Steve Vosloo presented on education design in a mobile era. He discussed the growing mobile landscape globally and in Africa. The mobile revolution is changing education by supporting informal, contextual learning anywhere and anytime. When designing for mobile, considerations include understanding user context, designing for small screens first while supporting multiple devices, personalized and adaptive learning, learner analytics, social learning, and using existing platforms. Challenges to mobile learning include transforming existing systems, uneven infrastructure, and bridging formal and informal learning. Vosloo advised testing often and thinking holistically about infrastructure to support digital learning.

2. Education design in a mobile era
Steve Vosloo
Head of Mobile, Innovation Lab
Pearson South Africa
Presented at:
North South TVET ICT Conference
12 Sept 2014

3. The mobile revolution
Changing education
Design considerations
Challenges
Advice for the journey ahead

4. 4
The mobile revolution

5. Global mobile landscape
There are an estimated 6.8 billion mobile
subscriptions worldwide
and 3.2 billion mobile phone subscribers
90% of world’s population and 80% of people
living in rural areas have mobile coverage
105 countries have more mobile phone
subscriptions than inhabitants
In 2017 there will be more than five billion mobile
broadband subscriptions worldwide. 85% of
the world’s population will have 3G coverage
5
Sources: ITU, 2013, Ericsson, 2012

8. African mobile landscape: A revolution
Africa is the second largest (after Asia-Pacific)
and fastest growing mobile market in the
world
For mobile-broadband Africa is the region
with the highest growth rates over the past
three years. Penetration has increased from
2% in 2010 to 11% in 2013
167 million people use the Internet, and 52
million are on Facebook – both largely
accessed via mobile phones
Jan 2014: Android becomes Africa’s most
popular mobile OS (28%)
Sources: GSMA, 2012, Ericson, 2013, ITU, 2013, HumanIPO, 2014

9. Mobile in Sub-Saharan Africa: Predicted growth
for 2019
930 million subscriptions by 2019, of which 732 million would
have mobile broadband
Estimated 476-million smartphones expected to reach the
market
17-fold growth in data traffic between 2013 and 2019
Sources: Ericson, 2013

10. Mobile internet in SA
Of about 13m adults using the Internet in SA, 5,8m use only on phone,
6,4m use on phone and PC/laptop/tablet
Internet access via mobile devices comprised 89% of the Internet
access market
SA mobile users now spend over 8 hours on the mobile internet every
week
Data is becoming more of a factor: Spending on data has grown from
17% to 24% for 19-24 year olds
Prediction: 32.3 million mobile Internet subscribers in SA by 2017
Sources: World Wide Worx 2013, PWC, 2013

11. Smartphones in SA: On the rise
Predict 75% penetration by end of 2015
Enter the low-cost smartphone:
MTN Steppa ~ R500
Vodacom also has a cheap smartphone
11
Sources: Ambient Insight, 2013, World Wide Worx 2013

12. Tablets are small, but rising
• 95% of citizens who own a cellphone don’t own a tablet
• Samsung is the most popular tablet brand with 52% of the market,
Apple has 23%
• 25% of adults surveyed said they were planning to buy a tablet in
2014
• BUT in schools and HEIs, tablets are rising  there is
increasing government and institutional adoption
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Sources: World Wide Worx 2013,

13. CTI/MGI tablet
implementation
12,000 tablets
eBooks (ePub3)
Mobil1e3 Plans in Pearson SA – Innovation Lab l 16 August 2013

14. Mobile learning market
“The worldwide mEducation market could generate a global revenue
opportunity for mobile operators worth US$70 billion by 2020.
mEducation products and services will represent a US$38
billion market”
(GSMA/McKinsey & Co, 2012)
Sources: GSMA/McKinsey & Co, 2012

15. Changing education
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16. 16
With the increase in access to
information, and production
of knowledge, there is a
questioning of the very
notions of the authority of
traditional bodies of knowledge
controlled by legitimate
educational institutions
Mobiles provide a new, and
sometimes only, access
channel to the internet for
many people

17. 17
There will be a shift away from
teaching in a classroom-centred
paradigm of
education to an increased
focus on learning, which
happens informally throughout
the day
Mobiles support ‘anywhere,
anytime’ learning, they are
personal, available and suited
to informal and contextual
learning

18. 18
Learning that is time-dependent
and location-dependent is
not an option for everyone
anymore

19. 19
There will be an increased blurring
of the boundaries between
learning, working and living

20. 20
In addition to education basics
such as literacy and numeracy
there will be a need for digital
and information literacy, as
well as critical thinking and
online communication skills
Mobiles provide a medium for
developing these skills for
millions of Africans who go
online ‘mobile first’ or even
‘mobile-only’

21. These changes, and the mobile revolution, exert pressure on
Education to adapt and optimally design learning spaces and
digital teaching methodologies to enhance student
performance…

22. The emergence of the mobile society
“Mobile learning is no longer an innovation within institutional learning
but a reflection of the world in which institutional learning takes
place.”
(Traxler & Vosloo, 2014)
The time for mobile learning is here

23. Mobile and mobility
People are mobile
Devices are mobile
Information is mobile
Mobility ‘denotes not just physical mobility but the opportunity to
overcome physical constraints by having access to people and digital
learning resources, regardless of place and time’ (Kukulska-Hulme,
2010)
23

