Looking forward to mlearn2006

I leave NZ in a couple of days & am looking forward with excitement and some trepidation to my trip across to North America for the mLearn2006 conference. I need to put down some goals that I would like to achieve so that my trip is more focused and I come back with concrete objectives completed.

I do not enjoy long air flights. Being confined me to a small space for a long a time is not something I enjoy. Hence my travels thus far have been limited to frequent short trips across the ditch to Oz & obligatory trips back to Singapore to catch up with family. As with other trips, I have set up several items that I plan to catch up while on the plane. I have downloaded several ebooks on to my Treo plus photocopied readings etc. pertinent to the three research projects I am working on so that I can do a bit of a catch up. Keeping my brain busy will help while away the time.

My itinerary includes:-

• A few days in Los Angeles with my aunty and uncle. They immigrated to the U S or A 27 years ago. Apart from catching up with them, I will be visiting several artisan bread bakeries and farmers’ markets.
• Next will be a couple of days in Calgary with friends. R. is an academic researching road safety who has lived in 6 countries in the last twenty years. Always interesting to catch up with R. & his wife S. as they represent the ‘travelling academic family’. Their views on life in various countries is always refreshing as they can take on an observers viewpoint while being part of the country that they live in.
• A week at Banff for mlearn 2006 follows
• Then three days in Vancouver, staying with my mother’s cousin plus visit to Vancouver Community College and other foodie places.

I see that Gary Sewell from Hunter Institute of TAFE & Caryl Oliver from William Angliss TAFE will be presenting as well. It will be good to catch up with them on their mlearning projects.

Things I would like to achieve for my mlearning project include:-

• Find best practice examples of converting content to mlearning on mobile phones
• Look out for anyone else doing any work with integrating Web 2.0 applications to mlearning
• Find out if there is anyone else thinking of using mobile phones to coordinate eportfolios
• Brush up on mlearning operating systems and mobile phone programming software
• See the latest offered on PDA platforms & work out if relevant to mobile phones
• Source LMS or CMS that others have used for mlearning and information on assess, compatability, usability, costs etc.
• Make contact with hardware suppliers to see if there are possibilities for collaboration with piloting out eportfolio trials next year
• Allow serendipity to do its thing
• Network, network, network