This Article 
   
 Share 
   
 Bibliographic References 
   
 Add to: 
 
Digg
Furl
Spurl
Blink
Simpy
Google
Del.icio.us
Y!MyWeb
 
 Search 
   
ASCII Text
x 
 
Divya Viswanathan, Jan Blom, "New Metaphors from Old Practices—Mobile Learning to Revitalize Education in Developing Regions of the World," IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 18-23, January-March, 2010.
 
 
BibTex
x
 
@article{ 10.1109/TLT.2010.5,
author = {Divya Viswanathan and Jan Blom},
title = {New Metaphors from Old Practices—Mobile Learning to Revitalize Education in Developing Regions of the World},
journal ={IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies},
volume = {3},
number = {1},
issn = {1939-1382},
year = {2010},
pages = {18-23},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2010.5},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - JOUR
JO - IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
TI - New Metaphors from Old Practices—Mobile Learning to Revitalize Education in Developing Regions of the World
IS - 1
SN - 1939-1382
SP18
EP23
EPD - 18-23
A1 - Divya Viswanathan,
A1 - Jan Blom,
PY - 2010
KW - Mobile learning
KW - ICT4D
KW - user-centric design.
VL - 3
JA - IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
ER -
 
Divya Viswanathan, Nokia Research Center, Bangalore
Jan Blom, Nokia Research Center, Bangalore
By drawing on practices and metaphors familiar to children in the Indian school environment, we aim to develop mobile learning solutions that are grounded on the existing educational practices but have the potential of revitalizing the approach to learning technologies in a developing world context such as India. This paper outlines key findings of our user-centric research to the Indian educational setting, to come to conclusions about how we see mobile learning solutions playing a role in developing world countries such as India, where the focus is still on literacy and not learning. The study is multidimensional because it is aimed to provide inspiration for an empirically justified mobile learning product concept. Field observations and interviews revealed challenges associated with the current educational context in India. The school visits also led to identification of a design metaphor, namely the "Slate,” that is believed to provide the research team with an inspirational approach for the design of the eventual concept. A creative workshop was arranged with children, the purpose of which was to come up with design drivers for mobile learning solutions.

[1] D. Tripathy, India Adds Record 15.41 Million Mobile Users in Jan. 2009, Reuters, http:/www.reuters.com, Apr. 2009.
[2] Internet Users Rise 17 PC in 2008: Study, Indiatimes Infotech, http:/infotech.indiatimes.com, Jan. 2009.
[3] Y. Zhang, N. Postlethwaite, and A.A. Grisay, View Inside Primary Schools—A World Education Indicators Cross-National Study. UNESCO, 2008.
[4] N. Bouvin, C. Brodersen, F. Hansen, O. Iversen, and P. Norregaard, "Tools of Contextualization: Extending the Classroom to the Field," Proc. Conf. Interaction Design and Children, 2005.
[5] D. Malan and H. Leitner, "Scratch for Budding Computer Scientists," Proc. SIGCSE Technical Symp. Computer Science Education, 2007.
[6] "Can the $100 Laptop Change the World?" Globalization and Education, N. Negroponte, M.S. Sorondo, E. Malinvaud, and P. Léna, eds., 2005.
[7] M. Duveskog, E. Sutinen, M. Vesisenaho, and E. Yusha, "Simputer as a Platform for ICT Education in Tanzania," Proc. IEEE Int'l Conf. Advanced Learning Technologies, pp. 1018-1023, 2004.
[8] H. Beyer and K. Holtzblatt, Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann, 1998.
[9] C. Ho and G. Moy, Analysis of the OLPC Project, 2008.
[10] M. Ginsburg, "Challenges to Promoting Active Learning, Student Centered Pedagogies," Academy for Educational Development, 2006.
[11] M. Guha, A. Durin, G. Chipman, J. Fails, S. Simns, and A. Farber, "Mixing Ideas—A New Technique for Working with Young Children as Design Partners," Proc. Conf. Interaction Design and Children: Building a Community, 2004.
[12] A. Kankainen, "UCPCD: User-Centered Product Concept Design," Proc. Conf. Designing for User Experiences, 2003.
[13] L. Low and M. O'Connell, "Learner-Centric Design of Digital Mobile Learning," Proc. Online Teaching and Learning Conf. (OLT '06), 2006.
[14] E. Soloway, M. Guzdial, and K.E. Hay, "Learner-Centered Design: The Challenge for HCI in the 21st Century," Interactions, vol. 1, pp. 36-48, 1994.
[15] U.S. Pawar, J. Pal, R. Gupta, and K. Toyoma, "Multiple Mice for Retention Tasks in Disadvantaged Schools," Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2007.
[16] J. Attewell, "From Research and Development to Mobile Learning. Tools for Education and Training Providers and Their Learners," Proc. World Conf. Mobile Learning (mLearn '05), 2005.
[17] T.H. Brown, "The Role of m-Learning in the Future of e-Learning in Africa," Proc. 21st Int'l Conf. Data Eng. (ICDE '03), 2003.
[18] G.N. Vavoula and M. Sharples, "Future Technology Workshop: A Collaborative Method for the Design of New Learning Technologies and Activities," Int'l J. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, vol. 2, pp. 393-419, 2003.
[19] M. Kam et al., "Designing E-Learning Games for Rural Children in India: A Format for Balancing Learning with Fun," Proc. Seventh ACM Conf. Designing Interactive Systems, 2008.
[20] D.I. Doubell and P.G. Arkcoll, "Co-Located Photo-Sharing on Mobile Devices," Technical Report CS05-18-00, Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Cape Town, 2005.
[21] "Performance Audit Report on 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,'" Human Resource Development Ministry, Govt. of India, 2006.
[22] E. Weidrich, "Education Vouchers: Is There a Model for India?" Working Paper No. 0072, Center of Civil Soc., 2003.
[23] S. Mitra et al., "Acquisition of Computer Literacy on Shared Public Computers: Children and the 'Hole in the Wall,'" Australasian J. Educational Technology, vol. 21, pp. 407-426, 2005.
[24] A.C. Kay, "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages," Proc. ACM Nat'l Conf., 1972.
[25] "These Schoolchildren are Now Tech-Savvy," Personal Chip Program, Sikshana Foundation, Bangalore, India, The Hindu, http:/www.thehindu. com, Nov. 2008.

Index Terms:
Mobile learning, ICT4D, user-centric design.
Citation:
Divya Viswanathan, Jan Blom, "New Metaphors from Old Practices—Mobile Learning to Revitalize Education in Developing Regions of the World," IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 18-23, Jan.-March 2010, doi:10.1109/TLT.2010.5
Usage of this product signifies your acceptance of the Terms of Use.