Daily Archives: May 1, 2006

Tangling with another blogger in the comments section can only be beneficial, I've decided. I don't think I could ever do what Mark Ahlness has done and restrict myself to only one sector of the edublogosphere. Personally, there is too much to learn from some many angles that are outside my realm of immediate expertise - other international perspectives, tertiary and VTE sectors, life in high schools, teacher training - I just can't say that the classroom is where it is at.

So with broadening my knowledge of all technology tangled education a priority, my recent written stoush with Alex Hayes has had me looking through his more recent posts on his blog. I've read his responses to Leigh Blackall's blog before and to be honest, I was a bit scared initially of this writer who mixed insight and complex words in equal measure, and I thought his ideas were out of my comfort zone. So I didn't track down his blog which was a judgemental error on my part. But our three way and eventually, three blog conversations proved that Alex and I had a bit to learn from each other. (I was surprised and quietly flattered to find Teaching Generation Z on his blogroll.)

Now something Alex explores a lot is the concept of mobile learning (mlearning) and one great post I enjoyed greatly was IT: Internet as Medium.

Or, the world wide web is actually the collective human conciousness interlaced as electronic nodes which we sit statically attached to, occasionally claiming family time and football matches as excuse to abandon it......leaving it, lonely.

Or, the internet has gone mobile and we are wearing it, tracking our own moves, sending and receiving global transmissions, waving up to it's call, abandoning watches and calculators and cameras and other peripherals, driving through the world by its maps, finding out the latest gigs and cheap meals and where our kids are and who's meshing with whom.

I like the concept of the internet gone mobile and any excuse to make it a reality in my day to day existence. Ideally, this post could be written and blogged on my Pocket PC via a wireless connection to my online world. Reality - my Pocket PC is still running Windows Mobile 2003 and is not wireless capable.  My mobile phone is of a similar vintage and it's probably a combination of my German heritage and my country childhood that makes me loathe to retire any device that still works just fine! For me, the converged Mobile Phone PC would be the best of both worlds for the purposes of mobile professional learning. However, my mobile teaching  ard learning needs have just been bolstered. The laptop I have been sharing does have wireless and is great for working online whilst moving locations thoughout the house. But my new work machine, an Acer Tablet PC, has just been delivered and I can't wait to try out its capabilities. I almost feel a bit guilty about getting such an advanced device but its mobility, light weight factor, more compact dimensions make it ideal for my work both at school and at home. Here's the frustrating rub - I have to charge the battery for two hours before I can even boot it up! So let the age of mobile learning continue to develop - and keep reading Alexander Hayes to read about where's it's heading.