Trend

m-Learning supplements e-Learning

Fuelled by the exponential growth and penetration of mobile phones and demand from the Indian education sector, m-Learning is poised to pick up. By Nivedan Prakash

Mobile phones are transforming into classrooms on the move, offering information on demand via text, infographics and video. In simple terms, m-Learning is the art of using mobile technologies to enhance the learning experience. This service utilizes tools such as digital content from traditional textbooks, and games, amongst others through mobile phones to provide a dynamic learning environment.

As convergent and feature-rich mobile phones become more popular, education through mobiles could well be the logical progression in the learning sphere. This concept of learning marks a turning point in the online education industry, which was so far limited to either Web-based or virtual classrooms.

According to industry experts, in the current scenario where time is critical and training needs are a constant, m-Learning is an apt tool for self-learning. Moreover, with an acute shortage of trained individuals, growing training needs, and strict timelines, m-Learning is well suited to be part of a blended learning model. The best thing about m-Learning is that it is real-time, supports learning on the move, is self-paced and literally in the learner’s hand.

“The most important feature which defines m-Learning is mobility that enables ‘information on demand’, which is the ability to access information wherever you are and whenever you want. m-Learning provides personal learning on the move. With increasing competition, businesses are seeking for ways to win the rat race by disseminating information accurately at a faster pace and hence saving time and cost have become top concerns. To meet these demands in the present scenario, m-Learning can prove to be an apt self-learning tool,” added Ekta Aggarwal, Industry Analyst-ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East.

How it works

m-Learning involves creating learning objects for students by using mobile xhtml with CSS, or Java with XML, or video tutorials, or e-books, which are converted to handheld device compatible formats. These learning objects are interactive tutorials, which students can access asynchronously at their leisure on their mobile devices.

For example, www.authorstream.com has already stepped into this domain by making multimedia mobile learning in the form of video podcasts possible through a free service, which converts PowerPoint presentations to iPod compatible video formats that you can transfer to iPods using iTunes. Students can also subscribe to podcast feeds from their teachers and get the latest presentations on their iPods through iTunes without having to visit a site.

Moreover, a person or an institution, which has basic content on the subject, can convert it into suitable mobile content and host it himself or take the help of a service provider/telecom company. They can create a WAP or SMS server and publish this content. Companies can publish content on a WAP server for those who access the Web using mobile phones.

Prabal Mall, Head-Content Practice, Expertus, said, “Users log on to the service provider’s site and download the m-Learning Player, which is generally free. They then log on to the m-Learning content available on the service provider’s site but is hosted by Value Added Service (VAS) providers on streaming media servers and opt for a one time usage or monthly package of the content of their choice.”

Meanwhile, the services that are being offered through m-Learning include quick reminders and alerts, communication with peers and managers and professors, multiple-choice quizzes with immediate feedback, daily tips, glossary information, browsing of e-learning course material, searching for specific information within a topic, links to sites, and course registration amongst others.

“m-Learning offers a powerful and practical solution to many learning and training challenges, such as collaborative projects and fieldwork, a classroom supplement to books or computers, promotional and awareness campaigns, and for ‘just-in-time’ employee training.

It is being used across schools, colleges and companies for multiple functionalities,” asserted Manoj Dawane, CEO, People Infocom (Mauj Mobile).

Acceptance in India

m-Learning in India at present is still in its infancy. However, the future promises to be an exponential market. There exists future possibility for this market to register double-digit growth. Popular IT training institutes like Aptech Learning Services have already developed this platform in order to meet the present educational needs of corporates and institutions.

m-Learning is in fact generating a lot of interest. This platform has a lot of potential in India due to the proliferation of mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices, with over two million users being added every week and a total of around 300 million mobile users, and excellent connectivity across regions. Although a better part of this user base is not on advanced devices required for effective multimedia-based m-Learning, the figures are too high to be ignored, considering the interest in and growing number of 3G devices.

The other reasons being that people in India are open to accepting technology as it evolves and have an insatiable thirst for information and knowledge. Moreover, the mobile services in India are quite affordable; hence, even an ordinary person can own and use a cell phone. Added to this is the fact that India happens to have one of the largest populations in the 18 years to 28 years age group. One of the greatest advantages of m-Learning, which ensures its acceptance, is that you have your learning in your hand or pocket. [The downside to m-Learning on your phone is that data costs are huge at present and connectivity is slow. GPRS is the norm with EDGE coverage being spotty and 3G is still in limbo. The way out is to design content in such a manner that it is easily consumable by most phones and not necessarily smartphones. That means simple text based content with small images optimized for mobile display. Multimedia content will have to be made available in a manner that it can be downloaded onto a PC and transferred to a mobile phone. Over the air multimedia is not possible with the current telecom set-up. – Editor]

Pradeep Pendse, Dean-IT and Business Design, Welingkar Institute of Management, pointed out, “There is a huge opportunity for m-Learning in India. We are now seeing the emergence of content providers, publishers, advertisers and media channel and telecom providers. People who have e-Learning content can position themselves well in the convergence space. A few companies have already started offering content for m-Learning. However, this is either in the form of quizzes and mock tests for preparing students for exams, such as CAT (IIM Entrance), etc. We need more such content providers to come up with content. The Airtel advertisement about m-Learning has triggered a huge revolution in this area.”

Acceptance in India will happen on account of the need of access on demand to learning material due to the shortage of time, the ubiquity of PowerPoint presentation tutorials, e-books, videos, etc., as learning objects as these are being adopted in schools and educational institutions as a preferred media for teaching and learning. Currently, some institutions are catching up with this trend just for selling their services, but there are institutions like Educomp’s Millennium schools, which use the Virtual Classroom at www.wiziq.com for teaching remotely to students who cannot physically attend classes.

