, MD & CEO of Times Internet said the competition now is for eyeballs and thumbs. TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio and Music are on their way down, while movies, videogames, web, sharing and cellphones are on the way up. Screenagers will give continuous partial attention to different media.
Found on the Wonderland blog.
I like the name Screenagers, too. What would we call pre-screenagers?
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
22 November Wiki Blog Podcasting Workshop Update
Seriously Mobile Series Update:
We have rearranged our 22 November workshop to replace the Serious Games Primer in the afternoon with our Podcasting Workshop, based on demand.
Here's the new agenda:
Blogging and Wikis in the Enterprise: 09:00-12:00
* Important trends: Web 2.0 - the read/write web, social networking
* Tour of the Blogosphere
* Enterprise benefits of blogging and wikis
* Types of enterprise blogging & implementation considerations
* Hands on Workshop: Setting up personal blogs, finding blogs of value, using feed readers
* Overview of enterprise RSS
* Wikis: What are they and how are they being used in organisations
* How to edit and organise a Wiki
* Project ideas discussion
Podcasting Workshop 13:00-16:00
* How to Podcast - hands on workshop
* Getting Started with Podcasting - Approaches, Examples & Gear
* Quality Podcasting - tips
* Implementing Podcasting - planning for success
* Marketing Podcasts
* Discussing Project Ideas
The cost is GBP 99.00 + VAT for either session, or 160.00 + VAT for both
Our workshops are held at 7 City Learning in London, near Moorgate.
Reserve your place by sending an email to seriouslymobile@ambientperformance.com
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2006
Mobile and Location Based Games Blog Update
Check out Celine Llewellyn-Jones new blog on Mobile and Location Based Games here. She's reported back from the Mobile Bristol users conference with encouraging observations of the direction of location based mobile learning including HP's ongoing support.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 04:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 12, 2006
Mobile Learning Discussion Heats Up in Australia
I've been contributing to a new discussion group on Mobile Learning in EdNA, Australia's online community for educators and within a week we're over 70 posts. There is something for everybody there from corporate and educational examples of mobile learning, to tools and resources/ideas for newbies and experts.
Check it out here: It will run at least for a few more weeks.
There has been a lively conversation there around the video I posted featuring Nigel Paine, discussing BBC use of podcasting, blogging and wikis and informal learning with some advice on how to make it (the video) more effective. No feedback yet on using the video on mobiles which it was designed for. YOUR feedback is welcome! Here's the link again:
http://www.datmedia.co.uk/showcase.htm (click on "play" under Nigel's photo).
Posted by Ron Edwards at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Read /Write (mobile) Web & Learning
I noticed this poster "Making Our Content Their Own" at the BBC yesterday, placed in their lobby to educate their staff on the explosive growth of blogs, user generated content and millions of viewers having conversations about their content online (one million messages a month!). We met with researchers and a cool educational team (21 CC) focussed on helping kids and teachers create powerful learning experiences through podcasting, making creative videos with blue screen/chroma key, using augmented reality to bring stories and science to life. and much more. We had a great conversation in which we brought our knowledge of mobile augmented reality, first person handheld virtual reality, location detecting capabilities to provide context to educational experiences, and annnotating public space with contextual information to explore collaborative ways to work together.
Never underestimate the power of a demonstration...
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 03, 2006
PSP RSS Feeds...(test)
Hmmm... There is an RSS reader on the PSP but it needs the little orange button to subscribe via clicking on it and not jus t the feed url. Let's see if I can embed one here without a button.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2006
London Podcasting Workshops 27 July Announcment
Following on from the success of its’ first Podcasting workshop, Ambient Performance is pleased to announce a pair of linked Podcasting workshops to be led by Ron Edwards of Ambient Performance on the 27th July 2006 in Central London:
Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Increasingly, mobile phones are the personal playback device of choice as they are available to be used anytime and anywhere. Podcasting now provides organisations with a powerful and personal new communication channel to reach both employees and customers. Podcasts can be packaged to alert listeners to anything that can be disseminated by audio or video: new product/sales information, important updates, CEO’s message of the month, re-inforcement learning, performance support and so on.
9:30-12.00am – ‘Podcasting I: How To Podcast Hands-On Workshop’. The workshop will be a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of finding, making and using podcasting: how to find and subscribe to Podcasts, how to create them, how to publish them and how to market and distribute them.
