Lightspeed Systems has always been embedded in safety, but they have grown to become what they call a Mobile Learning Essentials company—combining safety with device management and a platform for collaborative learning. Joel Heinrichs, Lightspeed Systems CEO says, “Yes, we build a filter, we have My Big Campus, but these pieces are most effective as elements of a combined solution.”

Just as education can no longer be separated, they believe that the elements of Mobile Learning Essentials are inseparable and work together as one holistic solution for safe, mobile, and collaborative education.

Mobile devices are changing education. Whether it be school-owned tablets or a bring your own device (BYOD) programme, Lightspeed Systems recognises that along with the educational opportunities of these devices, implementation and safety challenges exist for both IT staff and teachers.

The company’s most recent information guide to Mobile Learning in Today’s Schools, helps schools achieve anytime, anywhere learning with proven strategies and best practices for successful mobile programme. Lightspeed Systems knows bringing devices into the classroom isn't a simple task. But with the right solution, it can transform learning.

In education today, mobile learning is not a question of if, it’s a matter of how. Lightspeed Systems is working together with schools to address the challenges of going mobile and how to implement a successful mobile learning programme. In addition to sharing the benefits of going mobile and common challenges schools face, Mobile Learning in Today’s Schools provides educators with top tips for creating an efficacious mobile learning programme. These include:

Below you will find all of my iPad 100 posts covering everything you will need to know when investing in iPads for your school.

iPad in schools 101 – In the beginning http://buff.ly/TNmYa1

iPad in schools 102 – Why iPad? http://buff.ly/ZjYmuD

iPad in schools 103 – THE device http://buff.ly/TNnbdB

iPad in schools 104 – THE learning http://buff.ly/ZjYH0r

iPad in schools 105 – Workflow – How to save, work with multiple apps and share http://buff.ly/ZjYQkr

iPad in schools 106 – The importance of your infrastructure http://buff.ly/ZjYXwh

iPad in schools 107 – Why trialling is important http://buff.ly/TNnxRj

iPad in schools 108 – The importance of training & staff http://buff.ly/TNnF3o

iPad in schools 109 – Ways in which mirroring can take place http://buff.ly/TNnPYx

iPad in schools 110 – Stakeholders http://buff.ly/TNo31z

Photo credit: FHKE

Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre is a school that prides itself on being at the forefront of the personalised learning agenda. They have an accelerated timetable at both key stages, and their curriculum allows students to sit examinations when they are ready to take them rather than by a fixed age.

To support and accelerate students' learning further, they have recently announced a new digital curriculum partnership with LearnersCloud. Their ambition is to raise student engagement, motivation and performance with the support of LearnersCloud's GCSE resources.

Across the education landscape, student text messaging is a bone of contention among teachers. It’s not an issue in the lower grades because most K-5 schools successfully ban cell phones during school hours. Where it’s a problem is grades 6-12, when teachers realize it’s a losing battle to separate students from their phones for eight hours.

The overarching discussion among educators is texting’s utility in providing authentic experiences to students, the type that transfer learning from the classroom to real life. Today, I’ll focus on a piece of that: Does text messaging contribute to shortening student attention span or destroying their nascent writing ability

Let’s start with attention span. TV, music, over-busy daily schedules, and frenetic family life are likely causes of a student’s short attention span. To fault text messaging is like blaming the weather for sinking the Titanic. Texting has less to do with their inability to spit out a full sentence than their 1) need for quickness of communication, 2) love for secrecy, and 3) joy of knowing a language adults don’t.

Tablet computing and mobile devices promise to have a dramatic impact on education. A growing number of schools across the world are jumping on the digital bus and embracing iPads as the latest tool to teach literature in multimedia, history through games and simulations, and maths with step-by-step animation of problems.

In my school, we have been rotating one set of iPads this year and it gave me an opportunity to collect quite a few apps on a variety of subjects. Here's my favourites - all 107 of them:

Earlier last month, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, marked the launch of the new iPad by declaring that we live in a ‘post-PC world’. Regardless of whether you agree with Cook’s statement, it would be difficult to deny that ICT in schools has moved far beyond desktop computers.

Tablet PCs, MP3 players and even handheld gaming devices are being used increasingly in UK schools to deliver learning in engaging, inspiring and flexible ways. Although using mobile devices in the classroom can benefit both pupils and teachers, just like traditional teaching methods, mobile learning needs to be properly planned and managed.

Here are my five tips for managing mobile learning in the post-PC world: