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UNESCO believes that mobile technologies can expand and enrich educational opportunities for learners in diverse settings. Yet most ICT in education policies were articulated in a pre-mobile era and they do not seek to maximize the learning potentials of mobile technology. The rare policies that do reference mobile devices tend to treat them tangentially or ban their use in schools.

Today, a growing body of evidence suggests that ubiquitous mobile devices – especially mobile phones and, more recently, tablet computers – are being used by learners and educators around the world to access information, streamline administration and facilitate learning in new and innovative ways.

Developed in consultation with experts in over 20 countries, UNESCO’s “Policy guidelines for mobile learning” have broad application and can accommodate a wide range of institutions, including K–12 schools, universities, community centres, and technical and vocational schools.

Policy-makers are encouraged to adopt UNESCO’s policy recommendations, tailoring them as necessary to reflect the unique needs and on-the-ground realities of local contexts.

The document was presented during the UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2013, held from 18 to 22 February in Paris.

Guidance services at university are generally focused on access (learning guidance), and exit (placement, career services). Support for students during their studies is less well-addressed, or not addressed at all. However, most students dropping out from university, point to the need for continuous support during the study lifecycle. This is particularly the case for distance students, given the fact that support services are often available only at the universities’ premises.

STAY IN therefore seeks to design and develop a service capable of supporting students in higher education during their academic career, by offering guidance and e-guidance to access available opportunities within the universities and in the communities where the universities are active. Guidance is conceived of as personalised support for each student to tackle potential obstacles that lead to disengagement and drop-out. Key expected results include:

• an integrated guidance and counselling system for universities, covering processes, methods, tools;
• an eGuidance platform for European universities, designed and developed in order to address the specific needs of higher education institutions and higher education students for of guidance and counselling services, and suitable for supporting on-going guidance and counselling;
• an updated picture of the practices across Europe on guidance for inclusion, and of the student’s point of view on guidance and e-guidance needs during their educational experience.

Known for her bright pink hair and cutting-edge designs, Zandra Rhodes has remained one of the most recognisable names in fashion over the last five decades and remains relevant with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Sarah Jessica Parker and Paris Hilton wearing her dresses today.

Actress Joanna Lumley kickstarted the initiative, working with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) to launch this Jisc-funded digital archive. That has implied locating, preparing, photographing, researching, and cataloguing 50 years of fashion collections in order to successfully compose the Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection. 

Aumenta.me comes back for its second edition with a conference will feature the educators, researchers, materials designers and companies who use augmented reality in everyday education. The event, sponsored by the non-profit Asociación Espiral, Educación y Tecnología and the public Institute for Human Centered Technologies Lab Human, will take place in Valencia, Spain. 

Register here.