Okay. We appreciate the irony of a site on mobility being static for AGES! It’s true that we’ve been in hibernation for a long time — at least here. But we’ve been busy elsewhere, so we’re heading off in a couple of new directions. We’d like to invite you to join us on two new sites:

For news, discussion, and information about what’s going on at ACU, dial in to our Connected Blog.

For a global discussion community focused on research (and also on best practices) in mobile learning, check out the site for the Consortium on Innovation and Research in Converged Learning (CIRCL).

Thanks to everyone who has read us over the years, and we hope these two active sites will give a much richer experience than we were ever able to muster here at iThinkEd.

As you likely know, mobile technology is dramatically shaping the nature of teaching, learning and social interaction at Abilene Christian University. This past fall, ACU became the first university to distribute Apple iPhones and iPod Touches to the incoming freshman class. This strategy has enabled all freshmen and their teachers to integrate technology and learning both in and out of the classroom. Along with this mass distribution of Apple devices, ACU introduced a portal, ACU Mobile, to help connect students to the campus through news and calendars, course documents and media, in-class surveys and polls.

This spring ACU will host the ConnectEd mobile learning summit (Feb. 26th and 27th) for campuses deploying iPhone and iPod Touch focused applications, portals, and initiatives in higher education. Whether you’ve just started thinking about mLearning or are a leader in the field, ACU is inviting you to join colleagues from across the academy for a summit focusing on integrating iPhones and iPod touches into your institution.

The goal of this summit is to help faculty, technologists and administrators make connections with peers at other institutions to facilitate practical, hands-on solutions. Featuring communal vision sessions and targeted breakouts in key areas of infrastructure, theory and deployment (see the list below–and feel free to add others), the ConnectEd summit is focused around a set of “bring-your-own-work workshops.” Participants will work with others in the field to outline key challenges and determine best practices, leaving with a core of useful materials and approaches. And ACU will be providing code, working documents, user materials and procedures to help jump-start your program. The summit will also feature selected corporate developers who can help provide end-to-end solutions tailored to your specific needs.

To find out more and express interest in attending, visit ACU Connected

The Wireless Foundation, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative and Digital Millennial Consulting will be hosting the first annual International Mobile Learning Conference at Capital Hilton, Washington, DC—February 16 & 17. This is an excellent opportunity to join the discussion concerning mobile wireless technology in education with worldwide representatives from primary, secondary and postsecondary education institutions, policy makers and executives from the wireless and education technology industries.

Conference speakers include: Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, Chairman of the Board, Qualcomm; Marc Prensky, Founder and CEO, Games2Train; Dr. Elliot Soloway Professor, University of Michigan; David Whyley, Project Director, Learning2Go; Julie Evans, CEO, Project Tomorrow; Bruce Wilcox,
Education Consultant; Stacie Hudgens, President, PsyMes Consulting; Dr. Ann Flynn,Director, Education Technology, National School Boards Association; Stephen Weimar, Director of The Math Forum @ Drexel University;Dr. Linda Roberts, Former Director, Office of Education Technology, US Department of Education; Timothy Magner, Director of Office of Education Technology US Department of Education; Julie Dodd-Thomas; Andrew Seybold (Invited) President and CEO of Andrew Seybold, Inc.

By bringing various stakeholders together the Mobile Learning Conference hopes to promote the development of mobile learning, foster new innovative practices in mobile learning, address key concerns of policy makers and educators regarding mobile technologies, stimulate a critical debate on theories, approaches, principles and applications of mobile learning, share local and international developments, experiences and lessons learned, promote collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors in mobile learning, and encourage the study and implementation of mobile applications in teaching and learning.

For more information and registration, visit http://www.mobilelearning09.org/about.html

David Chartier of Ars Technica recently posted a great “mini-review” of the new iPhone blogging client iBlogger. While some clients work directly with a specific service, like WordPress, iBlogger joins a budding group that can speak a variety of blog platform languages. This iPhone blogging client also happens to be a descendant of a long-time Mac desktop client, ecto.

Chartier suggests that as a multi-platform blogging tool, iBlogger is an easy candidate for the jack-of-all-blogs award. It offers direct support for 11 platforms, including (alphabetically) Blogger, Blojsom, drupal, ExpressionEngine, LifeType, LivingDot, My.Opera, SquareSpace, TypePad, WordPress, and Xanga, as well as support for other platforms that support either the MetaWeblogs or MovableType APIs. For the review, Ars Technica tested the app on a WordPress 2.6 blog.