“m-Learning is poised to change the learning landscape in the country. For example 24x7 Learning’s SkillBridge, an employability enhancement program, imparts employable skills to students who enroll for SkillBridge at SkillBridge Learning Centers across the country, more so in tier-II and tier-III cities. We host SkillBridge on LearnTrak v10, our Learning Management System—with mobile convergence features. It enables students to take up assessments on their mobile. They can take mock tests, etc., through their mobiles, essential points of a chapter, etc. All they need is a basic mobile that supports text,” added Karthik K S, CEO, 24x7 Learning.

Major mobile manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have tied up with service providers like Airtel, Vodafone and others to provide mobile content, which also includes learning content. Companies that specialize in content aggregation provide the actual content. Mobile value added service (VAS) providers develop the mobile technology and delivery. Most of these companies have already launched their services pan India and even GRE exams are available on the m-Learning platform.

As far as Indian universities are concerned, HP has awarded a ‘Technology for Teaching’ Grant to Jadavpur University, Kolkata to transform teaching on the campus. The university will receive technology such as HP tablet PCs, external storage and optical drives, wireless networking cards and printers, as well as a stipend for staff to work on projects that they will have to complete in 15 months. This project is already in an advanced stage.

HP is helping Jadavpur University establish an m-Learning centre where students taking the M Tech course in Distributed and Mobile Computing can access content using handheld devices. The university already has a digital library, and a content management and development system using an m-Learning authoring tool. Students will be able to tap a server-based open source wireless laboratory, built on existing laptop computers and wireless technology. Other universities that have been selected by HP for this global award in the Asia Pacific region are Anna University, Chennai India, University of Tokyo, Japan, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and Yonsei University, Korea. [Many universities already have Wi-Fi on campus. This makes it possible to deliver full-blown multimedia-rich content to students. – Ed]

The dipping costs of mobile hardware (handsets) and services vs. laptops and the likely elimination of the need to be physically connected to the World Wide Web with the upcoming advent of 3G will provide impetus to m-Learning in India.

Impact on the education sector

m-Learning is all about the use of technology in education to make learning more accessible, fun, convenient and portable. Mobile learning is new and is in the early stages of evolution. Gradually, new ideas coupled with technology are set to take mobile learning to the next level, whereupon the masses can adopt the same. There will come a time when you will use an advanced multimedia handheld device to access some m-Learning application or the other without even realizing that you are involved in m-Learning.

This platform will help to change the education industry. The m-Learning platform will take online education to another level. The biggest advantage of m-Learning is that the learner is in control, literally, the mobile device is in his pocket, hence it is truly learner centric and self paced. The evolution of Web 2.0 (the social Internet), has resulted in a shift to collaboration, participation, sharing, and learner-centered experiences from instruction delivered by experts. Organizations and individuals are now trying to create social learning experiences for mobile devices. M-Learning 2.0 is in the offing.

m-Learning is also seen as an additional tool to spread literacy in India beside conventional training programs, as presently mobile penetration in India is second only to radio and television. This is also possible because handset manufacturers in India are increasingly providing local language support to increase their geographical reach and penetrate existing market better. Most of the entry- and mid-market handsets available in India support user interfaces in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Punjabi, which cover approximately 75% of the Indian population.

To an extent, this platform will also help in spreading literacy programs in rural areas. Mobile penetration in rural India is quite substantial and the fact that the unlettered populace mobiles are using these devices suggests that it can be a harbinger of literacy. m-Learning has the possibility to address the educational needs of this segment and bridging the so-called digital divide. Affordability, ease of use and portability will help integrate mobile phone with education, especially in rural India, thereby raising India’s literacy rate.

Jagdeep Singh Pannu, Director-Internet Marketing, authorGEN Technologies, explained, “m-Learning has the potential to spread literacy in rural areas, but currently it looks like a remote possibility due to expensive multimedia handsets, limited connectivity, ignorance of technology, hesitance to adapt technology, etc. If the government steps in with a strategy to tackle these roadblocks, m-Learning has huge potential especially because we cannot overlook the benefits—the most important being accessibility of world-class tutorials to village children.”

Future scope

India might well be one of the leading countries to adopt m-Learning in coming years owing to the number of young users or Gen Y involved in multimedia mobile usage. The Indian educational industry is evolving. The shift from ‘d-Learning’ to ‘e-Learning’ and now from ‘e-Learning’ to ‘m-Learning’ will be the next big wave, which will revolutionize education in India. m-Learning will bring about a paradigm shift from the traditional methods of education delivery to integrate ICT as an essential component in everyday learning.

With one of the fastest growing telecom sectors, knowledge industry as well as the accelerated growth in academic institutions, the future of m-Learning looks bright. Corporates, government, defense forces, NGOs, and academic institutions will use it as an important platform to take learning to the masses. With 3G as a reality, convergence will lead to ‘knowledge on the fingertips’.

The m-Learning community is fragmented, and if it is to grow, it will require greater collaboration between academia, the industry, corporates and the government. Some indicative areas of future growth include testing, surveys, job aids and just-in-time learning, location-based and contextual learning, social-networked mobile learning, and mobile educational gaming.

In the current scenario, m-Learning has the potential to proliferate and we would witness a situation where the mobile will definitely be used as a tool to spread learning across the country.

nivedan.prakash@expressindia.com