1.00-4.00pm – ‘Podcasting II: Podcasting in Organisations’. So you know how to create and publish a Podcast? The workshop will focus on introducing and implementing Podcasting in organisations: planning for success, increasing Podcast quality, production and equipment advice, capturing content anywhere and anytime, and ideas & tactics for introduction and implementation
These limited places workshops will be held on 27 July at the new offices of 7City Learning in Central London. Cost: £99.00 GBP + VAT per single workshop OR £160.00 + VAT for both sessions. To reserve your place just email your interest to: Seriously Mobile and a booking form will be sent to you.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2006
Futurelab & Policy Unplugged Event + Mobile Collaborative Learning
I attended the Futurelab/Policy Unplugged Generation@ event yesterday:
Generation@ will provide an opportunity to explore a number of related issues including:* The implications of the extraordinary popularity of social networking websites, what we can learn about how young people conduct themselves in these new digital spaces
* The potential application of social and collaborative software to education and learning
* The idea of a peer-production approach to learning (as found in the open source software scene) and how this could affect the relationship between developers of education resources and users
We did indeed explore these issues. A summary report should be available soon.
I started a small group discussion on 'Mobile Collaborative Learning'. It was an interesting and lively conversation with 20 or so people from a variety backgrounds. I was hoping that we would explore the 'collaborative' component a bit more than the technology (mobile) and the content (Learning) but we did hear about the challenges of mobile user interfaces, the necessity to produce quality content in small bites, challenges of the 'mobile digital divide' and the challenges in the UK of using phones with school age students as they are banned for health reasons!
We were fortunate to have one of Futurelab's authors in our group who shared some great examples of how contextual mobile learning enabled by GPS and other technologies was becoming available (with a new Futurelab tool to be released in the fall). Check out their new publication on 'Social Software and Learning' here. It is a great overview of leveraging web 2.0 technologies for learning and suggests a new term 'c-learning' (community learning, collaborative learning or communicative learning). I've been advocating adding the 'C' learning designs to better engage experts and peers for several years as many of you have heard in my conference presentations - it's great to hear thought leaders adding emerging approaches to the mix and extending it to all ages.
I mentioned a mobile tool called Winksite in the discussion group. Here is information on it and a link to those of you interested.
'Join The WINKsite Mobile Community. In minutes, you can set-up a mobile space that's available worldwide on a web-enabled phone, PDA or desktop PC. Each mobile site is outfitted with easy-to-use mobile channels including chat, blog, mobile feed reader, surveys, journal, forum, calendar, guestbook, bookmarks, email and more.
Overall, my impression is that we are at very early stages with mobile phone based collaborative learning. While the tools are increasingly becoming available, awareness of the mobile web itself remains low today and therefore ideas on how to leverage it are only just now being explored.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2006
Informal Learning Goes Mobile - Video Archive Available
The Moving Learning Conference produced by Learning Guide was well attended by a great mix of people interested in informal learning and performance support. (post conference press release here). Most of the presentations with video (produced by Datmedia) can be found here
My presentation 'Informal Learning and Performance Support Goes Mobile' can be accessed directly here.
I highlighted a few important trends including the profliferation of consumer devices finding thier way into corporate environments and the opportunity to deliver engaging video content to them, increasing use of interactive messaging to help address performance needs, contextual performance support based on location and the value of mobile use of RSS which is just becoming available. I also shared a few thoughts on mobile viral games and gave a few suggestions based on our Performance Pathfinder for implemention success and avoiding pitfalls.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 07:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 12, 2006
How to Podcast Workshop Resources
Our first How to Podcast Workshop was well received with nearly all participants giving it a 'thumbs up' on the 'thumbOmeter' at the end and several staying after to discuss their ideas for implementation.
Based on such strong interest, we'll schedule another half day introductory course for late July and will run a more advanced session covering Organisational Applications, Quality Recording, and Marketing later that same day as a follow up to the workshop last Friday and open to all who have the basics of Finding, Subscribing, Creating, and Publishing.
Limited spaces in these can be reserved now by sending an email to seriouslymobile.
Many were interested in the Capital One example I mentioned, you can read an article about their success with Podcasting here, and download the slides presented by Capital One at conferences.
Here are some great ideas to Market Podcasts gathered by Matt O'Neill of Activ-Media.
