Much of the recent activity in mobile learning has been in language training. Just this week Nokia announced a large initiative in China to tap into English lessons, test-prep training, and other courses from New Oriental Education & Technology Group, a leading Chinese educational company. "The idea of mobile learning is that it will allow students of all ages to access course materials through a mobile phone, maximizing time by providing learning on the go," said Michael Yu, New Oriental's chief executive. "Would-be mobile learners can buy one of the newer Nokia models with educational programs already installed, and they can also download courses from Mobiledu and New Oriental's online-learning site, Koolearn.com. The project is not the first time that courses have been offered via cellphone, but it's part of what is sure to be a growing trend."

In Sweden Learning-by-SMS.com announced that "you can learn a new language just by using your mobile phone, we'll send you daily themed phrases via text messages so you can keep on learning wherever you are." &quot ;The concept of learning a foreign language via SMS is revolutionary and Learning-by-SMS.com is believed to be the first company using this technology to teach foreign languages." Current courses are available in Spanish, French, Italian, and German - but the service is not available in the U.S.

Language course specialist Berlitz has struck a deal with DailyLit, to offer five-minute daily language lessons via e-mail.

Also, this week Apple announced the opening of a dedicated area on the iTunes Store for iTunes U featuring learning materials including language lessons.

One of the most interesting and successful mobile learning language projects is that of ChinesePod, also in China. Here with a free account you can download daily podcasts, so search through over 500 existing lessons. Spanish training is also available.

For the past eight months, I have been working with Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin, on an exciting pilot project using video iPods for language and culture training in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. You can view some examples here.

mLearnopedia contains references to several other mobile language training initiatives including:

• Australian National University using video iPods for Japanese and Spanish
• Athabasca University has proven it's possible for new immigrants to learn English through their cellphones
• TeachMe Akshara in India happens to be the first vernacular language teaching application for mobile phones (Hindi and Malayalam)
• Verizon Wireless Get It Now service offers downloadable applications to translation for Spanish, French, Japanese or German

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed