Molotech

MobilED: inclusive technology using SMS and wikis

May 30th, 2007

The MobilED platform innovatively combines a MediaWiki server with mobile technologies to create an audiowiki, which enables users to access and author content with basic mobile phones using SMS or advanced handsets with MMS capability. Watch one of the short usage scenario videos to see how MobilED can work.

The widespread uptake of mobile technologies has created many opportunities for collaborative and mobile learning (mlearning). The MobilED (Mobile EDucation) project, led by the Media Lab at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, and the Meraka Institute in South Africa, aims to explore these opportunities within the field of youth education, in and out of schools. The project is aimed at designing formal and informal learning and teaching environments that are meaningfully enhanced with mobile technologies and services, and is based on principles of social constructivist pedagogy, including group-centered learning, project-based learning, problem solving and inquiry learning. It is an open-source and open content initiative that creates the ability for all to access and, more importantly, contribute their knowledge to shared online information repositories. There has been keen interest in the project from the educational sector: other MobilED pilots are happening in Brazil and India, with plans underway for Colombia, Mexico and New Zealand.

The project includes the design, development and piloting of prototype applications where multimedia and language technologies (text, images, audio) are used via mobile phones as tools in the learning process. Two working prototypes have been developed: the MobilED Kit – a box with mobile tools, software and guidebook for use in a classroom or youth club to carry out collaborative mobile learning projects, and the MobilED Server – a technology platform to support the kit. The MobilED server has been used with a MediaWiki – to create an audiowiki – as follows:

1. A user can search for a term by sending an SMS to the server,
2. The server then calls the user, and
3. A speech synthesizer will read the article found in the wiki. Users can navigate through the audio of the article (skip forward, back, etc.)
4. The user can also contribute his/her content by dictating it to the system.

The system has been successfully piloted three times in South African schools: the first two involving basic mobile phones and the audiowiki, which was first seeded with content relevant to the pilots. The students assessed the effects of HIV/AIDS on the different levels of society (person, family, community, etc.), and collectively pointed out different strategies that are, or can be, employed at each of these levels. They first conducted research by accessing the audiowiki, then they recorded their strategy message as an audio piece via MobilED. The message was communicated to the school community as an audiocasting show. To access the audiowiki and the audiocasting service, the students shared Nokia 3230 phones with speakers. They did not use a PCs at all.

Whereas the first two pilots focused on the mobile technology most accessible in South Africa – basic phones capable of SMS and making and receiving voice calls – the third pilot looked at the use of more advanced mobile phones with multimedia capabilities. It consisted of a joint project between a low-income public school and affluent, private school, based on MMS (text, image, audio) content. The collaborative task for the students was to create a presentation about a field trip to the Meraka Institute. They used the phones to take photos, add text, compile a slide presentation and MMS it to the server. The students worked together in pairs.

Overall, the results show that students learned to use mobile phones very fast in the small groups, even when not at all ICT literate. Students were engaged and energized throughout the learning experience; during the contextual interviews, the students told that they found the field tests very interesting and empowering. Recording their own audio was the most exciting part of the pilot.

The real potential of the MobilED solution in developing countries is that anyone with a mobile phone is able to be an active participant in the information society by being a contributor and not just a passive recipient of information. It also facilitates that elusive goal of the creation of more (digital) local content in local languages.

Molotech and MobilED are currently exploring the possibility of a cross-cultural collaboration between youth in the US and South Africa using the MobilED platform.

Entry Filed under: Technology, Education