Six out of ten people (more than 4 billion people) around the world carry a powerful computing device in their pockets and bags. They don’t realize it, but today’s cell phones have the computing power of a mid-1990s personal computer, while consuming a fraction of the energy and being manufactured at significantly lower cost.
In India, the mobile phone has revolutionized communication and India is now one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phone services, with increasing usage and increasing penetration. According to TRAI, there are 286 million wireless subscribers in India, June 2008, of which 76 million could access data services. The increasing ubiquity of the mobile phone calls for its use as a learning tool. It would be a shame if we couldn’t take advantage of it to improve the socioeconomic conditions of our vast population.
Mobile phones are not just communication devices that generate new forms of interaction between people; they are also particularly useful computers that fit in your pocket, are always with you, and are almost always on. Like all communication and computing devices, mobile phones can be used for learning. The content delivered would depend on the capabilities (characteristics) of the device accessing it.
There are many types of learning and many processes that people use to learn, but among the most common, proven, and effective are listening, observing, imitating, questioning, reflecting, testing, estimating, predicting, speculating, and practicing. All these learning processes can be supported through mobile phones. In addition, cell phones complement the multitasking, casual, and low-maintenance style of today’s young students.
Seen simply; phones are capable of:
1. Voice – These are the most basic phones, still prevailing although they are quickly replaced. Such voice-only technology phones can be used to learn languages, literature, public speaking, writing, storytelling and history among a wide range of subjects. We know that voice-based learning has been around for thousands of years.
2. SMS – Widely used in India, literally billions of short text messages are sent over the telephone networks. These messages can be typed quickly and offer tremendous learning opportunities. SMS can be used to provide just-in-time information of almost any kind, such as reminders. (eg someone undergoing a formal mentoring process) SMS can be used for informational questionnaires. There are also innovative SMS-based games that have great learning potential.
3. graphic displays – Almost all mobile phones have a graphic display, even if it only shows signal and battery charge. Most of today’s phones have much more graphics power and can display words, images, and animations. These screens also allow significant amounts of text to be displayed, allowing for a quick serial presentation of context-appropriate information. You can use these types of screens for almost any type of learning. Eventually, these screens will generate content that is now processed on personal computers.
4. downloadable programs – With mobile phones that have memory and can accept and install downloaded programs, a whole new learning space opens up on the phone. Almost any type of learning content and interaction technology can be delivered to the phone using this method.
5. Mobile Internet Browsers – Internet browsers are now integrated into an increasing number of phones, especially those that take advantage of 3G or enhanced data networks such as GPRS. Having a browser on the phone opens up all the learning resources available on the web, including Google, LMS apps, typical eLearning courses, and other tools/apps.
Without proper research, it is difficult to arrive at the value of the m-learning market in India, any projection is unfounded; and it is also due to the improbability of being able to predict the rate of adoption and technological penetration (read network). However, empirically, we are seeing a growing interest in mLearning.
As in India, it is difficult to quantify adoption in more developed markets. It is well known that Asia and Europe are far ahead in terms of mLearning adoption compared to the North American market. The US market for Mobile Learning products and services is growing at a five-year CAGR of 21.7% with revenue reaching $538 million in 2007. It would be fair to say that revenue in Europe and Asia will equal, if not exceed, that of the North American market.
Almost all sectors will benefit from the use of m-learning, however we believe that three main areas will feel the biggest impact: education, agriculture and healthcare.
Furthermore, rural communities will greatly benefit not only from mLearning, but from mobile technology as a whole. Mobile devices are much cheaper than personal computers and don’t rely on continuous power to function.
There is a clear appeal to games for learning using mobile phones. Several companies are currently experimenting with mobile game-based learning technology. However, the feasibility of such an approach depends on the cost of developing and deploying such applications, which are quite high at the moment. With ever more capable hardware and connectivity available and costs ever lower, it’s only a matter of time before learning games on mobile becomes commonplace.
In the future, we will see the mobile phones, computers, and various other computing/media devices (iPods, digital cameras, PDAs, etc.) we use converging into a single personal mobile computing device. At that point, the differentiation between eLearning and mLearning will cease to exist; all learning will be electronic and mobile.