This document summarizes a teacher training program in Madagascar that used mobile phones. It involved: 1) Training 458 primary teachers over 9 months using self-study tutorials, teaching materials, and mobile phones with audio resources. Teachers were grouped into 3 cohorts. 2) The program was a partnership between AUF, INFP, Orange, and AFD to improve teaching skills using mobile phones. Teachers received phones, could call tutors free, and answer quizzes by SMS. 3) Evaluation found the program increased teacher participation and most communication was professional. However, some schools had poor mobile network coverage, limiting use. Overall, teachers adopted the mobile technology as a tool for their training.

1. Continuous Teacher
Training in Madagascar
OPERATION ASSISTED TRAINING
BY MOBILE
e-Learning Africa (Windhoek, Namibia – 2013)

2. Partnership
 Experimental programme for open-distance teacher training:
- Jointly managed in Madagascar by the Agence universitaire de la
Francophonie (AUF) and the Institut national de formation pédagogique
(INFP)
- Participates in international efforts encouraging good basic education
for all and aims at improving teaching skills and teachers’ competence
in French and in French-language teaching
 “Mobile” experiment in Madagascar:
- AUF, Orange and Agence française de développement (AFD)
partnership
- Use of mobile telephones as an educational support for teachers in
the teacher training programme
- Amoron’i Mania province

3. The Training Programme
1st
group
2nd
group
3rd
group
Evaluation
I I I I
Self-training tutorial
( Ambositra: 458 teachers—22 tutors)
+
“Teaching Kit”: written and audio resources
+
Use of mobile telephone
+
Initiation to IT and Internet
End August—beginning
September 2012
December 2012 End March—beginning
April 2013
9 Months (one school year) + evaluation of the whole programme
May 2013 for teachers
October 2013 for the
programme (independent
eval.)

4. AUF & INFP’s
needs
Services proposed by Orange
• Audio Resources
Support
• Teacher Training
Support
Mobile telephone with MP3 player and
solar charger distributed to all teachers
Free calls between teachers and tutors
Voice server
Gateway for sending MCQ and information by SMS
 A single Web interface serving IFADEM
• Secure Payment Orange Money
AUF’s Needs and Proposals From Orange

5. Programme Evaluation
Needs Implementation
• Follow-up support
and programme
evaluation
Evaluation Protocol / Research Based on Using:
 ”Administrative” data on teachers’ particulars (user
chart subject to agreement)
 Data collected from telephone call logs (TCL)
 Data Android observation probe (Alcatel mobiles
only)
 Teacher feedback at programme’s end
(questionnaires) in partnership with the University of
Mulhouse (France)
 Qualitative interviews after quantitative analyses
(TCL and questionnaires) in partnership with the
University of Antananarivo (Madagascar)

6. Who Are the Teachers?
 Aging and poorly trained teachers:
– Aged (average age 52, 8/10 over 50)
– 8/10 have at best a junior secondary certificate
– 1/4 non-public servant (without initial teacher training)
– Balanced man/woman ratio
 The majority are already familiar with the use of a mobile phone:
– More than 2/3 already have access to a mobile or have already
owned one
– 3/4 have no electricity
– Important differences between school districts for first mobile
ownership and access to electricity
 458 primary teachers are being trained, 22 of whom
act as tutors.

7. Some Schools Have Poor Mobile
Network Coverage

8. 0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Evolution of the total number of calls made and SMS sent per day
Nombre d'appels émis Nombre de SMS envoyés
1sts reunions
Progressive
distribution of mobiles
School
holidays
2nd reunions with
reminder on the use of
mobiles
School
holidays
Peak in calls
and SMS
January 1st Marked seasonality
(lower activity at
we)
3rd reunions
Evolution of Volume of Outgoing
Calls and SMS
- Peak use during reunion periods
- Lower use at weekends, which could be interpreted as primarily professional use of mobiles
- Primarily calls, SMS use is less developed

9. Teacher Participation in MCQ
Base : enseignants et tuteurs ayant suivi la formation (458 individus)
Clé de lecture : 10% des enseignants et tuteurs n’ont répondu à aucun QCM, 28% ont répondu à moins de 10% des QCM.
Source : Informations obtenues à partir des données de la plateforme web Orange (nov 2012 - mars 2013)
10% 28% 8% 10% 13% 29% 2%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
0 QCM
<10%
10 à 30%
30 à 50%
50 à 70%
70 à 99%
100%
PARTICIPATION
Nulle Anecdotique Faible ForteModérée
- Participation varies considerably depending on the individual:
- 10% of trainees did not participate in the MCQ campaign
- 31% showed strong participation, responding to more than 7 out of 10 MCQ
- Higher participation for:
- tutors, highest degree holders, women, civil servants, Ambositra school district
(result of coverage?)
- individuals already with a mobile and electricity
- however no difference depending on the mobile distributed (Alcatel / ZTE)