Here are 8 Rules of Podcasting to get you started thinking about how to create good ones!
Additional learning resources on Creating Quality Podcasts and the video overview of how the BBC is using Blogs, Podcasts and Wikis which is being created with Seriously Mobile Series sponsor Datmedia will be posted here soon. You can view a demo of Datpresenter streaming video to a mobile phone at our first event here, or access the full event archive with presentations focussed on the needs of mobile workers here.
Happy Podcasting!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 28, 2006
Podcasting for Performance Workshop June 9!
We're responding to numerous requests to help people learn more about how to find, create and distribute Podcasts so have just scheduled our first 1/2 day workshop to do just that! It's going to be held June 9, 2006 at 7 City Learning in Central London. Further information and other upcoming recommended events can be found here.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 09, 2006
Seriously Mobile Archive Update & Video Blogging
The Seriously Mobile Video Archive from 22 March has been updated to include all presentations and videos, a discussion area for the Experts Panel and the video of Forterra Systems Massively Multiplayer Online Environment.
You can also email specific presentations to your colleagues, and send the video clips to your mobile phone! Thanks to Datmedia for compiling and hosting the archive!
There has been so much interest in audio and video podcasting/blogging I thought I would experiment with a few more free tools in advance of the workshop we're planning.
One of the things you will need to make your audio and video "casts" available to others is a hosting service. There are a few free ones available. I've had bad luck with the speed of Ourmedia and have now tried Castpost - 100 meg of free hosting won't get you far but is great for experimentation.
Here's an example of a video clip you have to wait to download, then play. It's a clip from Forterra and highlights a few of the military uses of their platform in addition to the corporate, medical, emergency response and security examples we showed at our Seriously Mobile event.
Note the difference between streaming video (instant playback requiring a streaming media server and properly encoded video), and this method which is slower but works for those that want to take the video with them for viewing offline and on mobile devices.
Powered by Castpost
Using a service like Castpost is helpful because most blogs don't enable you to upload large media files. Castpost will automatically create a blog posting for you or give you the code to put it in your own posts as I've done here.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 24, 2006
Seriously Mobile Presentations Now Available
The video archive from the Seriously Mobile Series event held on 22 March, 2006 is now available here.
You can access the slides and video of each presentation which covered a range of topics from organisational needs driving new approaches to support performance for increasingly mobile workers to solutions available today and in the near future.
Speeches included:
Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning, Reuters, The business imperitive to take learning to the learners
Gordon Bull, Director of Global Learning Services, Vodafone, Future look, sales and consumer phone and BlackBerry performance content delivery examples
Wolfram Spoenlein, Learning Solutions Architecht, Motorola, Customer Needs better met through emerging and increasingly ambient solutions
Donald Clark, Epic Co-founder and former CEO, Simulations and Games for Learning
Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO, Giunti Labs, Towards Personalized learning, Mobile delivery to any platform including phones, BlackBerrys, PDAs, hand held game devices including location based ambient services with Wifi, GPS and RFID.
Ron Edwards, Managing Director, Ambient Performance, The Performance Pathfinder approach to help organisations assess where to address performance opportunities and how to address them through planning, proof of concept development, scalability and change management
Stephen Clee, Managing Director, Datmedia, streaming video to mobile phones and more
Jonathan Shaw, Director of Business Develpment and Strategy, 7 City Learning, interactive email to BlackBerrys
Jonathon Levy, Senior Learning Strategist, Monitor Group, 4th Generation Performance Platform
Dick Davies, Executive Producer, Ambient Performance, Forterra Systems MMOG environment for performance rehearsal
Dr. Gilly Salmon, Professor of eLearning and Learning Technologies, University of Leicester, Profcasting, podcasting success in university.
Expert panel on implmentation considerations, William Ward, Cable and Wireless, Gilly Salmon, Charles Jennings, Fabrizio Cardinali, moderated by Ron Edwards
Your comments on the presentations and the event are welcome to be posted here as well as in the discussion area set up in the archive for the Expert Panel where we can continue the conversation.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 05:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 23, 2006
Seriously Mobile Success
Our first event in the Seriously Mobile Series 'Mobile Knowledge Workers, Solutions for Performance' was attended by 50 people from 7 countries and we've received great comments from participants already. The day ended with the majority of people indicating 'Thumbs Up' in their vote on value of the day. Yea!
