The 4th M Learn conference in Cape Town, South Africa continued the tradition of exploring theoretical models, practical applications, and future pedagogical and technological developments which will impact learning and teaching across the developing world. Delegates came from over 24 countries, and over 60 papers and workshops were presented.

The "Godfather" of Mlearning, Mike Sharples, University of Nottingham, opened proceedings with a brief description of how the Mlearn conference series began in 2002 with 68 delegates at the University of Birmingham. It is a testimony to how fast the uptake of mobile and portable learning has been in that it is now a feature in the UK and many other countries and is being explored as a mechanism for reaching groups who are frequently excluded from traditional models of learning.

M Learn 2005 attracted over 200 delegates and was one of 14 "M" learning conferences across the world last year.


Key themes that emerged from the conference included

• The need for a consensus definition of mobile learning
• Recognition that it is the learner who is mobile and the device is secondary
• There is enormous potential to address the digital divide by using mobile devices
• Wireless technology is present and will be the future
• There is enormous potential to use mobile and portable learning in developing countries
• Lessons learned by early adopters can benefit later adopters
• There are pockets of innovative and creative use of mobile and portable technologies
• There is little evidence of embedded practice of mobile and portable learning
• There is an urgent need for more research and high quality evaluation and a greater synergy among research, practice, pedagogy, and technological developments
• The technology moves faster than the pedagogy
• There is a need to develop more mobile capacity in teacher-training institutes.

High Points


Table Mountain not only provided breathtaking views but also a strong signal for delegates' 3G/GPRS cards. Jill Attewell, from the LSDA, one of the pioneers of M Learning and a previous M Learn conference organiser (2003), had the opportunity to share the benefits of a seven-hour walk to the summit with her address book in her PDA but was also able to check on the time of the last cable car back down!

The predator tank of the Two Oceans Aquarium on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront was a paradoxical backcloth for the opening of a very cooperative, consensual, and constructive conference. There was, however, some healthy challenge to keynote speakers Desmond Keegan (IRE) and Stan Trollip (USA) that came from the UK contingent, who did not accept the rather negative perspective on the relative success of mobile learning suggested by the speakers.

John Traxler, Wolverhampton University, and Agnes Kukulka- Hulme, Open University, presented a series of papers and workshops and are the authors of a recent JISC report on mobile and learning and a new book:


Kukulska-Hulme, A. & Traxler. J. (2005) Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers, Open and Flexible Learning Series, Routledge, London, ISBN 0-415-35739-X (hbk) £75.00, ISBN 0-415-35740-3 (pbk) £24.99; simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Taylor & Francis Inc, New York.

Agnes Kukulka-Hulme has also been part of a research team at the Open University that produced a very interesting evaluation and literature review of the use of tablet PCs in schools .

Jocelyn Wisehart, University of Bristol, reported on her recent work in the use of PDAs in Initial Teacher Training and then had to be assertive with the conference "techies" when she insisted on presenting from her PDA instead of at the lectern!

Dan Corlett and colleagues from the University of Birmingham reported on the continuation of the journey started by Mike Sharples using tablet PCs to "personalise" the student experience and Dan Sutch from NESTA futurelab was awarded "best paper" prize for his workshops on the exciting developments in PDA use pioneered at NESTA futurelab.


The NESTA futurelab report 11, "Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning" is widely recognised as a pivotal piece of work in this fast developing field.