1. mLearning in the
Western World and in
the Developing World
Bengt Nykvist, Department of Computer and
Systems Sciences, Stockholm University
Presentation in Joensuu, 27:th October 2010
2. Outline
• Why mLearning, in poor countries and in rich
countries?
• Functionalities for mLearning in “Simple
mobiles”, “media mobiles” and “smart mobiles”
• Some limitations to mLearning using mobile
phones: The "small keyboard and small screen
problem", airtime cost.
• Presentation of a project in Tanzania (ICTBITES)
where mobile phones where used as one channel
for communication and distribution of learning
material
• Some other examples…..
3. The Question with a big
questionmark
• There are more mobile phones in the world
then there are toothbrushes!
• The need for education/life long
learning/information is huge… ( e. g. 3 billions
need to learn English…)
• Why aren’t the phones used (more) for
learning, where is the mLearning pedagogy,
where is the “killer application”?????
4. Myself…
Civilingenjör M.
Sc. Eng. 1972
DEC (Digital
Equipment Corp)
6 years
Mid Sweden
University 20
years
DSV Stockholm
University
Master of IT-
supported
distance
education
mLearning:
Project in
Tanzania (OUT)
Techer education
in Sweden
5. What is Mobile Learning?
• ”Everyting” is mobile learning? (Using laptops,
reading books etc. etc,)
• Or? ”Mobile learning should be restricted to
learning on devices which a lady can carry in
her handbag or a gentleman can carry in his
pocket” (Mobile learning: a practical guide,
Keegan)
– Electronic devices that always are ”on”, like
mobile phones
6. Why Mobile Learning?
• Less time and place constraints, “Learning on the move”:
flexible technology
• Introducing "authenticity“, learning on site
• Supports ”just-in-time” and “ad hoc” learning
• Enhanced collaboration, with other students, teachers and
tutors.
7. Why Mobile Learning in School?
• The phones are there, part of the youth culture
• Access to the ”real world”, outside school
9. Mobile Phone categories:
1. Basic, only phone calls and SMS (”Dumb”):
Simple Mobiles
2. Simple, ”music phones”, ”camera phones” :
Media Mobiles
3. Smartphones, ”PDA in a phone”: Internet, email, GPS
Smart Mobiles
10. Learning Applications:
Simple Mobiles
• Reach all mobile phones, cheap and easy to operate!
• Group SMS for information to students and parents,
like updates and reminders. (e.g. UK comp.
txttools.co.uk)
• Question and answer systems. Example: MobileED,
SMS + Wikipedia+ text-to-speach
• As a back-channel when watching educational TV-
programs for polls and questions
• SMS to Twitter for blogging or real time communication
11. Learning Applications:
Media Mobiles
• Media clips, video and voice (ex. “Khan
academy”)
• Document field trips using camera and voice
recording
• Quizzes (ex. java-based “mobilequiz” ,from
www.mobilestudy.org))
• Example South Africa, Mxit, GPRS-based IMS-
system, short stories, 400 words in each chapter,
readers can interact (to improve literacy)
12. Learning Applications:
Smart Mobiles
• Apps for learning (language, science, math etc)
• Games, ex ”Tresure Hunt”
• Location-based services to inspire the students
to seek information outside the classroom.
13. Savannah (Benford 2005):
New worlds
• Savannah is a strategy-based adventure
game where a virtual space is mapped
directly onto a real space.
• Engaging learning experiences don't actually
need lots of fancy graphics or hardware like
virtual reality headsets. Advanced mobile
devices can transport people to a virtual
world outside their normal experience.
14. Treasure Hunt
(Spikol and Milrad 2007)
Treasure Hunt is a mobile game designed
to encourage young people to get
physical by solving a mystery
surrounding a castle built on the
university’s campus.
- Bridge the gap between learning in
informal and formal settings.
- Learn new mobile services
16. ICTBITES Project Idea,
born at conference eLA 2007
Participants included a group
from SPIDER (Swedish
Program for ICT in dev.
Regions) and Swedish
Universities
Discussions with
representatives from
Tanzania MoEVT
Demand for in-service
education of secondary
teachers
E-learning suggested as a tool
for supporting teachers
with limited introductory
training (“licensed
teachers”) in order to give
them more
comprehensive,
continuous vocational
training
17. Problem Area and Motivation
Project background:
The millennium goal to “achieve general primary school for all”
is about to be reached in Tanzania.
60 % attended primary school year 2005, 97% year 2007
But… short supply of secondary teachers with adequate
capacity!
