Globalisation, as defined by the rich, is a very nice thing, the former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter once reflected. “You're talking about the
internet, you're talking about cell phones, you're talking about
computers,” said Carter. “This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people
in the world.” That was in 2001; a lot has changed. In Kenya, mobile
phones have become an integral part of cash transfer schemes, enabling
poor people in urban areas to buy food. In remote rural areas of Peru,
computers provided by the Euro-Solar programme are fuelling an appetite
for learning among children. And the senior U.S. Political Adviser Alec
Ross — acknowledging the galvanising influence of social media on the
Arab spring — has described the internet as “the Che Guevara of the 21st
century.”
If the global spread of technology can do all this, what else might it
achieve? Quite a lot, according to the authors of a report prepared by
the GSMA mobile industry body and published to coincide with last week's
eLearning Africa conference in Cotonou, Benin.
India in the study
Shaping the future — realising the potential of informal learning
through mobile, explores mobile technology's potential to improve access
to education for young people in developing countries. The study looks
at Ghana, Morocco, Uganda and Maharashtra, in India, identifying young
people's aspirations and priorities, exploring the education and
employment challenges they face, and scrutinising their mobile phone
use.
The endgame is to establish how the mobile industry and international
development community can pool their expertise to create m-learning
services that improve teaching and learning, and therefore promote
long-term development.
“It's a big step in the right direction in terms of putting the
possibilities in front of the GSMA's members and raising awareness of
the commercial and business opportunities education represents in the
developing world,” says John Traxler, professor of m-learning at the
University of Wolverhampton in the U.K. “Clearly it's a small sample,
covering only four countries, so it's indicative rather than
representative. But if the networks get the message, it's a valuable
piece of work. Networks don't need to hear it's virtuous, they need to
hear it's profitable — just enough to encourage them to get out there
and do something.” Mobile phones are increasingly ubiquitous in poor
countries, which now account for four in every five connections
worldwide. As Elsie Kanza, of the World Economic Forum, recently said:
“Regardless of social class, almost everyone [in Africa] has a mobile
phone, or two or three. Even in remote villages, mobile phones have
replaced the bicycle or radio as prized assets.” An obvious caveat is
that voice-calls far outstrip data use in poor countries, which remain
an emerging market for smartphones and other data-enabled devices. One
reason is cost. A quarter of the young people surveyed — and almost half
of those from Ghana — said a shortage of money was the biggest obstacle
to accessing educational resources. Even so, the rapid spread of mobile
technology offers clear possibilities for learning. Of the young people
participating in the study who had accessed the internet, half had done
so on a mobile device.
One female student from rural India told the GSMA researchers: “In
class, I sometimes record the lectures on my phone so I can listen to
them later in case I forget or don't understand. I can use the
calculator to help me with my maths. My favourite subjects are maths,
science, history and economics. If you could get these on your mobile it
would be good.” Enthusiasm for learning was a common thread in the
feedback. Only family and health were felt to be of greater importance
by the study's participants, 30 per cent of whom said having a good
career ranked higher among their priorities than marriage or home
ownership.
Despite this aspirational outlook, however, only a quarter said the
classroom was their principal source of information and education.
Friends and family were identified as more important by 41 per cent,
while 43 per cent gleaned most of their knowledge from TV programmes.
So can m-learning help? Yes, say the report's authors, who suggest that,
by using the study's findings to tap into common interests among young
mobile users, the reach and impact of educational material can be
increased. Many of those surveyed used their devices to access music and
sports content (49 per cent and 24 per cent respectively across the
four areas studied); by bundling learning material with, say, football
updates, the GSMA researchers believe technology can make a significant
difference.
Others, however, are sceptical. Some experts say there is little
demonstrable evidence of m-learning's impact, suggesting it threatens to
undermine traditional teaching methods and — by leaving those without
access to devices at a disadvantage — reinforce inequality.
Traxler believes such arguments are misguided. “You don't have to pay
for mobile technology, and it reaches the people you want to reach,” he
argues. “Computers, books, television sets and college buildings may be
infinitely more respected, but people already have mobile phones — they
buy them, pay for them, and carry them. So let's look at how the
technology is representative of our society, and how we can use it,
rather than worrying about the niceties of education.” The report
preaches a message Traxler has long championed, one he hopes will now
trickle down not only to mobile networks and their commercial
departments, but also to governments. “That's where the action needs to
happen,” he says. “We've had 10 years of relatively small-scale,
short-term projects, and by their very nature I'm not sure how much they
would really have told us, or how rigorous they were.
“The case that needs to be made is about sustainability, scale, return
on investment and impacting on government policies. If the GSMA can do a
better job than the rest of us have done in the past 10 years, then
good luck to them — and I think they probably will.” — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2012
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