The role of social mobile media for education and learning in developing countries

The role of social mobile media on education andlearning in developing countriesPreliminary findings from a Swiss-Nepalese research projectSebastian Linxen & Christoph Pimmer - Institute for Information Systems - University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

Background & Research ApproachUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 2

Technology-enhanced medical education & Millenium-Development GoalsPoor education of health professionals Inadequately skilled health staff is seen as a typical system constraint that negatively impacts on the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (Travis et al., 2004)Lack of basic knowledge For example: 3 in 4 doctors caring for sick children in district hospitals in Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Philippines, Tanzania, and Uganda had poor basic knowledge of leading causes of child death (HIFA Report, 2010)University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 3

Role of technology: Great hopes Technology might take a crucial role in improving education and practice of health workers (Pakenham-Walsh, Priestley, & Smith, 1997)Increasing number: 4.7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions in 2009 (The World Bank, 2011)Techno-centric approaches “We will literally take tablets and drop them out of helicopters," and return a year later to see if the effort was a success” NegropontePoor results to date projects have not met the expectations to date (Kraemer, Dedrick, & Sharma, 2009) Little progress in meeting the information needs of frontline healthcare providers and ordinary citizens in low resource settings. (Smith & Koehlmoos, 2011)University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 4

Guiding question and methodsGuiding questionHow is technology used to support the learning of post- and undergraduate students in thecontext of Nepalese medical education?Methods Case study approach Focus groups (post/undergraduates, teachers, faculty) On-site visit, informal talks with university management and ICT support Selective analysis of a Facebook site indicated as relevantUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 5

Facebook and mobiles as a driver for using the internet "Most of us use Facebook" […] "Almost every student uses Facebook" (Group 5) "All day. Every day. It’s an addiction." (Group 5) "We use mobile phones for Facebook". (Group 2) "The reason why most of the people have activated the internet on their SIM card is because of Facebook." (Group 4)University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 6

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (1)Students:“A group “Medical profession, I love it.” That’s a group. I’m part of the group. […] It’screated by our seniors [senior doctors]Teachers:“We share a lot of medical information on facebook. We share videos. And sometimessome of our friends get free downloads of books. So we share that. Facebook is a goodmedium to share much medical information”.University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 7

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (2)Facebook community: «Medical Profession, wow I love it» 34529 members & 3078 FB users are talking about this (17.11.2011) Regional scope on Nepal and IndiaQuizzes with open and closed questions:University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 8

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (3)Mini-Cases:University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 9

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (4)Electronic Books and Videos:University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 10

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (5)Jokes as an expression of professional identity:University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 11

University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 12

Appropriation of Facebook as a learning tool (6)Health-related questions from patients:University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 13

Preliminary Findings Social media accessed by mobiles as a rich source of learning Wide range of knowledge: cognitive to socio-cultural dimensions Range of different actors engaged (senior professionals, students and patients) A few “contributors” (senior doctors), many “commenters” and “lurkers” Knowledge created and discussed “bottom up” and not distributed by central authorities Social mobile media (and more in general mobile internet) increases the agency of learnersUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 14

AcknowledgementsThe work presented was supported by the SDC, the Swiss Agency for Development andCooperation, and the KFH, the Rector’s Conference of the Swiss Universities of AppliedSciences.Grateful thanks also go to our Swiss and Nepalese research partners, and the studyparticipants, students and teachers, for the insightful interviews and their critical feedback.University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 21.11.2011 15

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The role of social mobile media for education and learning in developing countries

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