10. Essentially Professional
Communications
- 2/3 of outgoing calls are within the
teacher / tutor community
- Almost 70% of outgoing SMS are
connected to the MCQ campaign
Total
Average
(for all 458
teachers)
Average
(for teachers making
at least one
nonpackage
communication)
Total number of
nonpackage outgoing
calls
55 470 121 170
Total calling time 675h19 1h28 2h04
Total number of
nonpackage SMS
1 596 3 5
Total amount nonpackage
(in Ariary)
7 120 287 15 546 21 841
- 71% of teachers made at least
one paying call or sent one
paying SMS
- These cost the equivalent of
1€ / month

11. 3 Profiles According to the Intensity of
Communication Via Mobile
50% of participants
Monthly average ingoing calls: 26 min
Monthly average outgoing calls: 32 min
- between teachers (R+M): 50 min
- personal outside group (R+M): 8 min
Monthly average SMS for QUIZ: 19
25% of participants
Monthly average ingoing calls: 121 min
Monthly average outgoing calls: 127 min
- between teachers (R+M): 206 min
- personal outside group (R+M): 42 min
Monthly average SMS for QUIZ: 31
25% of participants
Monthly average ingoing calls: 2 min
Monthly average outgoing calls: 6 min
- between teachers (R+M): 7 min
- personal outside group (R+M): 1 min
Monthly average SMS for QUIZ: 6

12. Mobile Use Outside Teaching
- Survey during the last reunion:
- 92% of teachers use their mobile to follow the news or for their schedule
(radio, wakeup call, calculator, planner, etc.)
- 65% use their mobile for recreation (music, games, etc.)
- For Alcatel Smartphone users: the
analysis of probe data show that
music
players, radios, cameras, calculators
and dictaphones were the most
tested devices
Base: data collected for 42 teachers
Key for reading: 81% of individuals for whom information was collected used the music player at least once
during the month of October.
Source: Data Androïd probe (Oct. 3rd 2012—end March/beginning April 2013)

13. Listening to Audio Training Files
- 41 audio files were uploaded on teachers’ mobiles to help them progress in their training.
81%
48%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Audio1
Audio2
Audio3
Audio4
Audio5
Audio6
Audio7
Audio8
Audio9
Audio10
Audio11
Audio12
Audio13
Audio14
Audio15
Audio16
Audio17
Audio18
Audio19
Audio20
Audio21
Audio22
Audio23
Audio24
Audio25
Audio26
Audio27
Audio28
Audio29
Audio30
Audio31
Audio32
Audio33
Audio34
Audio35
Audio36
Audio37
Audio38
Audio39
Audio40
Audio41
For each audio training file, % of teachers listening at least once
On average, almost 2/3 of
teachers listened to one
audio file
Source : Data Androïd probe (Oct 3rd 2012— end March / beginning April 2013 for the 42 teachers for
whom data was provided.
- Listening to audio training files varies widely from teacher to teacher:
On average, teachers listened to 65% of uploaded files.
One fourth listened to almost all the files (40 or 41 files).
However one fourth listened to less than 30% of the files.

14. Particulars According to Profile
 No significant differences according to:
- Status (civil servant / contract employee)
- Age
- Education (BEPC / BAC and higher)
- Type of mobile owned (Smartphone / feature phone)
 However, we see differences according to:
- Role in the experiment (tutors make more calls than non tutors)
- Geographical localisation (teachers from school districts with poor network
coverage make fewer calls)
- Ownership or previous ownership of a mobile (more calls)
- Access to electricity (more calls)
- Gender (men make a few more calls, but the difference is hardly significant)
Conclusion: teachers have adopted the mobile
Differences in use are due to network coverage and not to a rejection of
technology

15. Conditions For Success
Know Your Public And Listen to Their Needs !

16. Conditions For Success
513 pairs of glasses
distributed
(Lions Club partnership)
- 402 eyeglasses for near
vision
- 111 eyeglasses for far vision

17. THANK YOU
pierre-jean.loiret@auf.org
Analysis for Orange:
erwan.lequentrec@orange.com
fabienne.gire@orange.com
Analysis for IFADEM Madagascar:
Tojonirina Razafindrakoto (AUF)
Lolona Rakotovao (ENS Antananarivo)
Analysis at University of Mulhouse:
Sondess Zarrouk