Presentation at World Conference on Educational Media and Technology, Victoria, Kanada 2013

1.
M-­‐Learning
in
Sub
Saharan
Africa
Context
What
is
it
about?
M.
Ebner
&
M.
Grimus
University
of
Technology,
Graz,
Austria
Victoria,
June
2013

2. 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

3. 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.
Grimus,
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

4. 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

5. 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

6. • 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

7. • 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

8. ICT
Policies
and
21st
Century
Skills
Teaching
and
Learning
Impact
of
General
Issues
Infrastructur
Mobile
Networks,
Internet

9. 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

10. • 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

11. 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“

12. 21st
Century
Skills
-­‐
Curricula

13. Digital
literacy
&
pedagogy
New
Teachers
qualificaRon
21st
Century
Skills
+
350.000
p/year
Nigeria,
Kano
2010
Life
Skills
Teacher
EducaIon

14. 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/

15. Discussion
• Policies
• Devices
?
• Costs
(device,
access
to
mobile
content)
• Informal
Learning
– Teachers
readiness
?????
• TradiIons,
Language,
Ethics
in
SSA
• Open
EducaIonal
Resources
• Open
Source

16. Conclusions
WiFi
in
schools
and
communiRes
Content
for
mobiles
Digital
literacy
Policies
&
Infrastructure
Teacher
EducaRon
Curricula

17. Information Technology Services
Graz University of Technology
Martin Ebner
martin.ebner@tugraz.at
http://elearningblog.tugraz.at
http://elearning.tugraz.at
Dept. Social Learning

18. Learning
formal
/
informal
CompleRon?
• Enrollment
(age)
• DuraRon
(years?)
• Gender
• QualificaRon
-­‐
Teachers
Life
Skills
• Youth:
-­‐
demanding
befer
skills
• HIV
/
AIDS
• Mothers
18