These two innovative approaches to mobile learning have come across the screens lately. Both would be useful for increasing your skills and abilities to peruse mobile ministry endeavors:

MIT Center for Mobile Learning

The Center, housed at the Media Lab, will focus on the design and study of new mobile technologies and applications, enabling people to learn anywhere anytime with anyone. Research projects will explore location-aware learning applications, mobile sensing and data collection, augmented reality gaming, and other educational uses of mobile technologies.

Three MIT professors will serve as co-directors of the Center: Hal Abelson, Class of 1922 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Eric Klopfer, Associate Professor of Science Education; and Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research.

The Center’s first activity will focus on App Inventor for Android, a programming system that makes it easy for learners to create mobile apps for Android smart phones by visually fitting together puzzle piece-shaped “programming blocks” in a web browser. Abelson proposed an idea that prompted the development of App Inventor during his sabbatical at Google in 2008.

For more information, read the press release.

Cybermissions’ Mobile Ministry Training Courses

The Mobile Ministry Training Course is a 4-week introduction to the uses of mobile technology platforms for Christian ministry. It is expected to involve 4-6 hrs of study time each week.

For more information and to enroll, visit the Mobile Ministry Training Course website.

Bonus: Upcoming MMM-led Workshop

We still plan on having a few MMM-led workshops this fall. The first will be an iPad for Pastor’s Workshop. Stay tuned for more information about this.