MobileActive.org

Mobile phones are a crucial mode of communication and welfare enhancement in poor countries, especially those lacking an infrastructure of fixed lines. In recent years much has been written about how mobile telephony in Africa is rapidly reducing the digital divide with developed countries. Yet, when one examines the evidence it is not at all clear what is really happening. In one country, Tanzania, for example, some observers point to the fact that 97% of the population lives under the mobile footprint, while others show that ownership is very limited. These extreme values prompted us to review the situation in Africa as a whole, in an effort to discover what is really going on.

Even though the article is from 2007, the content is still extremely relevant. The authors write: This paper accordingly seeks to clarify the conceptual confusion that underlies the grossly different estimates of the extent to which mobile telephony exists on the continent. To this end we employ a framework that distinguishes between mobile phone subscribers, mobile phone owners, mobile phone users, those who benefit from usage and those who have access to this technology. This classification, we feel, will provide the reader with a better understanding of the state of mobile telephony in Africa and will have important implications for the type of data that are needed, but at present are unavailable. The categories that are identified, moreover, help us better to understand different views as to the extent of the digital divide in mobile phones between Africa and the rest of the world."

This paper looks at the diffusion and applications of mobile phone technology in education in Asia and Africa, compared to North America. It indicates that Asian distance education can be the global leader in the development of educational uses for the mobile phone; and it considers the potential for mobile learning in Africa and other developing regions. The paper concludes that it would be a  disservice to learners and instructors if Asia and Africa were to cast their lot with web-based learning. By comparison, mobile phone technology is widespread, easy to use, and familiar to learners and instructors. 
 

Historically Africa and it's people have faced many practical problems in their race towards digital inclusion and economic progress, such as a severe lack of infrastructure and resources. However, the advent of the cell phone, is set to become a catalyst for narrowing the digital divide in South Africa and the rest of Africa. In the absence of desktop computers and ubiquitous internet access, the cell phone has the potential to provide an alternative access and participation mechanism for those who have previously been “digitally excluded”. Given their massive adoption and widespread use, as well as the recent technological advances in their computational power, cell phones are ideal substitutes for the personal computer throughout the continent. In 2006 a research collaboration, termed “MobiLED”, was initiated between the Meraka Institute (African Advanced Institute for Information and Communication Technology of the CSIR) and the Helsinki University of Art and Design (Finland). The aim was to develop, expand and integrate cell phone tools, technologies and services into formal and informal learning environments in order to prepare learners for full participation in the knowledge society, towards the acquisition of 21st century skills. Over the past three years it has become evident that many of the initiative's innovations have a wider application than originally envisaged. This paper will discuss the results of the education-related MobiLED pilots and expands on the possibilities of using these as a basis for creating a “MobiLED Toolset” for other sectors.

The launch of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning is one of several indicators that mobile learning globally is reaching a critical and sustainable momentum and identity. The past six or seven years have seen a host of pilots and initiatives across sectors and across countries and these have established firstly that mobile learning takes learning to individuals, communities and countries where access to learning was challenging or problematic and secondly that mobile learning enhances, enriches and extends how learning is understood. Environmental factors have meant that this development has been haphazard.

The mobile learning community is now faced with broader challenges of scale, durability, equity, embedding and blending in addition to the earlier and more specific challenges of pedagogy and technology, but these developments take place in the context of societies where mobile devices, systems and technologies have a far wider impact than just mobile learning as it is currently conceived. This paper looks at the definition and evolution of mobile learning as the starting point for a discussion of this wider impact.