Several of the presentations focussed on performance needs and support as the model forward over traditional training methods. I was glad to see interest in the application of simulations and games to better reach and engage generated in discussion around presentations from Donald Clark, Fabrizio Cardinali, Wolfram Spoenlein, Dick Davies and William Ward. Overall, it seemed to be a good mix of discussion of trends and innovative solutions.
The video archive will be posted here later today with all presentations. Comments are welcome here as well as in the Expert Panel discussion area in the archive.
Thank you to all those who helped make the day fun, interesting and full of lively discussion (all of you!)
Special thanks to Charles Jennings and Reuters for hosting us in such an outstanding facility with great staff!
Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning, Reuters
Gordon Bull, Director of Global Learning Management, Vodafone
Networking & Demo Buzz
Dick Davies, Ambient Performance, Charles Jennings, Reuters, Gordon Bull, Vodafone, Wolfram Speonlein, Motorola
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2006
March 22 Events: Seriously Mobile + Sony PSP Drops Price!
Two great things are happening on March 22, the Seriously Mobile Series: Mobile Knowledge Workers: Providing Solutions for Performance event in London AND it's just been announced this week that Sony will drop the price on the PSP handheld gaming device on the same day! Coincidence? You decide. With the story here on GameBizDaily you can also read how the PSP will be adding GPS, Camera and Flash capabilities as well as RSS. What's that all mean? A powerful, getting more affordable handheld which will support location based learning with augmented reality applications, and the ability to subscribe to rich media content including podcasts and videocasts which can be downloaded instantly via rapidly proliferating WiFi. I can't wait!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2006
Ultra Mobile PC - Innovation in a new form factor...
I am looking forward to getting my hands on one of these new 'Ultra Mobile PCs' launched this last week by Microsoft, Intel and Samsung. It's a new form factor that is a sort of mini tablet pc which runs XP. I'm especially glad to see support for GPS applications with partners already lined up such as Pharos GPS so hope we soon see creative ways to add location based services for increasingly mobile everyone! Microsoft is betting on the future that's just around the corner with increasing support for location services, including support for it with their new OS Vista.
This new device connects to WiFi and can accept a sim card add on for data and calls. Speaking of Wifi, it's great to see the recent announcement that the City iof London will soon be WiFi enabled, and encouraging that various accounts will work on it but even better to see Islington's approach of open access for free. rather than 5 quid an hour!
Wireless broadband to all without having to logon to multiple accounts as you move across the city will be a welcome change!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2006
Seriously Mobile Series Update
We've just added Billy Ward of Cable & Wireless to the expert panel. Billy is helping lead a transformation from event driven formal learning to including informal learning in their mix and will be on hand to share what's driving the need for change and how to manage it. Registrations are coming in fast as people are sending our invitations around and I'm encouraged by the number of colleagues from the same company planning to attend for a shared experience that I hope serves as a catalyst for action. Of note, we finish fairly early (at 14:30), and there are many pubs and coffee shops nearby to continue your conversations on next steps!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2006
World of Learning Feedback
I'm working on writing an article for the Learning Events team that produce the World of Learning conference, highlighting the value of Podcasting (we produced the first UK conference podcast for their delegates), and mobile learning which we showcased in our booth and gave away a Gizmondo in our prize drawing. I asked the drawing winner Dave Spinks of ITV for a quote on what he thought, having had a few months to play with it and here's what he had to say:
Of course Ron, I enjoyed meeting the people on your stand as you were all so enthusiastic, and have some really interesting stuff that really challenges me to think about the ways I currently deliver training within ITV and how potentially it could deliver greater impact to a wider range of people.Making use of podcasting technology was a great idea; I found it of great use and gave a value added feel to the whole conference. I am racking my brains to think of ways we could exploit this technology.
The Gizmondo is a fantastic machine, I have played with all its functionality, and it certainly is so much more than a games machine.
The WOL event in general was very good; some of the seminars were quite similar, although I had done the rounds this year with HRD and Harrogate. However in general there was some great speakers and insightful information - certainly WOL, for me, was about opening my eyes to things like the podcast, Giz, Blogging, using GPS and the next level of online learning. Although I am still not entirely 100% sure of next steps - time for the reflector bin me to get to work!!!!