After constructing an extensive list of iBlogger’s pros and cons, Chartier asserts that the app is a solid 1.0 client that, for $9.99, supports a broad range of platforms, including some we haven’t seen in competing products. With a little more UI polish and these deeper hooks for bloggers who need to speak multiple languages, iBlogger will be a very appealing option for iPhone bloggers who need everything, including the kitchen sink.

For Chartier’s complete post, visit Ars Technica.

Merriam-Webster recently joined forces with ParagonSoftware Group, a leading software developer and content provider for mobile devices and desktop PCs, to bring the eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to iPhone users. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for iPhone is now available at the App Store. The program is supported by iPhones with firmware 2.0, iPhone 3G and iPod touch with firmware 2.0.

The dictionary’s database contains 225,000 entries, including more than 10,000 new words and definitions, which can be accessed anywhere, any time, without Internet connection or additional charges. The new app features an easy-to-use, single-click application for instant access to all words and definitions. The SlovoEd engine compresses the database to a minimum of memory space while allowing users to quickly perform multiple lookups.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition for iPhone has a suggested retail price of $24.99 USD and may be ordered at http://www.merriam-webster.com/store/iphone/collegiate/.

Find more information at PRNewwire.

We were awfully pleased to hear about Apple’s new Developer University Program for the iPhone and iPod touch. Targeted at university developers interested in creating native apps for Apple’s devices, the program is open to colleges and universities in the US only at this time.

To apply for membership (yep, you gotta apply),  you’ll need an Apple ID (either an existing iPhone developer ID, an ADC ID, or even your iTunes ID) and you’ll need to be able to link your request to a specific course. Applications developed under the program can be distributed either at Apple’s app store or on-site at the university via Apple’s “ad hoc” distribution model. Of course, the program also “allows students within the same development team to share their applications with each other through email, or by posting them to a private website for presentation and grading purposes,” which should make teachers’ and students’ lives a bit easier.

We’re looking forward to seeing a whole new crop of educational applications show up in the apps store, and we hope they’ll get beyond the unquestionably handy but fairly tame collection of memory and language apps that currently make up the majority of educational apps…. A cool interactive chemistry app that triggers the “vibrate” function for haptic feedback to denote an explosion if you mix the wrong chemicals? A grammar app that uses the accelerometer to let students shake to diagram a sentence? Man, oh man… The options are endless!

Apple unveiled three new iPod touch models during its “Let’s Rock” event, all of which are available today. For $229 you can receive 8GB of storage, for $299 you’ll get 16GB, and $399 scores 32GB. That’s knocking $70 to $100 off the price of each.

The new touch body is very slightly thinner, and has a similar tapered back as the iPhone 3G. It will also include an exterior volume control and a built-in speaker for “casual listening.” There is no microphone built in, but the touch will work with new Apple headphones that include a microphone on the cord. This new feature could prove handy for teaching and learning. I can foresee students and teachers creating and sharing educational podcasts, playing and recording lecture notes, etc. from the palm of their hands.

For more details, check out iPhone Atlas’ coverage of the “Let’s Rock” event.

As you likely already know, The New York Times recently published an article entitled “Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod,” which provides an overview of the debate sparked by Abilene Christian University and three other universities planning to distribute iPhones to some or all of their students this fall. The article gives voice to both the advocates and skeptics of the mobile learning strategy.

While plans to distribute the devices worry some professors, who suggest students are less likely to participate in classes if they are multitasking, many schools emphasize both the iPhone’s educational usefulness and the inevitability of the movement toward the use of mobile technology in education.

If you’re interested in the conversation (which is highly likely if you’re on this page), this article is worth checking out.

This past Friday, MiGhtyDocs released an app that makes viewing Google Docs on the iPhone a bit easier. The app enables you to keep your important documents with you at all times, even without an Internet connection.

All you have to do is open your document once on your iPhone, and MiGhtyDocs caches it for offline viewing. Unfortunately, the application doesn’t allow you to edit docs or view spreadsheets or presentations. As TUAW suggests, the app does one thing very well—plus, it’s free.

For more, check out TUAW’s post on MiGhtyDocs or download the app from the iTunes App Store.

Yesterday, our friends at Open Culture posted a fascinating and accessible video by Michael Wesch dealing with the intricacies of Web. 2.0. Michael Wesch, a professor of cultural anthropology, has become something of an internet phenomenon, having produced two wonderful videos that help demystify the world of Web 2.0.Wesch has a new video getting some play.

Below you can watch a talk he recently gave at The Library of Congress, where he uses video to dissect the new mediascape that we’re living in, and how it’s changing our relationships … for better or for worse.

Be sure to check out Wesch’s other videos, “The Machine is Us/ing Us” and “Information R/evolution.”