The Mobile University

… to the Royal College of Physicians earlier this week for a conference on the use of mobile devices in higher education. An interesting mix of people including academics, IT managers and commercial providers. Lot of stimulating talks and discussions, all highly enjoyable and very rewarding.

I learnt about femtocells, and user experiences (and how you can’t trust them), the wide multiplicity of handsets (did you know that the i-Phone actually has a very small market share), the continuing popularity of the i-Pod touch, the educational use of mobile technologies in the developing world, location-dependent apps, Moodle on a mobile, how there are lots of pilots and not much that’s sustainable and i-Borrow.

And there were lots of interesting discussions betweentimes and in the early evening. About how no-one really wants to likes the idea of shared services, and projects keep being repeated without cross-institution learning. About where the new political coalition is going, what will happen next and how long will it last. About “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” and “The Tremulous Private Body”. Which led us to discussions of whether Dr Who was modernist or postmodernist (‘but postmodernism is so 1990s, dear boy…’).

The most divisive thing about the day, however, was the architecture. An avowedly modernist 60s building sitting amongst a landscape of measured regency Nash terraces. According to the college’s web site; It is an acknowledged modern masterpiece, created by Sir Denys Lasdun. The Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Lasdun its Trustees Medal in recognition of his work on the College.

Several of us … disagreed.