24. Mobile and mobility
Mobile Learning – Extending Educational Reach
○ Resources (learning material, notes, media)
○ Studying (activities, self-assessment and feedback)
○ Interaction (peer learning, tutoring and feedback)
System strengthening through mobility – Extending Operational
Reach
○ Information (directories, timetables, results)
○ Services (library, sports venues, student services)
○ Administration (registration, records, documentation)
Not mutually exclusive
24

25. Design considerations
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26. 1. Context is king / User-centred design
26 Mobile Plans in Pearson SA – Innovation Lab l 16 August 2013

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31. 31

32. Yoza Cellphone Stories: Average times of use
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33. Context is king / User-centred design
How will a student or lecturer use your educational resource or service?
On-the-go?
Seated for some time access to other resources?
At what time?
Will they be online?
What device?
What is their learning need?
Crucial for designing:
Content
Interface
Features
Integration
What is mobile learning good for and what does it suck at?
33

34. What we offer vs what they want
34

35. 2. Design for mobile first (but with discretion)
35 Mobile Plans in Pearson SA – Innovation Lab l 16 August 2013
“Mobile-Era to Multi-Device Era”
Mobile is not a new, novel thing anymore
Support a continuous range of devices
Luke Wroblewski

36. Common misconceptions…
1
4
Is “mobile first” simply porting over a web experience / website for mobile
devices? - No.
2 Is “mobile first” the process of testing on mobile devices first and then on
the desktop? – No.
3 Is “mobile first” always choosing native apps over web technologies? - *No.
Does “mobile first” mean that we no longer develop for desktops? - No.
5 Is “mobile first” the same thing as “responsive design”? – No.
* This warrants some discussion, however…

37. What our peers are saying…
Thomas Plunkett, chief technology officer, Gawker
“At the high level, mobile-first means build where users are and where technology is going. In
practice, we build features mobile-first. We simplify the product. It forces us to think about what
is essential; extend features to desktop.”
Matt Turck, publisher, Slate
“The mobile user comprises a third of our traffic…our readers will have a true 360-degree user
experience, with access to all our great content whenever and wherever they are.”
Mark Howard, chief revenue officer, Forbes
Mobile-first means developing for small screens before developing for desktop. It can be on a
product, a feature or an entire experience…Mobile is still the untapped frontier for many
publishers… ”
PEARSON

38. Design for Small Screens first
PEARSON

39. Thinking small
1
4
PEARSON
Making mobile the first priority instead of an afterthought.
2 Understanding what our customers are trying to accomplish in their
moments of need.
3 Designing our business services to intersect our customer's daily life or work.
Designing our systems of engagement to deliver a task-oriented service
experience.
5 Designing and operating our mobile experiences to help customers take the next
most likely action.
6 Focusing on what’s truly critical to a product or service. Strip away the excess.

40. 3. Personalised learning
That is adaptive
That is contextual
The Horizon Report highlights this as a significant challenge, saying
that “there remains a gap between the vision and the tools needed
to achieve it.”
40

41. 4. Learner analytics
For the first time ever, it is possible to track usage across platforms
and throughout the day
There needs to be a shift in focus from the improvement of schools to
the progress of individuals. Monitoring and enablement of learners,
powerful combination of teachers and technology (not technology
replacing teachers).
Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor at Pearson
Process: Capture  analyse  act (informs curriculum design,
lecturer support, etc.)
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42. 5. Be social
• 87% of Facebook users and 85% of
Twitter users are accessing these tools
on their phones (Facebook has 9.4m
active users in SA, Twitter has 5.5m)
• Whatsapp usage doubled in the past 18
months from 26% to 53%
• Avg Mxit user spends 95 minutes per
day on the app across 6 sessions
• Facebook, Whatsapp and Mxit were
voted the three favourite apps of 2013
42
Opportunities for: P2P learning, communities of practice, knowledge
sharing, tutoring, reinforcing newly learned skills
Sources: World Wide Worx 2013, BizCommunity, 2014

43. 6. Meet them where they are: Use existing platforms
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44. Challenges
44

45. Challenges
• This is all new and fundamentally different to existing approaches
• Existing systems designed for static, top-down learning
• Inertia
• Training needed on pedagogy of mobile learning
• Legacy systems: Getting them to share data
• Uneven landscape (device, infrastructure, affordability, ICT literacy, etc.)
• Privacy
• Mobile has a role to play in bridging the formal and informal learning
spaces. But this requires change in both spheres. More work is needed here.
The NMC Horizon Report 2013: K-12 Edition report highlights this as a
significant challenge
45

46. Challenges: Technical
• Native apps or responsive web design /
mobi site?
• Which operating system? (iOS, Android,
BlackBerry, Nokia (Own/Windows) and
which version of the operating system?
• Which handsets to test now?
• New handsets on the market?
• Customer Support for multiple apps?
Implication: Solution should be based on
market needs and technology adoption
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47. Advice for the journey ahead
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48. Advice
You are pioneering so expect mistakes - learn from them
Fail early, fail often
Test test test
Think holistically – without infrastructure, there is no digital
48

49. Thank you
Steve Vosloo
Head of Mobile, Innovation Lab
Pearson South Africa
steve.vosloo@pearson.com
@stevevosloo