Hi, everybody,
I am taking part in "Mobile learning" session this morning.
NICKY AND NEIL  introduced the outline of the session:

• Introduction
• Dotmocracy
• Discussion
• Options
• Development

Introduction:
The participants have to join the group they belong (tertiary, secondary, other- primary sector) and introduce themselves. After that they have to change the group according to their Mobile phone ownership in groups and tell others how many years they own a mobile phone, another regrouping is according to the type of phone, how they use their mobile phone, what applications are used.

Dotmocracy
There are papers stuck to the walls with statements about mobile learning. The participants have to agree or disagree with the statements and make comments. The statements are as follows:

1. Mobile phones are easy to use in the classroom
2. Many learners already use mobile phones for learning
3. Mobile  learning is exclusive , not everybody can afford it
4. Mobile learning is best for out of class informal learning

The participants go  from one question to another and write their comments, then they sit in  groups of three and discuss the questions in new groups. They also share their experience of using mobile phone in their teaching practice, what is mobile learning for them?
Summing it up Neil and Nicky asked the participants to work as one group and tell their stories of using mobile hones in teaching.

Options
Another activity is  the participants have to look at the devices on the screen (tablet pc, mp4 player, netbook, iphone, laptop) and match the pictures  to words  (pair work).

Next step is a video about  using  i-touch. You can see this fabulous video here – http://www.l4l.co.uk/?p=835  I liked the video very much, it is a good example of using mobile technology with kids. The participants are asked to give  comments and reactions to this video: “it is amazing how easy children  can use them in the class, it speed up their learning and make them more motivated”. 

Neil  made a quick snapshot of apps available for  teaching and learning English, they are dictionaries,  a translator, british council podcasts , a personal vocabulary store in a flash card type, a book store, even lessons of English, interactive books for young learners, phonemic charts for teachers,  ets.

Fishbowl event
It is an open conversation, when four participants start  discussing the questions they have answered before , other participants are listening, if they want to take part in the discussion and express their opinion, they have to take a sit on one of vacant chairs.

The participants raised different issues, for example it is difficult to monitor the learning and find the materials, organize activities , have internet connections,  difficult to control students, what outcome to get , time consuming. Different ways of using mobile in teaching English were mentioned such as  audio recording for speaking, communicating in social networks, group work using one mobile for a group It would be ideal if a school has class sets in schools.

Development
This stage of the session is group work. The participants are encouraged to create a project, it can be a poster or  a PowerPoint presentation, where they summarise the main issues that have been discussed during the session. I am happy to say that all the posters are wonderful, and very informative. For example different ways of using mobile phones in teaching English, advantages and disadvantages of using this device . You can see all the posters and  presentations in this blog later.

This session was very useful, I gained new methods of teaching, broadened my experience of using new educational technologies, class management techniques when working  with large group of students.