m-Learning was a €4.5m 3 year pan-European research and development
programme supported by the European Commission's Information Society
Technologies (IST) Programme within the 5th Framework. The project
started on 1st October 2001 and ended 30th
September 2004.
The overall project was coordinated by the Learning and Skills
Development Agency (LSDA). Participant organisations included
universities and commercial companies based in three EU countries -
Britain, Italy and Sweden.
m-Learning developed prototype
products and services which delivered information and learning
experiences via technologies that are inexpensive, portable and
accessible to the majority of EU citizens.
The m-Learning target audience includes young adults aged 16 to 24, who
are unemployed, under-employed and/or homeless and who are not currently
taking part in education or training. The products and services were designed to
capture the interest of the young adults and to assist them in the
development of life long learning objectives. Learning themes therefore focused
on themes such as football and music, with 'bite-sized' learning modules designed to develop aspects of literacy
and numeracy.
The m-Learning infrastructure includes a Learning Management
System which, together with mPortal, the microportal interface layer developed
by Ultralab, facilitates access via a variety of mobile devices to m-Learning materials and services. Support
for collaborative learning and peer-to-peer interaction was also
developed by Ultralab. mPortal development was an iterative
process informed by work with groups of young adults, who were recruited as
co-researchers.
For more information please visit the m-learning
project website or contact Project Leader Alice Mitchell at Ultralab.