Glad we were able to bring fresh ideas to the conference that are still having an impact!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2005
Podcasts For First Aid?
Here's an example of a free (sponsored) podcast for first aid I came across from Elliott Masie's Learning Trends:
2. First Aid Pods - Just in Time Performance Support: Here is a great illustration of using PodCasting for Performance Support. FirstAidPod has created some audio (and graphic enhanced) PodCasts that walk you throughhru emergency first aid procedures such as CPR. This is an intriguing use of PodCasts to mobile devices. Imagine being able to access a collection of 100 Emergency Procedures with step by step coaching.
Check it out at http://www.firstaidpod.com (Thanks to our colleague Keith Fieldhouse for this reference).
(You can subscribe to Learning Trends at the Masie Center.
This is another great example of portable performance support!
Of note, I saw my first iPOD on a golf course yesterday being sported by a near retired bus driver. He's not using podcasts yet but says he's very interested. Is podcasting close to becoming mainstream?
Posted by Ron Edwards at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Web 2.0, eLearning 2.0?
I've been trying to stay on top of developments in the rapidly evolveing movement known as Web 2.0 through podcasting (primarily Silicon Valley based podcasts such as The Infotalk Podcast, blogs and conversations. Web 2.0 is essentially the transformation of the web happening before us from a content delivery platform to one in which millions of individuals produce and contribute content in a more socially oriented way.
The term eLearning 2.0 has been coined to describe a similiar evolution in eLearning from an event based course model to a more social and dynamic learning objects orientation in which content is more fluid and is created, used and discussed by many. You can read more about eLearning 2.0 here, and below is an excerpt describing how learner content creation and context building are supported by games and mobile learning by By Stephen Downes of the National Research Council of Canada written in eLearn Magazine:
Where games encourage learning is through the provision of what a student needs to know in a context where it will be immediately used. As (James Paul) Gee recommends, 'Words are only meaningful when they can be related to experiences,' said Gee. If I say 'I spilled the coffee,' this has a different meaning depending on whether I ask for a broom or a mop. You cannot create that context ahead of time— it has to be part of the experience. And in just the same way, the science text doesn't make any sense to someone who has not done any science (though it makes a great deal of sense to an experienced scientist)' [23].A similar motivation underlies the rapidly rising domain of mobile learning [24] for after all, were the context in which learning occurs not important, it would not be useful or necessary to make learning mobile. Mobile learning offers not only new opportunities to create but also to connect. As Ellen Wagner and Bryan Alexander note, mobile learning 'define(s) new relationships and behaviors among learners, information, personal computing devices, and the world at large' [25].
Thanks to Ted Cocheau, CEO of Altus Learning Systems who writes the Rapid eLearning News Blog where I found the reference above. Of note, many of you have asked me for examples of corporate podcasting, Ted has produced a very successful project for Cisco you can read about on his blog.
The chorus of catalysts helping the evolution from the lagging, static, event-based learning paradigm to a dynamic, learner contributing, context-aware model grows louder...
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2005
Social Mobile Games
Connecting people to each other is often more valuable than just delivering content to them and is a key aspect of the advice I often give to organizations pursuing mobile learning to strategize how it can/should be part of the mix. This holds true when discussing the application of "serious" mobile games to address corporate communication and culture change initiatives.
It is the interaction with each other, the social aspect that helps make the game appeal to more people and key to the success of the initiative vs. trying to make the game look and play like a console game at considerable more expense. The importance of the 'social aspect' was was recently made by Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts, the worlds largest video game company and now founder of Digital Chocolate, a mobile game company already among the top ten best selling (I like their tagline 'Sieze the Minute'!). You can read an interview where he describes his 'epiphany' of changing his goal of trying to create games to be ever more realistic but appealing to a fraction of the population to creating games that connnect people here.
The mobile phone games industry is predicted to be worth US$ 8 billion by 2008 and 1 billion game ready phones are expected to be sold next year...all adds up to more acceptance, demand and opportunity to reach and engage people in innovative and fun ways!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2005
World of Learning Report
Here are a few pictures from our booth at World of Learning this week in Birmingham - the calm before the storm, the swarm of Gizmondo trials and me highlighting the interest we received in our plans to run a series of workshops next year called Seriously Mobile. We generated a bit of buzz as evidenced by the number of exhibitors and delegates being 'sent' over to our booth by their colleagues to check us out! The fourth photo is of Dick and Kevin Corti of Pixel Learning who also saw lots of interest in his booth on games for learning. I was encouraged by the number of of discussions we had on using games and game platforms to solve real business problems for a really diverse range of organizations!
