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mLearnCon 2012: Part 2

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Greetings from beautiful San Diego.

Yes, it is possible to learn and have fun, just as it is possible to learn from fun and have fun while learning. I know it's hard to believe. I count myself among the long-time doubters. However, I have experienced it here at the mLearnCon conference here in San Diego.

San Diego is beautiful, clean, warm and friendly. Maria, my wife and best friend, came down with me and we had a romantic night, visiting Sea World, listening to a reggae band (yes mon, we were on island time, mon), and drinking strawberry daiquiries by the hotel outdoor pool under the palm trees. Sadly, she has gone home but we had one of the most splendid nights together. In short, San Diego is surreal.

Certainly, it has been a week for firsts. This is the first time I have ever been abroad, and the first that I have ever been at a conference on this scale. But the biggest first would have to be the earthquake tremor. I can scratch that one of my bucket list.

Oh, yes. The conference. I spent the next day at a pre-conference session on how to develop content for the iPhone. The session took the entire day but passed by quickly. To my fellow Upgrading Online colleagues: it can and should be done. The session was exhilarating and I did not want it to end.

Day 2 saw the opening of the conference. In the conference hall, I met several interesting people while waiting for the conference. In fact (and Michael Gaschnitz, if you are reading this, you will appreciate this the most) , the first person I met was a publisher rep from Pearson who is working hard on moving into the mLearning world with its products. The odds?

The keynote speaker talked about mLearning as the replacement for elearning. He showed a graph indicating the increase in the use of the internet alongside the number of pc's and mobile devices, and clearly the increase of the internet was more heavily supported by the exponential growth in the use of mobile phone. He pointed out that at 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions, more people have mobile phones than toothbrushes or running water. That is a lot of phones. In the developing world, the mobile phone is the only mass media. If we are to meet our students, as advised by Jeff Jarvis in his book What Would Google Do?, we need to deliver mobile learning. The second big idea that came out of his presentation was that SMS is used far more heavily throughout the world than instant messaging, facebook or any other social media. He went on to give examples from around the world, where people were relying on SMS to buy parking, where governments issued emergency warnings via SMS, and where a lady taken hostage on a plane by terrorists was able to text using her cell while it was hidden in her pocket. Needless to say, there was much more to the presentation: it was eye-opening.

There were three other sessions that I attended and I will share more as the week progresses. But I am tired from too much fun and too much learning. Time for a siesta.

I miss my colleagues at work, especially the Upgrading Online crew. I wish you all were here. I was able to meet Carmen Taran in person, along with a host of others that we have heard speak at the Online Forums that they watch. I have never seen so many iphones and ipads in one place.

Mostly, despite the fun, I miss my wife and kids. Ironically, the wifi at the conference did not work well as there were just two many users. Phoning from San Diego should be easier than it is. My iphone due to obscene roaming charges will be gi-normous. So connecting back home has not been easy, but if you are reading this, Jacob, Kaelyn, Christina, James and especially Maria, I love you much and I will be home soon.

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