Learnosity partnered with The Open University on a project that looked at how mobile devices can be integrated into course study.
The research project explored and evaluated the contexts in which students find mobile devices most beneficial in learning. Furthermore, the project sought to inform future plans for integrating mobile speaking activities into the design of new courses.
The most interesting finding, I would say, was students commenting on the challenging and authentic aspect of tackling listening and speaking in this more 'realistic' way. That made me re-think how we teach listening and speaking. Valérie Demouy Lecturer in French Department of Languages, The Open University
A second, larger, project with the Open University is already underway.
"Can mobile phones help in the teaching, learning and assessment of Irish? 'Yes they can!' according to the experiences of teachers and students"
The National Centre Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) February 2010 Newsletter features the FÓN Project
Learnosity was delighted to team up with the NCCA to deliver the FÓN project. The project focused solely teaching the Irish language using Learnosity Voice. The Irish language (Gaeilge) is widely taught in schools throughout Ireland.
The latest NCCA newsletter (info@NCCA February 2010) reports on the findings of the project, addresses the facts and figures in terms of impact, as well as some really interesting feedback and insights from the teachers and students involved.
The scale of the project was large; in total 16 teachers and 368 students from six post-primary schools took part.
Student Usage - The Facts:
Students listened to and spoke Irish for a phenomenal 882 hours.
15,374 calls were made by students to the Learnosity Voice system.
On average Learnosity recorded 42 calls per student or 2.5 hours of Irish talk time during the 11 week period per student.
Phone calls were made by students as late as 11pm and 6 am to Learnosity Voice.
The highest user of Learnosity Voice made 272 calls on the project, totalling 4 calls per day, including usage on the weekend.
Students continued to use Learnosity Voice after the project had finished, all at their own cost.
Improving Language Skills
Teachers reported increased competence in language skills amongst the students. The scope of the improvement was broad and is reported to include improved speaking and listening, greater vocabulary, better ability to construct sentences and greater user of tenses in Irish.
Increased Motivation and Confidence
The NCCA newsletter reports the first hand teacher insights into the increased motivation and confidence witnessed amongst the students.
Students described the experience as "fun", "interesting", and "different" and "new" and also suggested that the project improved their pronunciation of the spoken language.
The students remained fully engaged for the duration of the class and often spoke Irish for the entirety of the 40 minute session.
Advantages for the Teacher
The teachers involved in the FÓN project shared their experiences in using Learnosity Voice. They reported getting a greater sense of how the student was progressing in terms of their Irish language skills.
They found it easier to note and address any recurring mistakes with each student and importantly each student in the class was heard, even the quiet ones.
Autonomous Learning
The newsletter reports on how students took control of their own learning. They took advantage of the flexibility of Learnosity Voice and how it enabled them to speak Irish where and when it was most convenient for them.
Students felt that they spoke more Irish using their mobile phones than they would have normally.
The self assessment aspect of Learnosity Voice was reported as a positive by the students as they could listen and re-record any of their answers and gauge their level of Irish against other students.
Both teachers and students recognised one of the greatest benefits of Learnosity Voice as being the enablement of Irish language learning outside of the school building and outside of school hours.
The team involved in the FÓN project were recognised with the European Award for Languages- the Language Label in 2009. The award recognised the projects ability to motivate and engage language learners as well as being meaningful and productive project.
In the latest release of Learnosity Voice (now on version 3.3.0), there are a large number of improvements based on feedback from teachers using it. A huge thanks to all the teachers those who have provided feedback.
Here are the key changes:
Renamed “Exams” to “Activities”
Exams was often confusing as it had the connotation of an end of term/year examination. To make it more user friendly we have renamed it to Activity. You may still use activities for revision or assessment purposes.
Assigning multiple activities
One of the consistent requests we have received was to provide more control to teachers to assign work to students. By adding some changes to the dial in menu and in the teachers area this is now possible. To assign activities to a class simply:
Select Students and Classes
Select the class you want to work with
Select the Activities tab
Drag activities from the left hand side into a slot on the right hand side.
Press “Update” to save your selections.
These will now be available to students when they dial in.
Changes to dial plan
When a student dials in, they are now presented with and option to select an assigned activity from 1 to 9. Students can see the list of activities assigned to them from their student site home page.
Student home page shows assigned activities
When a student logs in they will see the list of activities that they have been assigned by their teacher. Assigned activities may be for revision or for assessment depending on how the teacher wishes to use it.
Ability to remove sessions
Teachers now have the ability to remove sessions. They may want to remove them because they are incomplete or because the student did multiple attempts and they only want to keep the best one. At the bottom of the session marking page there is now a “Delete Session” button.
Lots of other fixes and improvements
There are numerous other little fixes and improvements.
We hope you enjoy the improvements and please keep letting us know how we can make it better.
One of the consistent requests we have received was to provide more control to teachers to assign work to students. By adding some changes to the dial in menu and in the teachers area this is now possible. To assign activities to a class simply: 
Teachers now have the ability to remove sessions. They may want to remove them because they are incomplete or because the student did multiple attempts and they only want to keep the best one. At the bottom of the session marking page there is now a “Delete Session” button. 