The last day of the WMUTE conference was dedicated to a session on Evaluation and Analysis in Mobile Learning and thus one of the great challenges in this research field. The session included the presentation and discussion of a multimodal analysis of spatial characteristics of a realworld learning field, the case of a mobile business game, the evaluation of interaction with mobile devices in mobile inquiry-based learning, and the support of place/space based patterns of citywide mobile learning through a multi-agent framework. Finally Prof. Masahiko Tsukamoto from the University in Kobe concluded the conference with his special keynote on A Perspective on Wearable and Ubiquitous Computing: How Does It Impact on Daily Life?
Notably the presentation on the mobile business game by the University of Auckland illustrated nicely the complete workflow from developing an idea, over the actual implementation, to the prototype evaluation. The game uses location-based anchors to augment business cases with real-world interactions and also includes an authoring environment. The whole approach reminded me a bit of the EMERGO toolkit, almost like a possible mobile extension. Another interesting presentation dealt with an offen neglected aspect of mobile learning - the evaluation of the interaction with mobile devices. Within the mVisible Outdoor Activity project the researchers developed an interaction evaluation framework that can be used to refine activities and tasks given.
If you are interested in one of the presentations or would like to have some more information, please do not hesitateto contact me.