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An Exploratory Study of Unsupervised Mobile Learning in Rural India

Posted by MohiniBhavsar on Jul 02, 2010

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An Exploratory Study of Unsupervised Mobile Learning in Rural India data sheet 2861 Views
Author: 
Kumar, A., Tewari, A., Shroff, G., Chittamuru, D., Kam, M., and Canny, J.
ISSN/ISBN Number: 
978
Publication Date: 
Apr 2010
Publication Type: 
Other
Abstract: 

Cellphones have the potential to improve education for the millions of underprivileged users in the developing world. However, mobile learning in developing countries remains under-studied. In this paper, we argue that cellphones are a perfect vehicle for making educational opportunities accessible to rural children in places and times that are more convenient than formal schooling. We carried out participant observations to identify the opportunities in their everyday lives for mobile learning. We next conducted a 26-week study to investigate the extent to which rural children will voluntarily make use of cellphones to access educational content.

Our results show a reasonable level of academic learning and motivation. We also report on the social context around these results. Our goal is to examine the feasibility of mobile learning in out-of-school settings in rural, underdeveloped areas, and to help more researchers learn how to undertake similarly difficult studies around mobile computing in the developing world.

Paper URL: 
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~anujk1/... 


 




  
MILLEE:  English Literacy through Games on the Third Screen


Posted by CorinneRamey on Mar 18, 2008


When Matthew Kam first went to India, he noticed the lack of English literacy of children that had studied English for three or four years.  Most couldn't read, didn't know simple words, and sometimes couldn't spell their own names.  "We realized that those students who had taken English for three years couldn't read every letter in the alphabet,"  Matt said. "Teachers who were teaching English couldn't speak English themselves." However, the English literacy of these same children improved dramatically when presented with a unique learning tool: a mobile phone.


As part of his research for a computer science Ph.D., Matt is working with a team of researchers and students at the University of California at Berkley in the United States.  The project, called MILLEE, or Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies, works to develop mobile phone games aimed at teaching literacy to children in India.



    

            

                            

        







 

        
      
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