Project name: ICT-Based In-Service Teacher Education
for Secondary School Teacher in Tanzania" (ICT
BITES)
18. Some problems with e-learning, using PC’s,
in the developing world
Accessibility problems
Power problems
Band width / Internet infrastructure problems
Affordability problems
Low availability of PC’s
Limited knowledge how to operate PC’s and computer
networks
19. Some of these problems can be
addressed by m-learning and usage of
mobile phones
Mobile phone networks have high coverage in e.g. Africa
Cheaper equipment
Equipment that can operate without daily access to
electricity
Equipment familiar to student and teachers
20. Project partners
Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
(MoEVT) of Tanzania
The Open University of Tanzania (OUT)
University of Dar es Salaam
Mid Sweden University
21. Support of learning, access to learning
material
On the memory cards in the
mobile phones:
overviews, slideshows for each
learning module
study guide in text
study guide interpreted as voice
additional materials such as films
diagnostic quizzes
Access to Internet (3G or
GPRS) for additional
learning material
22. Learning activities and communication with
fellow students and teachers / tutors
Students do quizzes on their mobile
phones
Students report development of
their assignments (in short form)
via SMS
Teachers respond using mobile
phones or PC’s sending SMS
through the Moodle system
24. Technical solution
Study guides in text (with Tequila Cat, Java based book
reader)
Texts in study guides interpreted as voice
Narrated slideshows (overviews of learning modules,
produced with MS-PPT and Camtasia )
Auto corrected quizzes (Mobile Quiz from Mobilestudy.org,
results sent by SMS to teacher mobile phone or to
Moodle using Moodletxt from Txttools)
Movie clips with related material (Open Educational
Recourses downloaded from the Internet, saved as
mpeg4 on mobile phone memory cards)
25. The pilot test, mobile phones to support
learning and communication in three
courses
27. The ICT BITES project: Introduction of
pilot group, January 2009
The 18 students
(participating
in in-service teacher
education) quickly
learnt the operation of
the phones, how to
access the learning
material and how to
communicate using
mobile phones.
28. Evaluation meeting in December 2009,
summary of results
The students had
communicated using voice
and SMS
The media on the phones
was used and appreciated,
especially the voice
interpreted texts of the
study guides. (the whole
material for three courses
is available on the phones
as text and voice (on the
memory cards)
29. Evaluation meeting in December 2009,
summary of results, cont
The students had used the
phones to look for
information on the Internet,
accessing e-mail etc. This
was much appreciated and
a new experience even
though they had been using
mobile phones for several
years.
30. Evaluation meeting in December 2009,
summary of results, cont
But…the project management was not successful in fully
establishing acceptance for the project model among
the lecturers at OUT.
31. Discussion
There are several possible reasons for the low
participation from the lecturers:
They were not compensated for the time required for
participation in the project;
The extra time involved in communicating with
students was seen as an additional task involving
more work and commitment.
The project underestimated the complexity of
introducing collaborative models in the academic
culture of the target institutions
32. In a scaled up project….
More effort should be put into working with the lecturers
to increase their involvement in the project
Alternative ways to organize mentoring and tutoring could
be tried
Use of previous students as “e-mentors” or “peer mentors”, these
could assist in setting up study groups (using Yahoo-groups, IM-
systems, Facebook or whatever system the students find attractive)
Teachers at educational colleges could be used as additional tutoring
support.
33. In a scaled up project…. cont
The students at the evaluation meeting suggested that
more material should be added to the memory cards in
the mobile phones:
Encyclopedias and wordbooks
More quizzes/ questions
Previous exams
More courses.
34. Some final remarks
Even when structural support is limited, supplying
students with electronic access to learning material and
tools for communication is of great value for the
students, the students are empowered as learners.
Supplying learning material on memory cards for mobile
phones showed to be an attractive way of distribution of
learning material.
35. Back to the Question with a big Q
• There are more mobile phones in the world
then there are toothbrushes.
• The need for education/life long
learning/information is huge… ( e. g. 3 billions
need to learn English…)
• Why aren’t the phones used (more) for
learning, where is the mLearning pedagogy,
where is the “killer application”?????
36. “Problems” to handle
• The small keyboard: Interaction using voice
instead of text ?(voice mailbox?)
• In developing countries airtime cost might be a
problem, some approaches:
• Preloaded material on memory cards
• Load additional material in
telecenters/internetcafes?
• Learning Communication using free Facebook
(available in several countries in developing world)
0.facebook.com, only text)
2010-10-25 B. Nykvist
37. Is there a m-learning pedagogy?
• Use the special aspect that the mobile phone is
integrated to daily life, always on…
• Ad hoc / informal learning / “microlearning”
• Cognitive load (Miller, 1956 7+-2) problem
• Multitasking is difficult with small screen
• How mLearning is connected to the “real word”
• Question and answer
• Simulations
• Or…disconnect the user from the real world, engage
and absorb.
2010-10-25 B. Nykvist
