Harnessing students’ mobile devices for learning in schools – common sense? or asking for trouble?

Jill Attewell 

 

Jill Attewell is a mobile education specialist. She started her career in the ICT industry in the UK and the Far East and then spent 17 years in UK education at National level.
Whilst managing the Learning and Skills Development Agency’s Technology Enhanced Learning Research Centre, Jill led ‘m-learning’ the first large EU mobile learning project. This project explored the use of mobile technologies to support disengaged young people to improve their skills and employability. She also led the MoLeNET programme in which 40,000 students and 7,000 staff in UK further education colleges and schools took part in over 100 mobile learning implementation and action research projects.
Jill was a member of the GSM Association’s mEducation project team for 3 years. This worldwide project aimed to accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies for education via collaborations involving operators, educators, publishers and policy makers.
She has recently carried out research for European Schoolnet resulting in two publications focusing on Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mobile learning models and has produced Responsible Use of Mobiles learning materials for parents and teachers involved in the mSchools programme in Catalonia.
Jill served for several years on the Education Committee of the UK National Commission for UNESCO and is a Director of the International Association for Mobile Learning.