workshop slides for African edition of Internation Journal of Mobile & Blended Learning

1. Publishing a Mobile Learning Research Paper Professor John Traxler

2. Who? mobile learning researchers in Africa who are hoping to submit an academic paper to a peer-reviewed journal, specifically to the African edition of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning.

3. Why? Recognition, and promotion and funding, for academics and researchers everywhere, including Africa, depends on publication, specifically publication of research papers in recognized peer-reviewed journals.

4. Why? There is considerable research activity in mobile learning in Africa. This deserves greater visibility and recognition. There are stories to tell, ideas to share, communities to build.

6. accessing the international knowledge economy, OR

7. the work of social entrepreneurs, not-for-profits and m4d activists

8. supporting indigenous languages, traditional pedagogy and informal knowledge.It has been sadly under-documented and under-reported and deserves a wider global audience.

10. Practical experiences of mobile learning in Africa

11. The African mobile learning context

12. Characteristics and challenges of infrastructure and culture

13. Local interpretations of mobile learning

14. Supporting indigenous languages and local cultures

15. The role of traditional pedagogy and informal knowledge

16. Understanding mobile learning in an African context

17. Social media in a mobile environment

18. Web 2.0 tools for mobile learners in Africa

19. Impact of mobile technologies on teaching and learning in Africa

20. Emerging mobile literacies in an African context

21. Collaborative and cooperative mobile learning

22. Cost-effectiveness of mobile learning in Africa

23. Mobile and nomadic communities

24. The relevance of the African experience to other challenging environments and societies

26. unique Or unusual; it has not been done before, in however small a respect, and this claim is based on a review of the appropriate literature;

27. relevant and meaningful in that it is generalisable, replicable or transferable and thus also valuable and significant

28. rigorous shows the application of theory, methods, evidence, data, analysis, inference and discussion to an agreed standard;

29. repeatable providing the guidance, information and resources in sufficient detail to enable other people to replicate or extend the project's outcomes and conclusions or to build on them in some way in a different context,

30. ethical no harm is done by the research and perhaps things get better

31. but these criteria are all relative to a particular audience or community so….. read the journal and find out what these criteria actually mean in practice

32. Papers Project reports Critical reviews Thought pieces Demonstrating Proof of Concept Prototyping Technical model Pushing theory Embedding Scaling How? User data Qualitative Quantitative System data

33. Theory? Explanatory Predictive Model Framework Abstraction General Conclusions? Proved Suggested Demonstrated Established Refuted

34. Style & Procedure? Whatever the publishers and the editors decree! Online or paper, open or paid? Think about the issues and the options

35. Literature Reviews Every academic paper reporting a project must have a literature review To show that the project builds on and exploits current knowledge, understanding and analysis of existing research in every respect