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We live in a mobile world. The past year has reminded us all how much we took for granted being able to travel, visit, work, learn and play anywhere. To celebrate a gradual return to mobility, I’ll show and talk about ten items from my small collection of mobile devices. I’ll challenge you with questions such as: What is cuneiform? How can you carry a 5ft sliderule? Why didn’t Kodak like disposable cameras? And if there’s time, I’ll discuss learning in a mobile world. In the words of John Dewey (‘Democracy in Education’, 1916), “A society which is mobile, which is full of channels for the distribution of a change occurring anywhere, must see to it that its members are educated to personal initiative and adaptability.”

Speaker: Prof Mike Sharples

Mike Sharples inaugurated the mLearn conference series and was Founding President of the International Association for Mobile Learning. He established the Innovating Pedagogy report series and is author of over 300 papers in the areas of educational technology, learning sciences, science education, human-centred design of personal technologies, artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Since childhood, he has been fascinated with mobile devices including miniature radios and pocket calculators. He has been fortunate to pursue his passion for mobile devices through projects with Kodak, Nokia and Microsoft.