About SIMOLA
Mobile devices - personal, portable, multimedia, ubiquitous, connected - have the potential to transform many aspects of learning. Language learning provides a prime test-bed for mobile learning. It is widely acknowledged that learning about the language and culture of another country is most effective in-situ, yet no technologies currently support learners' informal situated learning while in a target language country.
The project aims to take advantage of this gap by developing a collaborative mobile tool for learners to capture and share items of linguistic and cultural interest. Based on previous research with international students in the UK, the project explores the model on a European level with two different types of language learners, EU mobility students (Erasmus) and adult migrants (Grundtvig).
LingoBee
EU project SiMoLa is developing the LingoBee mobile app, which aims to be a useful tool mainly for EU mobility students to support language learning.
The main functions of the application are based in well-known social network activities, practically these functions create the informal learning environment, in which the users can learn the language through comment, share, like and rate each others definitions.
Aside from textual definition of words and expressions, the basic smartphone functions will also support learning, like video attachments, and supplementary audio commentary which helps to use the proper pronunciation. Definitions will get relevance in meaning by the comments, shares and ratings of the learners separated by topic specific usergroups.
Consortium
- University of Brighton
- StudyGroup
- ROC van Amsterdam
- University of Molise
- Baltic Education Technology Institute
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Hungarian e-University Network
- Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Grant
With 23 official languages and more than 60 minority language communities, the EU has put in place large-scale programmes to foster language learning and cultural understanding between European countries through mobility. Part of these efforts is the Lifelong Learning Programme, which seeks to foster exchange, cooperation and mobility between education and training systems within the European Union.
SIMOLA is funded as a Key Activity 3 (ICT) in the Lifelong Learning Programme with a focus on developing innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies and practices. It answers this call by:
- creating mobile and web-based tools and services that enable learners to create, share and access content with their mobile phone, via a web site, or through a widget on their preferred social network,
- exploring how these tools can support formal and informal language learning in universities, migrant support centres and language learning groups across six partner countries, and
- making available the created tools, services and materials and disseminating findings across and beyond member states with the aim to maximise impact and promote best practice.
The project started on 1st November 2010 and will end on 31st October 2012.
Project Number: LLP 511776-LLP-1-2010-1-UK-KA3-KA3MP.
Blog
The project blog can be found here: lingobee.wordpress.com
The Lingobee website will be lauched in the close future supporting administrative tasks in the learning process. Users will able to manage their profiles and usergroups and the mobile functions will be availbale from this channel as well.
