Despite these issues, however, there is still much that can be done. Text messaging, or SMS, is universally available to mobile owners the world over, and it is relatively cheap, direct, and gets around many issues of literacy. Although based more in the administrative side of education, a number of African countries allow students to obtain their exam results by SMS or check whether they have successfully enrolled in a course.
In 2005, the University of Cape Town piloted the use of mobile phones to help administer a number of their courses. Text messages were sent out to students whenever re-scheduling and cancelling of classes was necessary, whenever there were computer network problems, and when test results became available. According to a spokesperson at the University, “At a superficial glance, with its concentration on administrative functions, the project does not seem remarkable, particularly as the developed world moves into sophisticated m-learning. The importance of the project, however, is that it illustrates a set of principles useful for the introduction of this technology into the third-world environment, or into any institution making first steps into m-learning”.
In other African countries SMS is being used to alert parents if their children haven’t turned up for school or by children who find themselves the victim of bullying. During an online discussion towards the end of 2007 about the potential of mobile technology in e-learning, a number of initiatives were discussed, including the texting of homework to students, or the ability for students to text in their homework answers, or for SMS to be used as a reading aid. With some children living far away from their nearest school, such initiatives could be revolutionary. And with products such as FrontlineSMS, implementing such projects need not be expensive or technically out of reach. Today such talk is still more about blue sky thinking than the sky being the limit. But it will not always be this way.
Ironically, technological conditions aside, m-learning is particularly well suited for use in developing countries. M-learning is useful as an alternative to books or computers, which are generally in short supply. It is empowering in situations where students are geographically dispersed, again a common scenario, and it is particularly helpful in getting students up to speed who may have previously felt excluded or who find themselves falling behind and need to catch up quickly.
Mobile technology has revolutionized many aspects of life in the developing world. The number of mobile connections has almost overtaken the number of fixedlines in most developing countries. Recent research by the London Business School found that mobile penetration has a strong impact on GDP. For many people, their first-ever telephone call will be on a mobile device. Perhaps, sometime soon, their first geography lesson will be on one, too.
Further information on Ken’s work can be found at http://www.kiwanja.net—“Where technology meets anthropology, conservation and development.”
