M-­‐Learning  in  Sub  Saharan  Africa  Context      What  is  it  about?  

M.  Ebner    &  M.  Grimus    University  of  Technology,  Graz,  Austria  

 Victoria,  June  2013    

Sub  Sahara  Afrika  (SSA)    

Background  Current  SituaIon    

• EducaIon  • Infrastructure  • Policies    

Aims  General  Issues  specific  for  SSA  Improving  Quality  of  EducaIon  ?  

Mobile  Learning    • Learning  with  Mobiles  

• Projects  • Teacher  EducaIon  • Resources  • Challenges/Benefits  

Facts  -­‐  Sub  Sahara  Afrika  •  Population 950 Millions

expected to double till 2050 hVp://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.2DAY).  

•  50 % younger than 15 years

•  32 % between age 10 - 14

•  Only 36% capacity to enroll in Secondary Education Reference hVp://www.gallup.com/poll/155369/poverty-­‐drops-­‐secondary-­‐educaIon-­‐sub-­‐saharan-­‐africa.aspx    

•  37 % Illiterate (> 15 years)

•  Language: ~ 2.000 languages/dialects in Africa. English = official language for 470 mill. ( ~ 36 % of the population speaks the official langauge)

Numbers on SSA average, range differs in the 46 countries Reference:http://www.weltbevoelkerung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Datenreport/Datenreport_2012.pdf

M.  Grim

us,  Vienna,  Austria  

43% of kids out of school in the world live in SSA http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.2DAY)  

40  %    Illiterates  

acer  5  years  of  school  

 EducaIon-­‐  Challenges    

•  Fast  increasing  numbers  of  students  

•  Large  class  sizes  •  Un-­‐trained  or  under-­‐trained  

teachers  •  Shortage  of  adequate  material  

(textbooks,  libraries…)  •  Limited  repertoire  of  pedagogies  •  Widespread  adult  literacy  

M.  Grimus,  Vienna,  Austria  

In  School  •  Limited  books    •   Low  reading  skills  •  Scarce  electricity  in  

schools  •  Scarce  access  to  

computers  /Internet  

Out  of  School  •  „mobile-­‐rich“  •  Read  and  write  on    mobile  

Literacy  

13,1  

7,9  

3   2,6  3,6   3,2  

2,1   2   2,1   1,9   1,5   1,3  

0  

2  

4  

6  

8  

10  

12  

14  

Reading  

Mathe  

RaIo  of    textbooks  in  primary  schools:  pupils  per  book  

•  Infrastrucure  in  Schools  •  Teachers  readyness:    

 digital  literacy  and  pedagogy  •  Costs  (Internet,  airIme)  

•  Poverty  and  disease    •  Low  compleIon  rates  •  Adult  Illiteracy  –  late  learners    (age,  

gender)    •  HIV  (  age  15-­‐49,  average  SSA  2009:  

male  3,6%,  female  5,6%  ),    influences  teaching  capacity  

Resources    Challenges  

•  Facilitate  learning  in  remote  areas  

•  Youth  is  becoming  demanding  (learning)  

•  Mobiles  –  more  affordable  than  PCs  

•  Internet  access  nearly  mobile  only  

•  Age  (adults,  overaged  students)  

•  Informal  learning  

•  Overcome  Gender  inequaliIes  (girls)  

•  Shic  from  classroom  centered  learning  to  informal  learning  

•  Cost  effecIve  tablets,  e-­‐reader,  feature  phones  to  deliver  mainly  texbased  content.  

•  Content  –  naIonal  demands  (ethic,  culture,  needs)  

Benefits  -­‐  Mobile  Learning  in  SSA  

ICT  Policies  and    21st  Century  Skills  

Teaching  and  Learning  

 

Impact  of  General  Issues  

Infrastructur  Mobile  Networks,  

Internet  

Mobile  Learning  -­‐  a  Chance  for    Formal  and  Informal  Learning  

Barriers  •  Lack  of  awarness  of  

decisionmakers  •  Costs  (device,  airRme)  •  Lack  of  Content  (m  -­‐  Learning)  •  Limited  pedagogy  for  m-­‐

learning  •  Need  for  guidelines  für  „Good  

PracRce“  •  Privacy  Issues  •  Power  supply  •  Internet    -­‐  free  WiFi  in  schools  

and  communiRes  

Drivers  •  Youth    is  knowledgable  with  

mobiles  and  social  networks  (Facebook)  

