LP+ JOINS FORCES WITH O2 TO BRING MOBILE LEARNING TO UK SCHOOLS

BETT 2008, 9th January 2008 – The Learning Possibilities Group today announced the launch of LP+ Mobile, the first education company to focus on the delivery of easy-to-manage full service mobile learning for UK schools. Through an exclusive relationship with O2, LP+ Mobile will bring together a range of services and technologies to deliver affordable mobile learning at a fixed monthly price. It will also provide a simple and low cost solution to address the challenge of universal home internet access for UK learners. In addition, LP+ Mobile offers the first mobile learning solution to feature a full e-learning platform. Launching at BETT 2008, the first solution from LP+ Mobile will include a range of mobile devices, unlimited internet connectivity from O2 and connection to the LP+ e-learning platform, which provides communications, content and applications; email, instant messaging, e-portfolio, homework access, learning resources, documents and collaboration tools. The package also includes full warranty and insurance, as well as management of the devices across a school. Students can use LP+ Mobile in many areas of their learning. For example, using their mobile device they can log on to the school’s learning platform via a secure internet connection, collect assignments, complete them and post them to e-portfolios and to teachers for marking, regardless of where they are. They can catch up on coursework for missed lessons from home and contribute to blogs and wikis as part of collaborative working. They can also make video reports, which can then be delivered to e-portfolios or shared with peers and teachers in designated spaces on the e-learning platform. Other uses will include email, timetable management, web-based research and revision using resources from the e-learning platform. According to CEO of the Learning Possibilities Group, Mehool Sanghrajka, “You need three things for a great mobile learning experience; great device, unlimited high-speed internet connectivity and fantastic applications. O2 brings the device and the connectivity while the LP+ learning platform delivers the applications and the content. Up until now, technology limitations and cost have meant anytime anywhere learning wasn’t ready for widespread adoption. It is now. LP+ Mobile brings them all together in a simple, managed package that is finally affordable for schools.” Pilot projects at schools in Wolverhampton and south west Birmingham have enabled LP+ to develop a compelling offering. Pupils from these schools will be demonstrating LP+ Mobile at the LP+ Stand C76 throughout BETT 2008. Sir Mark Grundy, Executive Principal at Shireland Collegiate Academy, where an LP+ Mobile trial took place, said; “We have been using a learning platform for four years now and it has totally transformed learning here. We had been looking for a mobile solution, but up until now nobody had been able to deliver our learning platform on a mobile device and I believe that to be essential. Now that LP+ Mobile can do it, mobile learning can become a reality for us and schools elsewhere.” The government believes that to exploit fully the opportunities ICT can bring to education, learners need to have easy and inexpensive access to the internet outside school. Against the background of half of British [1]10 year olds owning a mobile phone, rising to 71% of 11 year olds and almost 100% of 13 year olds, LP+ Mobile considers mobile devices to be one of the most powerful tools available to education and an ideal tool with which to deliver universal home access to learners. Ben Dowd, General Manager – Business Sales, O2 UK said, “Using mobile devices is as much second nature to today’s learners as picking up a pencil was to their parents. Mobile learning presents an enormous educational opportunity because of its potential for reaching out to disenfranchised learners and increasing engagement amongst school children as a whole.” LP+ Mobile users will have access to controlled internet browsing, email, e-portfolio, instant messaging, calendars and a range of pre-loaded software and pedagogical tools. The first devices available from LP+ Mobile are the HTC Advantage 7500 and XDA Stellar. These Windows Mobile devices have a 5” and 2.5” screen respectively, QWERTY keyboard, camera, video and full phone features, as well as 3G and Wi-Fi internet browsing capability. Schools can choose solutions with data and voice, data only, or a combination of the two, personalised for each user. All LP+ Mobile solutions come at a fixed monthly price per user; ensuring full integration in a child’s learning without the worry of expensive connection charges and allowing schools to budget in advance. Security and child protection are fundamental for LP+ Mobile, so each package comes with O2’s anti-bullying, controlled browsing and child support, as standard. LP+ Mobile is headed up by Ed Williams, who was formerly head of data strategy at T-Mobile and is current Director of Education at the Mobile Data Association. Mehool Sanghrajka said “We are delighted to have Ed on board. He has a great industry background and a very strong vision for how mobile learning can transform education.“ LP+ Mobile solutions are available from January 2008 and will be demonstrated throughout BETT 2008 at the LP+ stand C76 located in Grand Hall. Pupils from Shireland Collegiate Academy and St Jude’s Primary School Wolverhampton will be at the show to demonstrate what they can do using these devices.
[1] Carphone Warehouse, The Mobile Life Youth Report 2006