The GSMA on Tuesday said that mobile can transform the education sector in a big way. It said that it has the potential to dramatically change the way education is delivered, enhancing learning for over a billion people around the world.
''Transforming learning through mEducation', a new report from the GSMA and McKinsey & Company, reveals how a number of early trials in mEducation across diverse geographies and education segments have successfully improved education outcomes, indicating tremendous potential for mEducation in the future of learning worldwide.”, it said.
"mEducation is poised to lead to a major transformation of the education landscape," said Ana Tavares Lattibeaudiere, Head of Connected Living at the GSMA. "Mobile operators can play a significant role beyond that of connectivity providers by developing products and managing systems. Teachers can teach in a more innovative and personalised way, leading to greater student engagement, higher attendance and improved achievement. Increased support by governments can assist the process of moving on from pockets of innovation to widespread mobile use in education and ultimately help drive global adoption."
It said that emerging promise of mEducation early trials of using mobile technology to facilitate education in Asia have already resulted in substantial improvements to learning. For example, in India, local teachers introduced a simple mobile-based game to help primary school pupils from rural, low income households develop English-language comprehension, sentence construction and spelling. As a result, students' test scores improved by almost 60 per cent.
Meanwhile in the United States, teachers in New Mexico are using mobile devices to assess the reading progress of kindergarten pupils and develop their communication skills. Within the first three years, the percentage of children reading at the level expected for their age group went up from 29 per cent to 93 per cent.
Trends Leading the Education RevolutionDespite the momentum, there are still a number of barriers to overcome in both developed and developing territories. These include the perceived extra burden for IT departments in facilitating teaching through tech-based products; cultural resistance from some teachers who are reluctant to integrate new teaching methods into their classrooms; and some negative perceptions that still exist around the introduction of smartphones and tablets to the classroom.