•  Young  teachers  •  Demand  of  new  teachers  (needs  

of  350.000  new  teachers  /  year)  •  Teacher  educaRon  –  new  

strategies  •   Decreasing  costs    for  device  and  

airRme  •  Informal  learning  (adult  learners)  •  CooperaRon  in  Learning  -­‐  Peer  

Groups  (teacher  educaRon)  

•  UNESCO  guidelines  for  Mobile  Learning  Policies  

Projects  in  SSA    

•  Textbased  applicaIons    (costs,  feature  phones)  

•  InteracIvity  •  Increases  literacy    local  demands:  topics,  language  

•  Health  educaRon        HIV  prevenIon  -­‐  apps,  games    hVp://www.freedomhivaids.in/    in  Kiswahili  and  Shen.    

HIV  Cricket  www.FreedomHivAids.in/HIVCricket.wml    

Mobile  phones  are  the    e-­‐Reader  of  Africa  

Projects  in  SSA  •  iRead:  Worlreader–Project,  e-­‐Books  on  Kindle  

 and  on  mobile  phones.  Reading  increased  50  %,  :  500.000  reader  since  dec.  2012  in  Ghana,  Nigeria,  Uganda,  

Kenya……  •  m4Lit  mobiles  for  Literacy    

Yoza    Cell  Phone  Stories  ShuVleworth  FoundaIon  South  Africa  (beVer  infrastructure  )    Youth:  90%  own  a  mobile  phone  Write  and  read  their  stories,  in  Englisch,  Afrikaans  and  isi  Xhosa  

•  MulRlingual  Maths  in  South  Africa      grade  11  and  12  material  for  maths  on  mobile  phones  in  English  and  Setswana  (switch)  

•  ABC  -­‐  Literacy  for  adult  Illiterated  Niger  ,  in  local  languages  -­‐  Dosso,  Zinder,  Hausa,  Zarma,  Kanuri.  

•  South  African  Literacy  Improvement  iniRaRve,  500.000  Users,  50  stories      Source:  Steve  Volso  2010  de.slideshare.net/uocunescochair/m4-­‐lit-­‐

unescobarcelonaoct2010sprinkling      

hVp://www.worldreader.org/uploads/Worldreader%20VacaIon%20School%20Report%20Oct-­‐2011.pdf    

„The  stories  r  interesIng  nf  fun  2  read,  they  kip  ma  englsh  gng“  Hlegiwe  gulube  

„Wow  wat  a  story  i  like  it  shame  it  realy  uplics  da  spirits  of  those  livng  with  HIV  it  shows  tht  being  hiv+  is  no  death  sentence  wow  am  so  touched  as  im  also  living  with  hiv  „  ….  Yonela“    

21st  Century  Skills  -­‐  Curricula  

Digital  literacy  &  pedagogy  

New  Teachers  qualificaRon    

21st  Century  Skills  

+    350.000  p/year  

Nigeria,  Kano  2010  

Life  Skills  

Teacher  EducaIon  

Resources    

•  OER  Open  EducaIonal  Resources  CK-­‐12    webbases  collaboraIve    ‘flex-­‐books‘  ,  hVp://www.ck12.org/)  

•  E-­‐books  (formats)  •  CreaIve  Commons  

•  MOOCS  •  Open  Courseware:  

MIT  (Masschusets  InsItute  of  Technology)  hVp://ocw.mit.edu    Khan  Academy  ,hVp://www.khanacademy.org/  

Discussion  

•  Policies  •  Devices  ?    •  Costs  (device,  access  to  mobile  content)  

•  Informal  Learning  –  Teachers  readiness  ?????  

•  TradiIons,  Language,  Ethics  in  SSA  

•  Open  EducaIonal  Resources  •  Open  Source    

Conclusions  

WiFi  in  schools  and  communiRes  

Content  for  mobiles      

Digital  literacy  

Policies  &  Infrastructure  

Teacher  EducaRon  Curricula  

Information Technology Services Graz University of Technology

Martin Ebner martin.ebner@tugraz.at

http://elearningblog.tugraz.at http://elearning.tugraz.at

Dept. Social Learning

Learning    formal  /  informal  

CompleRon?  

•  Enrollment  (age)  •  DuraRon  (years?)  •  Gender  •  QualificaRon  -­‐  Teachers  

Life  Skills  •  Youth:  -­‐  

demanding  befer  skills  •  HIV  /  AIDS  •  Mothers  

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