The winner of our Gizmondo draw was Dave Spinks of ITV - congratulations!
Thanks again to Gizmondo for their support!
Thanks also to Quicksilver Studios and Datmedia for adding innovative solutions from the geo-location based gaming demos to producing the Official Podcast of WOL. Thanks also to Dick Davies who was on hand to explain our upcoming Seriously Mobile workshop series and launch the Serious Mobile Games portal! This Blog will go quiet for a week while I'm on holiday... You can subscribe to this site with an RSS reader - on just type the url into FireAnt or whichever RSS reader you use for the next update...we have a lot to talk about!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2005
mLearn 2005 Papers & Abstracts
You can download the latest papers, abstracts and a few podcasts of the conference on the conference website now. You can also order a DVD of the proceedings.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2005
mLearn 2005 Cape Town
The 4th International Conference on Mobile Learning was held in Cape Town, South Africa last week and was an outstanding opportunity to hear what's happening in mobile learning in both the developed and the developing worlds. The conversation has shifted from last year's event near Rome where most presentations were theoretical to this year where most were about actual implementations. There were several presentations on using SMS for learning administration and support, and a lot of presentations and papers on PDA based learning that showed how pervasive it is becoming. I'll point you towards the abstracts and papers when they become available.
Two weeks ago the Handheld Learning Forum was held in London with a focus on PDAs and phones used in schools. Over 200 people attended. you can see some of the proceedings by registering for free on their site here.
Posted by Ron Edwards at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Mobile Content World - London... Quest for Innovation
This year's conference expo was much smaller than last, but still intense enough to drive a steady uptake of massages! (massages provided by Urban Chill - a cool idea for your meetings and conferences). The overall sense that I got was that video with interactive capability (via SMS & MMS) is really growing, and that sending messages anywhere in the world and managing them is getting easier. It's also easier to distribute content, including something new I hadn't seen before from Cell Jump, a Danish company selling a small device you plug right into your phone to upload games, videos, etc. - these could be sold @ retail or used in training centers to load content without having to rely on network connectivity and cost. I saw a slight increase in educational content this year - some from Motricity, partnered with eReader, 'the world's largest ebook store' to deliver books on smartphones & PDAs to GignoSystems launching National Geographic resources on mobiles - growing at about 1000 subscriptions per month per country. Speaking of National Geographic and mobiles, click here to read a story about tracking crocodiles in South Africa using GPS devices to send their location to a scientist's phone to help guide further development away from their natural hang outs... hmmm... We've heard of location based services to help you find where to eat, I hadn't thought of using them to keep from being eaten!
Posted by Ron Edwards at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2005
Open Source Location-Based Learning:Wikipedia on Smartphones via Semacode...Semapedia.org!
| Check this out - a few people have just started a collaborative effort to combine the use of Semacode - a way to get a link to a website on your smartphone by taking a photo of a special graphic that can be generated online instantly for free -(example on the left)- with Wikipedia, the free collaborative encyclopedia, and are encouraging people to "tag" (with permission) places of interest so visitors can instantly learn more about them by referencing the relevant Wiki on their smartphone. It's a great example of combining free open source tools for people to create and share learning content. You can learn more about it here, including how to post the Semacode images on Flickr, a free (mobile) photo blogging community now owned by Yahoo, and tagging them with GPS (Latitude/Longitude) coordinates to combine with satellite maps on Google Earth or Google Maps. |
Posted by Ron Edwards at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2005
Mobile Phones for Learning?
Last May I cited a white paper Marc Prensky wrote titled "What Can You Learn From a Cell Phone? Almost Anything" in an article I wrote for Chief Learning Officer Magazine "Knowledge Sharing for the Global Workforce" A reader followed up interested in examples of how the different learning methods of listening, observing, imitating, questioning, reflecting, trying, estimating, predicting, and practicing Marc listed could be accomplished. A few immediate ideas sprang to mind and I've put them in Flash Paper here for nicer printing. What ideas would you add?
Posted by Ron Edwards at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)