By Oliver Balch, The Guardian
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, Nelson Mandela is famed for saying. Yet access to good quality learning is still denied to millions around the world, particularly in developing countries where teaching standards and education facilities are often poor.
The wide use of mobile phones is presenting educators with a new, low-cost tool for teaching. Photograph: Siegfried Modola/Reuters
The ubiquity of mobile phones is presenting educators with a new, low-cost tool for teaching. Here we look at four mobile-based solutions delivering real results for low-income learners.
1. MobiLiteracy: at home literacy training
Professional teachers aren’t the only ones that affect a child’s learning journey; parents can be instrumental too. In developing world countries, where teachers are often over-stretched, active parental input at home is critical. MobiLiteracy Uganda, a pilot programme that kicked off last year with a grant from the US development agency USAID, uses SMS and audio technology to promote literacy learning outside the classroom.
The scheme differs from most ‘m-learning’ initiatives by targeting the parent first rather than children. MobiLiteracy offers the chief education provider at home daily reading lessons in the local language via their mobile phone. Because the lessons are available through both SMS and audio, even illiterate parents are able to participate. Developed by US mobile media company Urban Planet Mobile, it’s due to be rolled out at scale in the Ugandan capital of Kampala soon.
Among Urban Planet’s other solutions is a mobile-based English language course that runs in 40 countries worldwide. The service, which is also available via email, Whatsapp, Twitter and other social messenger services, is being introduced in eight African nations this year. The list includes French-speaking Rwanda, where primary education recently shifted into English.
2. Dr Math: interactive tutoring
Sitting down to do maths homework is already an uphill challenge, especially when the questions are flummoxing. Using MXit, a hugely popular social messaging platform in South Africa, Dr Math enables primary and secondary school pupils to request real-time support from volunteer tutors – a large number of whom are engineering students at the University of Pretoria. Whether riding the bus or at their desks at home, students can post their problems and online tutors will message back with guidance (the rules prevent them giving the final answer).
Likened to a text-based call centre, Dr Math kicked off in 2007 and has had over 25,000 registered users to date. Tutors are available afternoon and evening, five days a week. The South Africa Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which manages the scheme, recently released a ‘how to’ set of tools that enable education providers elsewhere to replicate the service.
Read the full article by Oliver Balch from The Guardian.
