Newsletter: May 2012

[UNESCO ICTs in Education]

Dear all,

We hope you enjoy reading this fourth edition of our newsletter (below
and in the attached PDF), with highlights, news, projects and
resources related to using mobile learning for reaching the Education
For All goals. Please do not hesitate to post your comments on the
mailing list and tell us what you would like to see in the next
edition.

Best regards,
UNESCO Mobile Learning Team

You're receiving this newsletter because you signed up at
http://groups.google.com/group/unesco-mobile-learning?hl=en.

Highlight: UNESCO Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning in the Americas

National efforts to provide internet connectivity to mobile phones in
the Americas are not sufficient to realize the benefits of mobile
learning. Beyond providing technical infrastructure, government
programs need to train educators and students alike how to use mobile
devices to achieve educational goals.
This is one of the suggestions from the four recently launched papers
in the UNESCO Working Papers Series on Mobile Learning that examine
the intersection of policy, mobile technology, and education in both
Latin America and North America. Two of the papers examine
illustrative mobile learning initiatives and their implications for
policy, and two additional papers explore how mobile technologies can
support teachers and improve their practice in classrooms.
The 4 papers are available on the UNESCO ICT in Education website.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/mobile-learning-resources/unescomobilelearningseries/

Related Links:
• Learning in a book-poor, mobile-rich world
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/mobile-learning-resources/unescomobilelearningseries/
• The papers are being discussed on the Educational Technology Debate
website: North America papers, Latin America papers and the
introduction to the series. Please let us know what you think of the
findings in the papers.
https://edutechdebate.org/mobile-learning-initiatives/unesco-working-paper-series-on-mobile-learning-north-america/
https://edutechdebate.org/mobile-learning-initiatives/latin-america-unesco-working-paper-series-on-mobile-learning/
https://edutechdebate.org/mobile-learning-initiatives/unesco-to-release-research-into-mobile-learning-initiatives-policies-and-teacher-development/


News & Events

EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge n°6: Early Childhood Care and Education
The EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge, now in its sixth stage, is eliciting
ideas about how mobile technologies can help achieve EFA Goal n°6 that
calls for expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care
and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
children.
Goal on Focus ends: May 31, 2012
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/single-view/news/efa_crowdsourcing_challenge_n6_early_childhood_care_and_education/
Winner of the monthly idea award for the EFA Challenge n°5: Gender
Parity and Equality in Education is « Mobile Partners in Education »
by Laura Blackheart
This idea is for a ‘Penpal’ service on mobiles, linking girls in
developing world to classrooms in the developed world. The idea is
about empowering girls through peer support, connecting people and
learning. Translation capability should be however somehow be added to
the service. http://www.ideasproject.com/ideas/17976
WSIS Forum 2012
Our team will be presenting UNESCO’s work in mobile learning at the
WSIS forum in Geneva from May 14-18.
http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2012/Information/WSISForum2012.aspx


Programmes & Projects (UNESCO and non UNESCO)

Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg offers 38,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub
books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.
http://www.m.gutenberg.org/

Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment (SMILE)
SMILE enables students to quickly pose multimedia-rich multiple-choice
questions and share them with peers using mobile phones during class.
After the questions have been created, students can respond to and
rate the questions that they and their peers created moments before.
Finally, when all students have responded to each other’s questions,
they can view detailed personal and question-related data. To
facilitate this learning environment, SMILE includes an activity
management application for the instructor that allows him or her to
control the progress of the activity in real time and to view all
student data.
http://seedsofempowerment.org/what-we-do/smile.html


Resources (UNESCO and non UNESCO)

BYOT: Bring your own technology
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has released « Making
Progress: Rethinking State and School District Policies Concerning
Mobile Technologies and Social Media. » The goal of the policy report
is to influence and inform educators and policymakers to « address new
digital media in the context of improved learning » and in a world
where learners use their own devices to access digital media.
http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/Cooney-Center-Blog-228.html

Mobile Monday Fourth Annual Mobile Africa Research Report
This report, released at the annual Innovation Africa Digital Summit,
examines innovations in mobile learning in Africa.
http://www.mobilemonday.net/04/2012/mobile-monday-fourth-annual-mobile-africa-research-report.html


Visit the ICT in Education website: www.unesco.org/new/en/themes/icts/
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/UNESCOICTinEducation
and Twitter: twitter.com/#!/UNESCOICTs