Mobile learning: South African examples

Mobile learning South African examples Steve Vosloo, Shuttleworth Foundation Adele Botha, Meraka Institute Presented at Mobile Learning Institute Summit, 24-27 June 2009 Lusaka, Zambia 1

Africa is mobile mobile subscribers to fixed lines = 15:1 mobile penetration at 33% in 2008 fastest growing market in the world 3

Zambia 4

1) South Africa Opera Mini (April 2009) 2) Nigeria 3) Egypt 4) Kenya 5) Libya 6) Zambia 7) Tanzania 8) Cote d’Ivoire 9) Mozambique 10)Namibia 11)Ghana 12)Gabon 5

Merryl Ford (2009) “the cellphone is poised to become the 'PC of Africa'” 6

mlearning examples tutoring 7

Dr Math on MXit  Started in January, 2007 by Meraka Institute / Mobi LED  Provides tutors to help with mathematics homework  Pupils use Mxit on their cell phones  Tutors are engineering students from University of Pretoria  Over 5,500 pupils have used the service  Tutors help approximately 50 pupils per hour  Service runs from 14:00 – 22:00 Sunday - Thursday  Tutoring mostly done in English, but some Afrikaans cases are occurring  Learners contact Dr Math from their homes, while on buses, taxis and on the sports field. Even from the bath! 8

Dr Maths architecture 9

dr.math: What grade are you in? what are you covering in math? Spark plug: 7 dr.math: grade 7? Spark plug: yes dr.math: Are you doing "pre algebra" stuff like What is the value of X if x + 3 = 10? Spark plug: yes dr.math: Ok, so what is the value of x if x + 3 = 10? Spark plug: 7 dr.math: Ok. how about (15 x 2 ) + x = 35 Spark plug: 5 dr.math: (I am going to use * for multiply so not to confuse it with x, ok?) Spark plug: ok dr.math: (2 * x) + 8 = 18 Spark plug: 5 dr.math: Very good. can you explain to me how you figured that out? Spark plug: 18 - 8 is 10 so 2* what is 10 and the answer is 5 dr.math: Excellent. 12

mlearning examples games 13

Dr Math competitions  Addition  Subtraction  Multiplication  Division  BODMAS  Prime factors of a number  Root of a straight line  Intersection of two straight lines  Factors of a quadratic  Real roots of a quadratic 14

Dr Math results  Learners would compete for many times a day  Learners would regularly come back to defend his or her title  Learners often did hundreds of calculations to maintain their title as champion  Learners often competed until the early hours of the morning  Learners often changed their Mxit alias (or nick name) to more socially acceptable names after they won 15

M4Girls project  Improve maths in grade 10 rural girls (by Mindset / Nokia)  Nokia 6300's loaded with: − 43 mini videos, 3 “mobisode” animations, 2 games 17

mlearning examples quizzes 18

“Imfundo Yami/Yethu”  Nokia / MXit  Improve high school maths through drill-and-practise quizzes  Support through Dr Maths chat tutoring  Teach by day, quiz by night 19

Mathematics Exercises MOODLE 24

“Imfundo Yami/Yethu”  2 month pilot with 260 learners: − Total visits / Views so far: 49,502 − Total questions answered so far: 13,192 − Visits per day: 991  Learners really liked the combination of chat and learning maths  Learners were doing much more exercises than normally  Learners were studying maths A LOT after school hours 30

mlearning examples peer support / advice 31

Drug, abuse and debt counseling 32

mlearning examples information dissemination 33

Angels on MXit: HIV/AIDS info 34

mlearning examples literacy development 35

Reading/writing cellphone  Using the cellphone as a “book” delivery and authoring tool  Othello as an m-novel?  Effects of texting on literacy and language development? 36

other mlearning location-based / examples context-aware activities, e.g. museum tours or just- in-time information 37

Age of the Prosumer “Teens and Young Adults consider themselves more than just consumers and they want their chance to produce content and involve themselves in the brand more than ever before.” (Generation Next, 2009) 38

But ...  Need to manage risks: − Distraction − “Cyberbullying” − Effects of TXTSPK on spelling/formal writing − Too much “screen time” − Inappropriate content − Privacy/safety  Costs, sustainability, inclusion, scale, equity, etc. 39

what is mobile learners need information at night? learning? learners need to work in groups? what is the need? learners not motivated? learners don't have textbooks? teachers are over-worked – need support? not enough PCs? no stable electricity? 40

what is mobile learners are connected learning? learners are mobile within reach (socially, economically or geographically) examples: tutoring, games, quizzes, peer-support, information dissemination, literacy development, location awareness think beyond the computer lab not either PC or cellphone, use appropriate technology 41

Thank you email: steve.vosloo@shuttleworthfoundation.org twitter: www.twitter.com/stevevosloo blog: innovatingeducation.wordpress.com slides: www.slideshare.net/stevevosloo web: www.vosloo.net www.shuttleworthfoundation.org

mLearning Africa News, projects and research about mobile learning in Africa www.mlearningafrica.net Contact: steve.vosloo@shuttleworthfoundation.org 43

http://www.slideshare.net	44
http://www.groupe-compas.net	12
http://mobile-education-2011.wikispaces.com	6
http://projectmobilise.wikispaces.com	3
http://paper.li	3
http://compas.risc.cnrs.fr	3
http://rhondarice.posterous.com	2
http://portablelearning.net	2
http://twitter.com	1
http://shegeek.posterous.com	1
http://www.portablelearning.net	1
https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net	1

Mobile learning: South African examples

by Steve Vosloo

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