Mobile Learning in schools has been in the headlines recently and next week BECTA should publish the Bristol University evaluation of the world famous Wolverhampton Learn2Go project but last week it was the turn of Further Education to celebrate the success of the £12m LSC funded MoLeNET project.

It must have taken some courage and vision for Tony Burgess, sadly no longer with us, to persuade his colleagues in the LSC that they should take a multi-million pound punt on an innovative, relatively new, and unproven, approach to learning in the FE and Skills sector.

It is a testimony to him, and to Stephen Nichols who picked up the project, that three years down the line thousands of learners and teachers in Further Education have been inspired and motivated, achieved and attended more and progressed to higher levels of provision.

Tony would have been delighted if he had been able to be in London last week for the third MoLeNET dissemination conference held to celebrate what is probably the worlds largest and most successful mobile learning project and share the lessons learned.

Over 300 FE providers heard story after story of how the introduction of mobile technology had engaged more learners and whilst, according to LSN, the official definition of mobile learning is

“The exploitation of ubiquitous handheld technologies, together with wireless and mobile phone networks to facilitate, support and enhance and extend the reach of teaching and learning”

can be a bit of a mouthful but there is no doubt from the evidence suggested by the research, presentations, case studies and general buzz around the topic that the impact on individuals and organisations has been profound.

The recent press coverage around the use of mobile technology in schools has raised a number of challenges and opportunities and the successful Learn2Go project in Wolverhampton’s evaluation by Bristol University is imminent but it seems to learners in further education have taken to mobile learning like the proverbial duck to water.

But why wouldn’t they?

Digital technologies are an everyday part of their lives. They wake to the alarm on their mobile phones, listen to their mp3 players on their way to school and college, take pictures and upload, tag and share them online, comment on what others have shared, keep their diaries up to date, check the time (when was the last time a young person had a watch?), watch and upload video and increasingly access the internet whilst on the move.

This trend was described by Martin Bean, the new Vice Chancellor of the Open University, at a recent conference as the “growing crisis of relevance for education”

In other words the widening gap between the digital experiences and expectations of learners in their everyday lives and what happens in some classrooms and lecture theatres (why theatre? Is there a play or operation going on?) in our schools and colleges.

Indeed at the recent, and very successful, Handheld Learning conference in London, Ray Kurzweil the renowned American futurist told the audience that today’s mobile phones should be renamed;

“gateways to all human knowledge”

which puts a different perspective on their potential for learning and some of the challenges for the educational establishment.

This was not lost on MoLeNET programme director Jill Attewell; “One of the key things we have learned in MoLeNET is that whilst just putting the technology in the hands of teachers and learning may provide some benefit it is the package of support, staff development, action research and reflection which ensures the greatest return on investment and best value for the public fundst”

Many of the project case studies confirmed this view. Whether it was the use of smart phones, Nintendo DS, flipcams, netbooks, mp3/4 players, digi-recorders, umpc’s, web cams, tablets, e-books, ipod touch, PSP’s the message was always the same.

“The support package provided by the LSN including MoLeSHARE, MoLe TV and the mentors has been the difference between the success of this project and previous attempts to embed technology in learning and teaching” said Mick Mullane, Network manager at Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough and one of the mentors.

Although the LSC will be remorphed shortly into a variety of different organisations they are particularly pleased with this investment of capital funds given the bad press they had about the Building Colleges for the Future capital crisis.

“This project has demonstrated year after year the importance of innovation and creative thinking about learning and teaching and how FE and Skills needs to constantly be aware of the changes in digital technologies and learners expectations” said Stephen Nichols, LSC project manager for MoLeNET.

“We established an Advisory board with members from the technology industry, the private sector, as well as the research community to ensure we were on the right track and they have been both challenging and supportive, “ added Stephen.

So what happens to MoLeNET now?

The funding for MoLeNET 3 lasts until spring 2010 and eventually the project will have to become self-sustaining and FE providers will have to work out how to embed the use of digital and mobile technologies from their own funds but the lessons learned will live on and have begun to change the culture in further education; Andy Black, Technology Research manager at BECTA, a member of the MoLeNET Advisory Board, and a recognised expert in mobile learning is convinced MoLeNET will leave a lasting legacy and provides lessons to be learned for the rest of education and in response to a question to the panel he said:

The impact of this “bottom up” approach to the transformation of learning and teaching has worked well with some of the other strategic interventions in further education and skills and there is no doubt that the LSC/LSN partnership approach has worked very well”

“What we need to do now is build on the lessons learned and create the capacity and infrastructure capable of responding to the ever changing learner needs, technology and indeed how, in future, learners could use their own devices”

“We have commissioned some research on the impact of mobile learning in schools and the MoLeNET project has some important lessons for all sectors” Andy added.

Whilst this project has been limited to further education (although there was some work in the 14-19 age range) there are some key lessons for other sectors especially schools in the building schools for the future programme.

Some key questions could include;
· How do we ensure technology investments are value for money and fit for purpose?
· How do we begin to narrow the “crisis of relevance” gap in schools and colleges?
· How do we ensure project intitiatives become sustainable and technology becomes embedded?
· How do we create workforce capacity and technological infrastructure to respond to ever changing learner and technological needs?
· How do we ensure that capital programmes have the appropriate package of “change management” support?
· How do we address the “elephant in the room” the assessment system and ensure it meets the needs of a technologically enhanced learning process
· How do we ensure leaders, governors and policy makers have the same vision and courage as Tony Burgess, Stephen Nichols and the LSC/LSN?

The full details of the project can be found at:

www.molenet.org.uk

Further information about the support package from LSN can be obtained from jattewell@lsnlearning.org.uk

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