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"Over the past few days teachers at my school have been debating the methods of maintaining discipline in a classroom where every pupil has access to a device and/or the internet and/or a whole variety of brilliant distractions!"

Bringing a cell phone to class usually starts a debate between teacher and student. Most teachers completely ban them. They are often regarded as distractions from learning. There are several issues concerning mobile learning like social media, Internet filtering, safety laws, teaching techniques, school policies, etc.

QR codes… Disposable fad? Or useful technology? Opinions on whether QR codes are of real value is a hotly debated topic. But regardless of polarized views on the technology, there are some teachers using QR codes in education in some very inventive and exciting ways.

Over the coming weeks UNESCO, in partnership with Nokia, will launch its Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning with the release of a set of twelve papers reviewing mobile learning initiatives, implications for ICT in education policies and how mobile technologies support teacher development. The papers will be released according to regions of the world.

The #edchatsa community is full of insightful, committed and innovative thought-leaders in the South African education space. As a member of this community you are invited to submit a blog post on a subject close to your heart as long as it has connection to education. Your post will then be published and will be available on this site for comment by others. You may want to introduce readers to a particular edtech tool, open debate around a particular topic, challenge paradigms or simply add insight to the #edchatsa topic of the week. You will also be able to point readers to your own blog or social media platforms.

As the The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Blog Book Tour has been underway, another interesting discussion has been occurring in the learning blogosphere. It was sparked by Ruth Clark's article "Why Games Don't Teach." The article kicked off a firestorm of debate, demands for proof and even name calling. Christy Tucker addresses the question in her post. There is a healthy discussion on the eLearning Guild's LinkedIn group. In Guy Wallace's post on the subject, he quotes Dr. Richard Clark talking about the "ideologically committed gamester." (ok, so its mild name calling, but still….)

Over the past several weeks UNESCO has been publishing individual titles in its Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning. Recently the Organization concluded the first phase of the Series by releasing two Global Themes papers.  These papers, unlike previous titles, are not region-specific.  Instead they synthesize information contained in the regional papers to identify salient trends that cut across geographic boundaries. One paper, Turning on Mobile Learning: Global Themes, highlights issues policy makers and other stakeholders should consider when infusing mobile learning into education systems.  The other paper, Mobile Learning for Teachers: Global Themes, examines characteristics shared by programmes that assist educators, either by aiding their work in schools or by helping them improve their own pedagogical and content knowledge.

This conference aims to stimulate debate and elicit thought provoking responses from the design community, both in academia and in practice, that will help develop the dynamic discourse of design, its processes and development, its intent, its dilemmas and outcomes. 

We Can't Combat Fake News If We Don't Really Understand It Social media is creating real problems for the world, but moral panics still far outweigh reality. That's a recipe for policy disaster. Brendan Nyhan Follow Mar 7 Credit: darenwoodward/iStock/Getty Images Plus 735 Even now, more than two years after the 2016 election, the debate over the influence of social media on our political system still relies largely on scary anecdotes (Twitter's 50,000-plus impostor accounts are sowing chaos!) "

The unprecedented uptake of mobile devices, in particular mobile phones, in both developed and developing countries opens up new possibilities for increasing education access, equity and quality. Mobile learning, a growing field of ICT in education, has the potential to significantly impact the delivery of education. However, an enabling policy environment is needed to fully realize this potential. UNESCO's research has revealed a dearth of policies related to mobile learning. To address this gap UNESCO, in broad consultation with relevant stakeholders, will develop a set of guidelines to help national government policy makers and educators create environments that enable the safe, affordable and sustainable use of mobile technologies for education.